Cold Progress.

Can you hibernate in a kiosk? Let's not find out.

Welcome back.

I trust you all made it through January? If it was anything like mine, it would have been mainly consumed by admin, taxes and miserable weather. It certainly can get a bit chilly in the kiosk, but here’s a coffee to warm you up.

Anyway, enough of that, it’s February now, so what’s being going on? Well, I’m into the final run of a new graphic novel I’m working on, but I think I’ll go into that in a later instalment. That does mean there isn’t a huge amount to say today, but as you dropped by the kiosk I’m sure I can find you something.

In a slight moment of madness, I created this font of kiosk designs. A kiosk-abet, If you will. It was a fun exercise in concept and graphics, and of course I couldn’t resist doing my name and using my favourite yellow.

I remembered the other day a great little documentary film called Le Kiosque, in which the filmmaker (Alexandra Pianelli) works at her family’s Parisian newsstand and records the things that happen day to day. It makes for a very pleasing and subtle insight, from a unique and fixed perspective. I’m not sure where you can watch it now, but if you ever come across it, it’s worth a look.

I know this newsletter is supposed to be about illustration, not kiosks, but the whole point is for it be able to meander a bit. So, with that in mind, here is an analogue photo I took of a strawberry shaped kiosk I encountered on a trip bikepacking through Suffolk (Southeast England) last year.

I’ve started taking more analogue photos in the last few years, as an antidote to blasting everything in sight with a phone camera, and the complex relationship to sketching I have, now that drawing is my job. I’ll make a note to tell you more about that in the future, and maybe I’ll tell you more about my occasional cycling and camping adventures too. If you’re lucky.

New Studio.

Another reason for not much happening is that I’ve not long moved flat, which means the studio (my desk) has moved too. All the basics of the move happened at the end of last year, but you know how it is, and much of January has involved refining and getting things into a workable order. My new desk location, with its associated paraphernalia, is working quite nicely or me, especially in the mornings, when it is treated to an hour or so of glorious sunshine.

Tool of Trade.

This might become a recurring feature, talking about things I use, and normally relating to illustration or writing. I get asked a lot about my equipment, and for the most part, I think it’s just about finding the tool you enjoy using, and there’s certainly no ‘right’ one. So this is not a promotion, or even a suggestion really, just a thing that I like, and why.

Today’s tool is my Lamy Safari fountain pen. It was bought for me as gift, and I remember thinking at the time that it was nice, but I don’t really have any use for it. Over ten years later, I use it for more or less everything, and it has never clogged, leaked or broken in any way. It has been used for aggressive sketching, life drawing, writing, and every name and address of anyone who has ever ordered one of my prints. All in all, a great pen, and a classic for a reason.

Heading Out.

Speaking of prints, another question I frequently get asked is if I would do larger format prints. There are many boring reasons why I don’t do this, but very occasionally I have released limited edition, higher quality and larger scale prints with Dark City Gallery. The most recent one came out very last minute, just before the Christmas break, but I’ve just noticed that there are a few left, in case you wanted to snap up this rarity! It’s called Heading Out and you can get it HERE.

There‘s also a couple left of the first one I did with them, Imaginary Plans, a special, large format screen print of my camper van image. Again, go grab one HERE if that’s something you fancy.

And while I’m at it with all the print chat, all my other ones are still very much available over at my shop HERE.

Well, I think you’ve probably finished your coffee now, and you should be strolling on down the boulevard to greet the day. Keep your collar up though, we’re not out of the woods yet, but a little cautious optimism is okay on my watch.

I’ll see you all next time.

Owen D. Pomery.

Oh alright, as you scrolled all the way down, here’s a glimpse of a panel from my new book. Don’t tell anyone, okay?