As some of the people who read this LJ know 6 months ago I lost my Dad with whom I was very close. I don’t want to go into a lot of details about it as it is something that I’m still finding hard to talk about but I need to mention a few details here to put this comic anthology in context.

So what’s happening?
My Dad worked for a number of aid organizations over the years and I wanted to do something to raise money for one of them but I also wanted to raise that money doing something that was personal to me which of course is comics.
I’m putting together a comics anthology to be published in September 2008 featuring the work of as many cartoonists as I can get to contribute. All proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to GOAL. You’ll find the technical information, a few FAQ’s and information on the theme of the book below.

I've uploaded a radio interview my Dad did taking about the work he did with GOAL. You can listen to it here

( click here for more information )

Big thanks to the indie spinner rack crew for giving the anthology a shout out on their podcast. Giving out the web address proved a little tricky so in an attempt to make life easier for people I've sorted the domain www.goalanthology.com for the project. At the moment it redirects to this blog but will host a site for ordering the anthology from once it is finished.

Also a belated thanks to the Comic Creators Guild and the Bristol comics expo for promoting the project.

Given the recent issues with a charity comics auction being closed down by Warner Brothers for the use of their characters [Warner Bros owns DC] I would like to remind everyone to please not use copyrighted characters in their submissions.

To any writers/artists out there who are looking for an artist/writer to work on a submission with please email me and I'll see if we can match people up - I've already sorted a few people out.

I will be at the MoCCA arts festival in new york at table A43 if anyone heading along to that would like to bug me with questions in person. I've started working on the cover design. I'm going to silkscreen it and will hopefully post a step by step of the process.

It has just gone 3am, I just put together 50 mini comics, my clothes aren't drying fully for some odd reason, and I have to leave at 8am to head to Bristol for the annual Bristol comics expo. I don't have a table number or a copy of the floor plan to post but my table is somewhere in the main hall. I'm sharing the space with the lovely Alan [and I think maybe Ian as well I'm not too sure] of Sancho fame and should be next to or very close to the also lovely Mal and the fallen angel crew. Think of it as a game to come track me down and buy some comics or even better trade!

This is just a quick anthology update to let everyone know there is now exactly 3 months left till the August 08th deadline for submissions. I added a little countdown ticker on my computer so I could keep track :) Click on the banner above to get all the submission information. I'm going to change the date of the original journal post so it appears at the top of this journal until after the deadline date.

No this is not some harry potter fan art, there's a fun meme going round LJ via davario who asked people to draw themselves as a teenager. Well I went to boarding school so pretty much wore my school uniform 6 days a week 9 months out of the year. A few people have drawn their teenage selves and how they currently look - if I have some time I might add current me, thou you can check out my niffty new LJ userpic to see current me [in pixel forum] made for me by the lovely tanukitsune


I made it back from stumptown in one piece - fantastic show which I will do a write up about later - I pretty much sold out of my new mini comic and now I'm franticly making more for the Bristol comic expo this coming weekend.

I love getting mail, not email [thou I do kinda like getting those too], but actual physical mail. Check out this fantastic postcard I got from my friend Griffin. He and his lovely girlfriend Ava, who run the Love Bound Train, were in Japan for a few weeks so keep an eye on their site for some great photos from the trip.





This is the first proper bit of mail I've got for my new house, ie mail that isn't either a bill or junk. I'm going to be cheeky and ask Anyone else want to send me a postcard with a doodle on it? Email [cliodhnaATztoicalDOTcom] or comment with your email and I'll send you my address.

The annual Stumptown Comics Fest will be happening this Saturday and Sunday in the lovely city of Portland, OR. I was at the '06 event and loved every minute of it so looking forward to heading over again. I will be at table number 129 and I should be easy to spot as I'll be the very jet lagged irish girl. I'll have all my usually stuff [mini comics, prints, buttons] and hopefully a few copies of the wonderful "Mr Amperduke" by the super talented Bob Byrne, if I can get time to collect them before I fly out and some copies of the Comic Creator Guild's anthology.

I was reading back over my last few posts and noticed I went from mentioning waiting to move house to having moved without really saying anything about my house. I posted ages ago, back before Xmas, that I was buying a house and I would be moving in January - I'd packed up my stuff at the start of January and then waited...and waited....and waited....and finally in the middle of March [MARCH!] I got a call saying the keys were waiting for me to collect. I had some job moving heavy things like my etching press and drawing table on my own and with only a tiny nissan micra but I got everything moved and now I'm all set up in my new house and it's my house - its such a weird feeling, but a nice feeling.

Now saying I'm all set up is a tiny exaggeration as there's still loads of boxes that need unpacking and I haven't even gone near all the stuff I've had in storage since I moved back from New York. I'm using the largest bedroom as a studio as it has a pretty decent size en suite bathroom that I can cover up the window on and as a wash room for my printmaking. There's a carpet in it that needs to come up [who the hell puts carpet in a bathroom??] and something pretty decent needs to go down on the floor as I hope to set up an acid bath for making new etchings. I've my drawing desk and iMac set up but everything else is just dumped on the floor and currently I can't find half my stuff - I've four rulers and right now I can't find any of them. But its getting there, slowly but surely stuff will get put somewhere.

Yesterday jabberworks posted on her LJ asking people for photos of their work space - after an hour long hunt, for first my camera and then the lead to connect it to my computer, I took a photo of my drawing desk and then kept going taking pictures of various bits of my house.
( warning lots of photos )

Great news I've started to get artwork in my inbox for the book, wow actually artwork makes this feel so real now! Thanks to everyone for their support for this project so far.

I've had a few emails asking for clarification of some of the submission information so I thought it best to post them here for everyone in case anyone else has been wondering. I will also update my original Anthology post [click the banner above to go to it] I've added all the information to a web page but feel its best to use the original Livejournal entry for another while as its easy for people to leave a comment on it even if they don't have an LJ account.

( Some questions answered )

Please keep all the questions and comments coming - feel free to comment here or email me cliodhnaATztoicalDOTcom - just remember to put Comic Anthology in the email subject or else my spam filter might eat it.
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After this post I'm going to try and keep all the Anthology related posts separate. I'll try and make it clear in the subject header and tag all posts that are anthology related. I've had my broadband back since late thursday but I've been getting ready to teach some animation workshops and unpacking. The house is looking really good even with only half my stuff unpacked. I put up a load of framed prints on the walls and that made a huge difference. I'm going to wait till I get some more stuff unpacked before posting pictures.

For at least the next week I'm stuck with a very slow dial up net connection. I finally moved into my new house and its great, or will be when I get everything un-packed, but I have to wait for my broadband to be moved over from my last address. I will post about my weekend in London and the Thing plus about new house, anthology updates and whatever else I can think once I get a better connection. So if you need to reach me I am around but will be slow in getting back to you.

My con plans kept getting all mushed around over the last week so I've wiped the last post and started fresh.

This weekend I will in London for the annual Thing small press show.


I'll be at table 69 so make sure to stop by and say hi. Myself and a few other exhibitors are heading for food friday night [near mile end] and anyone who wants to is welcome to join us comment here or email me plus there's the big post con gathering at the nearby Wetherspoon - stop by my table as I've made up flyers with all the info.

April and its 20+ hours of travel time to get to the annual Stumptown Comics Festival - moved from september/october to April this year. I was at the '06 show and had such a blast so really looking forward to this years.



Shortly after that its May and the Bristol International Comics Expol. No table number yet but my table is somewhere in the main hall and near the Fallen Angel table. Big thanks to Mike and co. from the Bristol con who've been so helpful- looking forward to a great show. Update for this show - I will be joined at the table by the wonderful Alan Nolan
of Sancho fame.

Then it's June and we're back at the Puck building for another MoCCA Arts Fest. Phew, still Caption and SPX to fit in as well but these will keep me going for now.

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Just a reminder of the call for submissions for my GOAL Charity anthology. The support so far has been just fantastic and I'm really looking forward to putting this book together.

The '08 con season starts [for me at least] on the 22nd of this month with the Thing in London so I'm getting to work printing up mini comics and getting some new buttons made up. Anyone attending either as an exhibitor or just to browse and shop should stop by table 69 for free buttons!* Also there's a curry meet up the friday night and a post con meet up to talk comics on the saturday so no excuse not to come along and have a blast.

Here's my new fish buttons:


I've got a big post about a very personal project that I'll be posting about at the end of the week. I know a few people reading this already know but there's some details that need ironing out before I make a big public post.

*by buttons I mean badges. Picked up the habit of saying buttons in the states and it has caused confusion on this side of the pond.

Three of my comics will be on display at the upcoming Liveline: Comics show. Its a group show featuring a selection of British [and Irish too cus I'm in it :)] small press comics and original comic art and will be running from the 1st of March to the 12th of April at the Riverside Gallery [http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/leisure_and_culture/arts/riverside_gallery.htm] Admission is free so if your in the area make sure to drop in.



I had this idea for a wrap around cover with dye cut section that worked in my head but wasn't sure if it was actually going to work. After alot of fiddling around I got the result I was looking for. The above image has two folds and the end cake will be a cut out effect - will post some pics of the assembled mini later in the week that might be easier then trying to explain.





a banner in support of fellow illustrator and comics person Jess Fink finkenstein who just got her work badly ripped off by a design company. You can read about it here (angry illustrators, some strong language).

Bob Byrne, the McDaddy of the Irish comics scene, has recently finished his long anticipated Graphic Novel "Mr. Amperduke" and will holding a launch party on Febuary 14th in Dublin [check Bob's blog for all the details and directions http://clamnuts.com/rants/]

If you can't make it to Dublin for the 14th, have no fear you will soon be able to order your copy of the 160 page book via Bob's website [http://clamnuts.com]and you'll not only get a signed copy but also an original panel from the book [Ooooooo]. The book is priced at 15 euro [will check with Bob what the dollar price tag is] and worth every penny.

Just a quick post today:

I'm going to be showing some work at the Expose yourself Gallery run by the Irish Craft association at Dun Laoghaire Shopping Center for a week starting tomorrow.

I finally got round to joining a gym in Kilkenny. I was going to one in Dublin before moving here but I never got round to joining one in Kilkenny as I didn't know how long I'd be staying round. Didn't fancy paying for a years membership if I wasn't going to get the use out of it, but seeing as I'm buying a house here I figured I could justify the gym fees. Since september and my dad passing away my fitness level just took a total noise dive, I'd been pretty good up till then even without gym access, walking alot and hitting the local pool pretty much ever night but for the past four months I've eaten badly, stopped sleeping, and not really done any exercise worth mentioning.

So off to the gym I wandered this morning, thinking today would be easy as I was just getting a tour of the place and shown how to use the equipment but o no, Michael the lovely *cough*evil gym instructor, worked my ass off. I was so happy there was a pool to fall into after the work out and a sauna to slowly cook in. My arms are killing me right now but have to go back and do it all again in the morning...oy vey!

Right now I'm sorting out flights to Portland in April for the stumptown comics festival. I attended the '06 event and had a blast so really looking forward to this years and I get to head up to seattle afterwards and vist some SVA peeps I haven't seen in ages. Can't wait!

I will be showing a selection of silkscreens and handmade books at the AMO show next weekend. Show is on in Filmbase and there will be an opening friday from 7 to 9 and the show will run on saturday from 10 to 5. The show in December was great, with a great selection of art on display so well worth popping in if your in the area.

Before I write anything else can I give a big shout out to everyone who came to the AMO gallery opening earlier this month. Many thanks to Ger, Connla, and my fellow ex-salooners for coming along. It was a really nice show with a great selection of art on display. I sold well which is always nice to say and hopfully I'll have a couple more shows coming up in '08.

( Stolen from a ton of other journals the new years meme.... )

After nearly 7 months waiting I've finally got a date for my driving test - second week in January! Woohoo.

For the non-irish we have a really stupid system here thats backlogged like you wouldn't believe and in some parts of the country there's a waiting time of up to a year for a driving test. The RSA told me in kilkenny it would be 18 weeks - yeah right.

Everyone I know whose taken the test in Kilkenny has failed the first time [and a couple have a failed it twice] so not good odds, but I'm going to be positive. I don't think I'm the worlds greatest driver but I'm a hell of alot better then some of the full license holders on the roads. I've little interest in driving and cars outside of watching Top Gear but its handy to have a full license and I'd like to get the test out of the way.

Right so the exhibition that was moved from November is on Saturday week [15h] at Filmbase [across from temple bar music center] Its a one day cash and carry show, with work from 8 artists, and there will be an opening [cheese and wine type thing] on the friday [14th] from 7 to 9. I have 14 pieces framed and ready to hang - 10 etchings and 4 silkscreens - and maybe a mini comic if I can work out the cover issues by this day next week. I've been told the show got a good plug in Hot Press but I haven't been able to track down the issue yet so have no clue what was said. Looking forward to the show as I haven't done a gallery show in awhile [the one in London doesn't count as I only posted over my work]

Come along, have some cheese and look at some art - if you don't like mine there's 7 others to choose from.

The last of the mortgage paperwork is done [I think, buying a house is complicated] so I should be able to move sometime in January.