end of spring (Patreon)

Hey mates

Thanks for sticking around while i paused this account. happy to have tied off those few time intensive paid gigs n back to doing goofy shit that u guys support me to work on
😭😭😭

i thought i wld elaborate on sum of those future plans and post some of the stuff I’ve been working on while my Patreon has been on hold for these last months.

Last week I bought a couple of hundred blank tshirts from the unionised clothing manufacturer 'Qualitops', out in Reservoir. Im thinking of printing 3 or 4 designs on them, I think i will get u ppl to vote on which ones u wld want to see screen-printed, and then either send u free shirts or offer discounts.

I’m also two-thirds of the way done laying out a small new book which will be roughly 75 pages of colour work from the last couple of years, with a gold foil cover. I got the quote from the printer and finalised the paper stock with him, and am almost ready to send him the rough test print. I wld post a copy of this to any of u guys that were interested - it wld be made for Patreon supporters, I don’t plan to sell it in shops.

The question I was hoping ppl might answer is which of these two outcomes do you think I shld get done first, the shirts or the small book? I’m 100000% committed to doing both of em over the next 6 months but wondering which one u wld personally like to see me prioritise / like to see arrive in ur mailbox first. Maybe tshirts cos of summer coming up? i dunno. there is a poll question attached to this email if u dont mind answering!

I plan to use the poll function on this platform pretty regularly from here on, as part of deciding what kinds of topics to produce editorial cartoons about, along with sum of the details of their delivery. It’s kinda gonna be an experiment so if ppl aren’t into it pls don’t feel obliged to participate, only vote if u want to ofc.

This is a cartoon celebrating the end of the strict lock-down measures here in Melbourne. The last months have been a tricky time for sections of the left here (enthusiastically supporting the public health measures but not the over-policing or punitive responses / wanting to defend large parts of the state governments plan but not be a total cuck for the Premier etc etc). The drawing was part of a kinda futile desire to see the dickheads who had called for a swift end to the lockdown eat their hats. 

Was so happy to have drawn Karens for the first time. sumone on social media commented that their sign was missing a third ‘K’.

I didn’t get paid for the above drawing except with my own spite and bile hahah.
same goes for the below one cos I drew it out of the blue in a activist capacity / as a random show of solidarity because the MUA were copping so much shit :

The above two drawings and the one below that I made last week for Overland are the kinds of things i wanna make each month, at leeast one a month. And yeh they're also the kinda output i wanna get u guys to vote on if ur up for it. I’ll send more info about that in the next couple of weeks.

I have a bunch of this new object fresh from the printer this week. If you’d like a copy, pls let me know your current postal address and I’ll mail u next week.

this was a very meaningful project to work on with collaborators Elizabeth Humphrys and Sarah Gregson, whose academic research the work was based on, along with discussions with the West Gate Memorial Committee. Jacinda Woodhead did an amazing job distilling it all into a tight script, very hard job to write for comics cos u have to be so brief with ur words, while trying to avoid being reductive. she smashed it imo, was such a good team to work with. the series of drawings were published by The Guardian, and large format prints of the work will be exhibited permanently at Victorian Trades Hall. we also printed a large number of them to distribute at the 50th anniversary event which has been postponed til next year. The commemorative banner for the Memorial Committee was published in The Age, alongside Ben Schneiders write-up about the anniversary, which is well worth a read.

If we'd had more pages, it would have been great to include a drawn adaptation of this part of Elizabeth's writing, where she reflects on visiting the site of the collapse:
“...(Sarah) also knows men like the bridge workers, as her father was a boilermaker and her great grandfather a stoker from Southampton who worked — and was killed — on the Titanic. And she often reminds people: the Titanic was a tragedy, but it was also an industrial accident.”

I would have liked to draw about this moving piece of history also, taken from Bill Hitchings book and Elizabeth and Sarah's research into the lives of each of the men who were killed:

Alright i might leave it there cos this is getting a little lengthy! i have some other stuff i wanna mention so i will write again next wk.

thanks for everything in the meantime!! pls vote in the poll attached to this email if u dont mind, and reply with ur address if u want me to mail u a copy of the West Gate comic and poster.

<3 sam

OHS badge by old mate Darren Cullen