2012!

Hope everyone had a great new year! I've been so behind in blogging for the last few weeks; rubbish of me. ;_; So - first of all, I wanted to let you know that I'll be in Paris on the 4th and 5th of February for the Paris Manga & Sci Fi event - huzzah! I'll be there because my creator owned title, Dragon Heir is receiving a French edition, courtesy of publisher Aaltair - how cool is that?!
I'll be at Aaltair's booth along with fellow creators Nacho Fernandez and the super Sarah McIntyre - who we keep joking that I'm whisking away for a Parisian retreat, haha.

And from older projects to new, I'm very excited that the first book of Avalon Chronicles and the second of the Vampire Academy series will be out in a couple of months! Things to look forward to. I'm also beavering away on a couple of creator-owned projects that I seriously can't wait to talk more about.
Here's to an exciting year ahead ^_^

Happy Festive season to everyone ^_^

Have a good one and I'll see you in the new year! x

Woah, is that the time?

Lovely Paul Cornell has started up his 12 days of Christmas and prolific Morag Lewis is working on her visual advent calender; both annual events that hammer home to me that Christmas really is nearly here! Oh my goodness where was it hiding?

For me and the Vampire Academy crew, Christmas came a little early when we learned that the Vampire Academy graphic novel had won the GoodReads graphic novel and comic prize for 2011! We were overjoyed, so thank you so much to anyone who voted for us. To be up there amongst such incredible titles was an honour. To win was just...well, thank you! ^_^ Click the frostbite preview banner to see the full category and where VA sits in it; it's keeping some amazing company there!

It certainly gives us yet more enthusiasm as we dive into Shadowkiss! You guys rock *hug*

I have been all over the place recently. Convention season really knocked me for six, but I met some amazing people. Massive thanks and hellos to everyone I met in Malta comic con and Komix in Melksham. I've been looked after so well - thank you! ^_^
Now, I'm back to working hard on Avalon 2 and, soon, shadowkiss. You may see more of the chappie in the banner appearing over time, as my wind-down sketches have been largely featuring him recently. I won't dive into who he is exactly just yet, but he's a character I'm certainly hoping to do more with at some point. Yes, another one. I have a stable out back...but I keep them all well fed until their moment to shine, honest! '^_^

Doki Doki, Travelling Man & Avalon ^_^

This weekend I'll be heading up to Manchester!
On the Saturday evening I shall be heading along to the fabulous Travelling Man comic shop for signing shennanigans from 7pm onward, so do head along and say hi if you're in the area! ^_^
Then on the Sunday it's off to the Doki Doki festival, where Sonia Leong and I will be there with tables, selling books, offering sketches and representing Sweatdrop. Hope to see people there!

In other exciting book news, it seems that my Oni press title, Avalon Chronicles, has now been solicited! It liiiiives! It's been a little while since I finished up work on the book and can't wait for you guys to be able to share it. Writers Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir are just amazing story weavers and I'm proud to be heling them weave this one ^_^
The banner will take you to Avalon as it appeared this morning on my goodreads list! weeee :)
Talking of Goodreads, don't forget to vote in the choice awards! Vampire Academy and Richell Mead are making a show in the nominations, with Richelle's work getting three categories - including my own contribution in the graphic novel category for mine and Leigh's adaptation of book one ^_^

Goodreads Choice Awards 2011

I got an email from my eagle-eyed co-creator, Leigh Dragoon, yesterday because she spotted that Vampire Academy: A graphic novel made it into round one of the Goodreads choice awards for 2011. This is so, so exciting! I can't quite believe the phenomenal list of books that are up for voting. It's a really strong list and, whatever happens, to be among them for the first round of voting is just stupidly flattering.

2011 Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Best Graphic Novels & Comics Vote now for your favorite books!

So, round one of voting is open now! If you want to see Vampire Academy (or one of the others!) move forward into round two, then head over by clicking the link above and cast your vote now. ^_^

Also well worth clicking on is the link to the now fully launched The Thrill Electric! (banner here from Becky Cloonan's amazing cover to issue 1) I've mentioned it before, but you can now view the first two episodes (and episode 3 launches today) completely for free thanks to channel 4! A new episode launches every Thursday and the reaction we got at the MCM expo was so positive, with Resonance FM and Bleeding Cool really jumping into the action; we're all excited about it ^_^

Events updates ^_^

Finally an update from me! I completed the inks on Frostbite last week and it's a good feeling! The book is going to look amazing, I can't wait ^_^ It seems like Vampire Academy #1 was only just out and rocking the NYT best sellers list and already we're looking ahead to the third book in the series. Time is flying by!
A big thank you again to the wonderful readers who've been sending messages, reviews and comments for the first book. You're all amazing ^_^ Frostbite will be released in April 2012 and you can already pre-order it on Amazon!
So, where am I now? Well, as well as Frostbite's release, next year will also see the release of the first book in the Avalon Chronicles from Oni Press!
That's in March, so what a busy couple of months that will be! (I have recently received a script draft from Nunzio and Christina for book two and it's very exciting!)
In just a week's time HatTrick and channel 4 are finally revealing the very exciting enhanced comic project,The Thrill Electric, written by Leah Moore and John Reppion and drawn by Windflower Studio. I was the designer for the project and it's been amazing watching it all come together! So that's a project to look out for in the very near future.
I'll also be embarking on a few adventures in the next couple of months and hope to see people at some of the following events:
London MCM Expo - 28/30 October, London
Signing at Travelling Man, Manchester - 12th November
Doki Doki Japanese Festival - 13th November, Manchester
Thought Bubble - 19/20 November, Leeds
Malta Comic Con - 26/27 November, Malta
Signing Party at Komix! - 10th December, Wiltshire (With Paul Duffield & Kate Brown)

Phew! So, hope to see you soon, guys. Don't be shy. If you're at one of these events, do come and say hi!

NYT Best seller! You guys are amazing :)

So - I've been so busy with the last month of Frostbite inks that I just haven't had time to post about this here yet, but Oh My Goodness, the VA graphic novel made the New York Times bestseller list for graphic novels and it's more than we could have dreamed - thank you SO much to everyone who's bought a copy ^_^
Party time!
So, we charted at #4 last week and have stayed in the top 10 this week at #8. I'm just blown away by the response the book has received. two weeks in a NYT bestseller list? Just amazing. You guys are fantastic. And, trust me, Frostbite is going to look even better =^_^=
Thank you, thank you, thank you. xx

Some time in the studio...

So, it's been an insane month for me. In the last week alone I've been to Edinburgh book festival and Birmingham comic con, and am now getting ready to settle into a full month of inking for Frostbite. It'll be nice to stop in one place for a while, haha. Big hellos to anyone I met at the forementioned events, of course ^_^

But the big news is of course that Vampire Academy the graphic novel was officially released last week, yay!
And Rose has no need to look quite so scared! I can't tell you how nerve-wracking it has been getting ready for the release of this book. I know how much Richelle Mead's amazing characters mean to readers; I love the novels myself, and I know that no adaptation will ever fit perfectly the images we build in our heads whilst reading something we love...but the response I've seen so far to the book online has just blown me away. I want to offer an absolutely MASSIVE thank you to every one of you who has offered support, feedback or general squeeing - it's just SO appreciated! *hug*
Clicking that banner above will take you to the amazon.com page for the book, but you can find it in most book shops and online sites.

So - big love goes out to my cohorts: Leigh Dragoon (script), Caravan Studios (colours), Ching Chan (art editor), Rob Valois (editor) and of course Richelle herself - who has just recently given birth to her first non-book baby; a real life flesh and blood one! *confetti*. Many thanks to Penguin teams all over the place, including the amazing BetweenTheLines run by Penguin Australia, where you can see a version of the first book told via facebook! So much fun. ^_^

And, once again, MASSIVE thanks to the Vampire Academy community. You guys have been so welcoming and supportive and I could not have hoped for more.
Now, back to Frostbite inks!