metaphrog blog

Live at Leeds

2011-11-22T16:05:00.025Z

Last week saw us visit Leeds for Thought Bubble 2011 and the Leeds Graphic Novel Awards.

We were thrilled to learn that Louis - Night Salad was one of the books shorlisted for the award (and delighted with the diamond shaped prize we received).

On the afternoon of Friday the 18th, children from several schools in Leeds gathered for the ceremony, an afternoon away from school which they really enjoyed!

We gave a short talk about working on Louis - Night Salad, along with presentations from the fabulous Sarah McIntyre and the equally fabulous Etherington Brothers, who were also on the shorlist.

It was great hanging out after the talk with our fellow contestants and with everyone involved from the school libraries and Leeds Central Library, and also last year's winner Dave Shelton who handed the prize to Sarah! Books and posters and postcards were signed by all of us, photographs were taken, muffins were eaten. Many thanks to Debbie Moody of Leeds Central Library for inviting us to talk and for organising this wonderful event.

That evening saw us attending the busy opening party of the Thought Bubble Festival at the Marriott. We had a fantastic time at the convention, and our stall was even kitted out with an additional drop-in colour-in workshop table.

Kids and adults came and had fun or just chilled out colouring Louis in!

And even some zombies couldn't resist!

Louis - Red Letter Day out now!

2011-11-10T17:37:00.009Z

Today we are very excited to see the release of Louis - Red Letter Day.

It looks AMAZING! Totally redrawn and repainted.

Some of you may remember the original comic: a multiple Eisner Award nominee (for Best Graphic Album New and Best Title for a Youger Audience), and Ignatz Award nominee for Promising New Talent, back in 2000.

Click to enlarge and spot the difference!

We still love Louis - Red Letter Day, and wanted to make it available again in this new hardback edition. And, we've even added a bonus "making of" section, revealing some of the secrets of how we create the Louis stories!

Buy Louis - Red Letter Day

Skint! Artwork

2011-10-17T16:35:00.032+01:00

We had a fantastic time launching Skint! last month at the International Adult Literacies Conference in Stirling. Members of the Scottish Youth Theatre re-enacted a small part from the book/play, with our artwork as a backdrop, and it was amazing. The actress playing Carly actually looked like Carly in the book (strange to see as the drawings were created long before).

As part of the launch we gave a short speech, along with Gowan Calder who wrote the script, talking about how the project was put together. It started with Sandra sketching out a few characters while Gowan was busy thinking about the script. Here are some of them:

In the book, the character gallery ended up like this (again, selected characters here only):

Because of the unusual nature of the project we decided to proceed slowly at first, with Gowan producing a couple of very rough pages of script, just to get a feel for what the images would bring, and thus know what she could leave out in the script, in terms of direction, character and location description and so forth; as well as allowing everyone to grasp the interaction between characters and between the text and image pages.

Then Gowan worked towards a final draft from which rough layout pages were created. These had to be approved before any final artwork could be started. This stage was actually quite straightforward and we completed the layout for the entire book over a period of four weeks. Skint! is quite an unusual and experimental book in many ways, as the script is on one page and the artwork is on the facing page, much like in a traditional illustrated book. It is designed mainly to be read in a group for role playing: although it works well too for individual reading. We produced the graphic novel pages so that they enhance the reading of the script and set the scenes, as well as developing the characters.

The final pages were pencilled and then directly coloured on computer (after a clean up of the pencils in Photoshop). For the Louis graphic novels, Sandra had been painting by hand with acrylic inks and then inking by hand over the colouring, so this was a nice change.

One of the finished panel images, one of our favourites, from Jamie's story:

Louis - Red Letter Day

2011-10-13T15:03:00.019+01:00

Louis - Red Letter Day has now gone into production. We received the ozalids this week and all has been approved. Looking forward to seeing the finished book!

Official release date is 10th of November 2011!

And we're delighted to announce that we have been successful in securing investment from Creative Scotland for the publication.

Preorder the book on amazon now

Louis - Red Letter Day will be launched at Thought Bubble festival in Leeds on November 19 where we'll be signing copies!

We're also delighted to attending the ceremony for the Leeds Graphic Novel Awards on November 18, as Louis - Night Salad is on the shortlist.

For bookshops and libraries: Louis - Red Letter Day can be ordered through Turnaround Publisher Services, wholesalers and library suppliers (Gardners, Bertrams...)

For comic shops: the graphic novel can still be ordered from Diamond Previews, page 308, item code SEP111173.

Promotional material for shops, schools and libraries is available on request.

1001 Comics...

2011-10-13T12:51:00.004+01:00

Paul Gravett's excellent new book is out now. We are pleased to say that 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die features Louis!

Guernsey Book Week 2011

2011-10-11T13:01:00.052+01:00

We'd been looking forward to our trip to Guernsey for Book Week 2011 ever since the Guille Allès library invited us, and we weren't disappointed!

Leaving Glasgow in the rain, in a small plane, we soon found ourselves landing in sunny Southampton. From there it was another short flight to Guernsey where we met our hosts and representatives from their Book Week sponsor Ardel.

And, we had the pleasure of meeting our fellow authors Chris Wormell and Sonia Leong, who were also touring the schools.

Our schedule was intense: starting early on Monday morning we visited 14 different primary schools and delivered 15 illustrated talks/workshops over a period of 5 days. In all we must have spoken to over 1500 children from KS2 and had an absolutely brilliant time!

We received an incredible amount of feedback and were extremely impressed by the drawings that the pupils produced.

On the Thursday evening we gave a public talk (along with Chris and Sonia), and then presented copies of Louis - Night Salad to the winners of the KS2 competition. (We'd asked them to "Draw the Creepiest Character".) The KS1s got to enter a colouring competition and were rewarded with copies of Chris' book.

Special thanks to Jane Falla and Sarah Nicholls, and also to Elizabeth, Ellie and Rachel who drove us each day and supported our work in every school. Guernsey has 300miles of road, and resembles a maze. Without their expertise and kind assistance we wouldn't have been able to see this wonderful island.

We even got the chance to dip our toes in the sea - a welcome refreshment!

You can see more photos on our picasa web album here.

Belmont Primary

2011-10-09T17:20:00.013+01:00

The past year has been such a whirlwind of activity, we ended up not getting a chance to blog about some of the things we had planned to, and had really enjoyed. Between all the author visits around Britain, the illustration jobs, convention visits, the work on Skint! and the new Louis graphic novel, we really didn't have moment's rest. But one of the schools in particular we wanted to write about.

In November last year we visited Belmont Primary School in Stranraer.

We started the first day by giving an illustrated talk to the whole school and then delivered carousel workshops to smaller groups of children helping them to produce their own comics.

Some fantastic ideas developed from original character sketches to finished comics. Some of the comics even had barcodes!

We had three fantastic days. The children didn't really realise just what they could achieve until they finally had their finished work in their hand.

To show their appreciation they made a thank-you card, complete with a drawing of us, and even gave us a box of chocolates! At one point, one of the kids must have got wind that it was Sandra's birthday that day, and they all sang a surprise happy birthday song in the classroom! It was really touching.

More pictures can be seen on our Picasa web album here.

Highly Commended for the 2011 Scottish Children's Book Awards!

2011-10-09T14:24:00.001+01:00

Great news!! Louis - Night Salad has been Highly Commended for the 2011 Scottish Children's Book Awards!

The Scottish Book trust asked us to write a guest blog about the book on their excellent website here.

This is the fourth award that has recognised the book this year!

Highly Commended for the 2011 Scottish Children's Book Awards

Eisner Award nominee for Best Coloring

Leeds Graphic Novel Awards 2011 Shortlist

YALSA 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Longlist

Come Back!

2011-08-30T17:17:00.009+01:00

Recently, we had the pleasure of doing a series of graphic novel workshops with a group of young women in Ayr who had already been producing prose and poems with writers.

After several weeks of planning and working hard the group had produced fantastic finished drawings and graphic novel pages.

We were delighted to see copies of the finished Come Back! book. Some sample pages can be seen below and the book will be available from all South Ayrshire libraries.

We were also asked to contribute to the introduction:

Through the years creating comics and graphic novels, we have learned that there is no right way to combine words and pictures. Of course not all comics are funny and indeed not all graphic novels are novels, some are non-fiction: whatever the label, comics are fun and innately anarchic. Producing comics is cathartic and is a fantastic way to communicate.

Working with the group of young women we very quickly saw their potential and were greatly impressed by the enthusiasm and endeavour they all applied to the project. Each one produced something wildly different and tackled the process in interesting and unique ways that perhaps reflected their own individual backgrounds and personalities.

Producing finished drawings, and then finished pages or stories can be incredibly satisfying, and the creative process, from planning to development contains its own rewards.

We very much hope you will enjoy the wonderful work that is gathered here in these pages as much as we enjoyed being involved in its production.

John and Sandra (metaphrog)

You can read more about project here.

New Book out in September 2011: Skint!

2011-08-03T15:24:00.015+01:00

Over the past year and half, we've been involved in a top secret project, which we can now reveal!

Scottish Book Trust, in partnership with Scottish Government, commissioned us to work on the book Skint! in collaboration with actor, director and playwright Gowan Calder.

Skint! is an interactive, learner-centred money management resource for 16 to 26 year olds in supported youth groups.

It's a thought-provoking and interactive book with mutiple choice endings, with a colouful, engaging and fun script dialogue provided by Gowan, and graphic novel illustrations provided by us. We also had great fun working on the cover and book design! We'll be posting some samples from the interior pages here soon.

It's been a real pleasure working on this challenging project, as part of a great team of really dedicated people! We've loved every minute of it!

Now we're looking forward to the launch of the project on September 8th 2011 at the International Adult Literacies Conference in Scotland.

Skint! will also be available through Scottish Book Trust’s website as a downloadable PDF, and in accessible formats (sign language and audio versions).

For full information on this project, please visit www.scottishbooktrust.com/skint

Edinburgh International Book Festival and Merchant City Festival Events

2011-06-16T16:49:00.009+01:00

We're really looking forward to be doing several events this summer, including two workshops at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and a talk at the Merchant City Festival. Details below:

Merchant City Festival

Illustrated Talk

In a lively illustrated talk, acclaimed duo metaphrog will discuss graphic novels and also give an insight into the creative process involved in making the Eisner Award nominated Louis – Night Salad.

Where: Plan B Books, Glasgow
When: Saturday 23rd July 2011, 2-3 pm

Free

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2011

Creating Graphic Novels
Two workshops for age 12-15

The metaphrog duo, who recently adapted Edwin Morgan’s poem The First Men on Mercury in comic form will share some of the secrets involved in creating their Eisner award nominated graphic novel Louis – Night Salad.
Join them in a lively and interactive workshop and learn how to develop your own comic story from original idea to finished page.

Where: RBS Story Box, Charlotte Square
When: August 26th 2011, 4pm-5pm and August 28th 2011, 3.30pm-4.30pm

£4.50

Book early to avoid disappointment. Tickets go on sale on the 26th of June at 8.30am.

Glasgow Life Comic Commission

2011-06-08T14:54:00.006+01:00

We have been working on a very exciting project over the past few months: Glasgow Life commissioned us to create a short comic story.

The Photographs is an artistic response to a series of graphic novel workshops we carried out in Glasgow during 2010.

Some of these workshops were with senior groups in day care centres, others were with a group of teenagers in a drop in center in the east end.

As part of the project, we also did a short talk about The Photographs at the Growing Bolder Intergenerational Art Festival for Glasgow's Active Ageing Week 2011. The event took place at the CCA in Glasgow on June 7th. The Photographs is being launched at the Growing Bolder's Arty Party on June 10th.

The Photographs is a full colour A6 booklet.

To read the comic online click here www.metaphrog.com/thephotographs/

A Big Thank You!

2011-05-23T16:03:00.003+01:00

The postman delivered a giant "Thank You!" card from Carnforth High School's manga club pupils. We very much enjoyed the workshops we did there last month and were delighted to receive such a fantastic response!

Word Up

2011-05-23T16:00:00.003+01:00

Word Up, Edinburgh City Libraries' online newsletter, kindly asked to write an article on books that have inspired us to become graphic novelists:

http://www.wordup.edinburgh.gov.uk/Default.aspx?nID=93

School Certificate

2011-05-05T12:50:00.005+01:00

Last week as part of our three day trip to England and Wales, delivering graphic novel workshops, we had the pleasure of returning to Bishop Fox's High School in Taunton, to give a talk on graphic novels and our own working methods to over a hundred Year 9 pupils. The talk was followed by a carousel of comic workshops. The pupils had to come up with a pitch, including character designs, story lines and so forth. We all had a fantastic time.

It was to our great surprise this morning that we received this certificate of appreciation from the school!

Forthcoming Workshops

2011-04-20T17:31:00.017+01:00

We will be delivering several comic workshops in the spring, with more to be announced for the summer.

Cardiff Central Library on May 27th for two sessions (1030-1130 and 1400-1500), for 9-14 years old. Free.

To book a place, phone 02920 780953 or email centrallibrary@cardiff.gov.uk

Tramway Family Day in Glasgow on May 8th for their Alice in Wonderland themed day, for two sessions: 1130 - 1230 (for 5-8 years) and 1500-1600 (for 8-12 years). Free.

Book here in advance.

Illustrations

2011-04-20T13:08:00.008+01:00

We very much enjoyed doing research and producing images for some educational text books!

Here are just a few of them. More illustrations can be viewed on www.metaphrog.com/illustrations

Evolution of man.

Roundheads vs Cavaliers.

Ancient Mesopotamian.

Eisner Award Nomination

2011-04-08T11:56:00.001+01:00

Great news! Louis - Night Salad has just been nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Coloring!

Along with the YALSA nomination for Great Graphic Novels for Teens, this is the second award nomination Louis - Night Salad has received this year!

Recent Talks and Workshops

2011-04-07T13:55:00.013+01:00

Over the past few months we've been busy working on various projects and also delivering a variety of talks and workshops around the country.

We were particulary honoured to be invited to deliver three very different talks: one at the CCA for Words Across the Water last November (along with Alisdair Gray who was also giving a talk); then, last month, at the Glasgow School of Art where we discussed our work and the creative process, and also delivered a workshop; and as part of the Glasgow Film Festival, where we had great fun talking about graphic novel adapations.

A couple of weeks ago, we spent a day delivering workshops at Newington Library in Edinburgh. We had a fantastic time talking about comics and graphic novels to eager participants of all ages, and the workshops were long enough to allow everyone time to create their own comic pages and character designs. You can see some photos below.

The Tales of One City blog for Edinburgh City Libraries also posted some pictures on their photostream here.

Read the feature about the Newington Library workshops on the STV website here.

The Comics Journal Review of Louis - Night Salad

2011-03-16T19:13:00.004Z

Gavin Lees has written a fantastic review of Louis - Night Salad in The Comics Journal. Here's a short extract, from the beginning and from the end of the review:

In the hands of Franco-Scottish duo Metaphrog (aka John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs — reductively, he writes and she draws, but the collaboration is much tighter than that), the children’s adventure-strip becomes an altogether more adult experience. They sublimate Pynchonesque paranoia and hallucinatory symbolism into the bright, primary-colored world of Louis: a cute, blank-featured everyman...

That Louis’s concerns are universal and his adventures a reflection of modern world make his tales like contemporary fables. Metaphrog manage to bridge the gap between innocence and experience with real insight, making Night Salad something that can stand alongside Kafka’s short stories — deceptively simple tales that manage to pierce directly to the heart of the human condition.

You can read the full review here.

The Skinny Feature

2010-12-13T11:08:00.005Z

Louis - Night Salad is featured in The Skinny this month (December 2010 - Issue 63), with a review and mini-interview. Online version here.

ArtReview

2010-12-01T13:01:00.006Z

Louis - Night salad is featured in ArtReview this month (issue 46 Dec 2010). Here's an excerpt:

These days we're bombarded with animations or graphic novels that claim to amuse kids while offering a meta narrative to please adults. But few actually fulfil these promises as effectively as this Scottish duo's hand-painted book.

Metro and Sunday Herald Reviews

2010-11-21T13:23:00.004Z

This week Louis - Night Salad has been reviewed in the Sunday Herald graphic novel round-up and in Metro!

IMPRINT BOOK FESTIVAL ILLUSTRATION

2010-11-10T13:48:00.008Z

We gave a comic workshop at the Imprint Book Festival last night, and Sandra took some pictures of the banners for the festival - with the illustration she made. The brochures turned out really well too.

Press

2010-11-02T10:53:00.008Z

Louis - Night Salad was reviewed in The Libary Journal in the US on October 29th:

A dream-quest theme persists throughout this colorful book [Louis - Night Salad], which brings to mind many classic, if somewhat less unsettling, adventures: Harold and the Purple Crayon and Where the Wild Things Are. Established fans will delight in this volume; like Louis, new readers will enter the story perplexed but exit with joy. -- John Gehner, Library Journal

You can read the full review here.

And The Big Issue has chosen Louis - Night Salad as their Big Pick of the week in Books, giving it a full page, in their Scottish and Welsh editions on November 1st, and the English edition will feature it on November 8th!

IMPRINT FESTIVAL COMMISSION AND AUTHOR VISIT

2010-10-18T17:12:00.010+01:00

We're delighted to announce that we have been commissioned to do the illustration for IMPRINT BOOK FESTIVAL 2010!

We were honoured and excited to be asked to produce an illustration for the Imprint book festival, and wanted to create an image that tried to capture the electrifying and thrilling possibilities of books.

The festival will run from November 8th to November 23rd, and will host many interesting talks.

Our own graphic novel workshop will be on November 8th from 17.30 at the Burns Monumnet Centre in Kilmarnock. Free but ticketed.

Imprint says:

2010 sees the 4th year of Imprint, East Ayrshire's book festival, and another inspiring and entertaining week lies ahead.

One of the most exciting developments this year is the collaboration with Metaphrog, Glasgow-based graphic novelists, who have designed this year's cover illustration. Metaphrog have received multiple award nominations and critical acclaim worldwide and we are delighted to have worked with them for Imprint.

The festival kicks off with author, actor and tv presenter Sandi Toksvig – guaranteeing to get Imprint off to a flying start. We can also look forward to another packed programme full of best-selling authors and poets with highlights including Tom Leonard, ‘The Two Sides of the Pass' event where poetry and visual art combine and a whisky-themed finale. Imprint has become an eagerly anticipated highlight in Ayrshire's cultural diary and we look forward to welcoming you throughout the week.

Bookings and info: http://www.imprintfestival.co.uk

October Author Visits 2010

2010-10-15T15:59:00.023+01:00

There's lots happening this autumn. We're just about to start a new wave of author visits and are continuing to promote our new graphic novel Louis - Night Salad!

Well, in fact, it all really started in September. After a summer jam-packed with illustration deadlines and working preparing for the release of our book, we visited one of our favourite North American comic conventions, SPX. We had the pleasure of sharing a panel on Comics for Younger Readers, with Aaron Renier, Raina Telgemeier and Drew Weing, chaired by Johanna Draper Carlson.

Back in the UK, we're going to embark on a series of comic workshops at Shout About Books in Lancashire, before heading to the London Print Studio for the opening party of That's Novel! Lifting Comics from the Page!!!, the exciting new graphic novel exhibition curated by Paul Gravett. Can't wait to see it all! We're so thrilled to be part of it!

We'll be bouncing up and down the country in fact, as we'll be visiting the Isle of Lewis for comic workshops at the Nicolson Institute and An Lanntair Arts Centre before going to Hawick where we are delivering a talk and workshop at the Eildon Tree Festival celebrating 10 years of the magazine!

We'll post our November schedule here soon.

To view our full calendar of events please visit: www.metaphrog.com/events

Exhibition at the London Print Studio

2010-10-12T15:27:00.012+01:00

We're delighted to announce that we will be part of That's Novel! ...Lifting Comics from the Page!!! the new exhibition curated by Paul Gravett at the London Print Studio.

Original pages from Louis - Night Salad will be on display, and previously unpublished, limited edition prints will be available along with signed copies of Louis - Night Salad.

The exhibition will also feature work from Charlie Adlard, Savage Pencil, Carlos Nine, Darryl Cunningham among many others (please see flyer).

'Discover the latest, greatest and up-to-datest in comics by leading international innovators and the British cutting Edge'

Opening party: October 21nd 2010 6pm-9pm
Show runs from October 22nd until December 18th 2010

Louis - Night Salad in The Scotsman

2010-09-27T15:05:00.005+01:00

Louis - Night Salad was featured in The Scotsman on Saturday the 25th of September 2010!

Louis Around the Web

2010-09-04T16:07:00.008+01:00

Louis - Night Salad's release is a month away, and the book has already made its way to the Forbidden Planet Blog's most wanted list of forthcoming graphic novels, as well as Paul Gravett's PG Previews for October releases. Overpixelated.net has already run a great review, and Bleeding Cool plugged the Night Salad trailer!

Louis - Night Salad the actual book!

2010-08-27T12:48:00.005+01:00

We've finally received copies of the Louis - Night Salad graphic novel, and we're delighted with the result! The book is beautifully bound and printed, and has a pleasant weight!
Copies can still be ordered through Diamond Comic Distributors August Previews: item code AUG101077 LOUIS NIGHT SALAD HC (C: 0-0-1), page 297.

The First Review of Louis - Night Salad!

2010-08-20T14:05:00.002+01:00

In the tradition of Little Nemo, Scotland-based creative team John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs of Metaphrog have brought forward a fanciful adventure story. Louis, the little hero from numerous previous Metaphrog titles, returns in a new stand-alone story perfect for young readers and the young at heart. Desperately searching a cure for his sick friend and automated pet FC, Louis embarks on a dreamy journey that is both real and fantastic: glass trees, impossible cliffs, cities beneath the desert, and a library which holds all knowledge in the world await him in the pages of Night Salad.
The art is hand-painted and vibrant, at once inviting and enchanting. Older readers will pick up on fascinating undertones as John and Sandra define a world where fruit must be assembled and all suburban houses are identical. If you love the unusual and delight in the unique, I highly recommend this title as a candy-colored touch of joy for your library.

-Sarah Martinez
Diamond Comics

Louis - Night Salad available to order from Diamond Previews in August

2010-08-19T13:17:00.004+01:00

A reminder that Louis - Night Salad is now available to order from Diamond Comic Distributors August Previews, item code AUG101077 LOUIS NIGHT SALAD HC (C: 0-0-1), page 297.

Release date: October 2010
96 pages- full colour- hardback
ISBN-13: 978-0954598419
US $14.99
UK £9.99

Highly acclaimed metaphrog return with a brand new stand-alone graphic novel: the moving tale of Louis' quest for a cure to save his friend FC. A simple story of friendship, heart-warming and genuinely transporting. Beautiful hand-painted artwork packaged in an attractive hardback.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAwqzGuCcQI

Diamond Previews Staff Picks: http://previews.diamondcomics.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=6&s=221&ai=97417&ssd

http://www.metaphrog.com/louis

Trailer for Louis - Night Salad!!

2010-07-28T08:52:00.011+01:00

We've just finished the trailer for Louis - Night Salad!!

Our friend hey from Berlin (who worked on the music for Louis - Dreams Never Die), has made an amazing soundtrack inspired by Bach's beautifully emotive "Air on a G-string" and also by Delia Derbyshire's version.
It really captures the mood of the book!

Louis - Night Salad is now available to order from your local comic shop via Diamond Previews, item code AUG101077, page 297.

Pick up a Previews catalogue and place your preorder at a comic book store in your neighbourhood: http://www.comicshoplocator.com

Louis - Night Salad will be out in October 2010.

LOUIS - Night Salad out soon!

2010-07-02T10:13:00.006+01:00

We can now announce that Louis - Night Salad, our new graphic novel, will be out in October 2010! It will be available to order from Diamond Previews in August. We'll also be posting some preview pages and an online trailer then too, so watch this space! www.metaphrog.com/louis

Louis - Night Salad pages

2010-06-11T09:52:00.004+01:00

Finally, we've completed our new graphic novel, Louis - Night Salad. Here they are, more than 90 pages, all hand painted. It took a while! Some of the pages (a big chunk of the book, come to think of it) were redone, some of them as many as 3 or 4 times!!! It's the first time we've reworked a book so much. Can't wait to see the book printed!!!

Illustration

2010-06-09T09:17:00.004+01:00

Another illustration Sandra did for an educational book. Had fun!

Louis - Night Salad

2010-05-26T18:14:00.006+01:00

Sandra is currently painting the very last pages of our new graphic novel, Louis - Night Salad. Only three pages to go! We're so excited!

WORD 10 and other Workshops Report

2010-05-25T17:50:00.015+01:00

We had a fantastic time in Aberdeen, both at WORD 10 book festival, where we conducted a couple of workshops, and also at Dyce and Northfield schools we visited in between.

The main event we did was on May 15th, and we had fun delivering a family comic workshop: parents and children of all ages (and a few comic and illustration afficcionados too) gathered in a university lecture hall, and we got a chance to have a go at the blackboard. Below are a few photos.

At the end of the workshop, we asked the children who wanted us to take a photo of their drawings to come forward, and to our suprise, everybody did!. In this link, you can see the fruits of their labour.

While we're on the subject of workshops, we just wanted to mention the fantastic day we had at Bishop Fox's School in Taunton last month for their graphic novel themed conference day. We did a talk and several workshops. They sent us a report of the day with the results of their work (pdf file).

Illustration

2010-05-20T13:57:00.005+01:00

Sandra just delivered another batch of illustrations to an educational publisher. She had fun getting to do her version of a flying spaghetti monster - an actual real thing, google it if you've never seen it!

PRESS

2010-05-04T13:46:00.004+01:00

The Herald published an article about us last Friday, along with Alan Grant.

Events

2010-04-27T13:36:00.007+01:00

Once again, we've a series of events lined up for the coming few weeks. Today, we're flying to Bristol, as we'll be delivering a talk about our work, tomorrow (April 28th), followed by a series of comic workshops at Bishop Fox's school in Taunton for their annual Conference Day which this year will focus on graphic novels. Then May will see us participating in WORD 10 literary festival in Aberdeen, as part of the Children and Schools festival, with three worshops, on May the 12th and 15th respectively, with some author visits in schools in between at Northfield Academy and Dyce Academy. Then off to Cumbria on June 16th to deliver a comic workshop at Caldew School in Dalston.
To view our full calendar of events, please follow this link: www.metaphrog.com/events.html

Work in Progress

2010-04-23T09:56:00.003+01:00

As well as our finishing working on Louis- Night Salad, Sandra has been working on a series of illustrations for some educational books. Some of these will make their way to our online portfolio soon!

CPD on Graphic Novel Adaptations

2010-04-20T14:30:00.020+01:00

In early March 2010, we did a CPD illustrated talk for teachers on graphic novel adaptations as part of the Scottish Book Trust OTIR (Online Teacher in Residence).
Teachers gathered in a class room at Inveralmond Community High School, and we talked briefly about our history as metaphrog, then explained what graphic novels are, before taking a closer look at The First Men on Mercury comic adaptation of Edwin Morgan's poem we made last year. Next, we examined how several graphic novels were adapted from literature. Firstly we looked at three very different interpretations of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: by Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy, Klimowski and Schejbal, and Mattotti and Kramsky respectively. Then we explored how comic and visual storytelling techniques have been deployed, by P. Craig Russell, to bring out the themes and enhance the reading of Neil Gaiman's Coraline, before moving on to Peter Kuper's version of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, and finally David Mazzucchelli and Paul Karasik's adaptation of Paul Auster's City of Glass.

Feedback from the teachers on the CPD was excellent, and some even said this was the best CPD they'd attended! For our part, we were really excited about (re)reading and researching these books and putting together the presentation. Michael Stephenson, English teacher at Inveralmond, talks about the session and his own experiences working in the classroom with graphic novel adaptations on the OTIR blog here: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/teacher-in-residence/2010/03/michael-stephenson-graphic-novel-ideas

We now have created three bite-sized online presentations for everyone to view, extracted from this workshop. They have been hosted on the Scottish Book Trust website here: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/otir/metaphrog-voicethread (with an explanation of how to use voicethread), and you can also view them here, below. Do feel free to add your own comments to these voicethreads (you can do this - very quiclky - by registering for free on voicethread and either write or record your comment).

PRESS

2010-03-29T08:53:00.011+01:00

John wrote a Picture Stories feature for The Sunday Herald, which was published yesterday. John's text was edited, and below the photograph is the original version:

The year must be 1956 and the photograph is of my father, David, standing in Antarctica where he spent two and a half years on an ordinance survey expedition. During the three months it took to travel there by boat he kept a diary, and on arrival continued writing and taking pictures. He also developed an interest in astronomy. Clear skies allowed him to watch the stars.

When Sandra and I met, before we started making comics and graphic novels, we produced a small number of copies of the diary. A typed version of the fragile, handwritten book would allow family and friends to read it more easily. Many of the photographs had never been seen by anyone other than my parents.

My father never referred to himself as an explorer, but after his journey, his passion for the outdoors remained and he established a small manufacturing business, The Clan Tent Company, in Greenock: a fifth floor factory. From childhood I recall an upside down room: eider down, floating a foot above the floor. Men from the local pub would help him unload supplies and carry out finished tents and sleeping bags. Determined, he convinced larger customers, including the Ministry of Defence, that he, with his wife’s help, could cope with larger orders. Eventually he was able to open a shop. In the 1970’s even long after my sister and brother were born secret soldiers would make their own way, faces mudded, to its door. He would continue to supply them and also mountaineers with bespoke survival equipment for many years.

When my dad died recently, the photograph and diary inevitably brought back memories, but his spirit lives on and both his life and his experience at the South Pole continue to provide an inspiration and even seep unexpectedly into our own books.

Press

2010-03-22T18:45:00.012Z

The Evening Times ran a double page spread today about our author visit at Knightswood Primary on March 4th. Almost the entire school had dressed up that day to celebrate World Book Day, and they gave us a really warm welcome. Over 450 pupils gathered in a big hall for what proved to be an extremely lively session. Pictured below are some of the children in disguise, with the Mad Hatter head teacher and Sandra holding a page from a Louis graphic novel. John had his anonymity preserved :-)

You can read the online version here.

Here also is a press clipping from The Courier about our forthcoming talk at Forfar library on March 30th.

March Events

2010-02-22T18:38:00.020Z

March is going to be a busy month! We have several events lined up, for festivals, schools, libraries and more!

Kicking off the events will be a Glow Live Meet on March 3rd at 1pm with Learning and Teaching Scotland: a virtual comic workshop available to view on the Glow network by subscribing schools.

Then for World Book Day, March 4th, two schools visits:
a comic workshop at Springburn Academy, Glasgow, followed by a visit to Knightswood Primary, Glasgow: talking to the entire school (all 460 pupils!) and delivering a mega-workshop with 120 participants.

March 8th will see us deliver two workshops for the Aye Write! Schools Programme, at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. Check out their website to see the full schedule of events.

On March 10th, a talk on Graphic Novel adaptations, as part of the Scottish Book Trust Online Teachers in Residence scheme.

Then on to Queensferry High School in Edinbugh on the 11th of March for a comic workshop, followed by another at Liberton High School in Edinbugh on the 17th.

We'll wrap up on March 30th with a workshop for pupils at Carnoustie library, and a talk about our work and the creative process at the Forfar library (18.00 - open to the public - admission free).

For more details on all of the above, please go to our events page.

The First Men on Mercury Sketches

2010-02-16T12:43:00.007Z

The preparatory sketches Sandra did for The First Men on Mercury comic adaptation of the Edwin Morgan poem.

www.metaphrog.com/mercury

Comic Workshop at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery

2010-02-05T14:15:00.010Z

Last Sunday was spent at the museum, the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow to be precise. There we delivered a comic workshop to a group of young people (aged 12 to 17). The session lasted three hours and everyone had plenty of time to create characters and develop a story (to be set in a museum of course!). Quite a few finished comics were even produced on the day. Museum attendants Lyn and Jessica also took us all for a guided tour around a few of the excellent galleries, through some secret passages and past suits of armour. Everyone soaked up the atmosphere, gathered fuel their stories and thought a little about taxidermy.

It seemed like everyone got inspired and made some notes and lots of sketches. Here are just a few photos and some samples of the great work that was produced. More can be seen on our Picasa photo album here.

Comic Workshop at Kelvingrove Museum

2010-01-13T11:58:00.007Z

Happy New Year!

We're really looking forward to our event at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Here are the details:

Create Your Own Comics with metaphrog:
An exciting comic workshop during which we will share the secrets of making comics. Participants will learn how we go about making our own Louis graphic novels and get the chance to create their own characters and develop a story, from initial idea through to storyboard and finished comic.

The event is free and will take place on Sunday January 31st, from 1pm until 4pm. If you're aged between 12 and 17, you can sign up now by calling the Kelvingrove on 0141 276 9509, or simply drop by to book a place.

www.glasgowmuseums.com

Un-office Xmas Party

2009-12-14T17:59:00.033Z

Last Friday, we headed off to Edinburgh for a spot of festive lunch (an Un-Office Xmas party, as named by Linda Strachan) with fellow writers and illustrators. It was a day fit for Sherlock Holmes or even Jack the Ripper, as fog completely engulfed the city. But the photos below illustrate what a lovely, warm afternoon it proved to be, in the company of such welcoming and interesting people, namely, Linda Strachan, Vivian French, Julia Donaldson, Gill Arbuthnott, Nicola Morgan, Keith Charters, John Fardell, John Ward, Sally Collins, Julie Lacome, Lari Don, Dave Sutton, Keith Brumpton and Aileen Paterson.

After a few hours, through the fog still, we made our way back to Waverley Station via the Traverse Bar for a drink or two with a friend, and Sandra took a few snaps (below), attempting to capture the wonderful and magical atmosphere. A day we won't forget any time soon.

Comic Workshop

2009-12-10T10:53:00.003Z

We were greatly impressed by the quality of drawings made by the pupils during our comic workshops for the Booxfactor! Festival (Monday Dec 7th at Braehead Primary and Clydebank High). Here are just a few of them. For more, please visit our photo album here.

Press Coverage

2009-12-08T16:43:00.004Z

The Sunday Herald (Magazine) ran a piece about us on December 6th.

Press Coverage

2009-12-04T14:29:00.008Z

The Edinburgh Outlook newspaper ran this article about our comic workshop at Kirkliston library on October 23rd. Online version here.

Comic Workshops

2009-12-03T14:43:00.007Z

We're looking forward to participating in the Booxfactor! Festival for the second year round. Monday December 7th we'll be delivering two comic workshops in schools in West Dunbartonshire for their annual book festival.

The 2010 calendar is already filling up with more events, starting with an afternoon session at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow at the end of January. Keep your eye on these pages in the New Year for more information.

This autumn was also busy with events, in and around the Wigtown Book Festival, and several libraries in Scotland, and most recently at St Thomas of Aquins High School in Edinburgh (pictured).

http://www.metaphrog.com/events.html

Comic Event at The Goethe-Institut

2009-11-26T14:57:00.011Z

Great evening last night at The Goethe-Institut and Alliance Francaise in Glasgow: Marc Baines was in conversation with Lewis Trondheim and Mawil, for an entertaining and genuinely interesting talk. We always enjoy hearing other cartoonists talk about their work, and this kind of thing rarely happen on our doorstep, so that was a real bonus. We also got a chance to catch up with Joe Gordon, Forbidden Planet globetrotter blogger, and Dr. Billy Grove, who was there to help out as a translator. Follow this link to read Joe's report of the evening on the Forbidden Planet blog (with some photos too).

Metaphrog Comic on STV

2009-10-27T18:28:00.004Z

STV's The Hour, featuring Liz Lochhead talking about our comic adaptation of Edwin Morgan's poem The First Men on Mercury.

For the full National Poetry Day feature version please follow this link.

THE FIRST MEN ON MERCURY ON TV

2009-10-09T10:19:00.008+01:00

STV's The Hour featured our comic adaptation of THE FIRST MEN ON MERCURY on National Poetry Day, as a way of interesting children in poetry visually. Liz Lochhead, Glasgow's Poet Lauteate, made an appearance on the show reading and talking about poetry.

THE FIRST MEN ON MERCURY

2009-10-08T14:25:00.008+01:00

Today, 32 500+ copies of our Edwin Morgan comic adaptation, THE FIRST MEN ON MERCURY, are being distributed to all pupils in Glasgow Secondary schools, to celebrate National Poetry Day.

For those of you who have left school long ago or don't live in Glasgow, you can read the comic online at www.metaphrog.com/mercury. We wanted to make this site a little bit special, and so have added some behind the scenes information on the making of the comic. Educators will also find teaching notes for the classroom.

The project was originally commissioned and is published by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies.

THE FIRST MEN ON MERCURY COMIC
Association for Scottish Literary Studies
Edwin Morgan website
National Poetry Day

Wigtown Book Festival

2009-09-28T11:04:00.005+01:00

This week, we'll be at the Wigtown Book Festival, doing eight events (three talks and five workshops) all packed into three days! We'll be visiting schools in the area as well as talking to over 300 pupils in the festival marquee. For more details: http://www.metaphrog.com/events.html

The First Men on Mercury comic adaptation of the Edwin Morgan poem

2009-09-23T14:02:00.012+01:00

A while back we mentioned on this blog that we were working on a comic adaptation of Edwin Morgan's poem The First Men on Mercury for release on National Poetry Day.

Today, the Metro newspaper is running a full page feature on the project.

To mark National Poetry Day – 8 October 2009 – the Association for Scottish Literary Studies will be distributing over 30,000 copies of the comic-strip adaptation to every secondary school pupil in the poet’s home city of Glasgow. The comic will also be available to read online at http://www.metaphrog.com/mercury

"The First Men on Mercury is one of Edwin Morgan’s science fiction poems – fizzing with ideas and bubbling with invention. It’s simultaneously fascinating, funny and just a little bit disconcerting, as we witness first contact between the brave explorers from Earth and the native inhabitants of the planet Mercury." Duncan Jones, ASLS.

The form of the poem, largely dialogue based, makes it ideal for adaptation into comic-strip. It was a privilige to be asked to work on this and also highly enjoyable. We realised that by adding visuals you are also taking away from the inner images the poem in its pure text form might generate for a reader so we tried to treat it sensitively.

A Parcel from Far Away

2009-09-10T13:11:00.024+01:00

A few weeks ago, our friend hey from Berlin, who wrote the song for Louis - Dreams Never Die, sent us a really nice parcel with the latest hey-o-hansen cd release. It was wrapped in a cd mailing box which had originally been used five years ago by Kristin, then singer with múm, to send their remix version of hey's song for the Louis - Dreams Never Die release.

The package came complete with a sketch drawn by Kristin (image below), and receiving it as we breakfasted one Saturday morning was most unexpected. We'd never seen it before and didn't know this part of the story. The box had travelled all around the world to reach hey in Berlin: múm had recorded their version then left to go on tour, forgeting completely to post it to him. A while later, while in Australia, they finally mailed it. Five years on, it reached these Scottish shores. It reminded us of the fantastic people we met and the friends we made through the collective work we all put into this project.

hey-o-hansen's new release is a complilation of rare and unreleased austrodub tracks from 1995 to 2009, and makes for an excellent introduction to their wonderful music. Although broadly speaking sounds from the dub universe it is filled with hey-o-hansen's amazingly unique sense of melody and also contains the song dreams never die (to fc). You can listen to a sample on their website: http://heyrec.org

The Guardian Comic Giveaway

2009-09-10T13:04:00.007+01:00

The good people at The Guardian newspaper have kindly informed us that they will be giving away a classic comic every day next week from Saturday 12th of September. Details below!

Remember how you were with seven classic comics for grown up boys and girls. We are printing an original issue of Jackie, The Beano, Roy of the Rovers, Bunty, The Dandy, Tammy and Whizzer And Chips every day in the Guardian and the Observer from Saturday 12 September.

It all starts on Saturday with the 1975 Valentine's Day special of Jackie, featuring David Essex, Slade, the Cathy and Claire problem page and a Donny Osmond strip story!

The Beano's back on Sunday with the 2000th issue from 1980, featuring a Dennis the Menace front cover and all your favourites: Lord Snooty, Minnie the Minx and the Bash Street Kids.

On Monday it's the one where Roy Race is shot in Roy of the Rovers from 1981, followed by the Bunty 1972 Summer Special on Tuesday. The Dandy, with the last Korky the Cat cover from 1984 is your comic for Wednesday, while Thursday sees the return of the very first Tammy from 1971. And finally, on Friday, catch up with Sid, Slippy and Shiner in Whizzer and Chips, two comics in one!

They don't make them like this anymore....

Full running order for comics giveaway:

Sat 12 September - Jackie
Sun - Beano
Mon - Roy of the Rovers
Tues - Bunty
Wed - The Dandy
Thu - Tammy
Fri - Whizzer and Chips

Edinburgh International Book Festival

2009-08-31T10:12:00.006+01:00

Our workshop at the Edinburgh International Book Festival went really well. It had sold out extremely quickly, thanks mainly to the popularity of comics and graphic novels these days, and of the festival itself, which, despite the rain, was packed (apparently the ticket sales actually went up this year!). We had a great time hanging out at various parties and around the festival, catching up with friends. The next day we were back at work on Louis - Night Salad (currently finishing painting page 70), and preparing for a few more events on the horizon: we'll be at the Wigtown Book Festival (as part of the WESTword festival programming) at the end of September.

Press for Comic Workshop at EIBF

2009-08-17T10:13:00.007+01:00

The Guardian gave us a wee plug in The Guide on Saturday (August 15th), mentioning our forthcoming comic workshop in a preview of The Edinburgh International Book Festival.

From the Drawing Table

2009-08-06T13:25:00.008+01:00

Have been busy working on Louis - Night Salad. We're almost nearing completion now: page 63 finished, painted and inked, below.

EIBF Comic Workshop Sells Out!

2009-06-25T10:46:00.000+01:00

Our comic workshop for the Edinburgh International Book Festival has already sold out! As have a lot of events, including comics, manga and graphic novels. The Book Festival experienced a phenomenal demand for tickets when they opened for sales just a few days ago, with people queuing up like crazy!
http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/

Summer Workshops in Scotland

2009-06-25T10:26:00.002+01:00

We'll be doing a series of workshops in early July at libraries in the West of Scotland:

Create Your Own Comics: a series of summer workshops for ages 8-14

Where: Dalmuir Library, Clydebank
When: July 7th 2009, 1.00 - 2.00pm

Where: Parkhall Library, Clydebank
When: July 7th 2009, 3.00 - 4.00pm

Where: Balloch Library, Balloch
When: July 8th 2009, 1.00 - 2.00pm

Where: Alexandria Library, Alexandria
When: July 8th 2009, 3.00 - 4.00pm

Where: Dumbarton Library, Dumbarton
When: July 9th 2009, 1.00 - 2.00pm

Where: Clydebank Library, Clydebank
When: July 9th 2009, 3.00 - 4.00pm

Events are free! To book a place or pick up a ticket, please phone the libraries direct.
http://libraryonline.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/rooms/portal/page/10084_Kids_Zone

Metaphrog at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

2009-06-12T10:46:00.000+01:00

This year, we will be part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, "the world's largest public celebration of the written word". We'll be doing a graphic novel workshop for teens on Wednesday the 26th of August from 5pm to 6pm, in the RBS Workshop Tent on Charlotte Square.

This year again the festival has a excellent graphic novel line up, with the likes of Neil Gaiman, Mark Millar, Gary Erskine, Mio Matsumoto, Dr Mel Gibson, and more, and Ian Rankin launching his first comic too! Of course the entire two week festival is packed with exciting literary events for adults and children alike.

Yesterday morning we enjoyed attending the festival programme launch, which took place at the luxurious Signet Library in Edinburgh and featured elaborate canapes and Bloody Marys (plus tea and coffee for those of us who had just had breakfast - after all, it was only 10am!).

For info and bookings, please go to the festival website: http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/

From the Drawing Table

2009-06-03T09:05:00.001+01:00

This is what is happening at Sandra’s desk right now! Page are from the upcoming Louis – Night Salad graphic novel.

Workshop Feedback

2009-05-28T11:01:00.000+01:00

We just received this link via email, a slideshow of drawings that the kids made during our comic and graphic novel workshop session at the Booked! festival on May 15th: http://www.wdcweb.info/onlinestories/literature-festival-2009/slideshow-metaphrog-artwork-alexandria.htm
Check it out, there are some really funny ones!

Author Visits Feedback

2009-05-25T08:53:00.003+01:00

We received this via email on Friday:
“Metaphrog visited Cardiff’s new library in May 2009 and enthralled children from Year 7 at Fitzalan High School with a lively demonstration creating comic book characters and effects. All the children created their own cartoons and enthusiastically shared their drawings which showed an impressive range of humour and skills.
We’d love Metaphrog to come back and visit again. And good luck with the new Louis book!”

Heather Noble Children’s Library Services Manager

Thanks Heather!

Booked! Festival Comics Workshops

2009-05-20T10:23:00.009+01:00

We’ve been on a roll doing graphic novel workshops this month! Friday May 15th we were at the Booked! Festival of Words in West Dunbartonshire, working with classes of Primary 7 children. These sessions were really fun! The kids were keen to flick through Sandra’s sketchbook and also asked some very interesting questions, such as “What’s the most difficult part of making a book?” or “How long does it take to make a book?” And of course they did fantastic drawings too.
Terry Lanagan, the Director of Education was present during our first session, and he mingled with the children while they were busy creating monsters, the feedback was that he was really pleased, as were the kids. We ended up sandwiched between the wall and a crowd of children, after the workshop, all wanting their posters and postcards (goodies we brought for them) signed, as well as the festival bookmarks. At one point one asked for his hand to be signed, starting a trend, and next thing we knew they all wanted their hands signed too!
The festival itself had an interesting line up, including Louise Welsh, Ian Banks, Julia Donaldson and many more, as well as a Dave McKean Retrospective exhibition in the Dalmuir Library (on until May 30th).

The day after our session we got a really nice comment on our Louis animation on YouTube from one of the kids: “I've met Metaprog, I got their autograph :) And they showed us this, it took Sandra 5 months to make.” It put a smile on our faces for the rest of the weekend.

More pictures from these events can be seen on our Picasa photo album here.

We'll be doing a series of summer workshops. Stay tuned for more info on this soon!

Cardiff Workshops and Bristol Comic Expo Report

2009-05-13T15:39:00.003+01:00

Our visits to Cardiff and Bristol were great! Really rejuvenating. We did two workshops on Friday 8th of May in the brand new Cardiff Central Library, a really attractive building, and the kids were great. A big thank you to Heather and Rob who invited us down and were perfect hosts, we managed to catch up with them over a few beers and Japanese food! Thanks too to all the chilren who as always had amazing ideas and who left some positive comments and thank you notes.

Slideshow below. Photo album here.

After the workshops we went on to Bristol for the rest of the weekend and had a fantastic time too, catching up with people like Chris Staros of Top Shelf and Gary Millidge on a quiet Friday evening. We were in the SPExpo part of the Comic Festival on the Saturday all day, the first SPExpo in fact, situated in a spacious, well-lit hall (complete with actual windows and panoramic views over Bristol, a welcome variation on many comic conventions). The whole event was fairly low key, as the Expo had to downsize this year. The two shows might have benefited from being in one large space rather than split between venues (we heard from many people that they didn't know the SPExpo was there until much later, for instance) but it all still managed to be highly enjoyable. On the Saturday evening, drinking beer and wine and eating tapas al fresco with Paul Gravett, Ilya (Best New Manga, King Lear), and Doug and Emma from Self Made Hero, was highly enjoyable as was the convention bar/party, were we shared conversational notes on dizziness with Tony Bennett. Sunday was spent trailing the Expo and checking out stalls and books, then absorbing sunshine for several hours, watching people finish a half-marathon, generally being very relaxed without passing out, before heading back to Glasgow. The funny thing about conventions is that you can completely miss people: we only met up with Gary Erskine at the baggage pick up in Glasgow!

Louis - Dreams Never Die Review

2009-05-12T15:00:00.002+01:00

It's always great to get a good review, and even more so when a book has been out for a while. Louis - Dreams Never Die, the graphic novel with music and animation we released in 2004 has just been reviewed here (you have to scroll down a bit).
On Friday 15th we're doing another two workshops, this time for "Booked" West Dunbartonshire Festival of Words, at Alexandria Library at 10.30am and Duntocher Library at 1.30pm.
We'll shortly be posting an entry on our workshops in Cardiff and on the Bristol Comic Festival.

Upcoming Events

2009-04-21T08:26:00.000+01:00

We're preparing for a few events coming up next month.
First, a couple of workshops at Cardiff Central Library on the 8th of May. We did a workshop there in 2003, and have been asked back, now that their brand new library is open.
Then we're travelling to Bristol for the Comic Expo and SPExpo on the 9th and 10th of May, where we'll be signing books and original art (on the Saturday only). Note that the Comic Expo itself will be at the Ramada Hotel, while the SPExpo will be a couple of blocks away at the Mercure Hotel (that's where we'll be).
Then on May 15th, we're looking forward to another couple of workshops as part of the West Dunbartonshire Festival of Words.

More details on all this, and other forthcoming events, can be found on our regularly updated events page.

Graphic Novel in Progress

2009-04-08T08:21:00.000+01:00

We're back at work on Louis - Night Salad, after working on our short comic adaptation of Edwin Morgan's poem The First Men on Mercury. Two very different methods of working, but we'll talk more about that in a later post!

Edwin Morgan Comic Adaptation

2009-03-11T19:42:00.012Z

We are honoured to announce that the Association for Scottish Literary Studies has commissioned us to produce an adaptation of the poem The First Men on Mercury by the great Edwin Morgan. It will come in the form of a four page, full colour comic, and will be published as a pamphlet given out free in Scotland in autumn 2009.

We're thrilled to be working on this. Adapting poetry into comics is proving to be a really interesting project, and the poem being largely dialogue based, is ideally suited to this. You can read the poem itself here.

We'll be posting more on this as the project develops.

Adam West Illustration

2009-01-22T17:30:00.012Z

We've just had the pleasure of contributing an illustration of Adam West's Batman to Dangerous Ink, the UK alternative arts magazine. The January 2009 issue features a special interview with the man himself, and also includes several illustrations from various cool artists.

Sandra's drawing is pictured here.

Dangerous Ink Vol 2, Issue 1 is out now from all good stockists.

New Year

2009-01-15T10:55:00.007Z

It's still January, so Best Wishes for 2009!

This is a panel extract from our graphic novel in progress, Louis - Night Salad.

We're getting ready for more workshops in schools and libraries, starting tomorrow in Aberdeen. Details are on our events page.

Graphic Novel Workshops in Schools

2008-12-08T16:46:00.015Z

Well, the end of the year has proven really busy with workshops! As well as the events mentioned previously in this blog, we did a whole series of highly enjoyable workshops: two during the Booxfactor Festival in Clydebank and also double workshops (one then a follow-up a week later) at the Howdenhall and St Katharines Centres as well as the Wellington School, in and around Edinburgh, in November and early December. And we still have more booked for next year (see our website's events page). Please visit our ever expanding photoalbum for sample work - there was a lot of vivid imagination on show and the groups and organisers were great to work with. http://picasaweb.google.com/metaphrog1
A big thank you to Anne Louise Anglim and to Colm Linnane for their kind support.

And, in between events, we are getting on with our new Louis graphic novel, Louis - Night Salad. We'll post more about this soon.

Imprint Festival Workshop

2008-11-13T18:23:00.010Z

This week, we conducted a comics workshop at the Imprint festival in Kilmarnock. We always enjoy showing people how we go about making our own comics, but also like to see what kids can come up with themselves. This link will take you to a gallery of monsters and some jam comics that they created during this session. We want to thank the organisers at the East Ayrshire libraries who run this festival so efficiently and made us feel so welcome. We even had time to visit the excellent Wallace and Gromit exhibition!

Imprint: East Ayrshire Book Festival runs from 10th - 15th November 2008.

sketchbook

2008-10-27T12:09:00.003Z

I (Sandra) did this sketch at life drawing a while ago. I had finished drawing the model, and, waiting for the next pose, did this sketch of one of the fellow attendants. He had a fisherman aspect about him and always displayed his painting materials on cloths below him like that. The watercolours he made were lovely.

Workshops

2008-10-16T16:38:00.006+01:00

The workshop we did last week in Milngavie was great fun: the image below is one of the character designs the teenagers came up with, and this link here has some more of them, as well as comics and comic jams they did.

We will be doing a few more workshops in November, with more details coming soon on our website’s events page.

Autumn Events

2008-09-08T13:07:00.004+01:00

We are preparing ourselves for a few autumn events: first we’ll be exhibiting at BICS, the Birmingham International Comics Show (Oct 4th –5th). For this, we wish to thank the Scottish Arts Council, as they are partly funding the trip.

Then, a couple of comics workshops, at the Storytelling Festival, in Milngavie, on Oct 14th, and at the Imprint Book Festival, in Kilmarnock, on Nov 12th. Further details can be found on the events page of our website.

Summer was spent hard at work on the new Louis book, but we did manage to attend several highly enjoyable events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, including: a three part talk with Paul Gravett, and Emma Hayley and Robert Deas of Self Made Hero and a panel discussion comprising Hannah Berry, Alan Grant and Bryan Talbot. We also had the pleasure of being invited to the British Council Bookcase party.

Graphic novels were well featured at the Edinburgh festival this year, and Paul Gravett has an interesting article about this on his website. We were reminded that back in 1999 our own Strange Weather Lately Volume One had been the very first graphic novel ever to feature in the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Louis Work in Progress

2008-08-15T12:18:00.007+01:00

We're making great progress on our new book, Louis - Night Salad, in full swing and turning round pages: half way through it in fact. In this book, Louis will encounter tiny people leading him through a desert, a strange doctor and his minions, and a giant caterpillar! Here are their character designs, stay tuned for more artwork soon... Previous postings on this topic can be found here.

Sketchbook

2008-07-31T16:20:00.004+01:00

Life drawing sketch by Sandra

Sketchbook

2008-07-22T13:06:00.003+01:00

Life drawing sketch by Sandra

Louis Work in Progress

2008-07-08T12:36:00.004+01:00

Here is a quick character design (Louis and his guide) for our graphic novel in progress, Louis - Night Salad.

Sketchbook

2008-06-27T16:21:00.007+01:00

Life drawing sketch by Sandra

Comics Day at Dundee Lit Fest Photo Report

2008-06-24T12:35:00.019+01:00

We’re just back from Comics Day at the Dundee Literary Festival: another fine event organised by Dr Christopher Murray, with really varied talks, all extremely interesting in their own ways. Here are a few photos documenting the event.
Our own talk was about making the Louis graphic novels, and, in order of appearance, Chris Murray himself revealing his secret identity :-), Roger Sabin (on reading comics), Jim Glen from DC Thomson, with some live drawing action, Ilya (editor of the recent Mammoth Book of Best New Manga), Paul Gravett talking about his own new Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics (edited by himself and designed by Peter Stanbury), and Bryan Talbot, the main speaker, on his recent Alice in Sunderland book project.
More full size photos can be found here.

Talk at Dundee Literary Festival

2008-06-16T11:06:00.006+01:00

A quick reminder of our talk at the Dundee Literary Festival on Comics Day, Sunday 22nd June at 3.45pm: The Making of the Louis Graphic Novels.
In addition there is a talk by Bryan Talbot, and also by Paul Gravett, Roger Sabin, Ilya, Jim Glen, and Chris Murray. It promises to be a great event!

Official website:
http://www.dundeeliteraryfest.org/comics.htm
Location - New Teaching Block, Hawkhill, University of Dundee, UK.
Comics Day cost - £10 for the full day or £5 per half day.

Louis on YouTube

2008-06-12T16:51:00.002+01:00

Louis – Dreams Never Die animation by metaphrog, soundtrack by hey and múm.

National Library Exhibition Pictures

2008-06-11T18:11:00.003+01:00

As the Graphic Novel exhibition at National Library of Scotland just ended, we thought we’d post some pictures of it here for those who couldn’t make it to Edinburgh.
The exhibit represented a broad spectrum of graphic novels, from the underground movement right through to superhero, and focused on Cam Kennedy’s artwork for Kidnapped (adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson by Alan Grant).
The photos were taken on the very busy opening night, and we hear that the exhibit itself was really well attended, and attracted new faces to the library. This is a photo of our own books there, and this link will lead you to more pictures.

The Local Heroes, The Art of the Graphic Novel exhibition at the National Library of Scotland ran from April 4th to June 1st 2008.

National Library Workshop Report

2008-05-30T15:47:00.015+01:00

Our illustrated workshop at the National Library of Scotland last week was great fun! (Create your own Comics, May 23). It was fully booked (it even had a waiting list!), and the kids loved it, which is so rewarding. A little girl had even brought her own copy of Louis – Red Letter Day and wanted it signed. And, we gave everyone a mini-comic to take home, hoping to inspire them all to make their own. The children certainly got engrossed in creating their own characters (they virtually ignored the proposed break and took their biscuits and juice to the table), and we gave them a few tips on making comics, as well as a few highly useful facts, such as spiders having 48 knees. Beverley Casebow, who organised the event, kindly took a few pictures. And the library had let us design a flyer to help spread the word. Pictures below.

The Create Your Own Comics workshop was part of the National Library of Scotland's series of events on graphic novels.

New LOUIS Work in Progress

2008-05-21T12:43:00.005+01:00

For some time now, we’ve been working on our new book, Louis – Night Salad. We’ll be regularly updating this blog with progress on the book, but for now, as a sneak preview, here is a painting from it.

Paper in the International Journal of Comic Art

2008-05-12T15:42:00.004+01:00

In our last post, we mentioned last year’s Biff Bam Crickey! Comics as Design and Entertainment Conference in Dundee in May 2007. The highly enjoyable two day event, gathered academics and other interested parties to discuss comics and graphic novels. We were delighted to be participating in such an event, and as practitioners talked about the creative process and our approach to the medium.

Papers from the conference have now been published in the International Journal of Comic Art. We’ve posted a pdf of an edited version of our own talk here: http://www.metaphrog.com/metaphrog_dundee_talk.pdf

Talk at the Dundee Literary Festival

2008-05-01T12:38:00.006+01:00

We’ll be giving another talk, on June 22nd at the Dundee Literary Festival on Comics Day, at 3.45pm, The Making of the Louis Graphic Novels.

The event is a continuation of the Biff Bam Crickey! Conference and Exhibition organised in Dundee by Dr Christopher Murray last year (in conjunction with the Six Cities Design Festival). The weekend event was a great success and it was a pleasure for us to be involved in it. Many of the papers were published in the International Journal of Comic Art, but we’ll come back to that in a later post. This year, several of the speakers have been invited back, including Paul Gravett, Roger Sabin and ourselves. Bryan Talbot, Ilya and Jim Glen will also be giving talks, as well as Chris Murray himself. It promises to be a really interesting day, so be sure to mark it in your calendar if you’re in the area.

http://www.dundeeliteraryfest.org/comics.htm
cost - £10 for the full day or £5 per half day.

National Library Talk Report

2008-04-25T15:52:00.005+01:00

Our talk at the National Library of Scotland last Wednesday went really well and we got great positive feedback. Thanks again to everyone who came along and to all those involved in organising the events. With Lisa Otty chairing the evening, we gave an overview (with slides) of our work since our beginnings back in 1996.

Lisa, who is from the Graduate School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh, also had quite a few in depth questions. We talked about the creative process in some detail, about visual storytelling and graphic novels and about the use of language in the books in general. We also demonstrated our use of bean cans and tea bags while promoting Strange Weather Lately a few years back (beware, some of the cans have inflated)!

Gafin from Deadhead Comics was in charge of hosting the bookstall. Apologies for the picture quality here, the room was very dark.

Next month we’re giving a two hour workshop on making comics, also at the National Library of Scotland (see previous post for details). We’ll soon post a few photos from the graphic novel exhibition that the library is hosting too so stay tuned…

Press Interest

2008-04-21T17:59:00.007+01:00

The List have featured our forthcoming talk in their 600th issue, and kindly included a photo taken by our good friend Jim Taylor.

Also added here is a listing for our kid's workshop):

And The Guardian Guide also featured the event: