In Which There Is Art, and I Am Made Very Happy

It's late September again which means the Bath Festival of Children's Literature is here again. This year I shall miss most of it, as I am away next weekend, which is a little sad, as I was going to have gone to see Michael Morpurgo, and Michael Rosen, and Cornelia Funke, but as I still haven't mastered bilocation it can't be done.


Robin Etherington, Garen Ewing nd Dave McKean



Tonight, however, was  this event, which made me go all fangirl  squee when I first saw the programme - Dave McKean, Garen Ewing and Robin Etherington talking graphic novels. To be honest, Dave McKean is the only one of the three I'd heard of, but I am a huge fan of his work and the thought of getting to see him & maybe get some of my books signed was too good to miss.



I was at Bath Guildhall in plenty of time, having spent some considerable time earlier in the day deciding (a) how many books I could legitimately take with me in the hope of getting them signed, and maybe even doodles, and (b) which ones. On browsing the bookstall in the foyer I found that 'Slog's Dad', the new book by David Almond and Dave McKean is now out, so I had to buy that, and I was also tempted to by the first two volumes of Garen Ewing's Rainbow Orchid graphic novel, as I like the look of them.

The Etherington Brothers books are aimed more at children and I did manage to resist 'Monkey Nuts' although  suspect for the average 7-11 year old child it would have vast appeal!

The event was very interesting, all three panellists talking about their latest projects;

 Robin Etherington works with his brother, Lorenzo - Robin does the words and Lorenzo the pictures, and they have the Monkey Nuts books, and a new one called 'The Baggage', about a lost-property worker trying to reunite a very old bag with it's owner - it sounds as though will be good, and more suited to a slightly older reader.

Garen Ewing is working on the third volume of The Rainbow Orchid trilogy, which is set in the 1920's and inspired by adventurers and adventure writers, such as Rider Haggard and Jules Verne - and which he  both writes and draws. The style of his art is linge clair (clear line) , which means that his comics have a familiar look , as it is the style Herge used for the Tintin adventures - I have to admit that it was that similarity which attracted me when I saw the books!

He spoke about his interest in research, for instance, getting the languages right (for a  single frame showing an ancient greek manuscript), and getting things like the appearance of the Natural History Museum in the 1920s accurate, and getting a friend to build a scale model of the bi-plane he chose to use so he could draw this correctly, also. 

Dave McKean spoke about 'Slog's Dad'  by David Almond, which is just out, about the 'The Rut' " exhibition just finishing in London, (and which he confirmed is going to be made into a book, too, which I shall look forward to) and about the other projects he's currently working on - a film (which he didn't give any details about) and the book he is working on with Richard Dawkins, called 'The Magic of Reality' which will be an illustrated book answering questions (such  as why does the sun shine), starting with myths and fables and ways in which people have tried to explain the world, and then giving the scientific explanation.

Dave had some slides of some of the art for the book, which looks amazing; I can't wait to  see the finished article.

All three were asked about getting started, Both Garen and Robin had started with self-publishing and with putting their work up online, and Dave talked about pitching work with Neil Gaiman ("to this day, I'm not sure we had an appointment")

There were then some time for questions from the audience - in response to the 'what advice would you give someone wanting to be you?'

Dave recommended going to art school to (among other things) have time to broaden your horizons and to learn about things  which are not immediately obvious to you, and three seemed to be giving the same advice which is to do what you love, and what is important to you, and to keep doing it, bit by bit. Garen and Robin both also talked about putting work online to get it out there.


I was able to ask about collaboration, and whether there was anyone whom any of them would (in an ideal world) like to work with - Garen talked about the possibility of working with Philip Pullman (and I have to say I think his style would work well if Philip Pullman's 'Sally Lockhart' books were adapted into graphic novels.

Dave McKean mentioned that he and Neil Gaiman were both interested in doing a stage show or musical together, and that he wanted to work more with actors, in lice theatre, and also mentioned wanting to work with Harlan Ellison, and Robin said he wanted to work with Garen Ewing and Dave McKean..!

And there was a certain amount of discussion about the validity of monkeys and zombies in comics.

It was a shame that the event was only an hour long, I would happily have sat listening to the conversation for much longer.

All three were signing afterwards, so I  queued up, and ended up not only with a lovely sketch of Julius Chancer in my copy of  the rainbow Orchid, Vol. 1, but also beautiful drawings by Dave McKean in 'Slog's Dad and 'The Graveyard Book'

I think these are so beautiful in their own right, but I was also mesmerised watching Dave draw them, and make such vivid pictures with so few pen strokes.  It's so unfair that anyone should be so talented *and& such a nice person.

While queuing and watching the artists draw we were also talking, one of the subjects being how most adults will see they can't draw, or make things up, but all children will say they can, and considering when and why that changes.

I am just so happy that I was able to go. 

I've been looking forward to seeing Neil Gaiman reading ever since I first saw on his blog http://journal.neilgaiman.com/ that he would be coming to Manchester. I booked a couple of tickets before they even went on sale, booked a couple of days off work and prepared to enjoy myself.

I spent a couple of hours in the morning making hundreds of tiny (gluten-free) cup cakes, and decorating a small proportion of them, which led me to he conclusion that I was not cut out to be an artist, or at least not in the medium of icing…

Then drove the 200 miles to Manchester and had a quick meal with the friend I was staying with, before heading over the Whitworth Hall where Neil’s event was being held. Whitworth Hall is the University’s main hall – Victorian Gothic, with a huge pipe-organ behind the stage. Having been an undergraduate at Manchester, the last time I was in the hall was when I was awarded my degree. I would have to say that that was possibly more important, but this was way more fun!

When Neil was introduced, he didn’t go straight in to the reading, instead, he explained that he had been getting e-mails from people about Jonathan Coulton’s gig, I liked his intro so much I have to share it;

“ I have been getting e-mails from people about Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton, who are also over from America and also playing in Manchester University this evening saying that they were going to having to make a decision – and obviously, if you’re here tonight you made the right decision. But I’ve found it worrying that in years to come, those of you who like Jonathan Coulton’s work, those of you who would have liked Paul & Storm’s work if you’d known about it at the time, would get bitter and twisted and look back on this event not as the evening of perfect and unalloyed pleasure that we trying to put together for you but as something dark and somehow distressing. So I spoke to Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton and they agreed to do the single shortest possible Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton gig, here, before we start. So technically, what you are going to get is the only writer who has ever spoken here and had a support band.”

We then got Paul & Storm singing “Live”, and Jonathan Coulton singing “Skullcrusher Mountain” (And JoCo promptly christened the event ‘Gaimanbury’!)

Neil then did a reading of the first part of Chapter 3 of ‘The Graveyard Book” before doing a Q&A – some about the Graveyard Book and how it came to be written, and others about meeting Steve Ditko (complete with Neil’s excellent Jonathan Ross impression), Sandman (and how proud he is to have written the world’s first sexually transmitted comic) and about what section of the bookshop Neil Gaiman books ought to be stocked – Neil’s suggestion was that there should simply be a ‘Neil Gaiman’ section…. Neil also gave a few hints about his trip to China and what that might turn into.

Neil then did a signing – this was in the lobby to the hall, and getting there was a little chaotic as the lines for signing, for buying books and for getting out got a little tangled! Having been sitting at the front of the hall for the reading I ended up near the back of the signing line, which was OK in that I had some fun conversations with nice people in the line (you can get to know people pretty well in 2 ½ hours of queuing), but was a bit cold and wearing on the knees.

This was the point at which my mini-cupcakes came into their own – I think most of those in the last 1/3 or so of the queue got one, and they seemed to be appreciated. I had previously separated 4 or 5 in a box to hand to Neil, hence the gluten-free-ness, but don’t know whether he actually ate them – by the time we got to the front of the queue it was about 10.20 p.m. and I think he was desperately trying to finish signing! Despite having been going for so long, he was (as he always seems to be) very friendly and was personalising and adding gravestones to the books. Having a 3-way conversation with Neil and with girl-who-I-met in the queue, about which of Neil’s books would be suitable for someone who didn’t like the sex in American Gods, and about the difference between the ‘adult’ American ‘Graveyard Book’ and the ‘children’s’ UK version, I completely forgot to say I was a Fiend. I blame fan-girl excitement plus queuing fatigue!

I had been planning to try to catch the end of Jonathan Coulton after the signing but it seemed too late (Plus I had agreed to give a lift home to the girl in the queue, so she didn’t have to wait for an hour on a freezing cold station) I now know that this means I missed the opportunity to see Neil with a tambourine . . No good deed goes unpunished.

Got a few hours sleep at a friend's house then drove the 200 miles home again, so am now completely knackered, but it was well worth it!

I obviously have some way to go on the whole successful pictures front, however . . .