How would you describe yourself in your professional capacity?

A mix of things – I’m an illustrator when people give me jobs to illustrate stuff, but when I’m doing comics I consider myself a writer-artist.  When I occasionally do scripts, I’m a writer.  Although that’s the most tenuous of my self-descriptions.

Your style is very distinctive.  Is this a natural style or something that you consciously developed?

I don’t think there is such a thing as a wholly a natural style – everybody develops and takes inspiration from other people – but this is the style that feels the most natural to me.

I’ve always favoured a thick black line, but back when I was doing my first comics I used to achieve it by pain-stakingly filling in black between two fine lines.  It took years for it to occur to me that I should just use a thicker pen!

I ended up hating the drawing process – really hating it.  For a while it was just a means to an end and I would suffer through it.  Nowadays I love it.

Do you look back at stuff you drew when you were a kid and recognise anything of your current style in it?

I don’t really have any of the drawings I did as a kid.  Maybe they’re in my folks’ loft.  I remember drawing a lot as a kid, but I doubt any of it would bear any resemblance to what I do now.

I think the ideas are better, although that’s probably not saying much!

Like a lot of people, myself included, you went through a creative drought after university. And you don’t seem to have dipped again – you seem to be going from strength to strength.

After my Bachelor’s degree I was quite productive for a while – writing scripts and trying to get stuff made, but that petered out after a year or so.  When you don’t have the deadlines and the constant prodding of a course to keep you going, your enthusiasm can drop.  I did a Masters in Illustration & Design a wee bit after that, hoping it would kick-start something, but all that did was suck all the creativity out of me.  It took me a while to recover from that experience.

My getting all productive occurred early last year.  I’m not sure what prompted it exactly, but it was around that time that I got involved with the Paper Jam Comics group in Newcastle and submitted to their anthologies.  This helped a lot, as I was constantly around encouraging, talented people who were in a similar situation to me.  It was also at this time that you and Nick launched Empty Shop and I got involved with that.  To see you guys doing all that was hugely inspiring and to be able to get involved in exhibitions was a major boost to my confidence.

How do you keep motivated?

I try to mix things up.  It depends on what’s going on – if the illustration stuff dries up for a few months then I’ll do some writing. It used to be the case that I would do one thing for a year, say write a sitcom, then when that failed I’d try illustration or comics, but now they all co-exist – I try to balance everything. Entering competitions and art projects keeps the spark going.

I have been more creative in the last year than I have in the last five or six combined.  Because I’m actively seeking stuff out now the drought doesn’t really go on that long, and I can have projects in reserve – like doing a new comic or something.

So if you work at it you see the results?

Yeah totally.

And is the pay off rewarding?

Oh yeah, it’s great to see your stuff in print and hear or read feedback from people who like your work.

You recently came across some negative feedback on your blog.  I thought you handled them really well.  And it was very honest of you to let those comments through unedited – what was your thinking behind that?

I started the blog as a way to get my work out there and seen by people – I didn’t really require them to get back to me about it.  However, some did and were generally very complimentary about my work – which is always nice.  I’ve made a few good ‘webfriends’ as a result.  When someone felt the need to post negative comments, it was tempting to delete them, but I thought it would be more honest to leave it up there and let people make up their own minds about the validity of my work.  Doesn’t mean I agree with their comments, of course, and it doesn’t mean that I won’t have a go at them back, but I think it helps to balance out the good and bad press.  I hope I came out of it with some dignity intact!

I looked at your Twitter feed – I thought that it was a really good use of the format.  How did that come about?

I joined Twitter, like most people, to see what the fuss was about.  I didn’t really get it – still don’t to be honest! - so I left it alone for a while.

In the meantime, my girlfriend and I were playing silly word games (we’re so cool) making up fake TV shows that rhyme with the host’s name, like “‘Guess The Poo Art’ with Moira Stewart” and things like that.  Stupid stuff.  I was bored at work one lunchtime and decided to post them online.  People responded, so I kept going.

Writing comedy has always been my primary concern – it’s why I did scriptwriting at university.  However, it’s a difficult area to build a career in, so other things got in the way.  Comics were a way of getting my writing out there, disguised as art.  I would love to make my blog as much about comedy as illustration, but there isn’t as many ways of getting jokes across to people on the web, unless you do funny videos, which I don’t.  To a certain degree Twitter solves that problem.

It must be really hard to be funny in 140 characters and even harder to get a point across, right?

Yeah it is – so the games help.  I try to vary them a bit so they don’t get boring.  My stuff mostly consists of making bad puns and then using 100 characters to try and explain the logistics of them.  Hopefully people find them funny.

I like how you pun on your name in the title of your blog, but that’s the incorrect English pronunciation, isn’t it? Aren’t you breaking Scottish law or something?

Ha!  Why do you think I live in England?  If I set foot back over the border I’m dead!

It’s the typical English way of pronouncing “Waugh” – as in “war” and so lends itself to a multitude of puns.  Our family pronounce it as in “wok” – but with a touch more phlegm – but you English types have issues with that, so I tend to just pronounce it your way to avoid irritating explanations.  My Dad doesn’t approve, though.  Sorry Dad.

Do you have an arsenal of puns to use for it?

I’ve got a few – most of them are along the side of the blog.  “This Means Waugh” is my favourite, although I quite like “Waughmonger”.  If I ever had a celebrity chat show it would be called “This Means Waugh”.

Weren’t you going to name your kids as puns?

Yeah, still am if I get my way.  The twins First World Waugh and Second World Waugh.  Maybe even a little Nuclear Waugh if Em’s uterus is up to it.

Tell me about Paper Jam.

It’s a group that’s been going for quite a few years now – it’s a mix people who read comics and want to socialise with others who do and people who make comics and want to get away from the drawing board once and while to compare war wounds.  They put out anthologies of comics from time to time and put on events to promote them.

It’s a good laugh and encouraging to people who may not have the confidence to do a whole comic by themselves but fancy trying it out.  If people would like to get involved, they should check out the blog at paperjamcomics.blogspot.com

“Billy Joel?”  Respond…

Well, if he didn’t start the fire, I want to know who did.

What other artists do you admire?  Are there any artists people should be checking out?

Loads, but I tend to pick different things up from different people.  The cartoonist Seth is a big influence artistically, but I don’t respond to his stories in the same way I do with people like Jeffrey Brown or Tom Gauld.  A lot of indie cartoonists leave me cold story-wise, so I tend to look to other sources – TV shows and films – for inspiration.  Right now I’m inspired by things like Doctor Who and Pixar movies for the way they appeal to adults and children on equal levels without sacrificing quality in the writing.

Recommend one song, something reasonably obscure. Preferably something that hasn’t been drooled over by anyone from Radio 1 or T4.

Difficult one.  I discovered a band called Frightened Rabbit a while ago – who are originally from Selkirk, which is the next town over from my home town – and have been listening to them a lot recently, but I heard them in Topman yesterday, so I suspect anything by them is out of the question.  If it isn’t, then the song “Living In Colour” is an amazing foot-stomper of a record.

The fail-safe for me is probably my favourite band of all time – an American group called Clem Snide who have been doing the rounds for many years, but still don’t get any airplay.  They are alt-country indie rock with a really great frontman who writes witty, occasionally heart-breaking lyrics.  They’ve too many amazing songs to mention, so I would suggest people just download an album and check them out for themselves.  The song “Fill Me With Your Light” is a favourite and as is a good place to start as any.

Is there anything else on the cards worth talking about?

More illustration stuff.  I’ve been in the last couple of issues of Alan Moore’s Dodgem Logic magazine and I’m in the next couple.  That’s quite high profile for me and lots of fun to do.  Apart from that I’m doing stuff for various comics anthologies and trying to get a new comic put together before the Thought Bubble convention in November.  This year it’s all about building up a name for myself.  There’s other bits and pieces that would be great to talk about, but I don’t like to jinx things.

Can you recommend any websites or blogs to check out?

Loads.  The Paper Jam blog has links to all our sites, which are always worth a look.  Other than that, the Draw Serge! (drawserge.blogspot.com) and Covered (coveredblog.blogspot.com) projects are great to get involved with.

Mint! Cheers bonny lad

Links
Andy’s blog – thismeanswaugh.blogspot.com
Andy’s brilliant use of Twitter – www.twitter.com/thismeanswaugh
Paper Jam Comics Collective – paperjamcomics.blogspot.com

Friday’s event featuring ‘Art… and that’ launch – http://emptyshop.org/featured/friday-23rd-our-2nd-opening-and-its-a-big-one

Andy’s Recommendations
Draw Serge – drawserge.blogspot.com
Covered – coveredblog.blogspot.com

I went to an awesome house gig last year at which Brook Pridemore played. He was a bloody nice chap and the gig was brill.

Anyway, as the title suggest he’s back and The Equestrian Collective are once again presenting a great show, this time at The Fish Tank.

These guys do some genuinely exciting stuff on the D.I.Y music scene and for £4 you can’t go wrong – I will now quote the line up…

The Equestrian Collective Proudly Present:

Brook Pridemore (USA)
www.myspace.com/brookpridemore
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLlqHhuuID0&feature=player_embedded
Thoughtful, impassioned anti-folk from Brooklyn, New York. Releases on Crafty, Plan-it-X and more. Amazing!

Plus support from:

ONSIND- Shouty acoustic punk from Pity Me
www.myspace.com/onenightstandinnorthdakota

Project Serendipity- “Blissed out glitchtronica” Lovely breakcore stuff from London. Touring with Brook.
www.myspace.com/projectserendipity

Short Term Effect- Elliot Smith-eque lo-fi hero from Consett
www.myspace.com/shorttermeffectmusic

Winona Forever- Probably the best twee-mo artist in Chester-le-Street
www.myspace.com/winonaforeverever

What you need to know
When: Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Time: 19:30 – 22:30
Where: The Fish Tank, 29-33 Neville Street, Durham

Maybe we should do all our marketing this way from now on… isn’t Darius coming to Durham soon?

For those interested the pens in the photo are a reference to ‘pen behind the ear’ which is part of Tim Vine’s act – it’s actually brilliant on every level and I honestly think it deserves to win an award of some description. Check out his second DVD to see it action.

The reason I’m rambling about this is that there are a few exhibitions opening tonight and I would have liked to have posted this sooner so apologies for that.

Anyway, on the off chance that you read this and can get through to Newcastle tonight you could check these out.

The first is a photography exhibition at the F-Stop Gallery in Ouseburn. It will feature the work of my mate Chris Davis aka Specular showcasing images form his recent trip to New York. A quote from the Facebook event page says…

“”A fresh look at The Big Apple: Contemporary architectural imagery mixes with edgy street style photography to display the contrast between the informal and familiar, the frenetic and free side of life in the world’s most Famous City.”

Take a look at his site to check out his work – click here
6pm – 8pm

2 new exhibition spaces/galleries based in empty shops are opening tonight too, which may be worth a look - Gallery Blow-Up and the relaunch of Kitch-en Gallery.

Set above Best Vintage, Gallery Blow-Up kicks off with all girl show ‘OVA’ on March 4th.
Curated by and also featuring the work of Hare.
The show cuts across all it is to be female, politics, sexuality and mindset.
I can’t find a website but it’s on High Bridge Street

The Kitch-en guys are back after being without a venue for a while and this time they are in Ridley Place in Newcastle, they launch tonight with a whole bunch of stuff going on – website click here
6pm – 8pm

Blow-up and Kitch-en are new for me so don’t know what to expect but it’s always good to see stuff happening – anyway, I’m going to be ambitious and try hit all 3!
6pm – late

Basically it’s Durham vs Newcastle and the teams are made up of people who are involved in or support the D.I.Y/grass roots arts & music scenes.

The most interesting part is that we can only kind of play football and even that’s debatable!

“COME ON AND WIN YOU DURHAM PLAYERS” …or something

Big shout out to out to The Freebirds who went above and beyond the call of duty and to our pink lanyards team for doing a great job last night.

Also a huge thanks to all the artists who were involved, we are honestly chuffed to bits with all the work and the ways in which the spaces were used.

And cheers to everyone who came along to the event, we are really happy that so many of you came down to support us.

I guess the overriding point here is that without people this couldn’t have happened, so well done everyone!

A full exhibitions roundup will follow soon but in the mean time here are a few pics very kindly taken by our friend Joe…

All photos here credited to Joseph Towns.

Come down on Friday 19th Feb from 6pm – 9pm for our biggest show to date and launch of our new HQ . You can see the space, learn about how the building will operate, how you can use it and to see a range of exhibitions including…

• 2nd Annual Empty Shop Open
• James Adair in the Stairwell Gallery
• Wall drawings by the Cloud Commission
• Open Studios and more with the Freebirds
• Expanse Gallery Expanse (EGE)
• A new exhibition by Toby Lloyd

Please help us promote the show by distributing this post or by saving the posters and spreading them around the web.

Thanks to Paul Raymond, Kate Menzies and moi for the posters.

Invite everyone you know and we’ll see you on Friday from 6pm!

check out the map if you don’t know where we are – click here

The good thing is that since we are painting it means we are nearly finished the refurb.

Favourite paint job so far? hmmm, I can’t decide between the yellow grey/bathroom combo or the big red wall

The biggest change was probably whilst I was away in Berlin on official Empty Shop business; I came back 3 days ago to find that the insanely dust clad floors had been completely swept and cleaned, pretty impressive given the state they were in and an amazing transition – Kudos to Nick and the many volunteers who spent hours on their knees with a scrubbing brush and a sponge. The dust free environment meant we could finally get round to painting, but my favourite job so far has been filling holes, specifically because of my new favourite DIY essential… expanding foam filler! That stuff is amazing.

Anyway, it’s been pretty intense so far but really good fun – the messy part is always the best and all the people helping out seem to be enjoying it too. So far I estimate* that

• 450 cups of tea have been consumed
• 900 biscuits have been eaten
• The best of Devo has been played 1300 times

And now to bed so I can get some sleep and do it all again tomorrow – night!

p.s – big thanks to Pizza Al Taglio who donated a tray of their awesome pizza slices for us today. Check them out in Durham indoor market or see there facebook page – click here

*please note that estimations have been severely exaggerated… apart from the Devo one. That stands as fact