Shane (00:06):
So here we are looking at the cover of issue three of Battle for Bustle. Um, looks like a man with many, many guns. So what do you like about this piece?

Leigh (00:19):
Uh, the original pencils were done in 2011. Uh, Lennox Hanson is his name and Lennox Hanson is the predominant character of, uh, issue three. He is out of all of my characters, possibly my favourite. Uh, you will see another one of my favourites, Hibiki Gecko at some point, but Lennox is a young man with lots of attitude and, uh, has an awful lot of hands on him, which all hold guns.

Shane (00:58):
Nice.

Leigh (01:00):
He’s an athletic, he’s an athletic fellow and he’s very cheeky. And, uh, I love that piece because I think that sums up [unintelligible] in one shot.

Shane (01:15):
Nice.

Leigh (01:16):
I loved going from blue to red, into green. I thought it worked. And, uh, that the many years I’ve been drawing, that particular image has always against in my mind. And I had always envisioned that as the issue cover.

Shane (01:40):
Oh, okay. So that’s what inspired it or…

Leigh (01:43):
Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lennox is, Lennox is cool, man. He’s a, he’s a bloody hell of a character to draw. You know, like my mum said to me the other day, “Why would you draw, uh, so many hands on a man with hundreds of guns?” And I was just like, why wouldn’t you?

Leigh (02:06):
So yeah, no, I’ve always loved Lenox, man. I love that image. It’s a, it’s a very poignant image to me that well, so, yeah.

Shane (02:16):
Cool. So I’m guessing the jive works for you mate.

Leigh (02:21):
Does it work for you?

Shane (02:22):
It does. It does. I wanna, I wanna see the issue now very much so. Um, so I’m guessing the challenges for this where the many hands and many guns… not really any?

Leigh (02:36):
The challenges were not so much the hands and the guns that have, uh, held or it makes green and gray work so that something comes out up at you. Uh, it took a long time. That one, I’ll be honest with you, man. Um, but, uh, there are a few moments where that’s it, that’s it, that’s it? No, it’s not me giving another day or two, you know, so I fumbled around and stuff and come back to it and had to doctor – to darken a gun barrel or that sort of thing, you know?

Leigh (03:21):
And, uh, what’s falling on you I’d reached a point was it was one little thing that, uh, was bothering me and I couldn’t work out what it was and Lennox to me was always someone that would grab a bit of rock or something and scratch something into his gun, you know what I mean, whether it was the “091177” or “Free”, you know, “he will not wear the mask” or, you know, “Free Battle”, you know?

Shane (03:56):
Yep.

Leigh (03:57):
And then I was looking at it one day and I thought, you know what? I’ve never actually busted out a proper swear word, like F*ck in an image in any of the word bubbles or anything. And then in the bottom right-hand corner on one of the guns,

Shane (04:14):
Oh I see it!

Leigh (04:16):
At bottom of the page I dropped the Fck and it slipped right past everyone. And you were all the first people here to know that. Uh, here is a question for everyone that’s listening, but you know, yourself, even as a comic collector and mate, has there ever been a Fck dropped on a cover of any comic before?

Shane (04:48):
Not that I can think of. Not that I can think of. Um, no, not even the mature reader ones. I don’t think have it.

Leigh (04:59):
Well, if anyone would like to, you know, like chuck into the conversation mate, and you know, if they think there’s been one, then that’s cool. Uh, but my, uh, I like to swear, I’ll be honest with you. It’s like Lennox Hanson is one of those characters that I hope everyone has a little piece of that. You know, I feel like that guy, you know, cause he’s a 360 degree tank, mate, you know what I mean? He’s got 120 guns on him. He shoots to the 360 degree angle and whether, figuratively, it’s bullets you want to fire. Sometimes you want to have that confidence as an individual to stand up for yourself and what your personal beliefs are, whether they’re right or wrong or anyone else, but yourself. But you know, you just want to just, “I’m not copping that” Lennox Hansen for me is the character that does that for me.

Shane (06:03):
Very cool.

New Speaker (06:05):
Yeah, I know. So I’m very happy with that cover.

Shane (06:11):
Yep. So I’m guessing that’s how you’re trying to connect with the, uh, the fans and the followers and so forth, not with the, not with the swearing at the bottom, but, um, But with the, uh, the vibe of not the vibe, the, um, I can’t get out the word…

Leigh (06:34):
And what it boils down to man is like, I love in a, if you’ve got no hope, man, whether it’s, you know, I just want people to believe in themselves and have some hope and you know, I’ve picked a dystopian futuristic topic to put my own, you know, self idiosyncrasies, hopes, horrors, you know, like nightmares, uh, out there.

Leigh (07:08):
But before I could connect, I said to someone the other day, I don’t really care if I haven’t sold one comic, as long as it goes to the right person and the right person, I mean by that in a way, having this conversation, you and I, for a reason, and it’s because we love comics and whatever it was, whatever it was that was in the Uncanny X-Men that you read many years ago or whether it was in a relationship with, you know, a father, a mother or a, you know, a girlfriend, an ex-girlfriend, you know, anything you have to just never give up hope.

Leigh (07:56):
And I hope in the oncoming episodes or issues of Battle for Bustle that people do realize, you know, I don’t want it to be negative. I want people to enjoy it. And if one little kid out there looks at it and says, that’s awesome, I want to draw. And I want to ride and I want to do this, then I would be happy, but I would implore them “Don’t wait until you’re 43 to do it.”

Leigh (08:35):
If this is what you want to do, then do it. And that’s how I think the battle for bustle is it can be done on whatever level. However, I don’t know. I mean, I’m no legend or anything that’s far from it, man, 43 year old d*ckhead, really that had no idea that just hopes that people, uh, you know, enjoy it. And if you don’t, that’s cool, but it can do then hopefully that, you know, if one person comes out of it, then that’s, that’s a step in that for comics.

Shane (09:12):
Yeah. True.

Leigh (09:14):
So, and the Australian comic book, industry’s got a lot of great people, a lot of great acts and artists out there, and I’m just very passionate about it. Uh, you know, but I never had a choice. My dad never gave me a choice. He was always, what’s your first comic. And I chose GI Joe, Issue 12, 1983. Uh, I think it was August of that year and the next comic guy napped. Uh, I think the issue was the Uncanny X-Men issue 171, which was August 1983, I believe. And from that point on, I never looked back – I never have. Through dark times. Light times. Love comics, man.

Shane (10:06):
Yeah. Same.

Shane (10:10):
Well, thanks Lee. I, it was great to talk to you. Um, thank you for sharing your thoughts on your artwork. Uh, it was, uh, quite enlightening. So, um, yeah, so that’ll be us for the day. See you later.

Leigh (10:24):
See you man, take care. I hope you’re well, thank you very much for your time.

Shane (10:29):
Thank you.

Shane (10:32):
To check out more of Lee’s stuff, go on over to battleforbustle.com to check out what he’s doing on the calendar. Go to ComX.link. That’ll take you to Kickstarter simply click on the notified button. And this will notify you through email when the Kickstarter begins. Thanks for your support and see you next time.

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Shane (00:06):
So here, I’ve got the cover of number two, uh, Battle for Bustle. Um, what is it about this particular cover that you like?

Leigh (00:21):
The fact that it, the cover itself represented an awakening. You know, you go through the blues and the dark hues and slight yellow. So the first one you come into the second, and it’s red man and I wanted people to realize that, I guess, even though Christopher, isn’t quite where he should be as an individual.

Shane (00:55):
Yep.

Leigh (00:55):
He’s had an awakening there and it’s just an eruption to the next phase of the story, because the first issue can be quite dark, and I wanted to give people the notion that there was Hope.

Shane (01:10):
Yeah.

Leigh (01:10):
Because essentially these comic books are about hope, hope for the individual. Um, I hope I portrayed it correctly. I think I did – sort of in print.

Shane (01:30):
Yep.

Leigh (01:31):
And I really thought it had worked. So, I mean, look, if I could stand up right now, I don’t know if you can see it here. We get it. I’ll get interactive with you, man.

Shane (01:42):
Yep.

Leigh (01:42):
There’s um, hang on Shane, you’re recording this so bear with me. I’m all over the shop, but.

Shane (01:50):
Yeah,

Leigh (01:51):
This here, on this wall is the original idea of the sketch. So cable is on my walls and, uh, that there, if you can say it is the pencil sketch.

Shane (02:14):
Yep. I can just make it out.

Leigh (02:17):
Pardon?

Shane (02:18):
I can just make it out. So yeah.

Leigh (02:19):
Yes, sweet. Well, I came from that drawing where he gets, you know, the ship explodes, the ragged man turn up and he’s got a chance. He never had that chance before and everyone has a chance. So that’s what I hope to portray in that color.

Shane (02:43):
Okay, cool. I like it. So, um, that pretty much probably covers what inspired the piece as well, I guess, unless you’ve got something more to say about that.

Leigh (02:53):
No, not really. I just love painting and I love drawing [inaudible] work. So you just, it’s an instinctual thing. Uh, probably come across as a bit of a wank , yeah, but uh, yeah, it is just instinctual, man. I don’t know. I really don’t know whether it’s right or wrong. It’s just at the time, it’s what I’m feeling. It’s what I think of most honestly, to the best of my ability at that moment represent that story.

Shane (03:26):
Yep. Cool. So with this piece where there were there any challenges, I mean, it looks like this stuff just comes natural to you, but were there any challenges?

Leigh (03:39):
Uh, yeah, but yeah man, they were challenges. First challenge was like, what the hell do I do for the second cover?

Leigh (03:50):
Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that was a challenge in itself. And believe me, people, I close friends and stuff, um, you know, Tam, my mum, you know, Peter, you know, uh, Shane, Jason, like, you know, I have friends that I talk to about this stuff too, you know, just pointing out bumps and stuff on the road and they were all like that, see what you don’t so yeah. Realistically on a I’m sorry, I know this isn’t a kid’s show and I do apologize for that, but know he did get to a point where sometimes you just think that’s [expletive], you know what I mean? I get it, that I’m doing it. So that’s what that’s what happened. So yeah. Yeah. No, that sounds terrible. But um,

Shane (04:47):
No, not at all.

Leigh (04:48):
And mum, if you’re listening, I’m sorry. I dropped the F bomb.

Shane (04:55):
So did you have to learn, did you have to learn anything new to do this painting or was it all stuff you’ve done before?

Leigh (05:07):
I think when I was a younger artist, I used to have this real idea in my head that what was in my mind had to come out on paper and I very quickly realized that doesn’t why it’s happening. I don’t use references. I don’t have models and stuff. So, a lot of the stuff made honestly a hundred percent of the stuff that you see on page is just me bang, bang, drawing, man. I love drawing. And then when I had the two years where I just thought put the pencils, so I’d not started a painting, a real artist.

Leigh (05:53):
You can, you can build on these things. You don’t just have to do it in one hit, you can come back to it in a month. You can come back to it in two months, you know? And I guess that’s what I’m trying to put across is, you know, sometimes things don’t have to be gladly perfect mate, do you know what I mean? Like you just have to put it out there and have, um, I don’t know if it’s right or wrong. It was right for me at the time.

Shane (06:29):
That’s what matters.

Leigh (06:31):
And uh, I suppose I just went with, uh, that ideology, so yeah.

Shane (06:41):
Cool.

Leigh (06:41):
I hope that answers your question.

Shane (06:45):
Yeah. Well good. So how are you trying to connect with fans with this one? If you are at all?

Leigh (06:55):
Oh, I’m always trying to connect with people. Like, I mean, I definitely wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t want to connect with people,

Shane (07:04):
makes sense.

Leigh (07:07):
You know, whether those people reconnect with me is entirely up to the individual, but not going to throw stones at you mate but not, uh, but you know, again, you have to get that little element of luck, I suppose, the marketing side of things and what works better coming after a second issue, which is blue, then the next issue, which is red. So I thought that also worked.

Leigh (07:45):
Okay, cool. It’s um, a very distinct cover that’s for sure. So I like it.

Leigh (07:55):
That was Lee talking about the cover of issue two of Battle for Bustle. If you’d like to check out more of his stuff, go on over to battleforbustle.com. If you’d like to check out his contribution to the calendar, go to ComX.link and that’ll take it into the Kickstarter’s pre-launch page where you can register your interest and, um, get an email when it starts. So, um, thanks for your support and see you later.

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Shane (00:02):
Hi, I’m Shane Syddall. I’m from ComX and I’m here today to talk to Lee Chalker about his, um, Battle For Bustle covers, so let’s just get straight into it. Okay, so the first piece we’ve got here is, uh, the cover of issue one of a Battle for Bustle. Is that, did I pronounce that right? I always worried that I’m pronouncing it wrong.

Leigh (00:30):
Yep.

Shane (00:31):
Um, so what is it about this piece that you like? The cover? Have you got them in front of you at all?

Leigh (00:38):
No, I don’t, but I know them, uh, yeah. Uh, made that first issue many years ago, I did a pencil and ink version. Uh, Christopher was not ever meant to be someone that, uh, was all there. So I was sort of a little bit extreme back in the early days when I first started drawing it and had a moment where it was almost like a split into two personalities, you know, like the old Christopher and the new Christopher. And that image always resonated with me, even though I’ve done a few hundred drawings since then and stuff. Uh, and basically, uh, I just saw, you know, I had to come up with the first issue cover and it always stuck with me. And I thought to myself, like, you know what, I’m wrong with that? And doing this stuff, this is what it was an instinctive thing. Um, you know, you can dilly dabble around with lots of drawings and sketches and ideas and that sort of thing. But at the end of the day, man, I have found so far in this whole, um, thing that, uh, whatever the feeling was that I had 20 years ago seems to still be the same feeling of it now.

Leigh (02:02):
So I decided to add some of my drawing, uh, like, you know, a little touch here and there to it, but then I thought, you know what, because I like painting, I love painting – really love painting. And I thought I’m going to have a crack at this, uh, in like, you know, acrylic and with that dime on the, uh, I’ve got an entourage here. There’s a small blonde Kelpie called Lloyd and a, you know, a staffy called easy here as well. Okay. They’re always in this room with me. Um, and I just decided to, just decided to, you know, attack it with acrylic and it came up and I thought like, no, this is it. This is it. If I have to get this first issue out, this is what a one, and this is, It came up.

Leigh (02:56):
Well, I kind of wanted it and that DNI might it say up there, there’s no turning back now. So I’m very proud of the image. I think it’s distinctive for me as a person as well as, as my artwork. So I’m happy with [it].

Shane (03:11):
Yeah, it’s very nice. I like it. It’s what attracted me to the, uh, to the comic in the first place.

Leigh (03:16):
Yeah, that’s cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Cause a few people have said that to me, that have bought it from, uh, the comic book factory, uh, that it, you know, you walk into a comic book shop and you see like thousands of comic books on a wall and realistically, uh, I mean, this is just me, I’m talking about, I’m not talking any other individual opinions, or… Bums mate, everyone’s got one and you know, like say, I’m not a bag at anyone’s artwork, but my love and thought process was, you know, what, what if someone went and stack up the brightest colored comic book they possibly could on the wall of the comic book shop, you know, and I was almost… I contemplated doing a fluorescent comic book with just Battle for Bustle on it, just so to catch people’s eyes. So that’s essentially where, you know, like [inaudible] came from as well, man.

Leigh (04:25):
Um, uh, cause the sad part is it’s not just about artwork. Sometimes you’ve got to think of it, you know, the best way you can control your marketing and in that as well as your own product, if you know what I mean. Cause believe me before, for, from foremost of an artist and I love it, I love comic books. Um, but you do have to give those secondary thoughts to what may just catch someone’s or answer tricky market mate. You know, that is from what you’re trying to do, sometimes you just, uh, haven’t just have a bloody red, hot crack things, man, you know? Yeah. I think that didn’t stop anyone, and if they call you, a fool in the end of the day mate, then so be it. But you know what? We have had a good guy and when we all ended up in that six foot pond box, we’re going to look back and go. We had a short run. [chuckles]

Shane (05:31):
True, true, true.

Shane (05:34):
Um,

Shane (05:34):
So is there anything that say inspired this, look, this, um, this particular style or was it just something you did years ago and you worked on it and worked on it and…

Leigh (05:49):
The original sketches were done in 1996, 1997, just for the characters, just, just ideas mate, you know? Um, and, uh, look, I, honestly, my dad passed away in 1998 and he was a huge influence on me. And at that particular point, uh, in time, I guess I was looking to, uh, you know, give – find some meaning in these things. So self-reflection, uh, understanding and it started off as a small comic. The, the, the original comic was called Drive and it was a drive to keep going, but it was also about a man that, uh, drove around the city where he’d grown up, um, going to those familiar places that he’d been to with his, uh, his dad slash my dad. Um, and I got to about 24, 24 pages and stuff, and I had all these ideas in my head. And at the same time I was, Oh man, madly, almost religiously into like Dune, uh, big novels, world creatives and stuff, you know, and, and just over time, man, uh, I guess, and probably the- man, if you asked me to take this project on now at 43, I’d tell you hell no, but you know, when you’re lucky, young feller and you going through stuff and you know, everyone goes through stuff.

Shane (07:47):
Yeah.

Leigh (07:48):
It just it’s evolved into this, and uh, um, my it’s there’s, look, I’ll be honest with you and I’ve had this discussion with you and I’ve had this discussion with other people. It’s a self autobiographical book set in the science fiction world, uh, based on loss, love, happiness, hope, freedom, you know, all of those things. And I guess that I can’t really put it in any other way than what I’m familiar with. So 091177 is actually me and, uh, there you go. There’s a big reveal, no one’s listening. So yeah, I hope that answered the question.

Shane (08:52):
Yeah it did. More roundabout.

Shane (08:56):
Um, well, the next question is actually about, were there, were there any challenges with this particular piece with the actual artwork itself? Did it just flow? Were there, were there challenges of any sorts? Did you have to learn something new?

Leigh (09:14):
Well, the original piece was done, uh, I don’t have it in front of me, but my recollections of it are being done in about 2000, 2001. Um,

Leigh (09:28):
And there were challenges, always love the drawing, to be honest with you, it was one of those things that just, you know, I was trying to do like big biceps, big, you know, you know, that sort of job, you know, like it that’s cool, but you know, my mind was going in a different direction, you know, and I had those moments where I was just, man, it’s like, boom, it just feels sometimes like you’re not gonna get through it. And, uh, when I had the opportunity to do cover of issue one, it was always drawing. I was going back to, I had been painting instead of drawing for about two years, uh, painting, uh, uh, just painting. I love that man painting. And then I just had the opportunity to do it. And Gary Dellar from, uh, my publisher, you know, Reveriepublications.com.au, excellent dude said, you need to do a cover. And it was always the one that came back to, so that through the acrylic pineapple, I was happy with it and it is where it lies.

Shane (10:46):
Nice. Well, I’m a fan, as I said earlier, so yeah.

Leigh (10:52):
Thank you, Shane. I appreciate that. Not a

Shane (10:54):
Problem. Um, so is there anything like intentional in the art to connect with your fans or would be fans or is it just like you mentioned before the colors to make it stand out on the rack? I would say

Leigh (11:19):
There would not be a single person any way. We’ve all traveled long lives, made short lives, you know, things go on a journey, but there would not be a single moment in anyone’s life, whether it be past, future, present, then you have not that urge to scream and Christopher has that urge in the first issue and Dina. It may come once or twice, three times in your life. Hopefully it never comes at all, but that would be what I would try to portray. I would like to just give people food for thought, man.

Shane (12:15):
Nice.

Shane (12:17):
Well, I can see that I can, now that you’ve said it, it stands out even more than it did before.

Shane (12:23):
Um, so yeah, very nice.

Shane (12:27):
Well, thanks Lee. It was great to talk to you. Um, thank you for sharing your thoughts on your artwork. It was, uh, quite enlightening. So, um, yeah, so that’ll be us for the day. See you later.

Leigh (12:42):
So you man, take care. I hope you’re well, thank you very much for your time.

Shane (12:46):
Thank you.

Shane (12:49):
If you want to get a hold of Lee’s work, just go over to battleforbustle.com and you’ll find his comics and some merchandise I think is available over there as well. Um, if you want to get a hold of his work on the calendar, you’ll need to go to ComX.link and register your interest at the prelaunch page. And you’ll be notified by email of when the Kickstarter starts. So, um, thanks for your support and have a good day.

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