Sammy Borras - Comics and Illustration

February 2012 Projects

2012-03-04T21:51:00.000Z

This is a new poster design I did for a FishNote event later in the year.

Inspired Comics are working on a new anthology for the spring term and these are the characters for my contribution. We had a great time helping to run the art competition with Itch publishing at Midlands MCM Expo in February. Details for future events we will be attending as a group are on Inspired's blog.

2012 Comics

2012-02-04T09:44:00.000Z

This year I decided to re-write and re-draw my webcomic story Jumping The Shark. I'm pleased with the improvements so far. I have a buffer and the comic will continue to update every Friday morning (GMT).

I created a couple of homage style characters for a university project. This year I have re-named the series 'Stale Symphonies' and submitted a couple of new stories to zines and comics anthologies. This 2 page story called Clothes Shopping is available now in issue 2 of What's The Time Mrs Woolf, an alternative woman's magazine created by my friends Sarah Fogg and Lily-Rose Beardshaw.

The 1st February is Hourly Comics Day, participants create 1 comic every hour of the day about what is happening. You can read my full comic online here. I last took part in 2009 and I am glad to see how much I have improved at making comics since then.

Character Sheets

2012-01-17T14:02:00.000Z

These character sheets are from the main comic project I have been working on this winter. I have also created various comics this month which I have submitted to zines.

Nostalgic Upsurge

2011-12-08T09:03:00.001Z

I had a lot of fun recently drawing this cover image for Nostalgic Upsurge: An Oxford Tramp's Music Journal written by Le'Tong and published by FishNote.

I also drew a dancing Angela for Timothy Winchester's Angela Lansbury week. :)

Free Mini Comics

2011-11-21T08:28:00.001Z

This is a free mini comic I created to hand out at Thought Bubble 2011. We had a great time at the event on the Inspired Comics table. Sorry I forgot to take a photo of our table, we had such a massive variety of stuff this year. It was really great seeing people again and I hope I can go again next year :)

The comic characters are from my Jumping the Shark webcomic

Self-portrait

2011-11-09T16:03:00.002Z

This is the complete self-portrait I drew for the group show at Orbital Comics. I wanted to wait until the event had finished before posting it online in full. I try my best to keep Best Day Ever in stock at Orbital Comics and I recently posted copies of Science Fiction Octuple Feature to them.

If you're in and around London while Comica Festival is happening remember there is a Ink+Paper launch party this Friday and Comiket on Saturday looks excellent. I wont be able to go to either events this year but I will be at Thought Bubble with Inspired Comics in a couple of weeks time.

Science Fiction Octuple Feature

2011-10-17T16:04:00.001+01:00

The new Inspired anthology Science Fiction Octuple Feature arrived in the post at the weekend. I'm really excited about taking these comics to Thought Bubble in November. The characters in the fan art I've drawn are owned by Sarah Fogg, Lily-rose Beardshaw, Laura McNulty (writer), Sammy Borras, Luke Bayliss (writer), Harry Griffin-Hayes, Cat Reda, Shaz Jubeen, Jacob Boniface (writer), Jack Davies and Gemma Sheldrake.

This is the wrap around cover that you need to keep an eye out for at events and in comic shops. The illustrations in the square have been cropped from each of the comics in the anthology.

Ink + Paper will be launching at Thought Bubble too. The cover has recently been announced as well as a launch party at Orbital Comics in London.

This sketch of Philippa Hannah at Sunday Night Live (on a Wednesday). I recently posted a couple of new gig sketches to my flickr gig sketches set.

Best Day Ever & Jumping The Shark

2011-09-26T15:58:00.000+01:00

jumpingtheshark.smackjeeves.com

I launched a new site to host two short stories together because previously it wasn't clear how to navigate the old webcomic site. I have also drawn extra character profiles and put extras dotted about the site.

I had fun at the Orbital Comics Self-portrait Show Private View last weekend. I forgot to take photos but Sarah McIntyre did a great blog post full of photos if you're interested. The portraits will be up until 15th October 2011.

Ink + Paper and Orbital Portriat Exhibition

2011-09-06T11:27:00.003+01:00

This is a small preview panel from my Ink + Paper anthology/magazine submission. I really wanted to try something new and different to the colouring I have done before. I think it worked really well with the mood of the comic. The full story will be printed and published some time in the autumn.

I've also submitted something for the Orbital Comics Self-Portrait Show in London from 19th September till 15th October. Check the website link for the list of comics creators involved.

Greenbelt and Gig Sketches

2011-09-06T11:18:00.001+01:00

I really enjoy drawing when I watch live music. I started doing it for practice because of my Giant Rhinos In Space graphic novel/comic project is all about a band. I think it really helps with getting the cartoon characters into more natural poses. These sketches are of Jenny Lockyer, Helen Arney and The Unthanks from their performances at Greenbelt Festival. I have a gallery of gig sketches over on Flickr.

Jumping the Shark

2011-07-15T20:42:00.004+01:00

Jumping the Shark is the latest webcomic short story to be uploaded weekly on Instant Comics. It's a follow up to a previous story, Best Day Ever. I have printed copies of Best Day Ever which I have been selling at comics events, shops and my Etsy shop. Hopefully I will be able to print this new comic at some point during 2012.

These are my designs for some new characters and slight changes to the original cast such as weight change and hair cuts.

University Degree Show

2011-06-06T10:57:00.003+01:00

My University Degree show is open for this week. I've really enjoyed the course and its been a great oppertunity to work on interesting comic projects. Our work is also printed in a portfolio book called Olio 6 which you can find a PDF version on the Pittville Press website. For more information about the Degree Show visit the University of Gloucestershire website.

Webcomics return

2011-05-27T07:55:00.001+01:00

In my 1st year of university I decided to start creating webcomics because a lot of my modules could not be responded to by creating a comic and it was a good way to get feed back from others who create comics. I've really enjoyed posting several different styles and story telling techniques. I had taken a break to finish my Final Major Project but I now have a new story to post over about 6 weeks. Instant Comics can be found online here.

The story is about a sleep walking experience I had very recently. I don't think I have sleep walked before and I was surprised how much of the dream I remembered so I decided I wanted to try telling the account in the form of a comic. You can find the start of Moth Eyes: A True Story here.

Best Day Ever, Cat and Mouse

2011-05-20T16:38:00.000+01:00

I'm getting a new cover on the 4th print run of one of my comics. Best Day Ever was a weekly webcomic I worked on around a year ago. You can still read it online or buy it from my Etsy Shop.

I'd really love to do more with these homage characters Mouse and Cat. It would give me a change to do some semi-biographical comics without directly drawing myself. People seem to really enjoy the references that come up when I draw them. If you are the same age as me you might spot the Digimon the Movie references in this one. (or to the film Summer Wars if you aren't from that specific generation. I'm a big fan of Mamoru Hosoda's work.)

Bristol SP Expo 2011

2011-05-16T21:28:00.001+01:00

Inspired Comics had a table at Bristol Small Press Expo this year. We've been taking anthologies to comics events since 2008 and we had a good selection of new books this time. I took Best Day Ever, Giant Rhinos In Space Dummy Books and Alien Rendez-Vous. Thank you to anyone who bought stuff from the table at the weekend

I'm selling a limited amount of these Giant Rhinos In Space Dummy Books because I printed more than I needed for university. The book contains chapter 1 of a graphic novel length story and character sheets and development work in the back. Each book comes with a sketch and available online here.

Artemis Fowl Illustrations

2011-04-09T13:16:00.000+01:00

For a personal project I have created a cover and a couple of illustrations for the first Artemis Fowl book by Eoin Colfer.

These are the character sheets I created for the main characters.

The Austin Francis Connection

2011-04-09T12:55:00.000+01:00

I did some album artwork and comics for the Austin Francis Connection last year. The album was released on the 1st April 2011 and is available on Band Camp and Big Cartel. You can read more about the making of the album artwork and some sketch book work I did on the Austin Francis Connection blog.

Giant Rhinos In Space

2011-03-12T07:37:00.001Z

Giant Rhinos In Space is a graphic novel I've been working on. This is the cover for a dummy book and the first 5 pages of chapter 1.

Giant Rhinos In Space design and development blog.

Research Experiment

2011-03-12T07:29:00.000Z

This research experiment was created to closely analyse the visual language of different types of comics. You can read the full 24 page comic online here or buy a physical copy online from Etsy.

The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band and more

2011-03-08T07:13:00.000Z

This is an illustration I did for The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band. It has been used on the CD surface of the Year of the Rabbit album.

This is illustration work I did last year for the From Where its Grown website.

Olio 6

2011-02-11T18:24:00.001Z

Olio is an anthology of work by 3rd year illustration students. These are the pages I have submitted for the 6th book. I wrote a couple of stories based around the same 3 characters. The comics could have been autobiographic but I replaced real people with Cat, Mouse and Bunny. The pages below are another submission I was considering using for a long time but chose the comic above instead.

Christian Union posters and leaflets

2011-02-11T18:18:00.000Z

These are Illustrated posters and leaflets I designed in September 2010 for the University of Gloucestershire Christian Union. www.ugcu.org.uk

Escapology

2011-02-07T07:23:00.001Z

This comic was created for the Illustration For Publishing module at university.

Travellers Tales

2011-02-07T07:19:00.000Z

This illustration was commended in the Cheltenham Illustration Awards 2010. The theme was Travelers Tales.