Thought Bubble

Welcome to the fourth in our weekly (for the time being) series of posts detailing some of the Small Press and Independent Friends of Thought Bubble (or Uncanny X-Friends), bringing to you the best in sequential art on a regular basis. This week we usher into the spotlight Mr Steve Tillotson, producer of brilliant art, both sequential and portraiture, whose site is a treasure trove of wondrous delights – some of which can be viewed in the gallery below.

Steve Tillotson trained as an artist at Batley School of Art and Design, and went on to do a masters degree at the Royal College of Art, London. He started making comics as an outlet for his frustrations (artistic and otherwise) which include the titular Banal Pig Comics (with contributions from Gareth Brookes), Ethel Sparrowhawk (with Jemima von Schindelberg), Jolly Bear and Fun Coconut, The Manly Boys Annual (again with Gareth Brookes), and an anthology of landscapes to mention but a few.

All of Steve’s art is available for purchase through his store, and, for the more thrifty amongst you, he is even giving away some pieces for free! Further information on Steve’s projects can be found on his blog which contains regular updates on his myriad works, and which is where you can also find his self-penned funnies webcomic.

That dose of delectation wraps up yet another edition of the Friends of Thought Bubble, I’ve got another one in the works so make sure y’all tune in again next week same bat-time, same bat-place, to see some more top-flight sequential art. It’ll make the wait until this year’s Thought Bubble just fly by! (Not a legally binding guarantee.)

- Clark

Apologies for a dearth of posts in the Small Press and Independent Friends of Thought Bubble (or Agents of F.R.I.E.N.D.) canon recently, but hark, for all that is about to change: We’re back and we have plans afoot, so tell your friends, heck, go ahead and tell your enemies, the more the merrier.

This week we welcome into the fold the fantastically multi-talented Mr Jack Fallows, purveyor of fine artistic wares, both illustrative and musical, uniformly excellent examples of which can be seen at his site, his blog, his store and also (as if those weren’t enough) the gallery below – including a custom image made just for us (ain’t we lucky?).

Jack Fallows is a self-taught illustrator and comic book creator from Newcastle, UK. He has been drawing for as long as he can remember, and hopes to continue drawing for longer than he could forget.

His first small press comic was a photocopied mini-comic put out by There Goes Tokyo entitled Coffee Break Comics, which he created when he was 14. Since then he has produced a number of self-published titles, which he would like to believe got better as they went. These include Blackout 1-3 (with Phil Marsden and Phil Buchan), Rusty Nail (with Phil Buchan), The Gentleman Ghost (with Mike Thompson) and Costume Party. Outside of comics, Jack has done illustration work for local publications, promotional work for local radio, events and bands and personal commissions. He is currently working on a series of postcards and artist’s prints, the first installment of which, entitled Quattrobots, is available now (an example of which is viewable in the gallery above).

As well as this, Jack founded the Paper Jam Comics Collective some two plus years ago (although can’t take credit for the name), and runs a bi-weekly Comics Evening at the Travelling Man comic shop in Newcastle where he works, which is their meeting place. The collective have released a series of quarterly anthologies to which Jack has contributed, and held launch parties in their honour, which he has performed at and helped to organise and promote.

Well, that’s all for this time folks, and I can happily confirm that there will be another brand new, shiny, mylar bagged edition of The Friends of Thought Bubble waiting here for you in just seven days. So until next time borag thung, earthlets!

- Clark