PJ Holden's Blog – Comics, Drawing, Writing and more (or less)

Midweek contact 8 April 2026

So, checking in on the progress, actually making great progress (so great in fact that I ended up redoing my To Do board to see if I can finish this thing this week)

Start of the week:

Monday – Wiped out. Maybe one page of inks.
Tuesday – DT Inks 7-8
Wednesday Inks DT 9-10

I’m actually in the middle of inking page 13. I’ll not get that done til tomorrow (and really today is a pretty low effort day, I’ve done one page of inks).

But I have managed to sort some work related stuff out. Firstly I’ve been gifted a brand new inkjet printer. (Well I say brand new)

My Brother DCP 6690CW A3 scanner/inkjet printer has been on its last legs for some time (actually it’s stopped printing black, I’m sure it’s a fixable issue, but honestly it owes me nothing at this point so I’ve been mulling over a new printer. I think that printer is over 20 years old and it never once had the official brother ink carts in it.

My mate Jim has handed over his old Brother MFCJ6510DW – a similiarly specced A3 inkjet printer/scanner combo. Differences being it’s slightly newer (so actually airprint works on it which means I can probably print/scan from my phone on it) and it’s only got a single tray for paper (my old had two) BUT that makes it a little smaller, and I only need it for A3 anyway, so any space I can give back to my tiny studio the happier I am.

I’ve been doing some Interstitial Journalling, the practice of journalling between tasks – so you know, anytime you have a break you note the time, whats happened and what you’re about to do.

No idea what that will add to my day, but there’s already some fascinating data about how much work i’m doing popping up (like my average time on a page for inks is in the region of 3-4 hours, but that probably takes me 5 hours to do so I need to close that gap a bit)

I’ve also been experimenting with using clip studio on the apple neo (I still love the little laptop – it’s what I’m typing this one right now, the keyboard is great!)

Largely figuring out the best way to use it as a portable studio, here’s my notes on it from bluesky:

Experiment one: linking the ipad as a second screen to use on the Macbook Neo to draw on. First, regularly inking on this thing doesn’t push my processor beyond 27% (and that’s with clip studio mostly probably taking up 5% of that) i’m sure it’ll go bananas when I move a 3d model in it.

I did manage to push it to 56% cpu when I did a conversion of a 3d object in to a 2d lineart – but that doesn’t feel much slower than my m4 (it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that clip studio doesn’t in any way use the extra processing power of the m4)

My ram is sitting comfortable at 79% usage. I’ll open a big page to see what it does…

I really am not happy with the ipad pro’s pen in clip studio, I can’t seem to get a good level with it. Which means I’ll probably stick to using the huion graphic tablet plugged in rather than the ipad. The ipad is as fast and responsive as a second screen mind you, whatever magic apple is doing –

I remember when the ipad first turned up with apps that would let you use it as a graphic tablet and they were all a bit laggy, but not any more.

Well, opened up a multi layer a3 600dpi full colour image and the ram is now sitting at 82% usage so that’s pretty good. Though I had an M1 with 8Gb ram before and never found it a problem with memory, so wasn’t expecting the Apple Neo with 8Gb to be a problem.

battery is running a bit lower than I was expecting, but I suppose I’ve actually got the ipad plugged in (so the ipad is probably charging itself via the mac neo and that’s running the battery down a bit) I’ve unplugged it and you really don’t need to plug it in (I mean the fact it just works

is a sort of amazing testament to all apple eco systems… even when if it doesn’t work it’s insanely frustrating)

I will say art that I’ve coloured for Terran Omega, fairly leaps off the screen on the ipad, where it looks nice on every other screen the ipad – possibly the colour, possibly the resolution – just looks incredible.

Experiment 2: the huion on the macbook neo. I have left the apple ipad pro connected to the neo (via the air) so weirdly now have a three screen set up, I look like nasa)

this is pretty much identical to my desktop experience (so much so that I’m a bit tempted to just put my desktop stuff away and use this all the time) it’s limited by connectivity, but most of the printers now work over network

it will work off the battery for a very limited time though, I mean I can’t say for certain, but I charged the neo two days ago and it was around 40% today but using it with a huion plugged in (and drawing power) it says I’ve another hour use, so I’d want this to be plugged in while working.

And that’s it for tonight!

As ever, a new page of terran omega over on my patreon, but you can go right back to the start and read it all for free at www.pauljholden.com/patreon/?via=mysite

Week Beginning Monday 6th April 2026

Yesterday I slightly over indulged in chocolates and cake and custard and general crap. All gluten free, but still my stomach rebelled leading to a deeply uncomfortable night of no-sleep and finally hitting the sack at 5:45am. Then work up around 12ish. So I’m just … ugh… on auto pilot a bit.

Anyway, here’s last weeks to do list and what I managed.

Monday – DT Pencils 19-21
Tuesday – Scan day! AND GORILLAZ
Wednesday Inks DT 1-2
Thursday Inks DT 3-4
Friday Inks DT 5-6
Saturday TO Pencils 10-11 (double page spread) Inks 10-11 (brought over from last week)
Sunday Catch up on anything I missed.

Ok, managed to get Dog tag issue 4 all pencilled, and inks started – actually inked up to page 7 too -so good progress. Nothing done of Terran Omega, though I did sit and start issue 3 – part 1 of a three part mini, the most ambitious story I’ve written, because … well, it’s longer. But also more characters and there’s things I’d like to do that are a bit complicated to explain in the plot. It starts basically as a riff on Seven Samurai but has a twist very specific to the world building I’ve done in Terran Omega and becomes, I guess, a meditation on redemption and nature/nurture.

Also, how soon we forget: saw Gorillaz. It was pretty good, Damon Albarn is pretty surprisingly low energy, I can see why the idea of an animated front man appeals to him. Best song of the set was Feel Good largely because the guest vocalist (for the one song) came on a got everyone up on their feet and singing along, after wards Albarn is a sort of stoner-like self congratulatory way said “yeah I thought he’d be good to bring on”

Anyway, this week the plan is to get as many inks as possible:

Monday – Wiped out. Maybe one page of inks.
Tuesday – DT Inks 7-8
Wednesday Inks DT 9-10
Thursday Inks DT 11-12
Friday Inks DT 13-14
Saturday TO Pencils 10-11 (double page spread) Inks 10-11 (brought over from last week)
Sunday Catch up on anything I missed.

Determined to get to the terran omega double page spread, so I might even try that today as a sort of slow low pressure task to let my brain come back up to speed.

John McCrea – a regular revisitor to this parish – was round and we spent most of the time just oogling at early Steve Dillon art in the 2000ad Steve Dillon Apex edition, Steve’s early art is a wonder. He broke in professionally at age 16, drawing, among other things, The Hulk for Marvel UK and he’s an artist who looks like he just appeared fully formed. His most recent work before his untimely passing was getting back to some of that form too, and I think we could’ve seen more great work for decades from Steve.

That’s yer lot, I’ll try and catch up mid week, it’s funny how easy it is to stop blogging and find that a week has passed.

Week beginning Monday 30 March 2026

In print, in print I’m doing fabulous, but man, in bank balance, in bank balance I’m not. A reflection of those months last year where I only managed 5-6 pages per month, the months where I redrew and redrew pages. Each redraw costing me precious days and ultimately money.

Anyway, don’t let this happen to you.

I’m on a slightly better pace than I was previously, but still not picked up the speed to refill the coffers fast enough. But anyway, on to what was supposed to happen last week:

Monday – DT Pencils 13-14. TO Colours Page 6
Tuesday – DT pencils 15-16 (2 pages, got lunch meeting)
Wednesday DT pencils 17-19
Thursday DT pencils 20-22
Friday Catch up and scan on the DT Pencils
Saturday TO Pencils 10-11 (double page spread) Inks 10-11 (brought over from last week)
Sunday Catch up on anything I missed.

So here’s what actually happened; DT pencils finished pages 13-19, still have three more to do. I COULD have caught up with those at the weekend (I should have) giving me a fresh week to start inking, but instead I’ll be doing those today. Also I didn’t do TO pages 10-11, instead I coloured every page of TO I’ve drawn, so it’s all up to page ep2 page 9.

So, this week:

Not a lot planned this week. 6 pages of inks, plus 2 pages of terran omega pencils and inks. 6 pages of inks sounds like a lot, but it’s not, at that rate you’re drawing a full page every two days. But I thought I’d try this week underestimating and seeing where that gets me.

Off to Gorillaz on Tuesday (they’re here in Belfast). 28 years since they’re debut. Bloody hell. I still think of them as a new band.

I’m slightly obsessed with systems, especially trying to keep track of work I’ve got to do and work I’ve done. A few years ago I even designed a book for helping to track work and uploaded it to amazon self publishing. (You can buy a copy here if you’re curious) but I’m awful at maintaining systems.

My current thing is a new monthly wall white board (it’s only just about a4 size) which at least lets me keep track of the number of pages I’ve drawn.

My system for this is drawing a box with a page number to represent the page and then I add a “/” stroke to indicate it’s pencilled and a “X” when it’s been pencilled and inked (this is very satisfying)

This at least will let me keep track on whether I’ve done enough work this month or not. (answer: I have not).

Thursday 26 March 2026 Update

So, this week went a bit weird.

Wednesday I spent it all day doing storyboards, can’t really say for what, but it was fun to do. I find storyboarding weird. Firstly the drawing part is absolutely no challenge whatsoever, storyboarding (certainly what I’ve done of it) is a matter of sitting with the people who are gonna film it and just going through the script and sketching out what they’re after. I sort of consider the drawings to be an aide memoire to the work they’ve done working all of that out.

That kind of wiped out Wednesday – and it wasn’t helped by my having a mild IBS attack on tuesday night. I haven’t really caught up with pencilling yet.

I find if I don’t get back to the drawing board before 7-8 at night then I’m lost to it. I’ll end up putting roots down on the sofa and just staring blankly in to the void.

Still that allowed me the chance to start working on another story for Terran Omega.

After I’m done with the Ghosts of War, there’ll be a two part story called The Seed. And then, a much more ambitious (for me) three parter called “The Seven” which takes the root of seven samurai and spins a different story from it. Sometimes I just need to know where I can start with a story and then I can figure out what it would look like from there. Sometimes you do that and you end up so far from the original that really it’s hard to tell what the original seed for it was.

This year, I decided I’d put away the acting and improv for a bit, putting the old toys back in to their boxes, to focus on writing and drawing comics, but I accidentally signed up for an audition (a self tape) and so I did that today too. Forty recordings later I finally did one that I didn’t cock up and sent it. I suspect it’ll not go beyond that, but it was good fun to do. And I do still enjoy acting, so who knows. It does scractch a different part of your brain and actually it’s really nice to hang out with people doing something. Comics can be so isolating, and I’m occasionally a bit jealous of my wife who’s working with people (and even doing storyboards yesterday reminded me that I do like chatting to people when I work).

I wish I’d had a shared studio space in belfast at some point, but it never happened and it’s unlikely that it ever will.

Week Starting 23 March 2025

Last week’s plans:

Monday Dog tag layouts. DT pencils 1-3. Colours TO pg5
Tuesday DT pencils 4-7
Wednesday DT pencils 8-10
Thursday DT pencils 11-14
Friday DT pencils 15-18
Saturday TO Pencils 10-11 (double page spread) Inks 10-11
Sunday Catch up on anything I missed.

So: 20 pages of pencils (hahah probably not)

So what actually happened, well, I wrote off about two days due to er… new computer. Bought myself the Macbook Neo, so I could spend some time focusing on writing. No regrets (well, one, I wrestle with the fact I bought the £599 model and didn’t spend the extra £100 to get the £699 – which has a fingerprint sensor and double the storage – every day I think “well, it’s only a hundred quid” – but no, sod it, I bought the cheapest laptop because I wasn’t even sure I could properly justify it.

In the end, I pencilled 12 pages – DT pages 1-12. Some days I got three done, some days I got none done. I think I could have got close to 20 if I’d been more disciplined.

This week:

That plan calls for 14 pages of pencils, one page of colour and 2 pages of inks. Doable. More doable than last week.

Here’s how I justify three pages of pencils a day:

10-12 Pencil most of a page.
12:30-2 Finish it.
2-5 Pencil second page.
7-11 pencil third.

These are lose pencils, sometimes with notional backgrounds. But I’ll work those out later.

I will also be spending this week refining the second Terran Omega story. I’ve written it, I just need to print out and spend a day or so just going over it with a red pen.

Saw some sunshine last week, and I’m excited for summer to start and I get outside and sit in the garden and do some work. I’ve detached myself from digital drawing enough that actually I can bring a drawing table down to the garden and do pencilling (and maybe inking)

20 solid ideas for writing Future Shocks.

I’m going through my notes on my computer, just culling and tidying and stumbling across ideas.

I wrote this out for a workshop some time ago, 2017 to be precise. At that point I’d written ZERO futureshocks (later on I’d write on terror tale)

Anyway. You can take or leave these.

Comic creation workshop. 20 solid ideas for creating future shocks

Create lots of ideas.
Edit/merge/invert those ideas.
Tease out the story from the idea, does this lead logically to that?
Write, then find your theme.
Rewrite knowing what your theme is.
Twist once is good. Twist twice is clever. Wrong foot the audience when you know that’s what you want to happen
Avoid VR prison stories. avoid killing hitler. Avoid they were Adam and Eve.
If you can’t avoid them, subvert them. Invert them. Add to them. Mix them up.
No story idea is ever dead, just sent to the great recycling notebook in the pocket
The finished story should either confirm your theme or repudiate your theme. Is the story that greed is good? Does the end confirm that or flip it on its head?

Neo news is Good Neows.

So, look, I relented, and bought myself a Macbook Neo. This is, I think, my fourth macbook in my life I’ve bought. The first way back in 2006? – I think I bought for £900 at currys (iirc there was a sale on).

I’d been staunchly windows based for a long long time, and my pal had a macbook and I very much coveted it’s silver metal casing, and it’s instant on, and thought “yes please – save me from a pc with a case that was constantly open because maybe the next tv adaptor card will be the final one ” ( I never did find a final tv adaptor card and in the end streaming made it irrelevant)

As I walked out of Currys with my first apple bit of hardware, a thought occurred that I was the first point of advice for a LOT of people (it was my day job at the time, people paid for my opinion!) and I figured if I was ready to move to mac, then a LOT of other people were too – and that’s when I decided to buy apple shares.

Unfortunately I had no idea how to buy apple shares, so that idea fizzled. Which is a shame because a year later apple introduced the iphone and and the rest yadda yadda.

Over the years I’ve bought macbooks and imacs and mac mini. The last computer purchased was a mac mini. I like the macs, I’m fully in the eco system and every time I try out a PC (in fact, about three computers ago I went to PCs because I couldn’t find a mac at the price point/spec I wanted) I deeply deeply regret it.

My priorites over that time have converged on a couple of points, primarily:

1 ) Silence. I want a dead silent computer. Not a fan of a fan. Just give me the gentle pitter patter of tiny fingers hitting a keyboard and whatever ambient sound is in the quiet room am in and I’m happy.

2) A good screen. Oh lordy, I can’t believe we lived in a world with a maximum screen resolution of 72dpi – no more of that, thank you…

3) UHM… that might be it.

I think I’m flexible on every other requirement. Maybe I’ll add good insurance is now my standard on this stuff. Apple’s on going apple care is a pain but it means any equipment I have will keep working until I decide I’m done with it,

So here’s some early thoughts on it:

Initially I was concerned about lack of back light keyboard. Honestly my eyesight is not what it was, and I like the reassurance of being able to see letters in high contrast. The macbooks neos in every colour except silver have quite a low contrast on the keyboards – the letters printed in dark grey and the keys are a tinted white (to match the colour of the laptop). So I went with the silver. But, a thing my wife reminded me of – I can touch type. I just don’t because… well, for stupid reasons (I’m an artist!) my keyboard is sat away to the left of my huion graphics tablet so if I’m ever typing it’s me turned at an awkward angle and trying to find the keys.

So having sat and typed up some stuff on this keyboard, it turns out I don’t even glance at the keyboard, and maybe a lit one would be a little distracting.

I went for the 256Gb hard drive. Sure an extra £100 woulda doubled the memory, but the price escalator must be avoided (sure another hundred for that and another hundred for this and pretty soon you’re staring down the barrel of a £1400 laptop and you’re thinking “what am I doing?”)

I wanted the cheapest one I could go for. The plan this is to attack writing, and this is the weapon with which I will attack it and so, for that purpose 256Gb is oodles.

The 8Gb of ram (standard on the macbook neo) doesn’t bother me at all. I had an 8Gb M1 mac mini and it was fine – and this thing (the neo) is supposed to be faster than the M1 (which wasn’t slow for my purposes at all).

Look, computer speed is a funny thing, most people think faster is better – and it is, but the lived reality is – for the most part – the computer is waiting on YOU doing something. Sure if you’re rendering video, or compiling code, then you’re waiting on it, but if you’re typing a document or drawing something in clip studio – it’s mostly just waiting on you.

The limiting factor of a dual USB might be a bit annoying – god knows, on my M4 mac mini the four usb-c ports drive me nuts, it’s just not enough for a desktop. So I’m dongled up the wazoo on it. But actually having two usb-c ports just helps me restrict what this thing is for (I mean I genuinely contemplated deleting the mail.app off the laptop, thinking NO – this is for writing, not for email correspondence. But then I came to my sense)

(by the way everything here is being typed on the neo – turns out my touch typing speed is actually pretty damn good on this thing)

Still, what if I did want to do a bit more with it… what could I do?

Well, I stuck my huion 16″ drawing tablet in to the usb-c 3 port, and it worked great! downloaded affinity and clip studio, and both run well enough for my purposes that it means this machine will comfortably pull double duties as a back up computer in case the m4 mini karks it.

You can use either port to charge the macbook, so you use the usb-c 3 (the rearmost one) to plug in the huion and the foremost one to charge.

Does mean you’re not plugging anything else in to it though, but that’s ok.

(I might eventually buy a bluetooth mouse as I quite like a mouse but don’t want a dongle, the apple magic mouse is just … it’s weird. C’mon, it’s weird)

Anyway needless to say didn’t get much work done today. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

Working out the week

So last week looked like this:

Monday – ~~2 pages of inks~~ / ~~one page of colours~~ (F part 2 pages ~~5&6~~, colours T ~~02.04~~)
Tuesday – Inks 3 pages (F ~~7,8,9~~)
Wednesday – Inks 2 pages (~~F10, T 02.05~~)
Thursday – Layout day. D ep 5, and C ep 1
Friday – Pencils D 1-3
Saturday – Inks T ~~02.06,~~ ~~02.07~~
Sunday – catch up on anything I’ve missed.

How’d I do? Well, first I’ve already forgotten what all the bloody code letters were so that’s a rough start. Secondly I think I did everything, but I’ll be damned if I can remember what “D” was and I did none of that… so uhm… NO WAIT! I do remember what D was, and I’m doing that today (dogtag, it’s dog tag). Layouts for episode 5 (episodes 1-4 are all finished as are all the covers).

So, last week I didn’t get three pages of pencils done. Actually that’s not terrible. And I did get 9 pages of inks done and 1 page of colours. So, this week… and the work didn’t quite happen the way I thought it might (all plans go to pot when they meet the real world)

So: 20 pages of pencils (hahah probably not)

I think I’m too optimistic in how much pencilling I can do, Friday meeting a pal for lunch, and Saturday is always chaos. But we’ll see.

Blogging will resume as an every other day just as purely catch up.

BTW Here’s how I find images to go with my blog posts, I search in my vast photo album for a word and what turns up is what I use. I sued the word “Chaos” which turned up this handsome Dave Gibbon’s Mekon picture that I think I must have taken of an old 2000ad annual (you can practically smell the paper of the photo)

This also turned up this – me answering a question about using frames in clip studio, this is still useful information…

Terran OMEGAZINE

HIs, this month the Judge Dredd Megazine has an exciting interview with yours truly, as well as the start of the new Fargo and McBain strip I’m drawing and A PREVIEW OF THE FIRST FIVE PAGES OF TERRAN OMEGA!

Sadly, I’ve had to tell a few people – no it’s not running in the megazine, it’s simply a preview of the strip. But I suppose since it’s all in colour over there I could show the first five pages in full colour here as well.

Elsewhere in 2000ad, Judge Dredd continues to rip peoples faces off on a Weather Satellite in CLIMATE CRISIS!

And that’s a quick update!

The Play’s the Thing

I’m afraid blogging is going to be a little less consistent for the next while, big news to come, but if I was busy before, now I’m insanely busy. And it’s all my own doing. Less cryptic updates to come.

Two days ago, Gail Simone (whose origin story is writing funny columns for ComicBookResources, back in the glory days of the web, when advertising wasn’t as all consuming and creative people were often paid to write) posted this on blusky:

Say a thought about comics. Here’s mine. In superhero dialog, verisimilitude is better than realism.

(Now, I am on shaky ground when it comes to big words, but verisimilitude is one of my favs and it means something that feels true or gives the appearance of being true – though more often applied to art than say the news – where Stephen Colbery coined the similair in meaning if not application “truthiness”)

I replied to this, wuith something that’s been on my mind for a long long time, with regards to comics and it was this:

Comics took too much from tv and film and not enough from theatre and opera.

So, that’s maybe not as obvious a thought as I thought and when asked to explain, I came up with this, which i will expand on a bit (I’ve also corrected for typos and meaning)

Quite a lot of the language of comics is lifted wholesale from film and tv (pan, frame, Dutch angle [when a panel is tilted], Birds Eye view, worms eye, POV etc) that language has then informed the kind of ways stories are told. But there’s a whole bunch of theatrical tricks (and things from opera)

That are not just “as helpful” but possibly more so. Theatre relies on the imagination of the viewer more than film or tv does and so actually can be more like comics. Theatre actors on stage will often cheat the angle so they face the audience and each other to deliver dialogues

A thing tv does by cutting between people’s heads, but the [Theatrical staging is] a technique we can use in comics too-to have characters talk to each other both facing the reader. Also theatre uses lighting in often more dramatic ways than film or tv (which esp now has become sort of hamstrung by digital colouring

Which has forced lighting to be flat while filming so they can add drama after the fact, but that stops really dramatic lighting from coming to the fore ) also opera gives us melodrama -over the top, big! Kirby has more in common with opera than most films. (Id argue)

So oddly, one way I think I can explain this is by citing examples of films that USE theatrical staging as much as film staging. Orsen Well’s Citizen Kane, was heavily influenced by Well’s theatre experience.

Here’s a great example, two characters talking. BOTH facing the audience. film/tv now would do an establishing shot then you’d have “noddies” (a shot of the back of someone’s head while the other person talks, so called because – certainly in tv news – the back of the head is often nodding along, to indicate they’re listening – though guess what! IN tv interviews, they usually have only one camera so they often film the questions and responses seperatly! it’s all fake!)

Here’s another. Three characters all largely turned towards us (ok, one is a side profile) all talking. AND look at the framing of the boy playing. This is a very deliberatly crafted bit of theatrical staging.

Here’s Nosferatu, right at the beginning of film, when they were still playing it as theatre…

Now, look at this, shadow of the Count Orlak, and the shadow of the Bannister and a door. This has more in common with theatre and comics than it does with film (well, at least until you get to the amazing Francis Ford Coppola/Bram Stoker’s Dracula)

Here again, a very much more symbolic background than real – the lighting from the window and a full frame figure. Haunched over the table. Visual story telling. In theatre and opera figures have to be BIG over the top aklmost in order to be seen at the back of the theatre. In comics, you want someone to know this is a lowly menial figure from a single drawing. We’re pulling the same trick. Film and TV, can DO that but tends to not do that. It’s reaching for realisim so often over verisimilitude.

(Actually, How to Get to Heaven for Belfast might be worth a watch as something that does this too)

Another favourite of mine, which feels like it was thought of as much in theatre as film/tv is the Ipcress Files. (I’ve stolen these from https://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/11/19/the-ipcress-file-1965-furie/)

I’d also say a few years ago Garth Ennis and I were talking about the Judge Dredd’s of our youth, and it’s my contention that those Dredd and what made them magnificent was the pracitcally operatic nature of the stories and the characters. Dredd standing firm in front of insane looking bad guys and making mad proclamations…

And I leave you with this, if this isn’t opera then I don’t know what is….