Things have been slightly quieter around these parts as of late and I feel I may owe somewhat of an explanation. It’s a simple one really, I haven’t been here. ‘Here’ being by the pc. At some point towards the end of the summer, I had become increasingly frustrated with the lack of space in my apartment. It was impractical and nigh on impossible to work in, due to size and logistical restrictions. This was happening at the same time as a mass of ideas and potential projects that I wanted to get underway and so a solution had to be found.
A brainwave came to me when visiting a nearby friend who had a rather spacious garage / annex thing, which in my eyes, suddenly transformed into a thing of great beauty and possibility. The acquisition of the space was an epic battle of wits, with two minds meeting over such weighty conversation as:
‘You know your garage? Mind if I clear it out and turn it into a studio?’
‘Nah, work away.’
SEE! See the passion, and love that went into the very foundations of this adventure?
As if by some miraculous feat of circumstance, that very day I was returning home when we saw a nice dog in a van. We went over to say hello to the dog who was excitedly hanging out a gap in the window, when a gruff voice summoned our attention from a neighbour’s doorway.
‘Do y’want a couch lads?’
Thinking it to be some form of dubious sales pitch, we were cautious, but inquisitive enough to show that we weren’t entirely disinterested. It developed through conversation that there were two almost perfect leather couches being given away by our wasteful, affluent neighbours. It would ease the workmen’s load if we took them and we get two salubrious leather sofas into the bargain as well. An all round win. Strange, how even one day earlier, and I would have instantly declined such an offer.
With the couches now stored (for three days in my hallway, completely blocking access to the front door and ensuring that a Krypton Factor style assault course be completed to pass through the tiny hallway) and the agreement made, the clearing began. It took almost a week to get it looking like this:
It resembled nothing more than the bleak set of a particularly unpleasant grumble flick.
This was closer to what I needed, but still quite far removed from what I had envisioned in my head.
Weeks went by as bits and pieces emerged. Forgotten shelving units were resurrected from attics. Unused carpets donated and unwanted cabinets happily handed over. An old TV and video were rediscovered.
I love having movies on in the background while I work at things. Maybe I never bought into the falsity that you have to listen to music every spare minute of the day to qualify as a music ‘lover’, sometimes a series or a good movie will keep you listening just as intently. To satisfy any musical desires I may have, an old record player / cassette deck combo that I bought for a fiver years ago at a car boot sale has been coming in very useful indeed.
Not being financially stable enough to invest much in the actual allocation of essentials for the studio, the next stage took about 6 weeks. I slowly bought materials with bits of cash I had put by and over those weeks, the work started to materialise as well.
For a very long time, I was using the massive board on my lap as a drawing table, which was leading to all sorts of new and exciting pains. Luckily, my dad had found a home made drawing table frame in an old shed and we attached it to a 20 quid B&Q table (seemingly made out of sugar paper and hope) and secured the back of it so that it would remain steady.
Now there is a professional style drawing table, something I have always wanted but never thought I’d be able to afford. Then when I was given a typewriter, I knew I was finally equipped.
This is where I’ve been. I am there most days for, well, most of the day. There are bits that you can’t see, like the expanding VHS collection (which will explode once I bring my stored boxes from home up soon) and the Street Fighter machine is out of shot because it’s being worked on at the moment and I don’t want to show her incomplete, naked as it were.
The first thing that will be completed is ‘Mugwump’ an upcoming independent comic which I am writing, drawing, lettering, shading and publishing myself. This will appear sometime in early 2010 and is something I am very proud, excited and anxious to share with you all.
I am still writing a great deal but in a very unpressured, natural kind of way (sorry if that sounds a bit pretentious), I was putting myself under too much pressure before and it didn’t result in good things. I am enjoying what I currently write and I think that when the time is appropriate, you will too.
There is half a novel that glares at me from its folder every day; I don’t think it’ll let me get away with not finishing it. The stack of short stories continually grows and soon will also be demanding I do something with them. Until then, I’m happy to work on them until they are of a standard that I would feel comfortable inflicting upon the public.
So, welcome to my world, this is my studio. She may not be the flashiest in the world, but she was restored and put together with love, time and care. With my Super Ser gas heater and a small fort of videos for company, here I will remain for the duration for the winter.
The website will continue, obviously, and will be used to showcase goings on, rustlings and strange sightings.
Here’s to better things.
Better times.
And better work.
Let’s do this.
x ZH x
