Illustrated Epistle: Learning to Cartoon

Another month has whizzed by, we're well into Autumn and we have been busy working on the house and garden while the good weather continued. Fortunately, the veranda was replaced before the weather turned wet this week. I'm also happy to report that I no longer get seasick going off to bed as the house has been re-levelled and new piles put in to keep it level-ish. 

This week, I have been working on the illustrations for Chapter 13 of the second FAB Club book. By the next Epistle the drawing should be finished, which will ease the deadline pressure somewhat.

I've also been busy running cartoon workshops in Lyttelton. The first was in the library with kids aged 7-12. They were enthusiastic and engaged and it was very rewarding to see how much their drawing developed in a couple of hours. The second was at a youth club that catered to 11-14 year olds. We started with about a dozen kids and ended up with four! All of them were the younger ones who weren't distracted by their peers. It was a good learning experience for me.
I think that peer pressure in the early teens is a big factor in which interests we take up. Most kids give up drawing at this point, believing that their drawing isn't good enough to impress their friends. I was lucky at that age to have friends who loved to write and draw and we created comics to entertain each other. Without that encouragement, I might have given up too, as I don't find that drawing comes naturally to me and I have to work at it. It is the reason I give myself deadlines in order to develop my work. Doodle Diary on gocomics.com forces me to to draw at least three sketches of my life every week, many of which debut in the Epistle.

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This is an excerpt from my Illustrated Epistle, which goes out in the middle of the month. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a cartoonist (specifically, mine). I'd love it if you signed up at the bottom of this page, or here:

http://eepurl.com/cCOOeD

Stand Up Paddle Boarding to Quail Island

We are having beautiful autumn weather here in New Zealand. I went out on the paddleboard yesterday because the forecast was for very light winds. It started out that way and I got to the island in about 25 minutes. But by that time I had paddled around the island the wind had changed and Lyttleton harbour became choppy. It was a good 35 minutes of paddling to get back to Magazine Bay. I was knackered but it was totally worth it.

New Zealand Diary: Rat Trapping in Lyttelton

I wrote the above soon after we arrived back in Lyttelton. But the rats got worse and the old traps didn't work. We set some Predator Free NZ traps in tunnels outside and caught only mice.

And so, this.

Illustrated Epistle: Tramping in New Zealand

Hiking in New Zealand With Our Dog

I discovered that Oxford Forest allows dogs, plus the tracks take you through native forest (you can see photos on a previous post) with the sound of bellbirds all around.

It had been years since I had done an overnight walk and camp and I consulted my essential tramping list to make sure I didn't forget anything:

• Down sleeping bag (I HATE being cold), silk liner, mat, tent
• boots, lightweight shoes, walking poles (I used to scoff at these, but they really prevent you becoming tired)
• cap, raincoat, warm hat, gloves, down jacket
• lightweight towel, two sets of underwear, merino t-shirt, merino long shirt, two fleeces, trousers, leggings, (maybe) shorts, Buff scarf
• glasses, contact solution, ear plugs, toothbrush & paste, deodorant (longer trips), medical kit, sunscreen, insect repellent
• rubber bands, headlamp (I have one that takes rechargeable AA batteries), camera, phone
• matches, fork & spoon, camp cookware, plate, penknife, cooker, gas, water bottle
• book, notepad and pencil/pen, cards (if I'm going to be in a hut with other people)
• tea, nuts & raisins (or trail mix, if I've been organised. Not on this trip.), crackers, salami, cheese, prunes, 2 minute noodles, tuna, chocolate, ginger nuts (the only biscuit that is nearly indestructible)

It was a nice short tramp, taking just over an hour to hike to the beautiful Ryde Falls where we camped for the night. The night was cold, but starry and we wore nearly all our layers and shared a lot of red wine (part of Duncan's essential packing list) to keep warm. Billie retreated to the fleece blanket in the tent.

Billie is much improved after last month's scare. He is still walking like a drunk and did fall down a small bank on the walk but he was happy and acted like he did on the Coast to Coast, barking at us to get going if we stopped for more than 5 minutes. Which was fine as the sandflies would turn up after that. Maori legend has it that sandflies were created to keep people from being idle and it feels that way when you are tramping.

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This is an excerpt from my Illustrated Epistle, which goes out in the middle of the month. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a cartoonist (specifically, mine). You can sign up at the bottom of this page, or here (and unsubscribe if you don’t like it, or even if you do):

http://eepurl.com/cCOOeD