ANDY SPARROW'S JOURNAL

THIS PAGE IS LIKE MY DIARY, EXCEPT LESS EXPLICIT.
IT'S A BLOG IN ITS BACK-TO-FRONT, UPSIDE-DOWN STRUCTURE:
(NEWEST AT THE TOP) WHICH PLEASES MY LEFT-HANDED SENSIBILITIES

2010 HAPPY NEW EAR! I guess I'll have to start a new page...


DECEMBER 2009
We're back from the Bike Show. It was great to meet so many old fans of Bloodrunners, some of whom hadn't yet discovered Jet Metal; and many readers of Jet Metal who'd never even heard of Bloodrunners. I was so late with my latest deadline for Jet Metal, that I sat at my board and drew it on the stand and became a kind of feature. Some people still asked me 'are you the artist?' even tho' I was sitting there drawing!
We sold loads of the new Stickers and Posters and Patches. Check them out in the Shop.

NOVEMBER 2009
We've been to the Fighterama show in Germany, run by "Fighters" magazine [in which Jet Metal is featured]. It was held in a de-commissioned nuclear power station, which has become a holiday camp! They're still allowed to smoke indoors there. Apparently they have a special dispensation from the Pope, or some other equally preposterous character. So, for two days we were trapped inside a smoky hall, in an old nuclear power station, and I wasn't sure whether I was suffering the symptoms of flu, asphyxiation, or radiation sickness!
We're now about to go to the Bike Show at the NEC. Come and see us.
We've got new shirt designs, new Stickers, new Posters and much more.
If you can't make it, check out the Shop.

OCTOBER 2009
We're looking for like-minded spirits to sell our T-shirts etc in the other countries Jet Metal appears in, especially Australia, as potential customers are put off by the cost and time delay for shipping.
Contact us here
 I'm doing a Jet Metal poster/calendar for 2009; plus a few other new products; coming soon.
I needed to borrow some money to finance our stand at the Bike Show so I asked Zopa. It is a social bank where people lend money to people, cutting out the wankers in between. The form-filling was over before I knew it & I got a yes the same day. Try it for yourself. If you use this link to tell them I sent you, I get cash-back! I did this after asking my bank [Bank of Scotland] to up my overdraft limit and they couldn't even be bothered to call me back! how's that for a state-owned bank?

SEPTEMBER 2009
We're going to be at the UK's Bike Show in November so come and see us there! We'll be switching back to silk-screen printing from then on. The designs will look just as sharp, but will be a bit bigger and much easier to mass-produce.
On the subject of shows, someone is selling my designs on cheap t-shirts, and apparently he even pretended to be me, when approached by a fan of Jet Metal! We won't be at any shows until the Bike Show, so if you meet 'me' at any event, you have my permission to break 'my' nose and send all 'my' money to Jet Metal, PO Box 312, Penzance, TR18 9ET Cornwall.

AUGUST 2009
This month I've drawn a lot of storyboards and have got a bit behind on Jet Metal, but hopefully am back on track (episode 7 already!) I've put a link to an old strip of mine called I.N.K in the Comic Book menu, (and posted the rest of BLAKTAK).
I've also added a fan page to Facebook, to which I'm adding a picture a day, which you can either add to your feed by becoming a fan, or view here

JULY 2009
I've screwed up the advert in this month's Streetfighters with the wrong prices for the T-shirts! I'm not sure how it happened but it says to me I'm trying to do too much. I need help!
This month in the UK, Bike magazine is re-running an episode of Bloodrunners. Ironically it's one of the last ones which was very risqué and ultimately led to me being fired!
I have been informed that the intense pain I've been suffering is due to a frozen shoulder. The surgeon offered to operate on me, so I asked what it entailed. He told me that he'd put me under and then wrench my arm around into all the positions it wouldn't go now. Holy shit! Is that not positively medieval? Suffice to say I refused his kind offer and have sought help elsewhere.
I've added a page which shows you what I'm writing on Jet Metal's Facebook fan-page here so if you don't want to join Facebook, you can still see what's being posted. 

JUNE 2009
I've been really angry this month about our politicians, compounded by the banking debacle, and have been firing off emails left, right & center. Calmed down a bit now, but I find that the Jet Metal episode I'm finishing now, is about fat-cats & greed.
I sold my R1150GS this month. My shoulder hurts so much I can't ride it anymore. It's just too heavy. Jet Metal has hit the streets in Spain and South Africa in Motoviva & BikeSA.

MAY 2009
I've just finished episode four of Jet Metal and I'm feeling very positive about the whole thing. I hope she becomes a big star & a big crush. She's already getting fan-mail!
This month I am ten years clean of all mood-altering substances! I thought I needed grass to make me creative, but it just made me stupid. I thought I needed coke to make me sociable, but it just made me babble. I thought I needed smack to make me productive, but I ended up producing nothing. Now I am free, and loving every minute. Each year on my anniversary I've said "This has been the best year of my life!" and this one is no exception. More.

APRIL 2009
Streetfighters magazine has hit the streets in the UK and the feedback so far, is positive. phew. Do you have a subscription to Streetfighters, Fighters, Rapid & StreetMonsters? I do! Think we may have sewn up Spain too! More news soon.

MARCH 2009
I have started an account on Facebook as I thought this might be a good way for us to communicate with one another. Forums are good, but (having built & run one for a charity) they're a lot of hard work (for me!). I like the way Facebook works and if enough of you become a fan of Jet Metal's page, we can start a group and have a message board on there; but I don't really know much about this site, so if you have any suggestions don't be shy. (You have to register with Facebook. It's free and the only personal detail you have to give is your email address, but it's spam-protected)

The issues of Rapid Bikes; Street Monsters & Fighters are out with the first episode of Jet Metal inside. I am excited but also nervous, as there's no guarantee that it will be popular [so fingers crossed]. I guess it can't be worse than when I replaced Ogri in Bike though, (as some readers thought I had ousted their hero and complained bitterly) so I'm not too worried. It'll need time to build. If you found this page after seeing Jet Metal, please leave me some feedback, good or bad, and any suggestions for improvement here.

FEBRUARY 2009
On the same day Obama was sworn in, I received my first acceptance of Jet Metal, by Rapid Bikes in Australia. The next day Street Monsters in France signed me up, and then Fighters in Germany followed suit! I'm sending off the first episode to them today, so we'll be in their issue released at the end of this month.
Streetfighters in the UK have now also joined the party, but we've missed this month's deadline so we'll be in the end of March's issue. yeh!
I'm negotiating with two other mags at the moment in Italy & USA, and talking with others. We've got a syndicate going here!

JANUARY 2009
Happy new year! What did you get for Christmas? I got socks.
You may notice a certain contraction in the size of this site.
This is in preparation for the expansion of the site devoted to Jet Metal.
Things will disappear from here and appear there, so nothing will be gone for long.
Big news coming very soon. All looking very exciting!


DECEMBER 2008
Jet Metal is looking good. Our heroine is cute, but not too inaccessibly beautiful (like Hannah in I.N.K). My plan is to get her in as many small Streetfighter-ish magazines around the world as I can, building a cool website which will show the pictures in a larger format, without including the story (which might deter another mag from picking it up).

NOVEMBER 2008
Wow, what a month. First the bank business, then the US election. That weekend when my banks (HBOS & RBS ironically) were in serious trouble I'm ashamed to admit I withdrew all my money and was a breath away from buying a generator & a crossbow. Then the election too; nail-biting stuff. What a relief. Fingers crossed.

OCTOBER 2008
It's been a great month. I'm on a roll here. The beach is inspiring me to new heights and I'm very excited about this project. I spent a while trying to work out if I should use a new style, as I tend to use a lot of pencil nowadays when storyboarding, but I finally decided to stick  to my  most inky black style. I like it.
This is a sneak preview of a rough for the first frame episode One. Remind you of anything?
The winner of September's raffle is Anna Bailey

SEPTEMBER 2008
I'm now working on my new strip: It's developed [in my head] from being illustrated articles into a full-blown parallel universe [a la Bloodrunners] with short stories to amuse and drawings to amaze. It will star a beautiful blonde in skimpy outfits, who builds amazing specials and comes up with innovative devices for improving motorbikes [and life in general]. This is for magazine publication, so just like with Bloodrunners, I'm doing some episodes in advance to show to them. 'Just HOW skimpy?' I hear you ask. Well that would depend on the magazine I guess.
The winner of August's raffle is Sheyne Hollis!

AUGUST 2008
Have you seen this month's Bike magazine? Two pages on Bloodrunners! cool huh?
I am very flattered to have 'inadvertently invented the streetfighter'.
I'm not convinced I said everything as quoted, especially the bit at the end that says: '...but I've been doing it longer than they have...' [makes me sound like a grumpy old man!
Hey! I'm not THAT grumpy!] as I never really got my hands dirty, just doodled ideas that other people put into practice.
Also this month, Streetfighters magazine is running a competition to win Bloodrunners products. Go buy it.
Talking of 'Inadvertent Inventiveness', I was quite inspired by all the affirmation I've received, [more here] (& your responses)  and was thinking about doing a new strip showcasing my outlandish styling and design ideas that I've had up over the years. Watch this space.

JULY 2008
I've renamed Doppelgangers, as someone pointed out that they're not. So if you've read it already don't bother with BLAKTAK
Have you looked at youtube recently? There's some video of the Bike Show with the tilting ZXR filmed by Mark Bilson. I'm very shy in front of the camera; no mad cries of 'bird impression T-shirts!'.
Oh yes! We're doing a raffle, for everyone who buys something from the Shop [that's not a noun, it's an order!] this July/August and the prize is the front page A4 artwork to the original trashmag! cool huh?

It's 25 years since Bloodrunners first appeared in Bike and I've revamped a couple of areas of the site in celebration. More Bloodrunners episodes, in .pdf format too; more shirts with our cool new printer, and more byzantine links to keep you from leaving. Streetfighters magazine has got a page about Bloodrunners & its influence this month.

JUNE 2008
I have been burning up to London for occasional storyboard work that cannot be done over the webcam. Got the journey down to a fine art, but my Arai helmet has been causing me a lot of bother as it's so noisy. I've tried many things but have now realized that it's because the padding is so limited inside (to allow for good ventilation), & a lot of the hard shell is exposed (causing serious reverb) so I'm adding thin layers of mouse-mat-ish rubber which is soaking it up. The noise-cancelling 'phones didn't work at high speed [It's like expecting them to work at a Metallica concert!] but I got a tiny headphone amp off ebay by FiiO which does the job.

MARCH 2008
Not living up to my New Year's resolution of drawing something beautiful every day, [perhaps I'm spending too much time looking out the window?] but am becoming happier & healthier as every day passes.

FEBRUARY 2008
I have so much space I don't know what to do with it! I now have three drawing boards in my room and work-tops for papers and equipment. This is so different from London where I was crammed into a back bedroom. I'm loving it, but have noticed I'm not riding my bike on a daily basis like I did in London, where it was a necessity. I guess once I'm settled, I'll have more time for simply riding for pleasure.
Between jobs I've been doodling ideas for a new bunch of T-shirts. I use my phone a lot for this [ SonyEricsson w960i ] as it's a stylus driven model with so many amazing features, Walkman, and 8 gig of memory. Can't understand what all the fuss about the iPhone is for; it doesn't even have 3G or hand-writing recognition.

JANUARY 2008
Happy new year! It's slowly dawning on me that I actually live here in paradise [Penzance], and am not going to be dragged back to London at any minute. My priorities have gradually changed over the years and now I'm here I'm going to work out what else is most important. My new year's resolution is to draw something beautiful every day.