Marc Ellerby

Store stuff

2009-11-25T01:15:13Z

Still on wonky internet, so gonna make this quick...

You can now buy the second issue of CHLOE NOONAN: MONSTER HUNTER (preview here) and my new badge set ELLERBADGES (see above) from my webstore. Y'know, if you want (you should!)

Chloe Noonan 2

2009-11-19T23:17:47Z

Limited internet as we've just moved (and the neighbours should maybe lock their Wireless box or something...) but hey, just a quick update, so apologies if this isn't the best looking of blogs...

I'll be at the Thought Bubble comic festival this Saturday in Leeds. I'll be sharing a table with Adam Cadwell as always and I'll have my brand new comic Chloe Noonan #2 on sale.

Here's a preview of said issue!

This will hopefully go on sale online on Monday after the show, so check back then if you fancy buying a copy.

It's been a while Livejournal, how are you all?

Drawerings

2009-10-02T10:30:21Z

Just realised I've posted this call to arms everywhere but the ol' El Jay.

Hey, so my web comic Ellerbism reaches #200 on Monday, which is kinda exciting, right? To celebrate this “milestone” I’m looking to you, fellow arty types, friends, fans, to submit some content to make the week something to remember. What do I mean by content? Well it needs to be Ellerbisms related, but I’m thinking fan art, Ellerbism spoofs, your own strips influenced or similar to Ellerbisms, little essays, photos, whatever, that sorta thing.

If you want to submit something (anything) then send me a lovely e-mail (marclrb at gmail.com) and hopefully if I get enough I can have content on the site everyday for a week.

Thanks! :D

Commissions...

2009-09-22T11:41:35Z

Spider Jerusalem from the comic Transmetropolitan

Camila

Guybrush and LeChuck from the game Monkey Island

Andrew and pals

Richard Fell, from the comic Fell

Would you like an A5 drawing of a character or a real life person you totally love in my style? Prices start from £10 and you can email me at marclrb at gmail.com to set things up.

Back in stock

2009-08-10T12:51:49Z

So, yeah, Ellerbisms comics are back in stock. Head to http://www.marcellerby.com to buy.

More commissions

2009-07-27T07:43:28Z

(Click to enlarge)

Andrew requested I Ellerby-fy the cover to Easy Tiger by Ryan Adams.

Nicolas and family

Johnnie and Adam

Greg and his prized marrow

Would you like an A5 drawing of a character or a real life person you totally love in my style? Prices start at £10 and you can email me at marclrb at gmail.com to set things up.

Commission catch-ups...

2009-06-30T15:14:17Z

Andrew Miller - pitcher for the Florida Marlins

James & Bliue

Jim from The (american) Office

Would you like an A5 drawing of a character or a real life person you totally love in my style? It'll cost £10 and you can email me at marclrb at gmail.com to set things up. To see the ones so far, clicky!

Book situation

2009-06-19T08:57:22Z

If you're waiting for books from me, I'm really sorry for the delay in getting them out to you. It's been a nightmare recently getting books to people as since the start of the year I've been selling out of at least one of books every month. Which is great for me, but totally bad for my customers as delays are starting to occur due to the fact I keep having to go back to press.

I've also decided to stop producing the Ellerbisms myself as it's taking too much time and money to get them right. So, I gave the task to my local printer and this was the results...

Yep, they printed the covers in black and white and with a border. Clapity clap clap clap. The day before a convention, too. So, that didn't go work out so well. I'm now going with another printer although they're on holiday this week so hopefully they'll turn out nice and sexy. When will they get done? I dunno, hopefully next week though I'm getting proofs to make sure they do indeed turn out nice and sexy.

So yes, if you ordered anything after May 25th you are likely to be effected by this. The books are coming, no worries about that, it is just taking me slightly longer than normal in getting them out to people.

Thanks for the patience.

Hannah & Lia

2009-06-15T07:31:38Z

Another commission...

Would you like an A5 drawing of a character or a real life person you totally love in my style? It'll cost £10 and you can email me at marclrb at gmail.com to set things up. To see the ones so far, clicky!

Polar Opposites 2

2009-06-11T23:05:31Z

Ah, a couple of old favourites combined and coloured.

Chloe colour!

2009-06-09T09:23:26Z

~~This'll appear in Popgun 4 coming later this year from Image Comics.~~

Pffft. Not happening now. BALLS.

Colour help from the amazing Adam Cadwell. Gah, I know it's early showing this but I can't help myself, I'm so excited about it.

Abe

2009-06-08T07:06:28Z

Would you like an A5 drawing of a character or a real life person you totally love in my style? It'll cost £10 and you can email me at marclrb at gmail.com to set things up.

Polar Opposites

2009-06-05T08:41:44Z

So, yesterday's Ellerbism was possibly the darkest comic I've ever drawn and the next couple are going to be equally uncomfortable. In order for me and my audience to not go totally insane, I'm going to start uploading some new, unseen, Polar Opposite strips. "What's a Polar Opposite?" you say? Well, click here, young fellow to see two penguins being bloody LOL to one another.

Hope you enjoy! There'll be a new one every Friday!

I Went Away

2009-06-01T08:41:31Z

I've written and drawn a 14 page comic called "I Went Away" in the new Image anthology "This Is A Souvenir". The idea of the anthology is that the comics are based on songs by the band Spearmint and their songwriter Shirley Lee, much like their Tori Amos and Belle & Sebastian anthologies. The only thing is, not that many people have actually heard of Spearmint and I must admit to being one of them. I popped into Gosh yesterday and chatted to a clerk and they're all convinced that Spearmint don't actually exist and they're made up. Which, sounds like something Matt Sheret would put together - an anthology based on song lyrics by a band that doesn't actually exist.

Anyway, this stuff's kinda seven months old. To me, it looks dated already but to you it might still look Ellerby enough to be enjoyed. Regardless of which, there are some other people I quite like in there, like Chynna Glugston, Jamie S. Rich and (ugh) the Phonogram boys, so it is worth a look even if you don't know anything about the band.

Commissions

2009-05-27T07:20:27Z

(Hellboy)

(Hazel & Cha-Cha from The Umbrella Academy: Dallas)

Hey, so, at the MCM Expo just past, I drew some comic characters I really enjoy to see if I could get anyone to commission me into drawing something similar for them. No one took the bite, however I did sell both these drawings within 20 mins of putting them on Twitter last night. Which got me thinking, maybe there's other people out there who would want a Marc Ellerby version of one of their favourite characters/people/family members/etc.

So...

I will draw you a black and white illustration of your choice on A5 Bristol Board (8.2" x 5.6") for £10(including UK P+P, overseas will be higher in price)

You'll need to email me at marclrb at gmail dot com to place an order and it's first come, first serve, but I'll have a webpage to show where you are in the queue.

Thanks!

Et cetera

2009-05-22T14:12:01Z

I've totally been neglecting this blog forever, so I'm going to try and post a bit more regularly. I know you've all clearly missed my badly spelt, whiny posts, but don't fear all is well at Ellerby H.Q. Things are great, if not a little too busy at Ellerby H.Q...

I'm just popping in to ask very, very, very, very nicely of you to nominate me for an Eagle Award (the Bafta of comics!) You can nominate me in the best UK b/w comic category or the best UK webcomic category. Today's the last day to nominate me and I'd really appreciate it if you did. Chloe's not valid as it came out in 2009. BOO!

http://eagleawards.co.uk/Nomination.aspx

I'll also be appearing at the MCM Expo this weekend in London Dockland's Excel centre. Come along in Marc Ellerby cosplay! I'll be there with Adam Cadwell and John Allison. HOORAY!

http://www.londonexpo.com/

This is a Souvenir came out this week and I've got a story in it. Good comic stores should stock it, if not Amazon it.

A proper blog is coming. Seriously. Thanks for everyones patience.

Samlat

2009-04-21T08:56:28Z

I'll be appearing at the Swedish Small Press Expo this weekend at the Serieteket in the Kulturhuset in Stockholm. It's a free event and I'm sharing a space with Adam Cadwell and Lizz Lunney.

To celebrate our first international show as a unit we're giving away a free compilation. It's limited to just a little over 100 copies and I highly doubt we'll have any to bring home with us but we might do something like this again in the future? If you were wondering, "samlat" translates as "collected" and "gratis" means "free".

(This was cross-posted at the Ellerbisms blog, so apologies if you're seeing this twice)

Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

2009-04-13T08:56:07Z

Just a quick update with some info about some books coming out soon that I'm somehow involved with...

I'm ecstatic to be involved with Jamie Smart's Fat Chunk Vol 2 - Zombies. Yes, it's an anthology about zombies, but it's published by Slave Labor Graphics so expect it to be filled with new and exciting, psychotic and maybe hilarious takes on what some people might think is a tiring theme.

Here's a panel to entice...

There's a full PR here but the jist of it is Fat Chunk Volume Two: Zombies will be a 144-page book that retails for $12.95 (so probably around £10?)

Clearly the idea of pre-ordering comics baffles people, including me, but in a time where the main (single?) distributor will not carry a book if it doesn't meet the already high order numbers, means that every single order counts, so if this sounds like something you'd be into take the following order number, APR090632, to your local comic book store and ask them to order one.

***

I have some pages in the new Image antho This Is A Souvenir. It was supposed to be out in Feb, I think and obviously it's now April so that didn't happen, but I've been told that it's on the way! Hooray!

***

Last week was pretty crazy. Crazy good and crazy awful. I had some wisdom teeth out a week and a half ago and the anesthetic truly screwed me up the rest of the week, though I'm much better now, I think I scared Anna for a few days :/ I now have stitches just sorta coming outta my gums which are supposed to disolve sometime (so disolve already!!!)

Towards the end of last week I got a very nice email from a very nice lady from Laurence King publishing and amongst other things, traded 30 Rock quotes. Then HOLY SHIT, Warren Ellis linked Ellerbism from his FreakAngels site and my website visits exploded. I hope I can keep at least a small proportion of the new readers, if not I know I probably blew my one big shot. HAHAHATHEPRESSURE.

Easter was fun times. Groundhog Day was on ("I'm betting he's gonna swerve first"), I cooked an awesome roast dinner and Doctor Who was a bit shit until the end (WHO WILL KNOCK FOUR TIMES AHHHGODDDDDD!?!?!?). I have a rant that's brewing about sci-fi shows but I'll leave it 'till another day.

***

Still got new books out...

Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter
Preview

Self Published 16 pages b/w

£2.80

Ellerbisms Volume 3

Collects here to here
Self Published 52 pages b/w - contains bonus pull out section - make your own mini comic!

£4

There's a deal on Ellerbisms at the website plus I've got a full restock of older items.

Things about Thing

2009-04-02T09:21:25Z

(Photo by jabberworks I hope it's okay to pinch?)

I've recovered enough to finally blog about Saturday's UK Web & Mini Comix Thing. With this post, there's probably some spelling mistakes and I nabbed photos from people's sites as I kinda can't be bothered to check over my work or take new photos? I'm scum, right?

So, yeah I honestly think The Thing's one of my favourite shows of the year, like joint first with Thought Bubble at least.

Why do I like it so much? WELL!

Firstly, it's an all small press show and clearly from the attendance there's a demand for a show like this. Secondly, with the web element the list of "big names" this year was pretty impressive. Hay it's Kate Beaton, John Allison, R Stevens, Meredith Gran, James Turner, Roger Landridge et cetera. Hay, these guys are KNOWN and popular and talented and travelled from like Canada for this show, this British small press show. Wow, right?!

Personally I did extremley well, Chloe Noonan proving to be the most popular item and me being about 3 copies shy of selling out by the end of the day. Thank you to everyone who came over and took a flick through Chloe and bought it, I was a bit nervous about debuting her as it's out of my initial comfort zone, but it looks like she went down well. It's given me a boost of confidence to continue working with the characters and story. Ahh I kinda can't wait to get started.

I don't normally buy stuff at shows as I like to keep spending down and I don't do swaps as I feel that if I like someone's book enough I'll pay money for it. That's the idea isn't it? I did however get a few gems at the show and I'll try and make them sound okay...

I think my fave pick up of the show was Joe Decie's joedecie What I Drew Vol 2, a lovely little collection of one page strips that are semi autobiographical though a lil' surreal in execution. Drawn with a wash (I think?) I really like the way Joe crops his panels and alligns them with lots of white space. Ahhh, it's pretty good stuff, I wish I picked up more of his books.

Sarah McIntyre jabberworks was also attending though I didn't get much to say to her other than wave as we were both so busy. I know, right? Anyway, her Nice Cup of Tea and a Deadline mini is fab, it's a collection of doodles and warm up comics that Sarah does throughout her working day. Jeez, this is the rough stuff? Yeeesh, I need to step up my game! Sarah illustrated Verne and Lettuce for the DFC (sob) and she's seriously, seriously, seriously one to look out for in the UK scene.

Lizz Lunney's new book Sushi Karaoke has a 3D cover...UGHHHHHHHHHH...she's too good! A 3D cover for crying out loud! It might be my favourite book of her's yet, personally I loved the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air rip; Troy The Talking Chair. Sample lyrics: "I got in one little fight and my mom got scared, she said you're moving with your auntie and uncle as a meeting room spare".

She's going to take over the world. Mark my bloody words.

cadwell's Everyday Vol 3 was perfect.

Kate Beaton beatonna sold out of comics at like 6 minutes after doors opening or something however I managed to get one and dah-ummmmmn it's really, really, really cool and I guess I sorta prefer to read in Real Life as opposed to Interweb. The ones with Napoleon made me fucking crack up.

I also got a Scary Go Round bag from John Allison and it now carries my post around with me. Be happy in the knowledge your comics are being delivered to you via a hot ginger girl. I wish I got to speak to John a bit more but he was being gentlemenly and hosting our foreign guests. A fine example!

It was also really great to see everyone and meet new people like Shug and Dale and Joe D.C and Jim and all the people on Livejournal who I've never put a face to before. Team Comics felt united for a change and I think this show boosted everyone's spirits and morale.

En, this took too long. Time to actually draw the bloody comics now.

NEW BOOKS!

2009-03-31T11:11:47Z

Hello pretties...

Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter

Self Published 16 pages b/w

£2.80

Ellerbisms Volume 3

Collects here to here
Self Published 52 pages b/w - contains bonus pull out section - make your own mini comic!

£4

There's a deal on Ellerbisms at the website, which I've been fighting against Dreamweaver and Paypal to get right now for three hours. I HATE INTERNETS!

A quick thanks to everyone who came by at The Thing on Saturday. I'll do a full con report when I don't want to throw a tantrum at my computer.

Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter

2009-03-19T09:34:33Z

My new mini comic that's not about My Face has been sent to the printers (and I hope to god I put the PDF together correctly as I've never done one before aggghhhhh!) and should hopefully be done for The Thing next weekend.

Who is this Chloe Noonan and why should I care?

Well Mr Imaginary Internet Arse Hole, Chloe Noonan is a monster hunter (duh) but it's tough being one when you don't have any powers and you have to bring your friend along with you. She's not even that bothered about saving the world really, as running around gives her a stitch.

It's a tongue in cheek look at fantasy and puts the b-list character in the foreground. It's less about hunting monsters and more about getting the bus.

You might care as it's the next book I'm working on. The mini comic is a taster, produced so I can get to grips with the character and the art. Eventually I want it to be a graphic novel series, but that's a way off yet.

There's a preview under the cut, but more information about it will be released next week along with photographs, maybe.

You can now totally buy this from here

The DFC

2009-03-04T10:51:08Z

Word is out that Random House has ceased publication of The DFC, the weekly British kid's comics that appealed to all ages and both sexes. If you haven't heard of it, you may of heard of some of the names associated with it, Philip Pullman, Simone Lia, Nick Sharratt, Jamie Smart, John Aggs, Gary Northfield, Emma Vieceli, Sarah McIntyre, James Turner. Yeah an awful lot of talented folk. Random House are looking for a buyer, but in this "economic downturn" it doesn't look hopeful.

This is really gutting news. Anna and I both loved The DFC, though on my wage at least, I could never commit to putting forward such a lump sum for a subscription (it was only available through the post, and not in stores) Thing about The DFC is, even though it was a "kid's comic" it was hugely inspiring to say the least, I love the idea of making all ages comics as there's no need for it to be dumbed down or morally right, kids like whackiness, dark stories and they're not stupid - they know when they're getting a watered down version. Anyway, I've been working on a submission for it since about the time of last year's Brum con, I went through a series of ideas like big brother robots but for the past month I've been scribbling and colouring new, toned down, Polar Opposites and they seemed so right. Oh well, now I'll never know, but they're not gone, this new found energy for them has made me rethink the idea of putting a weekly webcomic for them together. See how it goes.

Here's a typically bitter panel...

That's another thing, there's suddenly a lot of unemployed comic artists (to go along with the already huge number of unemployed comic artists) with completed strips and some that still haven't been seen. I have no idea what the rights situation is but there's a great opportunity for a kid's webcomic collective to stem from this. The web is infinite and in many ways the perfect way to introduce kids to sequential art. We should embrace The DFC idea and use it as a platform and not a burial ground.

As a bookseller, The DFC team came up trumps when they sent me 50 free copies for a manga event I put together (staring Emma Vieceli!) at my store last year. They seemed so up for the idea of getting kids into comics but also comics into bookstores, which was a refreshing response. It's such a shame that I probably won't get to offer something similar to that again. But look! They're reading and asking questions - we really did get a great response, though I guess none of them subscribed. Ho-hum.

Tom at Team DFC even sent over a subscription as a prize on the night and one of our regulars Ezra won it. Great stuff! It wasn't wasted either as the times I've chatted to him he was really enjoying the mag.

Say what you will but it really was a great idea and every con they were at, they were working bloody hard to get the books into parent's hands and the like. It's a sad day (again!) for the UK comic scene. Sad day, indeed.

Ellerbisms Vol 3

2009-03-02T12:53:17Z

So there's the front cover for the third collection of everyone's favourite Marc Ellerby diary comic. It'll be out for The Thing at the end of the month, so if you're around London make sure you come along (or just wait till the Monday after when I put it on line.)

With this cover I had to, obviously, keep in tone with the previous ones but also show a new mature side to reflect the strips inside. I think it works better when you turn over to see the back...

As always it'll be printed on recycled card (and the colours are much jucier than on screen - the card sorta soaks things up a little) and this particular volume will come with a special pull out section where you can make your own mini comic. Exciting! More on that later.

Here are the 3 covers together...

"Have you said the L word, yet?" "...lesbians?"

2009-02-17T19:56:02Z

Scotty P and friends ,drew for Anna on Valentine's Day.

Isn't vol 5, like the best one yet? ZOMG.

Old But New 1

2009-02-07T11:47:10Z

I've been neglecting Livejournal of late, for that I'm kinda sorry. Livejournal is sorta crappy when it comes to blogging but amazing when it comes to comics, so I guess this is the perfect place to bring you comics that aren't always about my face.

So yeah, this is Old But New. Old as in they're not new but New as in you might not have seen them before. Simple! Cheesy!

Mr Webcomics himself Mike Rouse Deane launched The Guest Strip project in 2008 to raise money for the Make A Wish Foundation, which y'know, is a pretty good cause. He asked many different cartoonists to donate a strip that would follow the previous one and set up the next, etc, thus the tale of two laid back cops began. Sadly Mike ended the project earlier this year,because of, I think, a lack of artists. Crazy.

I drew three strips for Mike to choose from as I couldn't really decide on an idea and me and Anna loved them all equally. He went with the first one, but I kinda like the second one the most. I printed them in my Sad Girls For Life minicomic last year but that's now sold out.

There were some really good strips by the likes of Cadwell, Will Kirby, Ryan Estrada and Jamie Smart. It's a real shame it didn't meet it's goal, but a valiant effort none the less.