Well, I don't know how some of you guys manage to rememeber what you were doing or even what you drew at a certain time in the year, haha! I'm going to cheat and use my LJ to guide me...as it has a far better memory than me XD

My first gut feeling was that 2009 was a kind of weird one for me because, although I made steps forward in terms of working towards larger goals, I didn't have much physical work to show for it. In actual fact, glancing over my (admittedly sparce these days) Livejournal...I did more work than I realised. I think I'll be dubbing 2009 my stepping stone year...I'm hoping that a lot of the work I did this year will be paving the way for a more financially succesful 2010 ^_~

What I did do a lot of this year were events...but I'm going to focus on artwork in this post rather than the events...but there were many, and they were awesome! I met so many amazing people *hugs*

So - Let's see. This could be a long one:

Jan

Oh yes, work on Much Ado About Nothing was completed! This was a major milestone for me, being the second full length graphic novel I'd completed. I don't tend to go in for counting how many pages I've ever drawn (which I know can be fun and scary), but Much Ado and Hamlet combined make over 400 between them....which in itself is pretty weird.

With Much Ado done and dusted, I decided to treat myself to some quality time on a random pinup, and chose Marvel's Wiccan as my subject. This was just one image, but the time I spent on it allowed me to learn some techniques that would serve me well throughout the year. It was one of those nice level-up moment we sometimes get, and I still love the pic even a year later - so tha has to be a good sign ^_~

Feb

In Feb, I spent a day filming with a fantastic BBC crew for a four part mini documentary for their BBC Blast site. Such a fun day!
Feb was also important because myself and some Sweatdrop chums headed over to the US to attend New York Comic Con! This was a big step for me, as my first venture State-side...and whilst there, I had a meeting with the lovely Karen Berger at DC/HQ, and she in turn introduced me to the equally lovely Shelly Bond. I am a huge fan of the Vertigo line and so this was pretty awe inspiring! They were so lovely and really fuelled me with confidence that maybe I was more able to do this than I thought. Frustratingly I haven't had a chance to follow up on some of what came out of that meeting, but I really want to!

March

March brought sad news in the form of the closure of the DFC. This was a blow for everyone involved, though work is being done now to bring back some of the stories in the form of the DFC library! I hope I'll get to revisit Violet and co one day!

March gave as much as it took away when the wonderful Antony Johston approached me with a view to collaborating on a story idea he had. I fell in love with it, and the concept, planning and pitching would go on to take up a fair chunk of the year. Sadly, nothing solid has come out of it yet, but we've had lots of good noises and I sincerely hope I get the chance to work with Antony on this at some point!

April

I love Phonogram, and so when Kieron and Jamie offered me the chance to draw a backup story for series 2, I leapt at it! In April, it was unleashed on the world in issue 2.2 of the series.

April was also a scary time as I sent off my first ever sample pages to Marvel after being invited to try some Runaways pages. This was something I totally wouldn't have had the courage or confidence to do without some wonderful people supporting me. My fear was tangible, but (without going into too much detail) the feedback was fab. As far as I was concerned, whatever happened from there, the fact that there were people at both Marvel and DC/Vertigo now who knew my name was a HUGE achievement. 2009 was winning already, money or no!

May

I'll allow this event to go in for a few reasons. Firstly, this special signing day at They Walk Among Us in London launched Much Ado About Nothing (yay), secondly because I am SO glad I got the chance to do a signing at the legendary comic shop before its sad closure later in the year, and thirdly because - looking back at the pics - it reminds me how lucky I am to have some amazing and supportive friends. Andie Tong was my co-signer, so he kind of had to be there (:p) but Antony Johnston, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Sarah McIntryre, Lisa Curtis and of course Pud all showed up to offer support and chill, not to mention the people who came to get things signed! - and that meant SO much to me. *hugs*

And talking of amazing friends, in May I also got a new, shiny website thanks to the wonderful Fehed Said! ^___^

June
I turned 30!!!

This image, done for fun, kicked off something mahusive in my mind. I'd always been a fierce supporter of Richard III, but something clicked with me in June and I decided that at some point, I would draw his story! Having chatted historical comics with the fabulous Warren Ellis (check out Crecy if you're a fan of historical battles!) I decided that nothing was TOOO insane and set about creating test spreads and breakdowns. I haven't had a chance to pitch it yet, but one day...one day!
Richard pretty much dominated June for me XD

July

A random image created in July - to counter the angst and drama of the other thing I was working on at the time:

Yep - Dragon Heir was back! Using what I'd learned during Much Ado, I had great fun with issue #9. So much that it began to form a crazy idea in my head...
Also in July, I found out that Comic Book Tattoo, the wonderful anthology that Faye Yong and I had contributed a story to, had won an Eisner!

August
August was a pretty quiet one, work-wise. Lots of focus on events and working towards stuff to be released in September. I did revisit a favourite fandom though ^_~


September

In Sept I was able to reveal that the delectable Kate Brown and I had been farting rainbows for a month, putting together two hardback annuals of My Little Pony for the French market, haha! THis was my first time working on a large franchise, and I learned a lot from it! Hamlet was released in Turkish and:

I also made my husband very happy by attending Games Day and even drawing Sanguinius! XD

October

In Oct I got to do something very different and fun when the fabulous Marc Ellerby asked me to contribute to his 200th strip celebrations! I was so excited at getting the chance to be a part of it and had great fun drawing him and Anna ^__^

I also got to create a starting page for the Write Path International project. Kids all over the world would be asked to continue the story - very exciting ^_^

November

Remember I said DH #9 inspired something mad? Well, it inspired me to start Dragon Heir all over again! hahah. Well, not quite. After much umming and aaahing, I decided to go back and rework the first 5 issues worth of story - making them something I could feel more proud of. I called this Dragon Heir:Reborn, and launched it as webcomic on my site! It's still going and will be for a little while, but eventually I hope to join it up to issue 6 and release 1-9 in a shiny, shiny collection! Work schedule MAY get in the way if things go the way they look likely to, but I'm going to do all I can! '^_^

I decided to launch a Print shop in November (with some helpful nudging from friends). I haven't done a full push on this yet, expect that next year, but there are a small selection of prints available to buy! ^_^

A nice, random job...I created some artwork used in this ad for a football related product by the lovely chaps at Zuku.


December

December saw the launch of FullFX's Comic Box Signature project; allowing you to buy customisable art books from artists. I was happy to be a part of this and hope some of you check out my own artbook! ^_^

Hamlet was released in Chinese!
And wheels were set in motion for a big project next year with Oni Press! I'll be working with writers Nunzio Defillipis and Christina Weir, but I can't say on what just yet....

Ongoing throughout the year have been a couple of magazine projects:


Work continues with FullFX on their lovely magazines. I've contributed a few shorts to Princesse Miya and there's something new and exciting in the works for next year!

And I continue to be a proud part of ImagineFX Magazine. Such a great team ^_^

*phew*

So - the result? For a year that felt like it hadn't offered a lot, I seem to have been pretty busy!
Sure, I'm not rolling in cash (who is?), but for me to keep my freelancing head above the water in a year when the country, and publishing in particular, was falling into financial crisis is a pretty big achievement in its own way, dont'cha think?

So, what will 2010 bring?
Several of these entries are open ended, as you'll have noticed...2009 was very much a year of keeping my head above water whilst planting seeds...I hope that 2010 will see some of those seeds grow ^_^

*hugs to all*
Have an awesome new year!! ^_^