Thursday 2 October 2014

Tall Trees

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
Said someone, once.
The title of this post is 'Tall Trees', as in 'Tall trees from tiny acorns grow'; another saying which I probably mis-heard. Anyway, I was going to be more succinct, calling the blog 'Acorn', but I decided that too many people might mistakenly think this was a blog centred on retro adoration of a classic computer. But then I'd have to deal with the cult of Apple and its adherents, all clamouring for the latest  iphone.
And that could lead to much anguish.
So I didn't go with Acorn.
But here's a picture of one.

One of my problems is overthinking; if it wasn't, then this blog would have been launched long ago.
But the constant striving for perfection often results in nothing ; because it's easier, and safer not to do anything, for fear of messing up.
Someone else once said that you miss 100% of the shots you never take.
I can understand that.
So in this rambling stream of consciousness, I hope to find some semblance of logic and achievement. If that can be attained without too much Psychobabble, then praise be, and all that.
Because one thing I can't stand is Psychobabble.
But I digress.
Perhaps I should start again.

Hello
My name is Gordon.

That's not working for me, either.
So here is a cover I drew long ago.






'Inkhead'* was a self-published comic / graphic thingy which had a puny global reach of 200 copies.
It was lovingly hand assembled before there was a Google. Actually, there was barely even an internet to speak of  (it was 1989); in some ways that was a pity, as we could have gone digital and saved a lot of headaches in printing and distribution.
A few of my drawings from Inkhead
As it was, the whole thing was buoyed up by boundless enthusiasm ( mostly from our irrepressible mentor Leo, bless 'im wherever he be) , and a great admiration for the world of diy zines and indie comics. I was obsessed with the whole thing, and for a spell in the 1980's worked for one of only two comic distributors in the UK, so had plenty of experience hands on with the likes of alternative titles such as RAW,WEIRDO, BLAB! and reprints of ZAP, as well as the classic E.C. comics . Infact,my love of horror/ sci-fi and comics in general stemmed from a repressed childhood in the Scottish lowlands, in which the discovery of such adult fare was an illicit thrill.
'Inkhead' was a low (no) budget thing which lived and died in obscure corners of bookshops and comic shops in the UK.
 Distribution was hopelessly sporadic, relying on foot slogging, and cheeky sale or return requests.
 I think our highest profile was twenty copies in Waterstones; which for our humble little  Leicester Community-Press  creation, was the nadir of bookishness.
 Infact the manager probably took pity on us little orphans, with our hand scrawled comix.
It was 84 pages of offset litho, and we were proud of the little monster. So much so, that we created issue 2, and that's where the trail went dead.

'Ghettoman' was a character I created as a wannabe superhero in 1989...
We moved away; the motley crew who'd contributed scribbles and collages to Inkhead were scattered far and wide, and the printers were the victims of a growing recession.
In fact, I don't really know why I've gotten so indepth about it here, except that it's an example of the low scale indie creativity that drives me.

Top right links to the next blog in this series, further opening out my aimless, rambling persona.



* I actually Googled 'Inkhead' tonight, and it turned up quite a few ( mostly print companies). So, yeah, I guess we missed out on the Domain there; though it wasn't even a consideration in 1989.