0:00:16 > 0:00:19I started drawing, younger than I can remember,
0:00:19 > 0:00:21and I drew all the time.
0:00:28 > 0:00:34What I get from a comic, the way it works, the way it's put together, it's unique.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45I've become fascinated with the way the visual narrative actually works,
0:00:45 > 0:00:46the way it flows,
0:00:46 > 0:00:48the way one picture leads into another one.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12This is Hope Street, Hope Street Studios.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18No puke today.
0:01:29 > 0:01:30This is my room.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39This last year I've been working between six and seven days a week.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44I'm very often here until the last bus and when it's near deadline
0:01:44 > 0:01:48or if the work's just going really well, I'll sometimes just stay in.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01One of the projects that I'm working on just now is called Jupiter's Legacy.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16You've got older heroes from the '30s.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20They're altruistic, everything that they do, they do for the greater good.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Then they've got these children and grandchildren who've simply
0:02:24 > 0:02:27grown up this way, the equivalent of your kind of Paris Hiltons.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30They've got superpowers and they're famous
0:02:30 > 0:02:33and they've got advertising contracts and they get invited to
0:02:33 > 0:02:35all the A-lister parties and all the rest of it but they're
0:02:35 > 0:02:39a different generation and they've got a different mind-set from their parents.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48When I get the first script in, it's always the same process for me.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52I read it and re-read it until it becomes quite clear in my mind.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Even at that stage you actually start making decisions
0:02:55 > 0:02:59about atmosphere and layout and the way you're going to put it together.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02I have to be thinking about...
0:03:03 > 0:03:06..the easiest, simplest way of making
0:03:06 > 0:03:09it clear what's happening but it also has to be interesting
0:03:09 > 0:03:13because sometimes the easiest, simplest way isn't very satisfying.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20Page 13, we've got a bunch of fire engines flying past
0:03:20 > 0:03:24and our two heroes, Hutch and Jason, are father and son,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27are walking up the street. And then the kid
0:03:27 > 0:03:32goes into a public lavatory, out the skylight window and flies away.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34His name's Jason,
0:03:34 > 0:03:38so far in the script he hasn't got a superhero name.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41This is the first thing that he's done, he's got changed
0:03:41 > 0:03:43and flown up into the sky.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46His father, who is the son of some famous super villain,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49but he doesn't actually have powers himself.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51His mother's fully super powered
0:03:51 > 0:03:55but they don't actually know that he's out doing this.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58I've read the script often enough that
0:03:58 > 0:04:02I see the whole thing as a selection of still images
0:04:02 > 0:04:05which I think are going to work best, but often
0:04:05 > 0:04:10I have more than one image for each panel and it's not always a question
0:04:10 > 0:04:15of taking the still image that looks the best in isolation,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19you have to actually chose the still image that looks the best within the sequence.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21Sometimes I come up with it quite quickly
0:04:21 > 0:04:25and sometimes it takes ages, but, irrespective, it always takes
0:04:25 > 0:04:27a good long while to actually draw it up -
0:04:27 > 0:04:32considerably longer than it takes to read it or look at it when you're flicking through a comic.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40I was born in 1968 in Glasgow here.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47I always loved drawing and I always
0:04:47 > 0:04:48thought I was quite good,
0:04:48 > 0:04:49even when I didn't have
0:04:49 > 0:04:51anything to compare it to.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54I would say my biggest
0:04:54 > 0:04:55single influence from
0:04:55 > 0:04:57when I was younger was the
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Scottish artist Dudley D Watkins.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02He did the Broons and Oor Wullie
0:05:02 > 0:05:04for decades and decades,
0:05:04 > 0:05:05and Desperate Dan
0:05:05 > 0:05:06and lots of things.
0:05:06 > 0:05:07I used to read them in
0:05:07 > 0:05:09my grandparents' house on a Sunday.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11I was the best drawer in class
0:05:11 > 0:05:12in primary school.
0:05:12 > 0:05:13And I was the best drawer
0:05:13 > 0:05:15in my class in secondary school
0:05:15 > 0:05:16and then I went to art school
0:05:16 > 0:05:18and then I started freelancing
0:05:18 > 0:05:20and then I drifted into comics.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28From the thumbnails on the script, I make page layouts,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31which I generally do digitally now.
0:05:31 > 0:05:37I'm going to have three skylights here and this one is going to be
0:05:37 > 0:05:43opened, so I'll have the boy in here and a head a shoulders coming
0:05:43 > 0:05:46out here and then flying away in the distance...
0:05:47 > 0:05:49..and then I'll have a cop
0:05:49 > 0:05:52standing here with his back to us and the guy in the hat standing here.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59And then we'll go to this shot of young Jason flying up towards us.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07I often draw it like that just to get the proportions right
0:06:07 > 0:06:10and then put his trousers in, you know,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12when I'm doing the final line work in pencil on paper.
0:06:25 > 0:06:31I've drawn out a character design for Jason wearing the white under-armour that he
0:06:31 > 0:06:35wears for his soccer and he's got his rucksack that he just
0:06:35 > 0:06:39carries about with him anyway so that's where his jeans and shirts go.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43He keeps his Cons and socks on so the only really...the only
0:06:43 > 0:06:48bit of kit that he has to put on really is his wee home-made
0:06:48 > 0:06:50diamond mask and a bandana.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54The colours are chosen because they tie in with his grandfather,
0:06:54 > 0:06:59who was the main character from the first three issues, The Utopian.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01The whole look is just kind of reminiscent of that.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Grant sat and just ran through a casual synopsis for the whole
0:07:30 > 0:07:32thing and it just sounded amazing.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35It was pretty exciting, you know,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38and it was kind of... it was one of those moments.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45Classic '50s Superman was part of the aesthetic of it but I also
0:07:45 > 0:07:48had to come up with a way of drawing Superman that was natural to me,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51so it's just a kind of - this is what Superman looks like
0:07:51 > 0:07:53in my mind, but because it's me that's drawing it,
0:07:53 > 0:07:58it does have...it's got a hint of Desperate Dan about it.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02It's quite a big story and it's a big human drama,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05and it's about accepting your own mortality.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Thanks to a cunning plan by Lex Luthor,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Superman ends up flying too close to the sun.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16His cells start deteriorating. So it's kind of like the equivalent of
0:08:16 > 0:08:21cancer for him so he realises he's got about a year to live
0:08:21 > 0:08:26and there's a number of things that he has to put in order before he dies.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Since the dawn of modern humans,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34storytelling has been one of the main ways we communicate ideas.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36In the same way that I'm sure
0:08:36 > 0:08:41soldiers going into war would tell stories about great heroes to gee
0:08:41 > 0:08:42people up and inspire them, you know.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47Most fiction, most fictional characters are either there for
0:08:47 > 0:08:54cautionary purposes or to inspire us, to be like role models for us.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57I mean, you do get drawn into what you're drawing, of course.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00There's two issues of the 12 issue run that have Bizzaro in them.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Bizzaro is the mad, upside down, topsy-turvy type Superman
0:09:04 > 0:09:09and everything is just broken and back to front.
0:09:09 > 0:09:15I was actually at my most stressed when I was drawing those issues.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Deadlines were completely shot right from the start.
0:09:17 > 0:09:18There was the stress from that
0:09:18 > 0:09:22but also the exchange rate between dollars and pounds was really
0:09:22 > 0:09:25poor at that point as well and I thought I was going to lose
0:09:25 > 0:09:27the house and stuff like that so it was a really frantic time.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31I actually think the drawings are slightly looser, slightly more
0:09:31 > 0:09:34frantic but I was certainly more looser and more frantic drawing it.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Grant was delighted, of course, he was hoping I'd have a full
0:09:37 > 0:09:39breakdown to make the issue really good.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49ENGINES ROAR
0:09:49 > 0:09:53Two mods have just gone by on Lambrettas.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55I haven't seen a mod for ages.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03Because I'm drawing from my imagination all the time,
0:10:03 > 0:10:07there is a general look to most of the characters.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10I always think it's a bit like if you go to a family wedding
0:10:10 > 0:10:14and pretty much everyone in the room looks vaguely like another
0:10:14 > 0:10:17few people in the room, you know, there's slightly too many
0:10:17 > 0:10:20connections for it to be anything other than a family wedding.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26I often like do wee sketches of people in the street or
0:10:26 > 0:10:28in the train station, on the bus or whatever.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Sometimes it's for really simple things like just here's
0:10:32 > 0:10:35a convincing way that tired people sit when they're sitting on a bus.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40I know a lot of comic artists and they'll say, even if they're not trying to get a likeness,
0:10:40 > 0:10:45they'll be thinking in terms of Clint Eastwood for this character or whatever,
0:10:45 > 0:10:50but, for me, it tends more to be people I know or combinations of different people that I know.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54These are the roughs for the Walking Dead cover.
0:10:56 > 0:11:02She was based loosely on a teacher from my primary school.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04She seemed to me at the time, when I was six or seven to
0:11:04 > 0:11:08like about a hundred years old and she had horned-rimmed glasses.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10She was incredibly skinny and wrinkly.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12So you turned her into a zombie?
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Well, you know, I thought it's that way, like,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19you know, you must get granny zombies, you know, so...
0:11:32 > 0:11:36I'm wanting the city to be drawn with enough detail that
0:11:36 > 0:11:40it looks convincing like a city from the air,
0:11:40 > 0:11:47but when it comes to colouring I'll ask Peter to keep the line work of the foreground figure in solid black
0:11:47 > 0:11:50and drop the line work of the background
0:11:50 > 0:11:55back a bit so that there's a little bit more of a distinction.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01When I'm working digitally it's very easy to change things
0:12:01 > 0:12:04and I don't feel precious about it but
0:12:04 > 0:12:08when it comes to actually doing fine detail, even though this is a really
0:12:08 > 0:12:13sophisticated piece of technology, the feeling of being like...
0:12:13 > 0:12:16it's like trying to touch your finger against the glass,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18it never quite meets.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20There's something like the feeling
0:12:20 > 0:12:25when your working with this, it's just not quite perfect.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29And the level of sensitivity you've got with a tip of the pencil
0:12:29 > 0:12:33on the paper, it's like there isn't a gap there at all.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37There we go.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Ready to print this out in blue
0:12:41 > 0:12:44and then start doing the finished line work.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54We've got eggs, are you wanting any?
0:12:56 > 0:12:59- Vin, can you boil the kettle? - Yeah, sure.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Hope Street Studios is a pretty nice place to work, you know.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07We have a slow kind of turnover of people.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Some people stay about for years, other people are just in for
0:13:10 > 0:13:14a few months and move on but the way it goes, it's always word of mouth.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17All the people who have ended up here
0:13:17 > 0:13:21have been friends or colleagues of the people who already work here.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35You can be a tribute act or you can be inspired by various
0:13:35 > 0:13:39different sources and that helps shape you.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45As a teenager I had Katsuhiro Otomo, the Japanese guy that did Akira.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49He was depicting a world that had enough detail,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53but it was entirely believable, you know. Cities crumbling and
0:13:53 > 0:13:57there was a sense of scale and a sense of place.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01The fact that he didn't resort to sketching in areas
0:14:01 > 0:14:05of the city in the background that weren't actually depicted
0:14:05 > 0:14:07with some degree of accuracy,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11I think that's one of the things that kind of helped sell that
0:14:11 > 0:14:14whole world that he was presenting.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Over the years, I've never managed to get any faster even though
0:14:21 > 0:14:26I've become generally more efficient with all the different skills that I need.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29When I started out it was all about just keeping things clear
0:14:29 > 0:14:30and easy to understand
0:14:30 > 0:14:34and, over the years, the more I've learned about storytelling
0:14:34 > 0:14:37the more I've learned about the way you can lead the eye around the page
0:14:37 > 0:14:39or the way you can encourage
0:14:39 > 0:14:42somebody to move very slowly from left to right across a panel.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46All this stuff I've become so kind of fascinated by
0:14:46 > 0:14:49and engrossed in the way it actually works.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53I find that I spend more and more time planning the pages
0:14:53 > 0:14:56than I do actually drawing up the finished art work.
0:14:59 > 0:15:05This is the page from We3 that took a couple of weeks to work out.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17To some extent it's about our relationship with technology,
0:15:17 > 0:15:22and war, and our relationship with animals and each other.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24The human characters were hardly in it.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28You know, we actually decided that we would
0:15:28 > 0:15:30try and have as few faces in it as possible.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33A bit like the Tom and Jerry cartoons where you would always
0:15:33 > 0:15:34just see the legs and feet.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39We had a number of other ideas about storytelling
0:15:39 > 0:15:42and kind of page construction and panel layout that we hoped
0:15:42 > 0:15:48would be kind of new and that would suggest the action
0:15:48 > 0:15:52playing out in a way that we wouldn't normally perceive it.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54The idea of trying to come up with something
0:15:54 > 0:15:55that was aesthetically different
0:15:55 > 0:15:59but also, like, more importantly, that actually worked differently
0:15:59 > 0:16:02in the way the visual narrative was presented.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04We hoped that that would also give this feeling
0:16:04 > 0:16:06that maybe this was kind of the way it would work
0:16:06 > 0:16:08for, for instance, a cat or a dog.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18The CCTV sequence was half a dozen pages of
0:16:18 > 0:16:23little frames like TV screens in a high-security building
0:16:23 > 0:16:26where the animals are escaping from
0:16:26 > 0:16:29and the whole sequence is told mostly wordlessly,
0:16:29 > 0:16:33just from multiple cameras. It was so difficult
0:16:33 > 0:16:35to fine-tune it when I was trying to draw all those panels,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38or redraw them all in different orders, you know,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40on separate bits of paper, that I ended up cutting them up.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43I worked out this sequence
0:16:43 > 0:16:47of a hundred and however many individual drawings.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Yeah, I mean, I have the geography of the building,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52or the relevant parts of the building, in my mind.
0:16:52 > 0:16:53And...
0:16:55 > 0:16:58So I drew each of the sequences
0:16:58 > 0:17:02from the imaginary viewpoint of the cameras that I'd installed
0:17:02 > 0:17:04in those parts of the building.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06I sound absolutely mad.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14You go to extraordinary lengths sometimes
0:17:14 > 0:17:17to try and make complicated things
0:17:17 > 0:17:20kind of simple and understandable.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23Whether that's some kind of...
0:17:23 > 0:17:26if you're trying to sell some sort
0:17:26 > 0:17:29of emotional part of the story
0:17:29 > 0:17:30or it's just in terms
0:17:30 > 0:17:32of building up an atmosphere
0:17:32 > 0:17:35or a level of detail that helps
0:17:35 > 0:17:38make an environment believable.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41You just... You do a lot of thinking
0:17:41 > 0:17:43in order that the reader
0:17:43 > 0:17:45doesn't have to do any.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50In this page from Jupiter's Legacy,
0:17:50 > 0:17:54there's this bad guy here who has got immense power
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and he's just blasted everybody away from him
0:17:58 > 0:18:02and this character Walter comes down. He can control people's minds
0:18:02 > 0:18:07to the point where he can put them into an environment of his choosing.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11What he's actually doing is creating a cell or creating a little world
0:18:11 > 0:18:15constructed from his thoughts. It's a fabrication.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16And, er...
0:18:16 > 0:18:20my process is sketching out roughly in blue
0:18:20 > 0:18:25and then adding more detail and then going in with a black line.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28So what I ended up doing was
0:18:28 > 0:18:32a kind of cutaway type thing where you have a cube,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36like a prison cell, and as we go in from the front to the back
0:18:36 > 0:18:39we actually go through the creative process of producing this image
0:18:39 > 0:18:42so that it echoes the creative process
0:18:42 > 0:18:47of him fabricating this little cell to trap the bad guy.
0:19:00 > 0:19:06So this is me doing the finished line work on my blue underdrawing.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09This is where I'm making my decision about which, you know,
0:19:09 > 0:19:11where to make the line work slightly simpler
0:19:11 > 0:19:13and where to add a little bit more detail.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Because they can be exaggerated characters or archetypal characters
0:19:19 > 0:19:22I think they lend themselves quite well to...
0:19:23 > 0:19:27..to being used as just vehicles for getting an idea across,
0:19:27 > 0:19:28you know.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32I heard that Superman sells better
0:19:32 > 0:19:36in times of economic depression
0:19:36 > 0:19:39and Batman sells better
0:19:39 > 0:19:41in boom times.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43One of the theories, I think,
0:19:43 > 0:19:48is that when things are bad, people are looking for a...
0:19:48 > 0:19:51a God figure or a father figure, you know, or...
0:19:52 > 0:19:55..a "help from above" kind of thing.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Somebody to come in and fix things.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00Whereas like in the '80s, for instance,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03when everyone was making money,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07and people felt powerful and self-assured,
0:20:07 > 0:20:13Batman seems to fit the zeitgeist better.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15Batman's a self-made man.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20What I can do is add porridge.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25- Mm-hm?- Do it with water and then I add my milk in later.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27If you don't mind.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29No, not a problem.
0:20:29 > 0:20:30Cheers.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44I don't know whether or not it's a good industry to grow old in.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47On the one hand, I suppose
0:20:47 > 0:20:49you can slowly keep getting better at what you do
0:20:49 > 0:20:52in a way that you can't if you're a footballer,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55but then you've got the problem of falling out of fashion.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Just not really being in step any more.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00And there's an element of that in comics.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Brilliant - somebody's out there in silver hot pants.
0:21:11 > 0:21:12THEY LAUGH
0:21:26 > 0:21:28So when I'm doing this, erm,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30although it looks like I'm only tracing over it,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33I'm actually making little modifications.
0:21:33 > 0:21:34I'm just kind of fine-tuning it
0:21:34 > 0:21:37because the blue lines are going to get stripped out
0:21:37 > 0:21:39so all that's going to be left are marks I'm making just now.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44Mostly I quite like working late.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48I usually get slightly more done at night-time.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54You know sometimes, like, if I'm working late at night...
0:21:56 > 0:22:01I can be thumbnailing or doing page layouts or whatever.
0:22:01 > 0:22:02And I can be
0:22:02 > 0:22:05pottering around with the same problem
0:22:05 > 0:22:08and not being able to solve it for ages,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11but when I'm doing the finished line work like this,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14like, because all the decision-making's been made,
0:22:14 > 0:22:19it is just adding detail and texture
0:22:19 > 0:22:22and extra layers of information
0:22:22 > 0:22:24and making things clearer,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28and, you know, it's really fairly kind of...
0:22:28 > 0:22:33Not quite automatic, but it doesn't require a great deal of thought.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Just needs a wee bit of concentration.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Almost every day I get to a point
0:22:38 > 0:22:42where the drawing goes really quickly and just really flows,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46and it happens more often at night-time than during the day.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Sometimes I go out for a walk,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57and even when you're trying not to think about the problem
0:22:57 > 0:23:01you're wrestling with or the piece of work that you've left behind
0:23:01 > 0:23:02that you're about to go back to,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06the experiences you're getting while you're walking around
0:23:06 > 0:23:10end up influencing, like, you're drawing a futuristic city
0:23:10 > 0:23:13and rather than just Googling futuristic-looking things,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16sometimes it's good to just go out and walk around
0:23:16 > 0:23:19and see what's actually out there, and what's actually out there
0:23:19 > 0:23:22is, like, funny-looking street cleaning vehicles
0:23:22 > 0:23:25that look like bugs, and, you know, like, bin lorries and stuff.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32The world I live in, in some ways,
0:23:32 > 0:23:37it's a far cry from drawing a city in some future world,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41but at the same time, quite apart from the fact
0:23:41 > 0:23:44that Glasgow is a pretty colourful place to live,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47there's certain things that are kind of universal.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50The way people interact with each other.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53The way people act in the morning commute
0:23:53 > 0:23:55when everybody's trying to get to work
0:23:55 > 0:23:57and the way they're acting at the end of the night.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00These things are kind of universal.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Everything about the world around me and my life
0:24:03 > 0:24:05is something that I can draw on.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26If I get a few hours' sleep, then often what I do
0:24:26 > 0:24:28is I'll get up and do some more work
0:24:28 > 0:24:31and go get a shower in Central Station
0:24:31 > 0:24:34and then work for another few hours during the day
0:24:34 > 0:24:37and then go home kind of, like, late afternoon or dinner time.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40It's funny because I used to look at the showers at the stations
0:24:40 > 0:24:43and think, "What kind of people use the showers in Central Station?!"
0:24:43 > 0:24:45and...now I know.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56This is the semi-supine position.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59You stand against a wall upright
0:24:59 > 0:25:03and you measure the space between the back of your head and the wall.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06That's the number of books you need under your head.
0:25:06 > 0:25:07Normally it's three Akiras.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11There's six Akira books and they're all slightly different thicknesses.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14For me, I've got to pick the right three.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17For years I worked in the house. I had a studio in the house.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21And it was nice, and it was really convenient
0:25:21 > 0:25:25to be able to get out your bed and make a pot of coffee.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29And then about eight years ago or so
0:25:29 > 0:25:32I rented a desk just for a couple of months.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36And as soon as I got to the studio
0:25:36 > 0:25:38my wife just started packing up my stuff.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43She couldn't believe how good it was to get rid of me.
0:25:43 > 0:25:44I'm incredibly messy.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48I mean, like, this is the tidiest I've ever kept my workspace
0:25:48 > 0:25:52and it's only because I'm sharing a room with two other people.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58Nearly there, yeah.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03This is me just finishing off the detail on the cityscape
0:26:03 > 0:26:04in the background.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Ideally, you want to be a couple of months ahead, but...
0:26:12 > 0:26:14..I rarely am.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Only ever at the start of a project.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Well, that's me.
0:26:37 > 0:26:38- Finished?- Yeah.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46It's half four, er...
0:26:48 > 0:26:50..and I'm gonnae go to bed.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53I've got a sleeping bag here.
0:27:06 > 0:27:07Good night.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11See you in the morning.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39Yeah, aye, I slept well. It was quite a short sleep...
0:27:47 > 0:27:51Comics aren't the best paid of the creative industries.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55I could make more money going into the games industry
0:27:55 > 0:27:59or magazine illustration or do storyboarding or whatever.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04It doesn't matter how high up you are in the storyboarding game
0:28:04 > 0:28:09or the computer games character design department or whatever -
0:28:09 > 0:28:11the fact is you're a tiny cog in a huge machine
0:28:11 > 0:28:15rather than being one of only a couple of cogs,
0:28:15 > 0:28:17and that appeals to me more.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19And what you're doing in a comic
0:28:19 > 0:28:22is you're putting something down that can't...
0:28:22 > 0:28:26doesn't really work in a film, doesn't really work in prose.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29The more I understand about how they work,
0:28:29 > 0:28:31the more I realise how unique they are.