* - the singer Duffy is defiantly an alien.

soooo ..... happy noo year!

I keep going to write this journal ... but I've not really been in the mood for it.

2008 note -

it was a good year I suppose. it had ups and downs like every year is going to. but there was a lot of "ups" which made it just a little more special than normal ...

o Completed the comic studio scheme - my 2nd printed comic in an anthology and we organised our own exhibition at the BBC mailbox in Birmingham
o the birth of the comic collective 'inspired'
o attended 5 university interviews and was successful every time.
o got full marks for BTEC graphic design and a B for a level fine art (which was a real surprise because I had a C from the previous year and I'm no artist. I also did a lot of risky stuff like collage and no paints)
o had my drawing of a zebra used for college end of year show advertisements ... which ment I was payed to make extra designs for leaflets, more leaflets, posters, tickets, name tags, t-shirts, a billboard and a giant advertisement van which circled the city
o printed our 1st anthology with inspired ... which was a nightmare because some members where a bit of a let down when it got to deadline day ... which turned into deadline week ... but we pulled through it which makes it feel like more of an achievement
o volunteered on a youth camp as a steward ... which was really rewarding and I learned loads!
o had my 18th birthday ... and discovered it doesn't make you feel or act like an adult unless you make it that way
o got a place on the right uni course for me (which happened to be the last uni I applied to)
o successfully lived away from home for 1 term (I don't think I would've survived without doing the stewarding before)
o got a table at Birmingham international comics show and sold the 2 anthologies with inspired
o biggest surprise of the year - getting joint 9th place in this years manga jiman competition. we also managed to get our into ITCH publishings 150 anthology (which is gonna be AWESOME!). its just so surprising because it was written late at night in tesco just after seeing wall-e in the cinema and then I drew most of it in fresher week at university @_______@)
o got a high grade on my 1st essay at university (which felt like a really big achievement because I've only wrote 1 essay at college)
o handed in all my work for uni before the deadline ^_______^ I dunno if I did well yet :S .... we'll have to see.
o got a "academic bursary" from the university for getting high grades at college - it PAYS to work hard!

... so.... yeh ... its been choas ... I've been out my comfort zone so much ... I was so scared this time last year thinking about the future. and I guess I am with 2009 as well.

2009 note -

Last year I wrote some bullet points of things I wanted to do before the end of the year ... and I achieved a lot of them ... which was pretty satisfying ...so I want to set some this year and I'm determined to do them.

o READ MORE! I dunno how I expect to get into the world of comics as a career when I don't read any books. I read comic books .... lots of comic books .... but I don't read "real" books (according to my mum) and I think I probably should. I want to improve my writing skills ... I like working with laura on comics (she is better at writing) ... and I don't mean I want to be able to write well so I can work on my own .... I think she will probably end up doing something like teaching english in japan or something .... so I need to build up for when shes not around so much. I'm going to start with alice in wonderland, what I talk about when I talk about running and the illustrated mum .... I know they're quite random ... but they're on my mind right now
o Learn the harmonica - I wrote this down last year ... and I didn't get around to it. but I paid a lot for my chromatic harmonica ... so I really need to make use of it. plus I'd loveee to be able to play it well. I think I will try to put playing it daily in my routeen once I get back to uni. I could do with purchasing a decent book rather than searching the web for "free lessons"
o get a good grade for the 1st year of uni ... even though the 1st year doesn't count to the final degree grade (I think that getting a high grade will show that I've really pushed myself to improve rather than skimming the 1st year just to get on the course next year.

I'd write something too high to achieve like "win RSOM" ...but tokyopop let me down last year ... sooo .... I'm making no promises on competitions which usually run yearly.

2009 is going to be just as scary .... starting with work I'm not that pleased with being displayed in London in February ... then theres moving into a student house in September which I still havn't started looking for people to live with. :S but hopefully it will be a fun year .... I'm gonna continue to work hard to get where I want to be ... and hopefully I wont let things I worry about knock me down from achieving that ...


so .. yeh ... I hope you all had a great 2008 and are looking forward to a great 2009 !

XD get any interesting comics for Christmas?
I'm still reading the books we had to read for universtiy holiday work I'll probably write a journal about them when I'm done.


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icon by ~badly-shaded


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stuff

events coming up

- Bristol Comics Expo 2009

links

- mangazebra.co.uk
- inspired (comic collective with friends)
- myspace
- livejournal

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manga

you can find my most recent manga at ...

- mangazebra.co.uk (click manga)
- webcomic shorts


currently working on

- personal project for university (which WILL be awesome!)

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