K-9Lives

K-9Lives has moved

2010-01-10T17:23:00.001Z

The comic is still on hiatus but we are moving to www.dougwilson.co.uk for future news and updates on K-9Lives comics and films. I hope you will join in at the new site.

K-9Lives Episode 2

2009-11-10T09:37:00.003Z

I am taking a break from the comic. At this point in time I don't know whether I will continue in the new year or not. I have a number of other obligations to address including two other comic projects which are proving more satisfying and popular than this so we will see.

In the mean time I have started work on the next animated episode of K-9Lives. So if you want to see more comics then help spread the word about the films. Below is my new show-reel for 2010, which I am currently using to find a job in character animation. If you watch till the end you will see the first minute of animation on episode 2. SNEAK PEEK!

I'll keep the blog updating with progress on the film.

Therapy

2009-10-20T08:25:00.007+01:00

1. Too Easy

2. Floor 13 1/3

3. Couples Therapy

4. Welcome

5. Boot Out

6. Shnook

Alright, I'm back properly now and the comic will resume. I am trying out a new update schedule though. Now we will update Tuesday and Thursday. I think this will help me to keep it going while I am working on all my other projects. http://www.bloodwhat.wordpress.com/ which is going strong and a new project http://www.thevonspleenexperiment.blogspot.com/ which should start up by January. The latter is a graphic novel project which I am half-way through, once it is done I will perhaps return to 3 days a week on K-9. Anyway thanks for your patience, I have been getting some good feedback from people at the festival about K-9Lives the Animation. I still think the comic is a bit too weird for most people. Perhaps there is a small audience out there though?

Marbella Roundup

2009-10-13T08:51:00.008+01:00

The Lobby of the Hotel Lorcrimar"K-9Lives" was nominated for best animation at Marbella International Film Festival alongside "Leonardo" by Pixar artist Jim Capobianco, and "Body" by Zhivko Dimitrov an MA alumni from St Martins College in London.

Diary of the festival

Wed
It is 1 hour before I leave for the airport and I suddenly have a massive attack of diarrhoea. Probably nerves induced, I send my dad out for Imodium and we set off to pick up Olly who is coming along as my official photographer (and as moral support). On the flight I have a major attack of dizziness either a side effect of the Imodium or perhaps slightly brought on by claustrophobia. We land and go to my Great Aunt and Uncle’s for the night in Alhaurin El Grande. Hopefully tomorrow will bring better fortunes.

Shatner's premiereThu
An early morning woken by a colossal banging on the metal bedroom door by my Uncle, we set off for the Hotel Lorcrimar following the sat nav which takes us near but not right to it. We give up and call a taxi which gets us there in the end.

On arrival they don’t have any record of the reservation but are very good about it and get us another room. The electronic key-card works first time so this must be a posh hotel. We miss most of the press conference but catch the end of William Shatner talking about being funny without meaning to be funny. He’s quite funny.

We look through the festival program and my film is not on at the big cinema. We eat a very expensive Novelli burger then take a look at the room where my film is playing. It’s tiny and literally no-one is there. I start to lament having paid so much to come here to see my film played to no-one. We wander around and each time we see the festival organiser’s they ask if we saw some opening ceremony or other all of which we miss. They don’t seem to do a very good job of telling people what’s going on but they are very keen to sign us up for the 150 euro awards dinner. Neither of us can afford it but we consider paying anyway believing that if we don’t, then we won’t see if I win! We go to the beach and have a lot of beer, then go back for “Shatter’s” – as we dubbed him - premiere of Gonzo Ballet. Outside we meet some of the Marbella Star Trek Fan Club that is out in force. They manage to get into the screening and even offer Shatter’s a bottle of wine which he accepts. I fell asleep in the warm cinema, but actually what I saw was very interesting and funny (without meaning to be). Some of the songs have really interesting lyrics and I am quite impressed. Outside the cinema we ask the Trek fan club if they want to go for a beer but they are still on a high from getting into the premiere and say they will try to follow Shatter’s. We leave them running after his limo.

We go down to the harbour for several more beers and talk films with an editor named Gregory who we also met at the premiere. He seems cool and we exchange cards etc.

Beach at Puerto BanusFri
We wake up late with a slight hangover. Miss the complimentary breakfast but get a call saying there is a talk going on downstairs. When introducing myself to the group I mention my film is playing in the little room round the corner where nobody goes and Mac the festival director tells me it is also playing at the Gran Marbella Cinema, it was just accidentally left off the program!

The talk is more for live action producers but we meet some people and Zhivke (whose name I still can’t pronounce) turns out to be a fellow animator with a film in the program. We go for lunch at a little deli up the road and enjoy some reasonably priced food. Then back to Novelli’s to sit by the pool and have a drink. Jean Cristophe Novelli is out greeting the guests and I think we could have met him but as he was walking up to our table I started swatting frantically at a fly which had been bothering me and he seemed to divert his course away to another table. He did not come back.

We have a siesta before going to the cinema; nothing is on so we head down to the beach for another beer. Back at the festival village we meet Producer John who was at the morning talk, we discuss films etc and it turns out he watched the screeners for the fest and chose which ones he enjoyed. He had not seen mine so I gave him my card etc and told him to check out my screening. We go to see a documentary about crystal skulls which sounds interesting but was terribly produced. It was one long commentary with visuals that rarely made sense in relation to the voice-over. The sound goes out half-way through and everyone leaves (quite a relief).

We meet Zif (our new name for Zhivke) and go for yet another beer. Back to see The Long Weekend, a suspense thriller which I enjoyed. Dinner at TGI Friday’s, the waitress spots our industry passes and asks about the festival. Apparently she wants to make movies and she ends up giving us a nice discount on the meal. She hopes to see us in the morning for a workshop at the hotel but she has to work at a prostitute bar (pretty sure that’s what she said, we didn’t inquire further) until six in the morning and she was supposed to be back at TGI Friday’s the next day.

Me and the Chalk drawing guy

Sat
Get up for breakfast and meet Zif, talk films and animation and then go for the Workshop. It is with the “Banksy’s Coming for Dinner” Director, interesting but again not so much for animation. I go and sort out when my film is playing and we head off to the festival village with Zif and Maria who we just met. We all go for a beer and have a long discussion about politics and porn, then off to the beach, beer, tuna sandwich and talk about creativity and storytelling. Back to cinema for Banksy which is a pseudo documentary (think spinal tap) and after that the animations and my film. Not many people in the screening but it got a good response and the quality of all the films was good.

The evening should have been an exclusive party at a posh club but we arrive and there is no-one there. Despite flashing our industry passes we cannot get any free cocktails so go have a quiet beer and call it a night.

Perspective Chalk Drawing

From the proper angle

Sun
We go for a walk further down the beach and have an amazing meal of bream and swordfish. Three more beers then stagger to the short film screenings. Each one is fantastic, very high calibre. We stick around afterwards because one of the films was missed off and get chatting to the director and writer of The Morse Collectors. Irish chaps, very nice guys and I thought their movie was one of the best.

More beer on the beach, (it’s really an awesome beach) then back to catch a taxi. We share the ride with a Canadian couple who are here for The Long Weekend. They are really nice and even invite Olly to stay at their place when he’s in America next year.

Jean Christophe Novelli's Restaurant

We change for the awards evening and dress very casual in minor protest of the elitist attitude towards the whole festival. We sit on the fringe as we haven’t paid for the dinner. All the champagne and canapés are not available to the filmmakers unless they’ve paid the fee and we find out that most of them haven’t. There are a lot of pissed off people but we just go with the flow and enjoy the evening. Apparently this festival is a bit unusual in its disregard of the filmmakers.

Interview

I meet the guy who does those really amazing perspective chalk drawings and then have my first TV type interview (I’d had a few beers so was easy to convince) for an online TV channel, IOFUSION. We work our way into the crowd and meet people, see the Irish guys and sit and chat to them for a while before getting turfed out of our seats for some woman and her entourage who apparently were more important than us. The Irish guy’s storm off very angry and we just laugh it off. More drinks and watch the awards, my film gets nominated which is very cool and loses out to Leonardo which was the deserved winner of best animation. The Morse Collectors wins and we congratulate them. Shatter’s wins and the party winds down. We’re very drunk and call it a night.

Shatner Escorted off the Premises
If there wasn’t a fantastic beach, 28 degree sun and beer flowing it might have been a different story. Not the greatest festival considering they claim to be all about the independent filmmakers but if you have the money for the extra’s then it is a welcoming place.

Marbella International Film Festival

2009-09-28T10:13:00.004+01:00

I am away for 2 weeks at the Marbella Film Festival, I will post up some pictures and notes on how it all goes soon. In the meantime you can go see the film at K-9Lives Episode 1 and i'll see you in a fortnight people.

You can see my Twitter Account for live updates on what's happening at the festival too.

Drummer Auditions

2009-09-25T08:48:00.001+01:00

Fwing

2009-09-07T08:13:00.011+01:00

1. Barbed Wire

2. Come Uppance

3. Servitude

4. The plot

5. Fsssss

6. Boom

7. Mining

8. Indiana Bones

Coco-nuts

2009-08-24T08:25:00.006+01:00

1. Palm Beach

2. Coconuts

3. Rumble in the Jungle

4. The Monster Awakes

5. King Kong

6. Love

In case you haven't heard via my FACEBOOK or TWITTER pages, K-9Lives Epidode 1 has been selected for competition at Marbella International Film Festival. I shall be attending to support and promote the film and comic, if you're in Spain why not come along? It is October 1st-4th.

Flea Side Story

2009-08-10T08:28:00.016+01:00

1. Vagrants

2. Patriots

3. Campus

4. Golf

5. Home Brew

6. Bottom's Up

Sorry if you visited the site today and found it changing before your eyes. I've had a little play around with the layout to make it nicer to read. Now you can actually see the comic full size as I always wanted! I will probably change a few more things in the next week or so as I figure out how to change things. Thanks to http://hamletothehamster.blogspot.com/ for his tutorials on blogger customisation! Let me know in the comments if you're as excited as I am about this change.

Dog Hunter

2009-08-07T06:57:00.000+01:00

I'm back from holiday, thanks for your patience. The strip will resume posting as usual.

T-9Lives

2009-07-31T06:37:00.002+01:00

1. London

2. Low Bridge

3. T-9Lives

4. Terminate

5. Rarebit Fiend

As promised, 2 weeks of K-9Lives all at once. Not the best way to do things but when I get back from holiday it will be back to normal. Hope you enjoyed the Terminator story, even if I did cop-out with the ending! Ah well.

Science vs K-9

2009-07-20T10:57:00.003+01:00

1. Special Delivery

2. Ceiling Fan

3. Multiplicity

4. Cern

5. Particle Accelerator

6. Higgs Boson

Thats the end of that story, come back Monday for more K-9Lives.

K-9 Chain Saw Massacre

2009-07-10T07:31:00.002+01:00

Film fun friday! Had to get leatherface in this section, even though I've never seen the film. I like the dejected expression on the Cat here, just fed up with this irepressable Dog. See you Monday for a new story.

Animal Fiction

2009-06-29T08:42:00.008+01:00

1. Blackface

2. Clue Clucks Clan

3. Animal Fiction

4. War Cow

5. The Udder Side

Once again we reach the end of the storyline, I enjoyed writing this one... I write with very little idea of where I will end up and this did surprise me quite a bit. I called it Animal Fiction because it is in my mind a mix of Animal Farm and Pulp Fiction. The pulp fiction bit is obvious, but I thought of AF when the cow rescued K-9 from the chicken's. Rather than the happy ending like the animated film version I thought I would have the cow be just as bad as the chicken's and show K-9 being led to a leather fetish bar! I hope everyone got the joke in the first panel, chicken's playing Cluedo.... became the "CLUE CLUCKS CLAN". I was so proud of that! See you Friday for the next one.

K-9 Wars

2009-06-26T08:51:00.001+01:00

K-9Lives is today's guest strip at http://thedailycrosshatch.com/ today. Big Thanks to them, and go see what they have on their blog. So welcome to anyone coming from there, take a look at last weeks storyline below and if you enjoy it delve into the archives! And of course come back Monday for a new story.

Paradox

2009-06-15T08:20:00.006+01:00

1. Hear my train a comin'

2. Death Toll

3. Slipstream

4. Terminal Velocity

5. Timeline Skewed

That's the end of the storyline, hope you enjoyed it. Yes the cat is ok thanks to a handy bit of time-travel. So that's the new layout for the blog... anyone like the improvements? or hate it? Leave a comment, and let me know. I think it will make it clearer for new readers to jump into the weeks story as they don't have to search for the beggining. See you on Friday!

K-9Lives Episode1

2009-06-12T08:46:00.004+01:00

K-9Lives Episode1 from Doug on Vimeo.

K-9Lives: Episode 1 is now online and you can watch it here! It is the first strip I did of this series and hopefully it will draw in some new readers to the comic. Please share the link with friends! I Directed, Animated, wrote and performed the music, recorded the sound effects and everything else on this film! I hope to do more and explore these characters on this different platform.

So the film is instead of today's comic but next week we'll be back to normal. I’m changing the layout of the blog a bit from here on out. From now on I will put each story arc into one blog post, that way you can read it from top to bottom of the page rather than reading backwards. I think when some people are coming to the blog they get a little confused about what’s going on because they’re reading everything backwards! So in order to try to make it clearer for new readers we’ll try out this new method. I will also number each page for further clarity and each story will be given a title.

Everything up to this point is in the book K-9Lives. So head to the store to pick up a copy. On Monday we are treading new ground so I have altered the layout slightly and changed some of my drawing tools to get a nicer look. If anyone is interested it is a faber-castell brush pen that I’ve adopted.

Holy

2009-06-10T08:00:00.000+01:00

Ninja

2009-06-08T06:58:00.001+01:00

Bees

2009-06-05T06:35:00.000+01:00

Social Networking

2009-06-03T17:12:00.003+01:00

Hope you enjoyed the last story... it ended there at the airport.

So I thought I'd mention that K-9Lives is joining the major networking sites, you can find a page on Facebook so become a fan and get news and background stuff n what-not.

Also you can join the K-9Lives Twitter feed. Which will probably be just me linking to stuff i'm reading and enjoying... I don't really know what people use these things for but I'm gonna try to update it regularly for a while.

Gun!

2009-06-03T06:33:00.000+01:00

Lee Harvey Oswald

2009-06-01T06:31:00.001+01:00

Air Force One

2009-05-29T06:33:00.000+01:00

Splat

2009-05-27T06:31:00.000+01:00

pssss

2009-05-25T06:30:00.001+01:00

K-9Lives THE BOOK!

2009-05-22T15:12:00.004+01:00

I am just looking at the proofs for the new K-9Lives book, a 65 page black and white interior with full colour covers. The comic looks really fine printed in greyscale, and this is your opportunity to get the strip right from the beginning. It contains the first 56 strips and will be priced at £8. If you would like to order a copy please visit the STORE. Shipping to UK will be £1. International Postage will be £5.

Also available in the store are limited edition prints of the comic. £15 for UK customers, £20 for International. Choose your favourite strip/panel and get an 8”*11” full colour print on canvas style sturdy card stock. These have a really nice finish on the canvas card and would look great framed.

I hate to interupt the comic in the middle of a story but I couldn't wait to get this out.

Peck

2009-05-22T06:40:00.000+01:00

Needle

2009-05-20T06:39:00.000+01:00

Air

2009-05-18T06:37:00.000+01:00

Film

2009-05-15T11:18:00.001+01:00

News: “K-9Lives Episode I” the animated short screened in the competition at Worthing International End of The Pier Festival weekend before last. It was a great day and I met a few very nice people and got lots of fliers handed out. For more info on the film and its screenings visit http://www.dougwilson.co.uk/

Teaser Trailer

K-9Lives Episode1 Teaser Trailer from Doug on Vimeo.

Merde

2009-05-15T06:14:00.000+01:00

Vive La Resistance

2009-05-13T06:35:00.000+01:00

Underground

2009-05-11T06:31:00.000+01:00

Centre for Disease Control

2009-05-08T06:22:00.000+01:00

This Little Piggy

2009-05-06T06:00:00.000+01:00

Mexico City

2009-05-04T06:16:00.000+01:00

Reservoir Cats 'n Dogs

2009-05-01T06:17:00.000+01:00

Are you gonna bark all day little doggy? Or are you going to bite? He he

Boom

2009-04-29T06:16:00.000+01:00

Homecoming

2009-04-27T06:15:00.000+01:00

Blender

2009-04-24T06:15:00.000+01:00

Water

2009-04-22T06:14:00.000+01:00

Home Alone

2009-04-20T06:12:00.000+01:00

K-9 Psycho

2009-04-17T08:01:00.000+01:00

Film Fun Friday!

Inbetween stories in the strip I will post a single panel gag. To start with they're going to be film related.

Demons 'n Angels

2009-04-15T08:01:00.000+01:00

Doctors 'n Bulldogs

2009-04-13T08:01:00.000+01:00

Ballet-Fu

2009-04-10T08:01:00.000+01:00

Fetch

2009-04-08T08:01:00.000+01:00

Adoption

2009-04-06T10:00:00.000+01:00

We're Back

2009-04-01T22:28:00.000+01:00

After a long hiatus I'm bringing this comic back. It's been almost a year since I left it, I got a job in France and moved out there to work on the Rocket Jo TV series. Check out my other blog http://www.dougwilson83.blogspot.com/ to see what I've been busy doing.

I've also animated the first episode of K-9Lives and that is now making it's way around the world having been submitted to many many film festivals. Check http://www.dougwilson.co.uk/ for screenings of the film. If you want to see more of these animated then please support this blog, tell your friends and add a link to your blog/site.

So hopefully this character and his bizarre stories has some legs. I will be updating Monday, Wednesday, Friday, rather than daily which will make it easier to keep it going while still getting plenty of strips out there.

See you on Monday.

New Home

2008-12-01T13:13:00.000Z

K-9Lives has moved to www.dougwilson.co.uk Look for updates in the near future.

Reaper

2008-10-28T19:18:00.000Z

The Second Coming?

Farewell

2008-05-09T12:48:00.000+01:00

Cured

2008-05-08T21:21:00.000+01:00

Feeding

2008-05-07T11:21:00.001+01:00

Rescue

2008-05-06T11:53:00.000+01:00

Gallows Tree

2008-05-05T14:24:00.000+01:00

Knockout

2008-05-02T10:34:00.000+01:00

Rumble

2008-05-01T10:14:00.000+01:00

Montage

2008-04-30T10:51:00.000+01:00

Rocky

2008-04-29T09:32:00.000+01:00

Salmonella

2008-04-28T11:46:00.000+01:00

Bird-Flu

2008-04-25T09:56:00.000+01:00

Hand-Off

2008-04-24T12:45:00.000+01:00

Bounty

2008-04-23T13:19:00.000+01:00

Bird-Man

2008-04-22T09:33:00.001+01:00

Vacation

2008-04-21T15:51:00.000+01:00

Week 3, If you're new to this comic then this is the first panel in a week long story... See the archives for previous stories and come back tomorow to see what happens. Updated Mon-Fri. Comments are welcomed and encouraged.... It would be good to hear if anyone is keeping an eye on this.

Illusion

2008-04-18T10:29:00.001+01:00

Octopus

2008-04-17T15:22:00.000+01:00

Cave

2008-04-16T15:38:00.000+01:00

Guards

2008-04-15T14:07:00.001+01:00

Breathe

2008-04-14T14:08:00.001+01:00

So this strip will update Mon-Fri, and each week will have a running story. I am trying to keep these fairly spontaneous and I don't always know where the story will end. So here we go with Monday and the new situation. Come back tommorow!

Denouement

2008-04-11T12:18:00.000+01:00

Judgement

2008-04-10T15:12:00.000+01:00

Fate

2008-04-09T18:04:00.000+01:00

Distraction

2008-04-09T08:23:00.000+01:00

Life

2008-04-08T17:50:00.000+01:00

Welcome to K-9lives! My hopefully regular comic about a dog with a conjoined twin cat on his butt. No it's not high art but don't worry it will get worse. I don't have any particular agenda with this comic other than to explore an idea that tickles me and hopefully will reach one or two people with a similar strange sense of humour. So leave comments if you like it, and leave abuse if you don't (I'll delete the abuse). I'll keep the rest of the writing short and let the drawings speak for themselves.