Hey yall,

I have been stuck in a rut when it comes to making, I have not been able to create any art, except for my weekly comic MeaCulpa which does not really push the boat out.

What should I do? Any tips to get me putting pencil to paper again?

Another thing that has kept me away from the call of the canvas is that work has taken up a large part of my time. This is necessary sometimes, and right now it is good for me. One benefit is that the logo (bit of calligraphy) I made for the Year of Creative Scotland 2012, is now on national TV and on billboards in airports in Scotland China and India, which is really fabulous. Be better if I could get my actual art out there, or even, start making some art again!

Another benefit of the job is that I get access to some excellent creative minds, one of them is Plum, a music artist who made this wonderful track and music video with our company:

Plum - The Seed (Official Music Video) from Greg Hoyna / Pencil Rebel on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

love
txx

Hey guys,

It seemed that hackers had entered the wide open welcoming front gates of the City of Lost Souls and took advantage of our kind hospitality.

GITS!

They seemed to be redirecting our site to another that contained evil stuff, the kind of stuff that kicks puppies, and spits on orphans. Pretty mean. Google Chrome was throwing up a “AHH Don’t go on this site!” message and blocking it, but there was never anything evil or harmful on COLS.

How could there be? It’s a lovely city! Full of wonderfulness and happy people. Some heart-broken people, some people engaging in acts of adultery, some people in love, looking for love, singing about love, falling out of love. People drinking with friends, drinking alone, dancing with friends, dancing alone. Most of all, it’s a place to LIVE.

So, you are all still most welcome to come by and visit, please do. And pay no attention to the hackerz who might try to get in. We will turn them into really nice people (once you get to know them) soon, I’m sure.

Smooches xx

AARRRGGGHHH

That’s the sound I make when my laptop starts to die a slow death, and it has happened before. So when I turned my laptop on this morning and it decided to switch itself off for no good reason, I started to panic, then I started to make this noise;

AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

So then I spent a few hours backing up all of my files in the horror of horrors that my PC is slowly dying. It is over 4 years old, and in laptop years, you could say it’s ‘getting on a bit’. If my laptop was a hollywood actress, it would be on it’s third face-lift by now. BUT it’s my trusty comp, I can’t give up on it now!

And so, I spent hours making sure that I have all my work backed-up, as losing my drawings and photos would be a travesty. Well, I’d definately be peeved. So now it’s 6.30pm, I have just finished backing up, and my computer actually seems to be doing ok. I am about to search for the source of the problem, but am tapping the keys with the lightest of fingers. Ooooohhh, don’t want to wake the monster and have it LASH out by shutting down on me again… like a hand the the face; “Talk to the hand, I’m shutting down”.

Phew, it seems to be working. But as you can see, after all this caffuffle, bother and worry, I have not had a chance to draw and post my Shoop doop de doop comic today. And THAT’S why it’s late Miss.

(alternatively, the dog ate my laptop?)

Hey there Lost Souls!

So everyone’s favourite City has been down for a week, as we were doing some moving and shifting to a new host site. The COLS team are making big plans to improve our webcomic, and make it the best site possible, for artists, comic-lovers, music-lovers and casual passers-by everywhere.

What would be really great is some feedback from our readers. If you have any criticism, complements, condiments, condoms or popadoms, please leave a comment and help us become more awesome!

Lots of Love (LOL)

x

Hi Soulsters,

My comics have been very scribbly drawings of late, this is mostly due to not having enough time to spend making them look amazing and awesome (with colours, flashing lights, Shadows!).

But I’m also trying to get back the quality of the pen. Drawing in ink still looks infinitely better than drawing straight onto the tablet. It must be the little flaws in the lines, and the natural motion of the hand, that the tablet can’t imitate (YET I hope).

I wonder whether this means that colouring in with pencils or even paint will be cooler than the usual photo-shopping technique. I might dabble in a bit of the old colouring pencil action (I draw the line at crayons) to get some of the messiness back, and most of all, to make the messiness look good!

Watch this space! (not all day, your eyes will hurt and you’ll get nothing done)

LOVE YOU

x

Hey Soultrain riders,

So I’m trying out this new thread, scribble stories. It’s different, it’s fun, it’s new, and I DO love an excuse to scribble.

WIN!

I hope you like

xx

Sup Soulies!

The shoop doop de doop comic thread is still going strong, and there are still so many different ways to take it. But I am thinking of adding another theme to the mix, called Funny Stories (for want of a better name… suggestions appreciated).

We already started The Art of Thinking which, in case none of you have noticed (and if you havn’t then cover your ears) is a filler sort of comic as a means of presenting images in the Gallery of Lost Souls.

So the Funny Stories would be short and sweet anecdotes of funny things that have happened (in reality or in the brains) and would be a chance to tell a mini story / joke within the space of a single comic post. I am going to start with funny little holiday stories, which my good friend and adventure buddy Em will appreciate!

If you have any title suggestions for this new thread please suggest, and we are open to guest comics for any particularly funny stories

Smooches

Chelle

(p.s., Tamster, i kinda lol’d at your blog)

Hi Lost Souls,

Sorry if my last blog was a little vanilla. It was recently compared to Sex In the City, idle-at-the-water-cooler style of chat.

Uninspiring in other words.

My excuse was that I had accidently deleted the original version, and the second version was hastily written and lacked the passion and immediacy of the first.

Maybe this won’t.

What is it about needing to enrage/offend/scandalise that makes good reading? Aren’t we ‘good’ enough people that reading a blog about what someone thinks is good enough? Or is just because I have chosen to express a thought on a public platform that it suddenly means that I have to entertain the masses.

Yet, I have to say there is SUCH a desire to entertain, that I immediately, amateurishly try and copy the lifestyle pieces in, say, The Guardian. Perhaps that is not such a good template to follow, it is not a paper known for extracting strong opinions. However, if you do read the comments sections of the online Guardian, it is the incenced reader that writes and responds the most. Bringing us right back to the pubic’s desire to be affronted in some way.

So, please read on to discover the alternative ending to the previous blog on LOL.

…He went on to say how I clearly ‘Dont GET ‘it” but my ears were ringing from the offensive LOL, that effectively acted as a swift punch in the pus. Enraged, I hefted up said sleek and wonderous laptop up on high above my affronted ears and, cathartically smashed it against the edge of my desk. Repeatedly. Then fell to my knees in remorse, promising to myself that I would not be so easily moved to violence, especially not by someone who was clearly a pleb and had no proper use of the language. Picked up the silvered remains of my computer and set out welding the pieces into a weapon of revenge.

Let this be a warning to you, the lazy communicators of the world, be wary and take pride in your language, or you may find a masked avanger, wielding a LoL shaped scythe perched ominously at your window one night.

Stay tuned, for the consequent posts on fat people, and black people, the classes, religion, and dumb people in this experiment of incendiary writing.

Bonjourno Little Lost Souls,

I have just been on a trip around Italy and fell in love with the country, it was stunning. Only a day and a half back in the realty of The City of Lost Souls and already I can’t stop daydreaming of the gorgeous cities that I visited.

This week’s post is a quickie I made from a photo I took in Venice, the most photogenic place I have ever been to. And the song is a starry-eyed dreamy tune to set the mood.

No doubt more toons and tunes will be inspired from Bella Italia for a while, until I get my head out of the clouds.

But until then,

Ciao xx