Creator Owned Day 2014

Creator Owned Day returns Wednesday 5th March 2014! The last two year's challenge saw comic creators writing and drawing up new characters, readers celebrating their favourite creator-owned series and a trending topic on Twitter.

A quick recap of the challenge details:

Create a sketch of an original character or concept and and post it on your Blog, Twitter etc on Wednesday 5th March. It should be a concept completely owned by the artist (or co-owned with the writer/collaborators permission to post).

Why? A number of reasons:

1. A lot of reader and creator focus is on characters owned by larger corporations. Let's bring a little spotlight on creating brand new, creator owned concepts.
2. Bringing a little awareness to the business side of co-creating original content. Take a look at Jeff Parker's article and follow up comments on the subject. Co-creators can take this opportunity as a little trial run, just make sure to have a mutual agreement in advance.
3. Fun! A few creators discussed the idea on Twitter and thought it was a great opportunity to create something entirely new, while bringing attention to these sketches. 

The details:

1. Create a sketch of a new character/character you own. We're doing this primarily to get our imaginations running, so a concept specifically created for Creator Owned Day is probably ideal. It should NOT be a character owned by either a company eg. Marvel's Wolverine, OR owned by other creators e.g. Todd McFarlane's Spawn. It also shouldn't take distinct features from characters owned by others e.g. Wolverspawn You must own the character.
2. Post it on your blog, or Facebook, Twitter etc.
3. Share your post using the Twitter hashtag #CreatorOwnedDay.
4. Help us spread the word by retweeting your favourite new characters.

Let's see what we can come up with!

You can follow Creator Owned Day or my own account on Twitter to see retweets of the best from the day. Click the #CreatorOwnedDay Hashtag and flick through the photos for highlights from the last two years did you need a little inspiration.

The Big Update

It's been a while since I updated the blog, so this may be a bit of an info dump. I have some ideas I want to write up, so hopefully posts will become a little more regular. For now...

DemonCon

I'm flying over to Maidenhead, Kent this weekend for DemonCon on Sunday 16th February. I've been invited to attend the annual show for a few years now, after meeting organiser Graham Beadle and his son at a con, but have never really been able to justify the travel expense. The stars aligned this year thanks to Graham's guest sponsorship, generosity and an Easyjet sale. There are really interesting guests and friends attending, so I'm really looking forward to the event.

Comixology

Jennifer Wilde has gone global! #1 is now available digitally on all good Apple and Android tablets and phones via the Comixology app. Rob Curley and I spent a good bit of time setting up the Comixology account, and it's great to see Jennifer available all over the world. #1 is a bargain at $0.99/£0.69

Digital distribution is already finding us a new audience. #1 was featured as New & Newsworthy by the folks at Comixology and we've had a really lovely review from Graig Kent over at his Thor's Hammer review blog 

Interviews

I talk to David Ferguson over at Irish Comic News about my work at Atomic Diner, including some previously unrevealed concept art for the Legion Britannia and the cover to Noe #2.

I also talked to the guys at the 2D cast in their 2013 Year in Review. I think I talk about February and the launch of Noe #1, but the whole episode is definitely worth a listen, and works as a great summary of the Irish comic scene.

RiRa

I have a 3 page strip in the latest edition of kid's Irish language comic Ri Ra #4. It continues the story of Bliain a Haon, following the fears and trepidations of a boy's first year in secondary school. This is the 3rd Bliain a Haon story, if it keeps up, I'll have enough material to fill a collection.

Upcoming

After a few detours to wrap up Jennifer Wilde, Noe The Savage Boy #2 is on the way to the printers. I'm laying out #3 right now, so it shouldn't be too long until Noe's Origin is concluded. 

I also have an upcoming gig working on a big established property, so stay tuned for more on that soon...

Noe The Savage Boy #2, Pg 1