So yeah, chapter 28 has now ended, leaving possibly more questions than before but lets look at the lessons learnt in a after school special kind of way...

Firstly, we've learnt that if you want to turn a green diamond maroon, you pour a barrel of wine over it and it turns.... Redish brown... Okay, redish... Okay, red.
Secondly, We've learnt that the bear ISN'T a woman, but a man! Dave Duff and Razor Ray Gun have returned and are now part of The Field Faction.
Thirdly, Shelly's mood swings are the best
Fourthly, Shelly and Alfie used to be a couple but it wasn't entirely convenient.
Fifthly, plums are for eating, not for conspiring!
And finally, it seems you can grow a lush and well-kept garden several hundred feet under the Egyptian desert.

The zipped file is the biggest one so far at over 15mb filled with temply goodness but don't rest too long. I've finished inking the first two of twenty-one strips for Chapter 29 – In Plain Sight.

More on that.... Later...

This morning I felt inspired to re-jig a website.

melanie nicol

It was important to make something very, very simple, very cute and extremely pink! I wanted a really eye catching homepage that'd look like a fashion website.

The slanted buttons are something that's not seen that often on the web and I think it adds a nice edge to the design.

On Saturday 1st August, I'll be at the Collaborama, as part of the Alternative Press Festival. Impressive, eh? It'll start at 11am, it's free and it's going to be in London again.
I should really travel a bit further for these things, but alas, no money.
It should be fantastic and filled with some trendy types, some with cat ears (I really need to patent my Bob ears) so if anything, go for the entertainment value. I'll be there with issues of Steve and Bob (one and two) and Elemental Micah issue one. I'll try and get ish two finished by then but it seems highly unlikely, so the origins story it is.
It's got nudy bits!
I've only ever really done one exhibition (Thing!) so it'd be quite exciting and nerve wracking to go to another. Again, I'm terrified that people will look at my table, say “HA!” and then stalk off, for those that aren't like that, I'll just have fun chatting with anyone that comes my way!

Warning! This newsie is brought to you by a Mike G who is currently on medication. It'll either be very boring or very random.
Enjoy!
Or not.
On Saturday I went to the Alternative Press thing called 'Collaborama' (No, I don't know either) and it was fun. It was strange as it was only the second exhibition I've ever been to. Well, I've been to the Thing three times now, but never anything else. Ahem.
Jimi was there in his bearded glory as were very many other people with gorgeous comics that I wanted to nab. Sadly I came unprepared. I had no blue tak and no change. I searched my bag mirthlessly for blu tak but curiously enough I did find a change bag instead along with a GIANT ROBOT SPACE MAN!

Urg, did I really just write a story about blu tak in my newsie bits? Even the cat is looking at me in disgust.
Well, yes, anyway, the point is I enjoyed it even for the lack of people. Curiously enough, more people were interested and buying Elemental Micah than Steve & Bob. I suppose it's coz it looks a bit more indie than a story which has cartoon animals on it. Also there were a fair few gays which I should mention, but I can't as I'm not the memory man. Send me a message, I'll just add it to this. Then we can like talk about stuff. Urg, brain not working...

Heh, pussy cat. Tom Jones. Welsh. Sheep.

Pictures! Yes, here they are. Stop bugging me, I'm going to bed...

Here's a lovely piece of cheesecake for you my dears!

To celebrate that I've finished inking chapter 29, I drew this and coloured it in various programs. Download it, print it, stick it on your wall. (Click on the download button for the full sized thang)

It turns out that I have also changed the name of Chapter 29 from 'That Pink Girl' to 'In Plain Sight' (with the exclamation mark to really emphasis the cheese of the poster)

Despite the poster, this has not only been a difficult chapter to draw but also one that I quite relished. The story is *ahem* explosive, with numerous cliffhangers and a lot of answers to a lot of questions.

This is also the chapter that has the grim reaper hovering over it. Any of the characters featured in chapter 28 are potential victims to his bony touch so brace yourself.

You have been forewarn...

The first strip is always the most difficult. I'm not sure why, maybe it's because it's a commitment. Doing strip number one means you have to do strips two to twenty-one as well. Or maybe it's that nagging voice in your head that says, "It was all a fluke. You can't REALLY draw"
Usually when this voice appears, I tend to veer away from the inevitable and draw something completely different. I wasn't overly pleased with the end result of the cheesy poster I made for S&B, so I made another more foreboding poster.I definitely felt more confidant in drawing all the characters in the same page (usually I'd chop and paste them in the computer) and it's good to get the scale all right. Also, it set out the future colour scheme for ch29. The whole chapter has a sense of darkness and grim finality, so the character's aren't as vibrantly coloured. If anything, they're positively grey (I blame my latest purchase of Gears of War, four quid, bargain) but I think it really sets the mood. Curiously though, even though the characters took ages to work on, the real scene-stealer is the background. A skull indicating the grim reaper hovering over the character, choosing its next victim.
One thing I've learnt recently is that drawing a good background is the secret to a good picture. This was something I learnt when re-making Elemental Micah issue two. I'd spend several hours working on a background and then end up blurring it and having some character's big stupid face cover up the good bits.
Curiously enough, I said earlier today, "It just goes to show that a good background can make all the difference." to which my friend replied with, "That's exactly what my drawing professor always said."
Twenty-seven years old and it took me THIS long to figure that out myself!
Luckily I finished the very first strip from chapter twenty-nine today and boy was I relieved. Turns out I can draw AND colour in as well. Another twenty to go and we'll all be laughing. Or crying. Hopefully crying...

They've opened up the tables for next year's Thing Exhibition and I've booked a good one (hopefully).
I needed to use some new art for their front page, so here are two pictures from Steve & Bob and Elemental Micah.The Elemental Micah picture is a colour version of a panel in issue 2.
The Steve & Bob picture is taken from (dun dun DUUN!) chapter 29!
I'll let you guess which image is from which comic...
elementalmicah.com
Urg, plugging aside, what do you think of the individual images? Melissa (on top) and Dana (on the bottom, which I pretty much converted from black and white to colour quite quickly). I'd be intrigued to hear some critiques...

Here is the new look website! Again! Yes, I know, I know, I only just changed the style not too long ago, but the thing is, I just didn't like it. It was a mess! So, here's a new look with a suitable tease for chapter 29 (which I shall be updating as the comics become completed) with actual images taken from chapter 29 within the text "CHAPTER 29".
Hmm, I hope that made sense. This is going to be temporary and will change to a newer site for when I start releasing chapter 29, but until then, feel free to let me know what you think.

Guest Writer Loop Stricken
Tempestuous stormclouds brew, the air charges with the energy of countless storms since and the very earth trembles 'pon tectonic plates as a new age dawns over the shattered remnants of an old and desolate shell of a bygone world.

But before then, you'll have to make do with a newsie.

Here I am, charged or rather conscripted with an arduous task - write! Something I've not done in a good long while. At least not for a format that's likely to be perused by, ooh... fifteen people is it now?
I jest. Mostly.

But no! A topic we have, supposedly. And that topic, my friends, is woe! Despair and dread, cataclysm and sundering! That and a game, but mostly the sheer awfulness of life!

So this game that's been foisted upon me boils down to something like "Write three branching stories." Really, that was pretty much the brief. I'm not entirely sure the reality of the situation ever dawned on the taskmaster - Three stories, that branch off into a variety of unresolved subplots and still need to make sense AND have to be thematically different enough for a difference to be warranted! And I'm expected to have just knocked it out in three days! An arduous task I think you'll agree, even if I had a voracious and ruthless thirst for the type.

Well anyway, it's progressing. Progressing in that I'm still nailing down the specifics of these base storylines, but woe betide any complacency lest I get mercilessly thrashed with the Large Stick of Character Development!
The idea is that once this ménage a trois of self-proclaimed textual loveliness is complete, your illustrious... illustrator, will... illustrate it. And then Flash it up, by Jove! This is presumably a good thing that you'll want in your life, even if I have to nail you to the hardwood floor of my local church, strip your eyelids off and force you to watch every progression, every outcome, EVERYTHING.
All of you. All on that floor, heaving with the weight of amassed flesh, the blood seeping into the veneer, the cleaning lady will have such a hard time scrubbing that off I tell you!

So yes, stay tuned! Or favourited. Or... hell I don’t know, perhaps you could tattoo the URL into your arm?
Hey, I'm just saying, don't blame me if you used a rusty compass! It's not like I strapped you down myself this time.

Yes, it’s writer’s block. So I’m having a bit of a break to do other things than colouring strips. Spending time with the pets, meeting up with old friends and visiting fantastic people. I saw ‘The Hangover’ and ‘Avenue Q’ with someone very special and it was amazing. I giggled throughout ‘The Hangover’, especially at the girl behind us who seemed to be in a fit of giggles and I hadn’t been in a theatre in a long time, so it was wonderful seeing ‘Avenue Q’.
With job hunting, flat hunting and my television exploding (the cats didn’t like that), it’s very strange to also do these overly extravagant things, and I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve them, but I’m happy. I just need to get back into the old routine and then strip 14 (which is actually a considerably shorter strip compared to the others) will be a thing to revere!

Wowzas! Look at that! A page for Newsies! This is surely a sight to behold! Steve & Bob Website has TABS! Easy navigations for those chappies who want a bit of luxury from their websites.
To celebrate the slow release of the new chapter, we have a new interface, two new random skins and even a tab dedicated to the story of Steve & Bob.
Also, I just wanted to give a big YAY for finally reaching the 20,000 hit mark on the counter! Okay, the counter hasn’t ALWAYS been there so it’s not accurate for the entire time S&B has existed, but still, 20,000... That’s pretty damn impressive!
Enjoy the new stories that will come and for the first time, this chapter will have multiple character stories.
Yes, I know, crazy. It’s like an episode of Heroes or something! But with realistic graphics...

While Bob and Melissa are having a "counting numbers" debate, I’m going through a crisis. A moving crisis. I’ve been packing a lot of my stuff lately as I have to move out of the house I’m currently in, but to be honest, I don’t really want to move. Well, no, I’ll rectify that, I don’t want to move the way life is right now.
I blame Max. Max is my dog and she’s very old now (she was born 2nd March 1997). I wish I could take her with me so I could live out her twilight years with her, but it’d just be impossible. My sister has a house and garden, so she’ll take Max. I just hoped I’d be there to help her through the old days. Or older days.
Moaning aside, I really hope I can find somewhere to live soon. It’d be nice to have a place I can call my own and to carry on with my own fictional dog in my new place.