Hutcho

It’s been a while between updates, so let me fill you in on what I’ve been doing since the launch of Walking to Japan, back in October.

Firstly, Adam Pasion released Aftershock, which was the anthology I actually wrote that strip for.
The book is to raise funds which are donated to the
Well, the hardcopy book is finally out and available at
The Japan Times are going to mention it, if you happen to live in Japan! There are also a couple of nice reviews. You can also purchase a digital version for your …. at URL

But the self-contained newspaper version is going well here in Australia too. All-Star Comics and Non Canonical have been highly supportive of this and my other comics, which makes me stoked.

But that doesn’t really count as what I’ve been doing does it.

Well, since the open comic artists residency Inherent Vice ended in August, working from home seemed a little quiet. I also noticed that there were a lot of empty shopfronts around Melbourne, even on the main, busy streets. What if I could set up an open comic artists studio, similar to Inherent Vice? A place where comic artists could go to work together everyday, sell our stuff and let people come in to chat, swap business cards, ask questions, read comics and draw?

I know loads of comic artists personally, and I know there’s another fifty or so, hiding away in Melbourne somewhere. With a few others to join me in the studio with a small weekly rent, I could afford it. Could it be that simple?

I suspected it was a dumb idea and I’d overlooked something obvious. But nobody else seemed to think so. Close cartoony friends David Blumenstein, Sarah Howell, Marta Tesoro, and Arran McKenna were right behind the idea, and some quick maths showed me that I could afford it without too much difficulty. My beating boozem told me not to hesitate. Ideas grind to a halt if you dally and tarry! I signed the lease, did up some keys, Sacha Byrning joined the club and we jolly well moved into 309 Victoria st, Brunswick.

http://www.squishfacestudio.com/

So, we need to tie up a few things such as buying the right colour garbage bin, and where to hang the little blue dust mop. There is no official telephone and there are no drawings on the walls yet, but we are operating, and it won’t be long before we open our doors to the public with a big party. Maybe one week, maybe two, or maybe we’ll wait til after Christmas.

I wanted to tell you about the actual project I will be throwing myself back in to: Mini Mel and Timid Tom, which I’ve been mentioning now and again. But I’ll leave that for the next post.