It occurred to me that I never posted the final Q3 on this blog featuring my comic A Space In Time.
Read it here. I've started a few new projects now that my time at student media is done. 1. Tidbits Newsletter: an occasional (though I try and do one at least once a month and not more than once a week) email newsletter featuring interesting stuff from around the web: old blogs, think pieces, hot takes, cool videos, whatever. You can sign up and also read the old ones at this link. 2. Instagram: I signed up on Insta to showcase some of my doodles as a kind of mini cartoony portfolio. 3. YouTube: Soon. Soon. Got to finish tidying my parents house, fix the internet, buy a new computer, and subscribe to Adobe CC. Then think of some actual ideas. Can't use uni computers any more! But I have an idea for a channel that may be enjoyable. 4. Comics: Probably gonna try getting something published on the web (on say, the Nib or, start small, Ink Mag) or in print (in say, Viz or the Eye). Gotta work on smaller projects to build up my portfolio. Finished projects: Uni. My entire degree is finished, might go back for a masters if my job search is unsuccessful. Loot. I really struggled to find things that worked for Loot, so a mutual decision was reached: I'll no longer be writing for them.
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I finally wrote something for Loot after quite some time spent just thinking about it. Whilst it is highly edited (the GIFs aren't my own) it is just baby steps and I'm going to think of something better for next time.
I also reviewed another Sherman play at Quench.
The above is a Twitter Moment of all my cartoons I did this year for Gair Rhydd, finished off this week in 1099 with a hot take on graduate prospects. In Politics, I wrote about the supposed Tory swing in Wales, but it was a little upstaged by an interview with the publisher of the research in question, Prof. Roger Scully, overleaf. I'll admit the Societies section is maybe not top spec this week but I tried to go all out on the design side with a "splash" of Photoshop...
I also did the doodle on the back cover of this year's last Quench. I'll admit these, my last two issues of involvement with student media, were planned to be a little more grand than they ended up being. But I've been doing work experience, a lot of revision and even fitting in the gym, so it just turned out to not be the case. In related news however I was nominated for Scoop of the Year along with Hugh for our research into the eye test advertisements in the optometry school, though we didn't win. Michael Hill of JOMEC, judging, said of the piece: An interesting take on an issue that most people won’t know anything about. Very thorough research into the profession allied with a survey to underline the main point of the story. GR 1097 features:
Societies section edited and designed by me as always. The Fringe reviews were the third most read article on the GR site this week also. Cartoon about the Google Ads fiasco the papers have drummed up. Politics article on the death of Martin McGuinness. I've also been to a great play: Killology at the Sherman is fantastic and comes fully recommended. Proud of some work I did for the new Gair Rhydd.
Louis did the cartoon. But it's great. Fantastic. Have a look. Meanwhile, I interviewed Lamorna, the winner of the VP Societies election campaigns, about her plans. Pretty good. Pretty juicy in places too. And some damn good editing and page design AS ALWAYS. I also finally put my Morris Does Morris article in- did mean to include a subtitle of "Finally all you've ever wanted and more" but the Global article pushed it out. It's not a society, but it's also not really a sport. Nothing wrong with including local clubs, it's all fun for students, isn't it? Also, I remembered that I never posted my Nintendo Switchmas article on here. That's pretty good, though obviously pretty outdated at this point. Also weird: I never linked GR 1091 or 1092 on here. Think I was just freaking out on the run up to elections... one track mind. Even more weirdly 1092 isn't on issuu, so I will chase that up. Set myself a challenge for the upcoming final GR of '16-17: GET AN ARTICLE IN EVERY SECTION. This has probably never been done. The hard one will be Taf-Od. How do I say "Sorry for my broken Welsh" in Welsh? It also includes the use of some journalistic tools I've not attempted previously- stay tuned. You'll actually find two of my cartoons in this week's Gair Rhydd. One is in the usual spot on page 2, using the frame of the Oscar mixup for a cheap shot at Gerry Adams (he he, shot). The other is at the top of my 1000 word article on the elections and how to reconsider the way you think about them- I certainly have! I'm proud of this article. I also interviewed the Jailbreak winners for this week's Societies, and Spotlit Stitch Soc. As well as editing the rest of the section obviously.
Meanwhile, in Quench, I wrote two pieces for Video Games, one on Virtual Reality and one on game pricing. I also drew the back page doodle and contributed to the museums piece. Some fun and some flavour once again in the Societies Section, which I grow increasingly proud of. We might not win best section (will probably go to something more widely read like Comment or Politics) but we have the most efficient article to page ratio! 7 articles in 2 pages compared to usually 3 or 4 in the rest of the paper. Whether that actually is a good thing is up to you...
GR 1088 featured some upbeat stuff about Airsoft and Film, probably my favourite societies to attend as a member- so that was enjoyable and simple to write about. GR 1089 featured a triple whammy for the last ish of the year. That efficient society section I mentioned with my humorous Take Me Out article and spotlight on English, a Christian Union article the CUers were very happy about when I posted it on their Facebook page, a decent cartoon and also an article in comment about cycling. Although my line aping Good King Wenceslas as "Sire he lives a good drive hence- and he probably voted Brexit" got changed to "Sure he loves..." grumble, grumble, etc. I also got an article up on Quench online discussing my favourite Christmas song, Red Cortina, reflecting on the sense of melancholy over pure enjoyment that develops with age. Now, er, anyone got any jobs going, preferably starting in about June 2017? 1085 If you can't tell from the cartoon, the thing bothering me that week was an essay deadline, which was fast looming. And I've felt weirdly busy ever since, finding it hard to find time to do little things like update this blog. Also check out that quiz in societies- probably my best InDesign work... i'm not even kidding. Proud of that. 1086 Facing a bit of a pickle on deadline night, and feeling all out sad that I didn't get to use the toon I had ready for Clinton to win (pictured below)- though I was happy that Louis got his turn- I decided to pep up the Societies pages with a crossword- an old trick I used to do when making a magazine for my friends at school (more news on that old thing soon, maybe). Try it! 1087
Back to my rightful place on the toon slot this week, where I have become sort of unofficial editor. I tell the other guys what pitches there are from the editors, they try to come up with something related. I think Louis is onto something this week, it may even become the case that we swap between the two of us for the rest of the year. In Societies, I've done the usual spotlight for Act One, complete with InDesign tomfoolery. Q3- a new magazine by my friend Eleanor, the first issue of which being about internet culture (I'd have to admit, I'm a bit of an expert in the field, ladies, control yourselves). I did the MS Paint comic on the back about Facebook. Some thoughts of my own, since I don't get the top of page 2 to blog on like Maria does (she works hard for the privilege, in fairness): I'm really stepping quite far away from the sections I want to be in, I haven't written for Comment all year and that's stressing me out, I really need to sink my teeth into some Badvice again. I'm really happy cartooning is going well, and I've come up with an idea, as I said, to revive an old magazine I used to work on in my school days for a tenth anniversary special which will showcase my current level of talent. What it doesn't do however is show my talent for writing- which I believe has gotten better as I have become much more involved in the library, in my course, in remaining and even becoming more curious about life in general, and becoming a more considerate internet user. As soppy as that sounds, it's also big words- my next challenge is to prove to myself and the world that, far from just criticising other student writers for badly thought out opinion pieces, I have it in myself to one up them. Until then, I don't have a leg to stand on. Maybe I should practice by going back to the Buff blog? Very funny... Also, at least if I only wrote opinion pieces no-one could complain. Someone always finds something wrong when I write about their societies. Hey- nobody's perfect! This week I begun my other regular feature in GR aside from the cartoon, Society Spotlight. In this I'm featuring a society every week by attending one of their sessions and just writing about what happens, then asking a member to give me some details on what people can expect from further sessions. I also wrote the Give it a Go puff, and the second cartoon appears on page 2.
Here is GR 1082 online. Meanwhile, in Quench, I got my "Blind Date" illustration on the back. The front is better. It's been a busy couple of weeks in student media land. First I went to Loughborough Students Union for the Student Publication Association National Conference 2016 with a load of people from both Quench and The GRdd. Had a brilliant time and hopefully learned something useful. After returning from #SPANC16, I went to a dodgeball game in Swansea and wrote it up for Sport, as the "curtain call of Varsity." I like dodgeball, if you hadn't guessed. They even put me on the back again. What is it about my face that makes people want to put it down on paper? This week in Gair Rhydd, I wrote a fairly acclaimed spoof article about the Panama papers and the This Week In History section on p2, a favourite of mine... but might not be around much longer. I always say the things I enjoy are the opposite of everyone else. The #BADVICE section might be here to stay though. I had an idea for a Humour section but it's not so likely. My final issue of Quench as Games Ed is out too, which is sad isn't it? Numbers 153 through 158. There's rumours of there being an extra magazine during the gaps when it's not being released next year (mainly summer, christmas and easter holidays) but nothing confirmed yet. In this issue, I did an interview with Filip Victor, a Half Life 2 modder, and reviewed Superhot. There was of course a few other things behind the scenes but those are the main contributions. You'll also see my mug on the back page. (I actually wrote an article, but then the design team just took a quote out of it...) I'm hoping that next year Saman will stay on with it, and possibly my friend Elis who we nominated for best contributor this year as he wrote some good stuff for us. EDIT: There's also a review of Hardcore Henry to have a look at to go with the Superhot review. Now if only I had the time to get all the games articles online. This Saturday is the Media Awards, so we'll see if I win anything. What's next for me? Perhaps I might contribute to Advice a bit more often. Trying to break into News. Will probably go for Societies editor. Of course I'll still contribute to the likes of Video Games and Film next year. Maybe it's about time I got a real job though? Well, I might just have an update on that for you soon... |
Tom MorrisJournalism and Sociology graduate from Cardiff University. Archives
August 2017
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