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The main focus of my exhibition was Hors Scène, which came out in France with Dargaud in January 2025, and it was the first time I showed any of the original artworks for this book.

It wasn’t until we arrived at ARF on Friday night and saw the exhibition under construction that I saw the life-size peeing boy (above), something that Stefano had been saving for me as a surprise. Needless to say I loved it. What a ridiculous picture to have, wall-sized in Rome.

The big reveal (Being shown the exhibition by Stefano - Captured by Eleni)

The Exhibition featured a selection of drawings and sketches, from the process of making Hors Scène, a small selection shown below:

Early concept sketches (from the initial scripting process), Ink on paper.

Thumbnailing the ‘preperation montage’ for the Narnia play.

Various stages of thumbnailing for a scene involving cheerios and pebbles.

Pencil sketches… ready to trace for final ink overlay.

I then included a set of original artworks ( all inked in black on 2 layers of drafting film as described in the last post). Here are a small selection:

Black ink on 2 layers of over-layed Drafting Film (some details are scratched away from ink with a scalpel, for example the flagstone lines in the shadows)

The speech bubbles will say ‘ Hakuna Matata… What a wonderful phrase’ Black ink on 2 layers of drafting film

GTA revery - Black ink on 2 layers of drafting film

Cycling to Josh’s house, Black ink on 2 layers of drafting film

A screen print of a moment from the book (printed at Glasgow School of Art by David Farrar)

Thats about enough for now. I’m sure I will share more originals further down the line, I’ll end with a few more snaps from the festival, I really can’t recommend it enough and I hope I’ll get to visit again another year.

Another wall in the exhibition, curated by Stefano Piccoli

Drawing in books alongside Tony Sandoval (who let us leaf through his extraordinary sketchbook)

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Arf! Festival (Part 2)

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