StokeConTrent 8 and other things

StokeConTrent 8 and other Things!

Its been a few months since I last posted and that is just because how hectic it had become in the Cartoon and Comic Arts studio. straight off the back of a couple of guest lecturers Matt Garvey and Hannah Chapman we were into Easter and the organisation of the 8th StokeConTrent event to be held at the university.  
StokeConTrent went off without much hassle or stress, though the comic arts were put in the Science Building which sort of feels a little way from the main action. The Comic artist once again enjoyed the event and it also provided an opportunity for 3rd Years students to sell their work at the convention and also allow the 2nd years to almost dress rehearse the MCM event they are attending in May.

At the end of the event, we asked Ben Krefta to stay over and talk to the students how he got into Manga and got his first break in the business. This was done because the students had asked for a Manga Artist to attend the event and he replied. 

StokeConTrent Guests from top left Ben Krefta Managa Artist. Above Lee Sullivan Thunderbirds and Transformers Comic Artist. Right - Titan Editor David Leech. Bottom Left - Beano and Dandy Artist Lew Stringer. and Finally Bottom Right Doctor Who artist Mike Collins

StokeConTrent Guest Comic Artist

StokeConTrent #6 

The best draw there is 

this year saw the 6th StokeConTrent Convention. It had stiff competition from other conventions in the area that were running on the same day with the shift of the Easter Holidays. Still the weather was good and there was a great attendance at the event and they were able to see some of the best UK artist in the Industry.

It was great to see AccentUK back with Colin Mathieson and Gary Cruthley showing off their work.

Kevin Gunstone made an apperance with his Planet of the Daemons comic which is up to comic 3. But what i treally enjoyed from Kevin was his back issues of The Agents. He was selling all 6 issues for £15, and this introdiced me to kevs writing for a slightly different format and audience 

 As a newbie to StokeConTrent it was great to have the creator of the Hulk Buster and War Machine Kevin Hopgood to the convention. He was selling some seriously good sketched out comic pages for a very reasonable price.

 Mike Collins is a regular now at the convention, and as ever it was great to see him bringing his Doctor Who and (in this case) his Star Wars work with him. It is also with great thanks that Staffordshire University must thank him for his kind donation of Graphic Novels. 

Finally another favourite of the punters in Simon Donald, who is absolutely brilliant as ever. Here he gives the Staffordshire University Comic Arts Mascot the Viz treatment.

There were other wonderful artist as well including Lew Stringer, who brought his Brickman Begins book with an introduction from Alan Moore. 

There was also Newbie Laura Howell,  whose excellent "The Bizarre Adventures of Gilbert & Sullivan" Comes highly recommended  

Also a big Thanks to Marc Jackson and all our best for his MaccPow Saturday 1st July 

The 3rd Years go Professional 

The new 3rd year started with a bang and off the back of the successful 5th Stoke Con Trent event  we invited a range of visiting artist to come in and talk to the students about life in the comic industry. First out of the blocks were AccentUk publishing House. 

 both Colin Mathieson (Co founder of the Publishing collective) and Gary Cruthley (Comic Artist and co writer on WESTERNoir) gave up their precious time to come and talk about life working in the market place.


This year also saw Alan Batson (Managing Director of Character Building UK Ltd) come and talk all things from Star Wars to art composition and direction to the students

This slightly departed from what our guest lecturers usually talk about 

Dan Painter Storyboard artist also made an appearance helping to students to realise the other potential areas of the industry that they might want to venture into. 

And as ever we welcomed our very own Fig Taylor from the Association of Illustrators to talk to students about working freelance and getting themselves an agent to work with .

Fig also does excellent portfolio reviews where the student can talk to her about their portfolio and if they need any help in what they have in their or any top tips.

Stoke Con Trent - Also had in Frazer Irving who hasn't been on the Comic Convention scene for a few years, but was ready to step out again. We were very lucky that he decided to do Stoke Con Trent and also to grace us with his brilliant presence.

Frazer also has developed his digital drawing skills and was willing to show this off to students.

During the first week we also tried to run a mentoring scheme where 3rd years and 1st Years came together to help in a pub quiz.

As part of the mentoring scheme there was a trip to the Monkey forest which provided the opportunity for the students to study and draw real life action. If forced them to look and observe the  creatures and the environment.

Jesse Mclure New TV show

Storage Hunter Jesse Mclure

New TV show and Comic Artist  

As part of the Stoke Con Trent Event we get visited by a wide range of guest. One of the favourites is Storage Hunter Jesse Mclure. Jesse was in the UK doing a new TV Show for Quest TV. While around the Manchester he rekindled his love of comics and came up with an idea to advertise his new show at the Stoke Con Trent event on Sunday 2nd October. It required the help of cartoon and comic artist who were given a script and Jesse's wanted to have a Comic strip of him.

A range of students tried the brief. The final version will be shown at the Stoke Con Trent Event in October 

The image up above contains work (from left to right) from Tony Holdsworth, Shaun Nichols, Tom Guilfoyle and Emily Moore.