ANDY SPARROW'S JOURNAL

THIS PAGE IS LIKE MY DIARY, EXCEPT LESS EXPLICIT.
IT'S A BLOG IN ITS BACK-TO-FRONT, UPSIDE-DOWN STRUCTURE:
(NEWEST AT THE TOP) WHICH PLEASES MY LEFT-HANDED SENSIBILITIES

OCTOBER 2008
It's been a great month. I'm on a roll here. The beach is inspiring me to new heights and I'm very excited about this project. I spent a while trying to work out if I should use a new style, as I tend to use a lot of pencil nowadays when storyboarding, but I finally decided to stick  to my  most inky black style. I like it.
This is a sneak preview of a rough for the first frame episode One. Remind you of anything?
The winner of September's raffle is...tba
Did you win the competition in Streetfighters magazine? I saw they gave you a mention but they haven't told me your address. Better give 'em a nudge, or else you'll never get them!

SEPTEMBER 2008
I'm now working on my new strip: It's developed [in my head] from being illustrated articles into a full-blown parallel universe [a la Bloodrunners] with short stories to amuse and drawings to amaze. It will star Ava, a beautiful blonde in skimpy outfits, who builds amazing specials and comes up with innovative devices for improving motorbikes [and life in general]. This is for magazine publication, so just like with Bloodrunners, I'm doing some episodes in advance to show to them. 'Just HOW skimpy?' I hear you ask. Well that would depend on the magazine I guess.
The winner of August's raffle is Sheyne Hollis!

AUGUST 2008
Have you seen this month's Bike magazine? Two pages on Bloodrunners! cool huh?
I am very flattered to have 'inadvertently invented the streetfighter'.
I'm not convinced I said everything as quoted, especially the bit at the end that says: '...but I've been doing it longer than they have...' [makes me sound like a grumpy old man! which I am, just not THAT grumpy!] and I never really got my hands dirty, just doodled ideas that other people put into practice.
Also this month, Streetfighters magazine is running a competition to win Bloodrunners products. Go buy it.
Talking of 'Inadvertent Inventiveness', I was quite inspired by all the affirmation I've received, [more here] (& your responses)  and was thinking about doing a new strip showcasing my outlandish styling and design ideas that I've had up over the years. Watch this space.

JULY 2008
I've renamed Doppelgangers, as someone pointed out that they're not. So if you've read it already don't bother with BLAKTAK
Have you looked at youtube recently? There's some video of the Bike Show with the tilting ZXR filmed by Mark Bilson. I'm very shy in front of the camera; no mad cries of 'bird impression T-shirts!'.
Oh yes! We're doing a raffle, for everyone who buys something from the Shop [that's not a noun, it's an order!] this July/August and the prize is the front page A4 artwork to the original trashmag! cool huh?

It's 25 years since Bloodrunners first appeared in Bike and I've revamped a couple of areas of the site in celebration. More Bloodrunners episodes, in .pdf format too; more shirts with our cool new printer, and more byzantine links to keep you from leaving. Streetfighters magazine has got a page about Bloodrunners & its influence this month.

JUNE 2008
I have been burning up to London for occasional storyboard work that cannot be done over the webcam. Got the journey down to a fine art, but my Arai helmet has been causing me a lot of bother as it's so noisy. I've tried many things but have now realized that it's because the padding is so limited inside (to allow for good ventilation), & a lot of the hard shell is exposed (causing serious reverb) so I'm adding thin layers of mouse-mat-ish rubber which is soaking it up. The noise-cancelling 'phones didn't work at high speed [It's like expecting them to work at a Metallica concert!] but I got a tiny headphone amp off ebay by FiiO which does the job.

MARCH 2008
Not living up to my New Year's resolution of drawing something beautiful every day, [perhaps I'm spending too much time looking out the window?] but am becoming happier & healthier as every day passes.

FEBRUARY 2008
I have so much space I don't know what to do with it! I now have three drawing boards in my room and work-tops for papers and equipment. This is so different from London where I was crammed into a back bedroom. I'm loving it, but have noticed I'm not riding my bike on a daily basis like I did in London, where it was a necessity. I guess once I'm settled, I'll have more time for simply riding for pleasure.
Between jobs I've been doodling ideas for a new bunch of T-shirts. I use my phone a lot for this [ SonyEricsson w960i ] as it's a stylus driven model with so many amazing features, Walkman, and 8 gig of memory. Can't understand what all the fuss about the iPhone is for; it doesn't even have 3G or hand-writing recognition.

JANUARY 2008
Happy new year! It's slowly dawning on me that I actually live here in paradise [Penzance], and am not going to be dragged back to London at any minute. My priorities have gradually changed over the years and now I'm here I'm going to work out what else is most important. My new year's resolution is to draw something beautiful every day.