Nirvana

Okay, here's a picture that actually WILL be appearing in the book! I completed two Joy Division pictures last night and knocked this one out this evening; a bit of a 'pointless suicides' week I suppose...

Nick Cave

Another one of my favourite artists who won't be appearing in the book!

Oh yeah, I sold a copy of the book today. 'How is that possible?' I hear you cry, 'It's not even finished yet!' Well, I'm putting the book up as a presell on ebay, the limited edition signed and numbered first printing of 1000 copies, check it out here.

Side B Cover

Okay, so much for my 'week off'! I decided it was high time I created the cover for the B side of the book so here it is! I drew and inked the Peel picture this evening...

You can flip the A side over and then read side B side! Clever, eh?

I got a very nice email from Boff of Chumbawamba with his contribution to the book. Hopefully I'll get a few more bespoke star quotes before the deadline is up. I might bring the release date forward to 30th August (Peel's birthday) instead of waiting for December...watch this space!

My ebook

Spent the evening putting a few sample pages on myebook.
View it here:
http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=31272

Cuban Boys

Yay! Back to the drawing. I've had this sitting uninked on my drawing table since the end of February. Finally inked it this morning. The background was done in photoshop from the original photo (I hate drawing backgrounds but as Skreen says, the Thames barrier does look splendid in this shot)

The Pogues

Here's another one that I drew back in January.

I've had a rethink on the launch of the book and I'm now thinking of August 30th (Peel's birthday)

Lydon & Sioux

I've decided to take a break from the book for a week. Working a full time job and then coming home and working on this until bedtime has been taking its toll on me, 'burning the candle at both ends' and all that. I've got a couple of weeks holiday coming up so I should get a shedload of drawing done in that time. Later!

Sonic Youth

Yet another picture that will not be appearing in the book! How many did I do?

I finished the writing, editing and redrafting side of things last night so it's full steam ahead with the drawing side of things. Ironically, Fifty more pictures to complete!

The White Stripes

Yet another drawing that will be ending up on the cutting room floor!

I'm spending this evening trying to attract potential followers...

Melt Banana

As I now only have two pages left to write before I begin the daunting task of proofreading, editing and formatting the text portion of the book, I thought I'd treat you all (all two of you!) to another picture that won't be appearing in the book.

Pete Wylie

I thought I'd post a few of the illustrations that won't be appearing in the book. I drew them back in January when my original plan was to include the all time Festive Fifty from 1982 as well.

More tomorrow...

Neko Case

Here's another drawing that should be appearing in the book. However, Ms Case has mentioned she'd like to choose her own picture for me to work from so this might end up on the cutting room floor.

I spent this evening writing my two forwards for the book (side A and side B) and a couple of text pages. Just 12 more pages to write and I can get back to the drawings at last!

Joe Strummer

Here's another drawing...

I've written the pages up to number 20 for the millennium chart now, but it's going to be hard going from here because so many of the entries are by the same bands. What else can I say about Joy Division and New Order?? I'm also in sonstant pain at the moment due to a recurring cyst under my left armpit (too much information? Just try living with it, it's bloody horrible!) The email replies for contributions to the book seemt o have dried up, although Skreen from the Cuban Boys has expressed his support again so that's nice. Okay, it's Friday night, time for a few beers...

Joy Division

Yet another picture that will be appearing in the book. I'm especially pleased with how this one turned out.

I've spent most of today writing the first half of side B and documenting the quote sources for this other side of the book. Kirstie (my one true love)  has proofread it and it seems to be okay...

My Bloody Valentine

Another one of my portraits.

I've given this post a title that might attract potential readers. Hey, it might work!

Sources

I've spent this evening collating all the sources for the quotes I've used for side A of the book, boring but necessary.

Now to get cracking with the writing for side B (I'll explain in a later post!) starting with Pavement's All Time Festive fifty entry at number 50 and working my way up to the number 1 track! I can't wait to get back to the drawing side of things at the beginning of April!

Cover Ideas

I'm quite pleased with how this eventually turned out. My bloody computer crashed on me this afternoon so I lost 3 hours work and had to start this all over again!

Matty from Credit To The Nation sent me his contribution to the  book today too!

Confirmed

I just had confirmation of contributions to the book from The Only Ones, Neko Case and Credit To The Nation. Woo hoo!

Autobiography?

I'm busy writing the text parts of the book and the whole thing is looking more and more like autobiography relating to the Festive Ffity! I didn't intend it, but that's the way it's shaping up. Here's another page.

Page set up

I've tried a number of different page set ups and this seems to work best. I was originally going to use the Typewriter font throughout the book, but it looked unprofessional (more like a fanzine) so I've opted for good old Arial as the font.

And the facing page (on the left) will be...

Woo-hoo!

David Gedge just emailed me say he would be more than happy to write the introduction to the book!

I've been designing and redisigning pages all day and have now decided that there will be no text on the portrait picture pages; all text will now appear on each facing page with band name, song, chart position and quotes.

The Fall

The legendary Mark E Smith!

Formatting ideas

Proposed page layouts. On the left, will be my portrait of the band/artist. I've not decided yet whether to keep the text below the picture or to save all the text for the facing page. The book itself will be 7"x7" because of my love of the 7" single format.

I've sent out emails to as many of the bands/artists as I could, requesting a quote for the book; either their thoughts on John Peel himself or their reaction to being voted to the number one spot (or the All Time Festive Fifty from 2000). The quotes will appear on the facing page from the portrait along with the record cover and some of my own observations and personal memories.

My intention with the book is not a trainspotting analysis or series of lists and stats. However, my main focus will be the Number One entries and the All Time Festive Fifty from 2000. I find it interesting that a number of songs that were voted to the number one spot didn't appear in the All Time Festive Fifty, the Jesus And Mary Chain being a good example of this.

Cover

This is the working cover for the book. At the bottom it will say 'Introduction by...' whoever agrees to do it. I'm hoping for David Gedge! Fingers crossed!

Getting started...

I spent the first 2 months of this year drawing 50+ pictures of artists that have appeared in the Festive Fifty. This month, I have decided to dedicate my time to designing and formatting the book as well as the embarking on the difficult task of trying to get quotes from as many Festive Fifty related bands as possible. So far, I've had replies from Cuban Boys, Jello Biafra, and Culture (the latter 2 through a third party).