Back in San Diego. ( Well, for 2 weeks )

Finally made it back to the studio with a whole bunch of work to do despite finishing a bunch on the road. I can finally upload a whole swag of pictures of my travels too. Had a great time since my last bloggings obviously. New York and London were a blast. I didn't even get bird, swine or regular bland flu.

But before then, I just put up that wolverine painting I previously did on ebay, not for me but to help cover a friends US health care expenses ( yes, they charge you mega bucks when even something small needs treating and you're not able to pay wads of cash to bloated corrupt insurance corporations profiting off your well being, go figure. It'd be rather quaint by the rest of the western world's standards if it wasn't so horrific, ) So yeah, this one is for a worthy cause and you'd be not only getting a piece of art ( it's at least half decent I reckon ) but you'd be helping out a delightful young lady into the bargain. It's just a shame it comes to things like this.

More stuff later, including shortly, a whole bunch on CHOKER, which will be coming out this February and I'm deep into working on right now.

Next stop, London

Are you in London? My next convention appearance will be my second time at the rather grand, MCM Expo, this October 24th and 25th. Come on down. I'll be there on the con floor hopefully full time, both days and yes, I'll be doing commissions and have some original art and prints to flog if you're so inclined.

Yup, I do full on painted watercolour commissions, anything you like ( well almost ) with the exchange rate the way it is these days, for £90 for small ( A4 size ) and £150 for large ( The US version of A3 ) with time given, I won't be able to get too too many so you might want to reserve a spot. ( You can always email ahead of time: contact@templesmitharts.com )

Of course, if you just have books or stuff to sign, I happily do quick sketches for free. I'll be at table C25.

This should be the floor plan below, showing exactly where you can find me amongst some of the royalty, nay, the ubermensch of British comics. ( ok maybe that's going a bit far but you get the idea. )



Not only that, but I'll be doing some specific signings in the main area with frequent partner in crime/friendly email naggerer of Wasteland covers I am always late on... Antony Johnston. Saturday: 12pm-12:20pm and Sunday 3:40pm-4pm

And if you miss me in London, I'll be back extensively next month, in Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and again London for a couple special things.You'll be bloody sick of me soon.£

Sadly, I think my camera kicked the bucket in Brazil, though I took a bunch on my iPhone, I've yet to get a proper cable to connect to the laptop ( I forgot to bring my charger/connector on my travels damn it, ) so the last pics will have to wait awhile. Had an amazing time and definitely want to go back. Felt a lot like a French festival, with it's openness and community support. Great stuff.

Lastly, here's my version of that Wolverine you might remember I posted up as line art a few weeks ago. I'm probably going to ebay the original painted version ( and a colour artproof I'm sure ) next week to help raise money for, what else, to help a friend out with yet another insanely stupid American health insurance bill because their system is horribly broken. So look out for it next week when I give a plug to a worthy cause. ( And if you're in the US, do yourself a favour and never vote for politicians who support anything but some form of strong viable public option for all, it's what the rest of the civilized world has and it works. ) You should never have to worry about bills just because you're sick. Just worry about getting better.

And thanks to everyone who took a stab at colouring the basic linework for the image I put up too! Some amazing talents who showed me or posted their work. Cheers guys.



Ahem.

Now back to work.

Harvey Pekar

Last week I got asked to contribute to a big birthday present for Harvey Pekar. Part of 70 portraits by artists to help celebrate his 70th birthday. ( See them all here ) . Had a lot of fun with this one as I just hacked into it. Happy birfday sir. Happy birfday!

Brazil Pics Part 1

Well, I made it to Brazil, Belo Horizonte in fact, for FIQ a big comics festival here, though my luggage got lost and I've still not got it back...hopefully soon! I think my camera might be broken so these may be the only pics, apart from my iphone if I can get a charger...which I forgot to bring.





My art takes up two walls. This here is the unfinished presentation, before FIQ opens.







Before FIQ opens...











An astounding amount of brilliant art here. From all over the world.

Brazil, the UK & Beyond

I had a big long blog post almost written out before I accidentally hit a damn browser tab and lost it all.



Suffice to say, I'll be traveling the globe the next two months and going to quite a few places. ( And sadly I have to work on deadlines while doing it too ). My bloggings may be a bit sporadic for the duration, since I probably won't have net and will be out doing things half the time but I'll try to post as much as I can.

Check my main site ( link below) in the appearance section for all the details ( No really, you check my main site don't you? It has all sorts of stuff and useful info on it besides these updates you might see elsewhere, ) but basically, I'll be down in Belo Horizonte, Brazil for FIQ, the MCM Expo in London, visiting a few people around the world then back to the UK for signings for Traveling Man in Manchester, Newcastle, the Leeds Though Bubble festival and a Comica talk with Philip Ridley, as well as a screening of his latest film HEARTLESS and a signing for the boys over at London's Orbital Comics before finally staying in one place for more than a week.

Oh and if anyone knows how to get into the back archives of the British Museum of Natural history for a tour or something, let me know. I want to see the Colossal Squid and babies in jars and such!

In case you didn't know, depending on where you read my rantings, they basically get posted to my main website all the time, I just cross post to a bunch of other places. Sometimes I even post different things at some of them. I've recently expanded the number of sites you can find me on, because I guess I'm insane or care about being accessible or something, so here's the new list of places I have a presence:

My main site: Templesmith.com
Me on Blogspot
Me on Facebook
Me on Deviantart
Me on Cafepress
Me on Livejournal
Me on Tumblr
Me on Flickr
Me on Comicvine
Me on Myspace
Me on Suicidegirls
Me on Twitter

Oh and the image? A quickie for a thing for Thought Bubble but also the beginnings of a new project for next year...