August 2018

It would be very easy for me to say that August was more or less a carbon copy of July...because it was, bar a couple of things.

My work situation is pretty much the same as before. I've still been looking for another job, but so far no luck on that front. As always, just got to keep at both of those.

The weather on the whole was still very warm this month, although a couple of thunderstorms towards the middle did cool things down just a little. It sounds like my area got off lightly compared to others though, from what little pieces of news I heard.

What made August a little different was that I actually got a whole weekend off towards the end of the month - it meant that me and my wife were able to take a much needed getaway. I'll give you two clues as to where we went, it begins with "Rhode" and ends with "Island".

Artwork has been...lacking lately. I've been spending whatever downtime I have chilling at the beach, with all the warm weather, think I might be turning into a beach bum (until the weather gets colder that is). As nice as that has been, it has made me less productive, especially in regards to the F&S comic, plus a certain website that should really have been live by now. I've never been the best self-starter, to be honest.

I did recently complete the latest feature length Bob & Flyer comic however - the entirety of "Operation: N.E.C.T.A.R" is now available over on my Tapas page for you to check out.

August 30 also marked a milestone for one of my comic series - "The Surf Club" has now been going for 10 years, and to mark the occasion, I will be posting all the comics to my Tapas page, starting right from the beginning. I also put together this comic to mark the milestone also.

Enjoy what's left of the summer, see you same time next month.

July 2018

I can safely say that this July was a very mixed bag.

It was inevitable that July would be somewhat of a comedown after the high of June's travelling. Doesn't it always seem that your job is worse than it was a
before you went away on holiday? Unfortunately that's how it's been for me on the work front, still getting used to the management change, and the job just seems more stressful than ever. I have started to look for another job, however as anyone will know, that search could take months, if not years, so in the meantime I'll just have to try and carry on, like we all do.
The weather's been kind this month though, feel free to agree to disagree with me depending on how you feel about humidity though! I've been enjoying bike and beach time when I've been able to. Me and my wife also had a fun theme park trip on the 29th, to Lake Compounce (my first visit there), and I definitely recommend it, especially the Boulder Dash rollercoaster, which may be the fastest and my most favourite coaster I've ridden to date.
This month also marked a significant anniversary for me - a decade ago on July 21, I flew on a plane, travelled abroad, travelled to the US and attended the San Diego Comic Con for the very first time - you can watch my video blog about it right here.
On the art front, the F&S comic is still very much a work in progress, although I think I've recovered my art groove since the fun of the England trip. I do have some potentially exciting news regarding art as well, as I have been approached to possibly illustrate for a book - however that's all I can say about it right now.
I'll leave you with this Surf Club comic. Let's see what sort of weather August brings - hopefully not storms.

June 2018

To say that I'd been waiting for June to come along is probably the understatement of the year for me, and not just because of the start of summer. There was one occasion that happened this June that I'd been looking forward to for months.

Before that however, I have to get the bad stuff out of the way, most of which was the issues that I mentioned in last month's blog, stress at work and feeling disillusioned/frustrated with social media. However me and my wife also lost a member of our family - our pet turtle Chief, who had been with my wife and her family for 22 years. It was very unexpected, and while we're sad that he's gone, he did have a good long life, and he will be missed.

Now onto the absolute highlight of June - from the 18th to the 26th, myself and my wife flew across the Atlantic to visit my family back in the UK. While we were there, we revisited many of the places I remember, including my hometown of Crook, plus Durham, Newcastle, Tynemouth, Scarborough and Whitby. Getting to see my family in person again after 2 years was what it was all about though - I can't put into words just how good it was to see them all again and hang out just like old times. Just like it was 2 and a half years ago, leaving them behind again was hard, but knowing that we'd had the chance to get together again and make new memories helped to soften the blow. I really hope I don't have to wait too long to see them again in the not too distant future.

My artwork took a bit of a backseat this month, especially during the trip, however I did come up with this camping themed pic as part of an art jam, hosted by LaptopGeek92, over on DeviantArt. I highly doubt that there'll be camping involved in July, but hopefully there'll be some warmer days to enjoy. I'l let you know if there is, of course.

August 2017

Another summer has come to an end. I always feel down whenever summer's over, as it's my favourite time of the year. Onwards we go, though.

I've mentioned many times about the news - as much as I try to avoid it, I somehow always end up hearing about everything that's going wrong in this world, from horrible tragedies to political madness. Then I just have to remind myself that 95% of what I hear, what we all hear is blown out of proportion, sensationalised to get ratings. To quote a famous saying, and also the title of a canny good Jamie Lenman song, "No News Is Good News" - I choose to put the mute button on, avert my eyes from all the dread, and to just live my life.
In my July blog I mentioned the passing of Chester Bennington, the singer of Linkin Park - I say this as a reminder that depression is a sickness, and not something to be taken lightly, regardless of what the media might want you to believe. I'm not going to name any names, but there was a time this month that someone close to me was swallowed up by that depression, and myself, friends and family found ourselves unable to reach that person. This isn't the first time that it's taken hold of that person, and I fear that it won't be the last, but this is why it's important to reach out. I can't stress it enough - if you're feeling depressed, talk to someone. Shutting people out is too easy to do, and while it may feel like it makes it all better, it really doesn't. Aye, it's hard to see the light when you're in that hole, but just remember - you're not alone. We all have times where a dark cloud hangs over us, but that cloud always eventually passes.

To better news now - things could be looking up on the job front. As I type this, I have a job interview lined up for September 1, I will let you know how that went in next month's blog. I also helped out my wife Nicole at her workplace on  a couple of days towards the end of this month, setting up meals for the staff on their morning training sessions. It was very busy but it felt good to help out.
One of those days was August 21, which as most of you know was the day of the solar eclipse. One of Nicole's co-workers was kind enough to lend me a pair of special glasses to check it out, and while the full total eclipse wasn't visible in my area, I was still able to see a partial eclipse, it was quite a sight, but you don't need me to tell you that.
We also made the most of the warm weather this month by hitting a few beaches, including a couple we'd never visited before. Probably the most notable trip of this month was to the Roger Williams Park & Zoo in Providence RI - definitely a great place to visit with a wide variety of animals to see, and the park was very relaxing too.
We were also at Foxwoods Casino on August 4th to see Dashboard Confessional and The All-American Rejects play, both bands put on a good show, and Nicole was singing along to every Dashboard song, as she is a huge fan of them.
On the artwork front, I've been busy working on the first Fyfe & Sparkplug comic, as of this blog I have 7 pages ready to go. It's certainly a challenge and as I am planning to try and get this comic published, I really want it to be as good as it possibly can be.
I'll leave you with a bit of summer themed artwork, my Surf Club characters enjoying some waterslide action. See you in Autumn.

July 2017

Another July has come and gone once again - and something happened this month which wasn't something that personally happened to me, it was to a famous rockstar. Most of you reading this will know that I'm talking about what happened to Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park - his death was tragic and shocking to hear about.
You might be wondering why I'm dwelling on the death of a celebrity, because I usually don't like to focus on the news, especially when it's about people dying, famous or not. The reason I am is because Linkin Park were one of my favourite bands as a teenager, and were one of the bands that got me into heavy rock music, along with Limp Bizkit and Slipknot. A lot of Linkin Park's music helped me get through my teenage and secondary school years, because I could relate to the lyrics and the heavy music. It's just a tragic irony that those same lyrics couldn't help the man who sang them with the passion and the fury that he had. RIP, Chester - I hope you're in a better place now.
On more personal matters, I've still had no luck on the job front, and as always I'm still looking. Helping around the house and doing the twice monthly side job has been keeping me busy though, as well as my artwork of course. I recently completed illustrating the second of the children's book series for our close friends, admittedly it took far longer than it should've because of my procrastination on it. I'll try and do better with the next book - it's just that circumstances get in the way.
A few blogs back, I mentioned how I was getting disillusioned with DeviantArt too - that's been the case again lately. I feel like there's been a lot of immature people trying to take advantage of me in order to get free art of their characters, or just posting stupid stuff on my pictures or profile just for the sake of attention. I have no time for people like that, and I'm sending out a warning now, anyone who continues to harrass me, or any of my friends that way, will receive an instant ban-hammer to the face. I'm not playing nice anymore.
On a brighter note, me and my wife have been making the most of the nice weather this month - as well as my bike rides, we took a few trips to state parks and beaches, and not surprisingly each place was canny packed. Also not surprisingly, we spent the 4th July week in Newport, the highlights of which were a play on a mini golf course with the in laws, and a sunset cruise around Narragansett Bay onboard the MV Gansett. We also went to a music gig at Mohegan Sun on the 29th, which was our first gig since the Deftones last August - the headline act this time was Kings of Leon, and they were absolutely spot on. The opening act, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, were canny tight too.

That's pretty much it for July. As always, I'll leave you with some artwork - this surfing scene, which was an entry for a summer themed art jam that I hosted this month. See you in August.

June 2017

From highs to lows this month - I think that may as well be the tagline for all of my blog posts, as that seems to happen every month.

I think June was a bit of a comedown from the high of the honeymoon in May. Unfortunately I still don't have a regular job, though I did manage to get a couple of interviews. Still waiting on the second one, but the first one I obviously didn't get, and it may have been because of my location (it would've been a 2 hour commute). Back to the job search.
As many of you will know, there were some horrible events that happened this month. Such events seem to happen every day unfortunately, but these two hit home on a personal level because they both happened in my home country. What kind of monster walks into a packed arena and causes so much destruction and cold-blooded murder? The same for those who walked into a London street and started knifing people to death.
My family live nowhere near where those attacks happened - but it chills my blood to think that it could easily have been their lives lost. And I can't begin to imagine what must be going through the minds of those who did lose a loved one in those tragedies. I find myself thinking, "where does all this madness end?" I just hope that those who lost their lives can find some peace now.

Life goes on though - on a brighter note, the warmer weather has meant that I've been biking more, as well as getting some beach time too. I've also been busy on the art front, scripting a new Bob & Flyer story comic as well as starting colouring Fyfe & Sparkplug #1. I've also had an influx of commissions this month thanks to holding a half price sale, I've been pleasantly surprised by that, and I'd like to give a huge thank you to everyone who commissioned me, it really does mean a lot.
There was also a very important milestone for me and my wife this month - while our legal wedding anniversary is February 20, our wedding ceremony anniversary is June 12, and this month it was a year since that special day. We marked the occasion with a romantic meal and a revisit of the place where it all happened, the indoor carousel at Lighthouse Park in East Haven. It was bittersweet to go there and see the hall empty and lifeless instead of bustling and lively as it was on June 12, 2016, but we were able to relive it through all the videos and photos from that day.
It meant so much to us both, even more so because of my family flying over from the UK just to be there. It's now been a whole year since I last saw them in person, and I really hope it won't be much longer until I'm able to see them again.

As always, I'll leave you with some artwork, and what may be a future scene from the Fyfe & Sparkplug story, the dragon duo taking on a troll (no, not that sort of troll). 

Wishing everyone a safe and sunny July.

August 2016

So, summer's at an end, and I can safely say that I've been making the most of the warm weather, as I have done for the majority of this summer - bike rides, beach time and going on trips with my wife Nicole.

On that note, we had another "rock and roll" weekend on the 6th and 7th, going to not one but two gigs at Mohegan Sun, my first time going to the arena there, and the biggest music venue I've ever been to, I have to say. The first gig was a double header, Counting Crows & Rob Thomas. I'd only heard one Counting Crows song before the show, and I was familiar with some of Rob Thomas' music as Nicole is a big fan of both his and his band Matchbox 20's music. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of either artist, but I will say that Rob Thomas put a lot of energy and passion into his show, interacting with the crowd and getting everyone pumped, and his songs are very catchy - I think he should've been the headline act, because while Counting Crows were solid, they just weren't quite as memorable in my opinion. Still, it was a good night all round.

The second gig was the flipside, one of my favourite bands, and my second time seeing them, the Deftones. They had Spotlights and the infamous Swedish punk band Refused opening for them, Spotlights were pretty good with their heavy shoegaze-iinspired metal, I wasn't too sure about Refused though, while they were very loud and energetic (their singer had quite the stage presence), they jut didn't quite do it for me. However, Deftones absolutely killed it, they were every bit as awesome as when I first saw them back in '07, I couldn't fault them at all.

It wasn't just music shows we checked out at Mohegan Sun - on August 20 we checked out the TerrifiCon comic convention, my first comic con since San Diego back in 2010, and while this one was on a smaller scale, it was every bit as packed as San Diego, comic book stands, famous faces and cosplayers everywhere, and while it was a little overwhelming it was still a lot of fun.

We also celebrated two friends' wedding on the 27th (congrats to you both, you know who you are), it was a great party, and of course it brought back memories of our own wedding ceremony two months ago - I have to say, it was nice not being in the spotlight.

This month also saw the Olympics, which this year were held in Rio in Brazil - I caught some of it, though I really don't like how like everything else it seemed to get overshoadowed by all the scandal going on. It was also a little strange knowing that the previous Olympics were held in London back in 2012, back in my home country.

I seem to have been getting these reminders of my home country a lot lately, it's been 8 months since I left the UK, and I admit that this past month I've had moments where I've been missing my family a lot. The fact is, that is always going to happen, as anyone who's in a similar position will know, being far away from your loved ones is hard - but that's why I'm thankful for technology such as Skype, I can still easily keep in touch with them. I just hope that both me and Nicole will be able to go and visit them again someday.

On a brighter note, things are finally progressing with my immigration - they finally received my case, 5 months later, about time too, and just this past week I had my background check done up in Hartford, so now I am waiting for that to come through, and then hopefully it won't be much longer before I have my residency card and am able to apply for jobs. That's been on my mind too, wondering about whether I'll be able to cope balancing work and life, but the fact is, I won't know if I can until I'm living it. Ill keep you posted on this of course.

Last but not least, with summer coming to a close, I'll leave you with some summer-themed artwork - if this doesn't make you want to jump into the nearest pool, I dunno what will.

July 2016

Warm weather, biking and travels were the order of the month for this July, and in all honesty I don't know where it went - life just seems to pass by much quicker in the States.

On the downside, I'm still no further forward with the social security/green card situation, and me and Nicole's lawyer just doesn't seem to be taking our case seriously - without a social security number I can't work or use Paypal and Ebay, which also means I can't do art commissions - so I really want this to be sorted, it's beyond ridiculous now. I've been living in the States for seven months now, and this really should've been sorted ages ago.

I'll say that again in a better light though - seven months living in the States. I miss my family back in the UK, even moreso since their visit in June, but I'm also still doing great despite that, and with the help and encouragement of my lovely wife, I've been trying new things - this month we both decided to start a diet, and I'm not joking when I say this is the first time I've ever tried a diet. In short, I've cut down on the sweet stuff and started eating more fruit, and it actually has made me feel better, why did I shun fruit most of my life?
On the same note, I've been continuing my bike rides to East Rock, and recently started doing a two-man bike ride each week with a recent new friend of mine - speaking of that, he and his wife (who is my wife's best friend) are trying to write a series of children's books, and they kindly asked me if I could illustrate the books for them - needless to say, I jumped at the chance, and I have been in the process of making the drawings for the first book for the last couple of months now. It's great to have the opportunity to do something like this, and I really hope it might lead somewhere - if not, it's still an experience.
On the travel front, I got to celebrate 4th July with my wife, my first time celebrating the occasion as a US resident - we spent that weekend in Rhode Island, glorious weather for it too, and we got to watch the fireworks over Newport Harbour - good times. We also went to another couple of gigs too - Hellogoodbye and Foreigner. Personally I'm not a huge fan of either band, but they both put on a good show - and any singer who can hold a high note for over a minute deserves a huge pat on the back (Foreigner's singer Kelly Hansen I'm referring to).
I'll leave you with some summery artwork, a quartet of lifeguard characters I came up with.

Till next time, and don't stay out in the sun too long.

July 2014

Things have warmed up this month - not on the job front though, I'm afraid. The TK Maxx job was a non-starter, I heard absolutely nothing back about it, and I'm inclined to believe that contrary to what I was told, there was never going to be an interview at the end of the course that I took in June. Typical false promises as always.
I did actually get an interview though - not with TK Maxx, but with Greggs the Bakers, for a job as a team member in my local store. Trouble is, it was also a managerial position, and of course I have no managerial experience - they as good as told me that at the inteview. I think you can guess how that ended.

The weather's been warm though, much warmer than June, and I've been making the most of it, going out for walks and heading to the beach at Tynemouth. I prefer it when there's a breeze to counter the sweltering heat though, that's not to say I don't enjoy the sunshine. Summer is my favourite time of year for a good reason.
This month brought back memories of last July, when I was over in the US for my longest trip abroad to date - you can read about how that went right here and here. 
While I wasn't abroad this summer, I did get to go to this year's Sunderland Airshow - it was my fourth time there, the first three being in 2005, 2006 and 2012. The getting to and from the airshow was a nightmare, because of all the crowds, chock-full trains and buses not turning up, however, the airshow itself was as brilliant as it always is. I saw quite a few aircraft, some I'd seen before and others that I hadn't - my personal highlights of the airshow were the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster); the Breitling Wingwalkers; and of course, the star attraction of the airshow, the Red Arrows display team. 

You can watch my videos of the airshow at the links below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4


Again, I wasn't abroad this summer, but my brother Chris was, he spent a week in Prague in the Czech Republic, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't mind having the house to myself, although you know how it is when one of your family goes away on holiday, you're soon wishing for them to come back. Chris has set foot in Holland, Germany and now the Czech Republic - I have yet to set foot in any European country outside of the UK, so there's a bit of sibling envy going on there!

As always, I'll leave you with some artwork - and considering it's summer, it's only right that it's something summer themed.

From US to UK

I can't even begin to describe this past month - it's been a case of both the extremes.

At the start of this month I was still in the US, coming to the end of my 6-week trip there. Most of it was covered in the previous blog, but it's about time I mentioned the rest - that special place I mentioned? It was a little place down in Florida, you might've heard it...Walt Disney World. 
This was at the end of July, both me and Nicole flew down there, and I just can't put into words how awesome of an experience it was...we were there for 3 days, and while that was nowhere near enough time to see absolutely everything in WDW, we still made the most of it. We saw many different animals, hit the African plains on a safari and took a walk in the jungles of Africa and Asia in Animal Kingdom; had a brief but splashing time at Blizzard Beach; saw a show about animation, walked through a fake New York street and witnessed a Monsters University party at Hollywood Studios; saw Spaceship Earth, walked around the World Showcase, rode on the Journey Into Imagination and had not one but two high speed thrills on the Test Track at Epcot.
Of course there's one part of the park that we couldn't not go to...the Magic Kingdom. We covered pretty much all of it - Adventureland with its treehouse and lively Tiki Room; Frontierland with a boat ride to Tom Sawyer's Island and a late night ride on Splash Mountain (three words: 50 foot drop) and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; Liberty Square with its fancy buildings, classic steamboat and the Haunted Mansion; Fantasyland with its fairytale/circus setting and the classic It's A Small World ride; the futuristic Tomorrowland with the PeopleMover, a rain-soaked Tomorrowland Raceway (still enjoyable though), monstrous laughs on the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and a close-up encounter with Stitch in his Great Escape; and last but not least, Main Street USA, with the classic American street and shops, plus that famous path leading up to the even more famous Cinderella's Castle, which was the backdrop for a spectacular projection and fireworks display, both were just amazing to watch.
It was my first time at any Disney park, and I'm glad I was able to get to visit one - the best part was that Nicole was there with me, and we got to spend our 10 month anniversary there too, which I marked by giving her a dragonfly pin as a present, in front of Cinderella's Castle. Guess there is a little bit of a romantic in me.
Say what you want about Disney, but at the end of the day, both me and Nicole thoroughly enjoyed our time there, and I would definitely go back again.

 Kilimanjaro Safari - Animal Kingdom

 Meeting Chip n Dale - Dale tried to hit on Nicky, while Chip raided my bag for nuts

 Adventureland - Magic Kingdom

 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Frontierland - Magic Kingdom

 Liberty Square - Magic Kingdom

 Tomorrowland - Magic Kingdom

 Fantasyland - Magic Kingdom

 Spaceship Earth - Epcot

 A taste of home - United Kingdom pavilion, World Showcase - Epcot

 Blizzard Beach

 Monsters University party - Hollywood Studios

 Not-quite New York - Hollywood Studios

 Main Street USA - Magic Kingdom

There was also another first a few days afterwards - I got to experience a live baseball game for the first time, the Bridgeport Bluefish vs the Sugarland Skeeters - the Bluefish lost, but regardless of the result I enjoyed the atmopshere of the game.
The last visit of my US trip was to Southwick's Zoo in Massachusetts - only the second zoo I've been to, and by far the biggest, with so many different animals, including a lot that I'd never seen up close before (e.g. kangaroos, lions, lemurs). The zoo also had some unique features - a chairlift that travelled over the exhibits, including an alligator pool; a forest where me and Nicole got up close to deer and were able to feed them; and a giraffe encounter, where we got to hold up tree branches for giraffes to feed on them, all of those were great experiences.

 The Bridgeport Bluefish and Sugarland Skeeters in action

 Skylift - Southwick's Zoo

Giraffe encounter - Southwick's Zoo

 Deer Forest - Southwick's Zoo

My last night in the US ended up in a hotel in Nicole's town, which me and her parents arranged on the sly without Nicole knowing, and needless to say she was very happy with the surprise. We spent the night taking a dip in the hotel pool, having a meal at an Italian restaurant, and some wine and snacks back at the hotel, and above all, spending some quality time together.

We were both dreading August 5, the day I had to fly back to the UK...and it was hard to let go, as anyone in that position will know all too well. My flights back home were a little on the bumpy side, but I made it back safely, mad dash for my flight back to Newcastle and all.
Arriving back at home felt alien to me, almost - even more so this time round, because it was the longest I'd been away from home. The jetlag had something to do with it as well, of course. It took me a little while to get back into the normal routine, but it all fell into place in time. I was happy to see my family again, and it was good to be back with my home comforts as well. I couldn't see out this summer without taking one last visit to my favourite beach at Tynemouth, either.
I can't say everything's been OK though...with being away there was bound to be issues regarding rent and finances, had to poke the council more than once about stuff, but I think it's all been sorted now. As well as that, the situation on the job front is the same as ever, absolutely no joy whatsoever. And something's also happened that makes me think that keeping my mouth shut is better for everyone - I don't want to go into it.
In the end, I just had the most amazing time in the US, it's something I will definitely not forget for a long time, and I'll miss being face to face with Nicole most of all.

Some summer themed artwork to leave you with:

Fyfe & Sparkplug: Summer Dragons