For those of you based in Derbyshire you can now buy my original drawings at Cape & Cowl Comics in Derby. [link] The picture below shows the drawings currently on offer framed behind the counter, you should be able to see some of my comics on the counter too.



Here's those pieces close up. The Cowboy drawing is obscured by the Ford Timelord picture and is fact a whole A3 portrait piece. As you can see I'm only selling pin up drawings right now as I tend to need the actual comics pages I produce for portfolio samples and occasionally to rescan for reprints etc. Price are 75 for B/W's and 100 for colour. That may seem steep but it takes me weeks to make these in my spare time.



While I was at Cape & Cowl the owner Martin let me take pictures of all the other art he had on the walls that had been produced by local comics artists. I don't think any of it is for sale but it's work that deserves exposure none the less. I don't feel there's a bad piece here and is thus worth checking out.

Well, I've finally set up a Paypal account after years of only selling stuff directly at conventions or sporadically through a handful of comics shops. So if you've ever wanted to buy one of my comics but never had the chance or even if you've lost your old copies then just message me and I can send a copy your way for only a few quid plus £1 P+P.

Better still if you see any pieces on my DA account and are interested in buying the originals I can now arrange that too!

[link]

Titles include:



The Yorkshire Cowboy Poster Promo comic at £2



The final issue of Fecal Depot 3 for £2.50



And Fecal Depot 2 for £3 (only a few copies left of the second print run).

Leeds could be best summed up with this:



Next year I'll have been doing cons for 10 years and several of those have been with Claude. [link] Here we are in our difficult "too many years on tour phase", waiting for our works to fall back into fashion as either ironic pop culture or desperately hoping we're discovered by a new generation of readers who actually have money on them this time.

Despite this we were ably assisted by Dev who sorted us out for food and drinks, dragged customers to our tables and even tweeted to the world about our table.



On a more positive note my new comic The Yorkshire Cowboy [link] got off to a decent start, the preview poster comic shifting a couple of dozen and outselling everything else I had on sale. Better still I was able to give a copy to John Wagner, the creator of Judge Dredd and even sell some copies wholesale to OK Comics in Leeds [link]

Kate Coope, who helped letter The Yorkshire Cowboy, popped by to claim here free copy. [link] She recently did art assistance on Girl & Boy which was nominated for a National Comic Award [link]



I even got to see mates I haven't seen in years including Joe and Nick. I forced Joe to pose for this staged photo which was taken long after he'd actually bought the comic.



I even managed to sell comics to total strangers! This lady even asked for a sketch (which I totally ballsed up)



General consensus? I need to get The Yorkshire Cowboy issue 1 out next year!

Cheers & Lovely,

Aaron "Smurf" Murphy

Aloha,

As always I'll be going to the Leeds Thought Bubble Comics Festival this year. [link] which'll be in 3 weeks time at the very recently renamed New Dock Hall. I'll be there along with Claude TC! [link]

I'll be selling copies of Fecal Depot 2 & 3, the Thought Bubble mini comic and this:



The Yorkshire Cowboy Poster Comic Preview!

I may have to shorten that title somewhat but that's essentially what it is. A glossy A2 double sided poster that folds down into an A5 preview comic featuring pages, designs, roughs and breakdowns for my new comic The Yorkshire Cowboy. Featuring some fine lettering from Kate Coope [link] there's only a 150 copies going to print at £2 a pop. And at that price I'm breaking even on every copy sold!

See you in Leeds!

Cheers & Lovely

Aaron "Smurf" Murphy

So this Saturday I thought I'd take a break from working in the Financial Services Industry and go here: [link]

In fact I'm going one further and sharing a table with Claude TC [link] We'll be selling comics, loads of them, to you!

I'll have comics old and new, odds and sods and original pages to sell. There'll even be pages of my new comic The Yorkshire Cowboy on show which is looking like this: [link]

I realise as always I've made this short notice and my planning is poor but I'm genuinely looking forward to finaly going to a Comica event after years of making excuses.

Also: try out these other fine exhibitors:

[link]
[link]
[link]

Right sod this, that's all the excitement I can manage at this time of night - I'm off to bed.

Cheers & Lovely,

Aaron "Smurf" Murphy

I'll be at the Leeds Thought Bubble Comics Convention at Saville Hall this weekend [link] and co running a table with Claude of Gronk Comics [link] We've both got piles of stuff to sell and I've even got a new comic out called Fecal Depot 3. The cover looks like this: [link]

I'll also be selling older comics and posters and probably cranking out sketch's too.

This is the only convention I'm selling at this year so I'm really looking forward to seeing people and catching up with anyone I met at Comic Launchpad back in June!

Hope to see you there!

Cheers & lovely,

Aaron "Smurf" Murphy

Well Comic Launchpad went well. There was an after show networking event with free ale on tap and curry & chips that was thoroughly appreciated. More importantly though I got to see seminars by Diamond UK, Markosia and hang around with the Burgess Twins [link] and [link]

I also met a guy called Jon Lock. He writes & seemed pretty cool, in fact, check out his stuff here: [link]

That Super Secret Paid Gig I mentioned last time> Well that was this:

[link]

[link]

Best 3 working days of my life. I got hired by my old school to go in and teach 12-14's old how to paint on walls from the ground up. I worked with dozens of kids of various skill levels and was actively encouraging them to go at the walls with paint markers, graphite and acrylics! The results are the two walls you see above. I supervised and tidied up the edges but this is mostly the students work - I'm well chuffed. Cheers and lovely to Belper School for giving me the work!

I used some of the money to go up to Yorkshire and hang around with Chris Garside [link] who's just recently won Channel 4's Summer Grafitti Festival. We sat in his front garden and (in the spirit o the KLF) set fire to the majority of the artwork we'd both produced in the last 5 years on a sunny afternoon in August. It was something we'd had on the cards for a while and needed to be done, in fact I need to see if Chris has any photo's - it was a big fire.

Since then I just finished a 3 page strip called "The Girl Who Loved Slaughter". It's in my DA gallery. It's the last strip to go into Fecal Depot 3 which now only needs a cover and at last be finished after 3 years of mucking about.

Which reminds me, I'll be at the Leeds Thought Bubble in November sharing a table with Claude. [link] Please come, we seriously need the money

Cheers & lovely,

Aaron "Smurf" Murphy

Just a quick update for those who maybe interested, I'm a delegate at this weekends Comic Launchpad event in Birmingham [link] It's ran by Shane Chebsey who also runs the Birmingham International Comics Show and is designed to be a networking and workshops event for upcoming comic artists.

Two of my old mates from college Sarah and Bex Burgess are also going so it'll be cool to catch up and swap art samples. Theres also portfolio reviews with editors and frankly it's been a few years since i've had a review at all so that'll be interesting to say the least. I'm also looking forward to meeting new artists and writers too!

I'm just about 2/3rds through pencilling a comic that's essentially a period costume drama with guns and knives. I'll upload a sample panel of the pencils to my DA accounts Scrap folder within the week!

Not only that but there's a super secret paid gig in the pipeline that'll get sorted in the next few weeks too.

Cheers and lovely,

Aaron "Smurf" Murphy

So bad at keeping up to date with drawing however...

Just finished my two pages for George Beedham's The Mighty Jambo

[link] which should  be going up in the next few weeks but if you're really in a rush you can check them out here: [link]

Speaking of comics I've done at one point or another 365 Zines A Year have reviewed the promo comic I did for the Leeds Thought Bubble ages ago. It's fair, even handed and can be read here: [link]

Recently finished a 4 pager about Space Dinosaurs for Richy K Chandler too. That won't be going online for a while though as it still needs lettering (and possibly colouring) but in the mean time check out Richy's stuff at his Tempo Lush site [link]

While i'm at it, i'm currently only lined up for one convention this year and that's the Leeds Thought Bubble. I'll be sharing with Claude again because he's the fucking don of poor taste comics. [link]

Finally, I've got a few things on my to do list drawn now and can make room for a few paid jobs between comics if anyone's interested? In fact if I agreed to draw something for you in exchange for cash at somepoint and it did'nt get sorted give us a kick up the arse - it could very well be on my to do list and therefore need drawing out!

Cheers and lovely,

Aaron

Right then, I'm off to the Leeds Thought Bubble tomorrow. I'm sharing a table with Camden Comics Craftsman, Claude TC [link] and will be selling a variety of my old comics, posters and stickers at half price. It's generally a clear out of all my end of print runs to make way for a clean slate of comics and posters next year.

The only thing that'll get reprinted out of the old stuff will be the DerbyZilla poster as people still seem to be all over it (but I'll probably rescan it and get the levels right if that ever happens) Well, that and hopefully a cheap b/w collection of all the Fecal Depot stuff once I FINALLY get 3 finished next year.

I'm pretty nervous as I've been out of the comics loop for the best part of a year. The only other con I've done this year was the 'Thing back in March. My sincerest thanks to the likes of Claude, Chris Garside, Kate Coope, George Beedham and Richy K Chandler for being patient and supportive while I've gotten back into the groove of enjoying drawing again.

It's going to be cool to see a whole bunch of people in comics that I haven't seen in too damn long.

Cheers & Lovely,
Aaron "Smurf" Murphy
Between Northern Hills
19/11/10

It's that time of year again when various comics artists from across the land descend upon Queen Mary Uni in Mile End London for the 7th annual 'Thing. [link] I'll be at table 23 and sharing with George Beedham of Not Regret studio's - home of the Mighty Jambo! [link] Jambo issue 4 will be on sale along with a new batch of T-shirts and various other bits and bobs.

Meanwhile I'll be selling all kinds of stuff including a new poster based on the Samurai Helmet I designed for Derby Manga emporium Tokyo Otaku and it's yearly convention J-Culture Con. [link] It's an A3 poster on matt card and going for just £2 a poster with a very limited print run. I'll also be selling all the usual older posters too at the same price.

[link]

There's stickers on offer too, with my newest batch being the Pub +Breakfast Gang sticker. These stickers are perfect for those who spend too much of their life in the pub and wish to celebrate in a way only homemade arts and crafts can provide. I'll be selling them on sheets of 6 for just 40p each. That's like a 1/5 of the value of the average pint or something!

[link]

Finally, I've excess stock of the Leeds Thought Buble flier comic I made last year. These are single A3 sheet comics folded into a handy A4 tale and going for only 20p each. They're even in outline black and white so you can have a go at colouring it in or something. Hell, the best attempt handed in to me on the day can win a prize or something.

[link]

I'll also be selling final stock of my earlier comics Fecal Depot 1 and 2 before they both go out of print again. There probably won't be a third edition of either of those until I FINALLY get number 3 nailed (only 10 pages done after starting 18 months ago) so if you want them, now's the time to get them.

Right, time to pack up all my gear and head to London.

Cheers and lovely,

Aaron "Smurf" Murphy
Between Hills
26/03/10

Wow. July, was the last update really in July?

Anyway, since then I lost all my money, spent a brief time of my life unemployed on the non paying dole and losing my house which was about as fun as it sounds. Deciding this was basically a crap lifestyle choice I left Swindon forever, came back to Derbyshire and gained a job, a recent birthday, reunited friendships and the vague realiasation that I should probably give this comics business another go after an almost year long sabbatical from drawing.

In fact, a very quick cheers and lovely to anyone who came to see me, Kate Coope, Chris Garside and Helen McCarthy at J-Culture Con  last month. Your support and warmth was much appreciated by us all even if we could'nt figure who many of you had come dressed as.

Following on from that I'll be at the 3rd annual Leeds Thought Bubble Festival this weekend at Saville Hall. I'll be sharing a table with Claude TC [link] and hopefully be next door to Chris Garside. I'm looking forward to anyone who pops by my stall.

Just to end off I realised today that I've 404 unviewed pieces and 106 messages to get through. If you're responsible for any of these then I apologise. It's a 4 month backlog that I'll start getting through on monday with the aim of replying to everyone who took the time out to give my work a try.

Bit of a change in pace this time around by promoting a show I'm not actually going to! Long story short I was supposed to attend and man a table at the Alternative Press Fair ([link] but due to family and friend commitments I've since had to pull out. Unfortunately I only got around to emailing the main organiser, Peter Lally (contributer to The Bedsit Journal: [link], tonight due to my usual shitty time management and poor memory skills.

Anywhoo, the Alternative Press Fair is an extremely worthwhile show to try out and is itself only part of a series of events taking place in London between the 29th of and 2nd of August. These events include talks, books launches and even doodle collaborations, the details for all of these can be found at the APF link above or on Jimi Gherkins blog ([link] They've even got a Facebook group: [link]

As for the Fair itself, that runs on the 2nd of August and promises in the region of 80 exhibitors and is utterly free to visit, running from 11am to 7pm at:

St Aloysius Social Club
20 Phoenix road
London
NW1 1TA

And for those travelling by tube the nearest stop is Euston.

Cheers and lovely,
Aaron "Smurf" Murphy
Cleaning Out Hills
21/07/09

As always, last minute notice but as I type this from a ground floor Waterloo flat and  hit the ground running this weekend hopefully all will be forgiven. Anywhoo...

This saturday is London Underground Comics 176 show  [link]

I'm sharing a four man table with comics compadre Claude TC [link] aswell as Tilly, [link] Howard Hardiman [link] We'll all be at table 7 selling various comics and other gear. In fact I'll be selling:

Fecal Depot 1 - second printing
Fecal Depot 2 - second printing
Penelope's Far -Out -Mantic: Sarah Burgess
Lonesome Jim: Joseph J Morgan

The show runs from midday till 6pm at the 176 Gallery in Chalk Farm, north of Camden and is free to all visitors!

The adress is here:
Project Space 176
Prince of Wales Road
London
NW5 3PT

Cheers, lovely and see you there!
Aaron "Smurf" Murphy
Up A Waterloo Hill
26/06/09

Ah, April... Yeah. Sort of forgot to update there. Well, getting back on track the UK Web Comix Thing went well as I ended up sharing table duties with friends Chris Garside [link] and Glen Jacobs. Not only that but I had the talented likes of [link] to my left and the lads of [link] and [link] to my right.

Since then there's been family birthdays, a wedding, moving house, travelling, looking for work and leaving college. Not only that but I'm currently working on a comic to promote this: [link] 3 pager that'll take me an age and probably have Batman in it. Add to this a couple of commissions and you can start to see how I've fell behind on updating once again - hopefully this'll get me back to the regular monthly pattern.

Actually while I'm at it plans are afoot to turn this into a limited A3 print: [link]"

After the success of releasing the Thing 09 flyer [link] as a print (it completely sold out!) I'll be selling this design only at J-Culture Con [link] and on a limited print run of just 10 copies. It's proven a pretty popular image so far so hopefully it'll shift. The con's not until Oct 17th ofcourse but if it's anything like last years show (then called ChibiCon) tickets'll shift pretty quickly closer to the day so pop in Tokyo Otaku [link] and claim yours now to avoid disapointment later.

And to cap it off... You can now buy my comics Fecal Depot 1 and 2 from more comics shops than ever before, check below for the list of current stockists.  

NEW Stockists:


Orbital Comics & Collectibles
8 Great Newport Street,
London, England
WC2H 7JA
0207 240 0591
[link]

Abstract Sprocket
29 St Benedicts Street, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 4PF, UK
t: +44 (0)1603 624410, f: +44 (0)1603 624410
[link]

Exsisting Stockists:

GOSH!
39 Great Russell Street
London
WC1B 3NZ
[link]

American Dream Comics:
72 Walcot Street
Bath
Avon
BA1 5BD
[link]

Swin City Comics:
28 Morley Street
Swindon
Wiltshire
SN1 1SG
[link]

Tokyo Otaku:
Unit B7
The Market Hall,
Derby,
UK
DE12DB
[link]

Proud Lion:
40 Albion Street
Cheltenham
Glos
GL52 2RQ
[link]

Cheers and lovely,
Aaron "Smurf" Murphy
Up A Wiltshire Hill
20/05/09

Well people, it's that time of year again! This saturday will be the 6th UK Web & Mini Comix Thing at Queen Mary Uni, Mile End, London. [link] There's something in the region of 100 exhibitors this year including the likes of [link] , [link] and [link] so there should be some decent variety for anyone planning to come down. Tickets are £4 quid on the door and the nearest tube stations are Stepney Green and Mile End.

Because my table partners TwoSidesWide [link] have had to pull out due to being in the process of moving house (good luck!) I'll be running a table by myself this year. I'll be selling a variety of comics, stickers, stencils, posters and this new and limited print:



Only 5 copies of this A3 print will be avaliable and on sale for one day only at the price of £2.50 each. On top of that I'll also be selling half price copies of Chris Garside's The Girl Who Cried Wolf. You can see some of Chris's work here: [link]

Those of you coming down to London for the day might also want to have a look round table 34. It's being run by some mates from college that include [link] , [link] and [link]

If anyone can make it down that'd be great and I'll look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers and lovely,
Aaron "Smurf" Murphy
Traversing Hills
26/03/09

Last minute thing as I once again spend all my time doing word of mouth promotion before remembering the tools of the internet...

No tricks! No Gimmicks! Tokyo Otaku in Derby are delighted to host a real old fashioned book signing! this Saturday for one whole day store owner Wil Long will be setting up a table for me in store to run all the way till closing time. Situated on the first floor of Derby's Guild Hall market the venue is small, friendly and in the centre of the city.

I'll be selling and signing the newly launched reprints of Fecal Depot 1 which sold out last year along with issue 2, various prints, stickers and original pieces. Not only that but there'll be free sketches with any purchase. If you want you can even bring your own work along to take a gander at or even trade!

What's more, being a signing event it's completely and utterly free to attend!

For more information on Tokyo Otaku you can try:

Web: [link]

E-mail: tokyo.otaku@yahoo.co.uk

Telephone: 07737722796

And if you're not local to Derbysgire you can get directions to the shop here:

[link]

Hope to see you there, cheers and lovely,

Aaron "Smurf" Murphy

Blimey, 11 weeks since the last update? That's pretty poor even for me. For the record Leeds Thought Bubble back in November went well and me & Chris ([link] shifted about 60 quids worth of stuff.

Since then I had a something of a sabbatical. Frustration with finances, career, limitations in drawing ability and constant convention touring along with college work had ground me down. Or to put it another way: last year I put out 2 comics, had 3 jobs, did about 8 conventions, was a guest/trader at 5 of those aswell as doing more freelance work than ever before and graduated from a HND.

Frankly, I was burnt out.

However, since last week I've started putting pen to paper again for the first time in 2 months and started getting the work out again. New work has already been posted up on my DA account for you all to see.

This year won't be as hectic as last year purely because I can't afford to keep running all over the country like a silly bugger with a sack of comics on my back. That said though I can confirm that Fecal Depot #3 is in the works and will also be the last Fecal Depot when it's released.

There's some other developments as well but they'll get announced when everything's confirmed, the printers have cooled and the papers signed.

Cheers, lovely and stay lucky!

Aaron "Smurf" Murphy
31/01/09
Plotting On Hills

Evenin'.

Just a quick update before I get all the final details sorted for my and Chris Garside's ([link] appearence at the The Leeds Thought Bubble ([link] sorted.

Out of the original 75 copy print of Fecal Depot 2 I've only got about 30 left. I'll be bringing that with me to Thought Bubble so I should be fine for this weekend but in the run upto Christmas stock maybe become limited. That's not bad considering they came out in the last week of August and I've had a part time job and full time college between then and now.

For those who don't remember what Fecal Depot looks like it's basically this:

[link]

In fact, whilst I'm at - here's all the comic shops in the UK who currently sell Fecal Depot 2 (some even had very limited supplies of issue 1 as late as September). As far as I know they all have current copies except Tokyo Otaku who I'll be dropping off a new batch to within the next week. The shops are labeled as new stockists and exsisting stockists according:

NEW SHOPS!

GOSH!
39 Great Russell Street
London
WC1B 3NZ
[link]

American Dream Comics:
72 Walcot Street
Bath
Avon
BA1 5BD
[link]

EXISTING SELLERS!

Swin City Comics:
28 Morley Street
Swindon
Wiltshire
SN1 1SG
[link]

Tokyo Otaku:
Unit B7
The Market Hall,
Derby,
UK
DE12DB
[link]

Proud Lion:
40 Albion Street
Cheltenham
Glos
GL52 2RQ
[link]

More before Friday on the state of the Leeds Thought Bubble appearence!

Cheers And Lovely,
Aaron "Smurf" Murphy
Counting On The Hill
10/11/08

Once again a bit late in the day and admittedly this news may only be of interest to people based in Swindon or Wiltshire... Swindon has it's own listings mag called Frequency ([link] that's run by Steve Causer who owns the local comics shop Swin City ([link]. It's free and comes out monthly, getting distributed all over the pubs, clubs, shops and galleries of Swindon. Because it's ran by a man who prints comics and owns a comics shop you can imagine that they regulary have articles on the local comics scene and artists involved.

Which is where I come in.

[link]

Octobers issue of Frequency features an article on Swin City's Comic Book Development Night that it runs on the last Wednesday of each month. It's written by regular group member, poet and script writer Russel Harrold (annoyingly, I don't have a website link for him) and generally promotes the group activities and aims. Not only that but it features some of the artwork I produced for the group as well as the work of fellow artist Rachel Sellens ([link]

The group is free to join and always looking for new talent. We all meet at Swin City at 6pm this Wednesday.

[link]

...And that's not all. I only just got reminded that my work was in August's issue of Frequency too. There artwork here was produced for local band Talk In Code ([link]

Hopefully there'll be some more updates in the build up to The Leeds Thought Bubble festival but until then,

Cheers and Lovely,
Aaron "Smurf" Murphy
Up The Hill
27/10/08