From the Scrapbook: June, 1990 and June 2020

Thirty years last month I had an article devoted to me in our local welsh paper, the Llanw Llŷn which was terribly exciting! Tudalen Y Plant ('Children's Page') not only featured an article devoted to yours truly and my cartoons but also a colouring in picture created by my 12 year old self! A great deal has happened in thirty years and the Llanw Llŷn followed up my progress! What with everything going on in the world at the moment, the Llanw wasn't published but instead made available online – here is that article written by Mared Llywelyn and as always I have translated the article for the benefit of all you non Welsh speakers out there! Enjoy!

Ym mis Mehefin 1990 y cyhoeddwyd yr erthygl gyntaf erioed am Arfon Jones o Nefyn a’i gartŵns – a hynny ar Dudalen y Plant Llanw Llŷn! Dri deg o flynyddoedd union i’r mis hwnnw, dyma ailymweld ag Arfon i weld sut y mae o a’i waith wedi datblygu erbyn hyn. Mared Llywelyn fu’n sgwrsio efo fo ar ran Llanw Llŷn. Dyma Dudalen y Plant Llanw Llŷn mis Mehefin 1990, sy’n cynnwys yr erthygl am Arfon ynghyd â llun ohono ac un o’i gartŵns cynnar. I gyd-fynd â’r cartŵn mae stori fach wedi iddo’i sgwennu: ‘Ers talwm, llwyd oedd pob pry. Ond un dydd gwelodd y fuwch goch gota enfys, ac aeth drwy’r enfys. Daeth allan yn dlws ac yn lliwgar. Penderfynodd y lleill fynd ar ei hôl a daethant hwythau allan yn lliwgar.’ Mae’r erthygl yn sôn bod Arfon, yn ddeuddeg oed, wedi creu hanner cant o gymeriadau mewn gwlad ddychmygol lle roedd Llywelyn Llew yn frenin. Ymysg y cymeriadau eraill roedd Lari Lama, a Plastig Pît oedd yn gallu troi ei gorff i unrhyw siâp ar ôl iddo syrthio i ryw hylif. Efallai bod rhai ohonoch eisoes yn gyfarwydd â gwaith Arfon? Fe lwyddodd i ddilyn ei ddiddordeb o’r cyfnod hwnnw a heddiw mae’n gweithio fel cartwnydd a dylunydd ac yn gwneud gwaith llawrydd. Pan oedd yn blentyn ysgol, byddai’n gweithio mewn warws gomics yn Edern ac yn mynd yno ar ôl ’rysgol ac yn ystod y gwyliau. Roedd gan Darryl Jones gwmni gwerthu hen gomics – paradwys o le i hogyn fel Arfon a fyddai’n helpu i ffeilio a storio. Aeth i Goleg Menai am dair blynedd ac yna symud ymlaen i Brifysgol Bangor am bum mlynedd arall i wneud gradd mewn Dylunio yn rhan amser. Bywddarluniwr neu animator oedd arno eisiau bod, ond i bawb ddweud wrtho y byddai angen iddo fo symud i Gaerdydd i ffendio’i draed ac yn y blaen. Penderfynodd Arfon aros ym mro ei febyd a mynd ar drywydd y gwaith dylunio. Tybed a oes rhai ohonoch yn cofio strip comic o’r enw Vincent T. Vulture yn y Cambrian News rhwng 1997 a 1998? Tra oedd o yn y coleg, Arfon oedd yr artist y tu ôl i hwnnw. Byddai’n gwneud y strip ar nos Sul, mynd i’r coleg i’w ffotogopïo ar y dydd Llun, ac yna ei bostio i Aberystwyth o’r blwch post y tu allan i’r coleg – a byddai yn y papur ar y dydd Iau. Mae’r drefn honno wedi newid erbyn heddiw yn amlwg ond, fel mae’n digwydd, ar gomics y mae Arfon yn gweithio’n bennaf. Sut fath o rai? ‘Horror comics’! Mae’n bosib nad ydynt at ddant pawb ond mae gan y genre yma lawer iawn, iawn o ddilynwyr. Unwaith roedd Arfon wedi mynd at y deintydd, ac wedi digwydd sôn ei fod yn dylunio i gomics. Pan aeth yn ôl i’r gadair am yr apwyntiad nesaf mi ddywedodd y deintydd ei fod wedi prynu un o’r comics a’i fod wrth ei fodd efo Slaughterhouse Farm! Gobeithio na chafodd y deintydd unrhyw syniadau o hynny! O leiaf gadawodd Arfon y gadair yn saff! Yn 2013 roedd dipyn o sôn yn y cyfryngau Cymreig a thu hwnt am y ffilm Zombies from Ireland, a gafodd ei sgriptio gan Ryan Kift a Sian Davies. Ffilm Zombi a wnaed gyda chyllideb fach a sgriptio wedi ei ysbrydoli gan yr hen ffilmiau o’r un genre o’r ’80au. Y stori yw bod carcharorion yn Nulyn yn cael eu defnyddio mewn arbrofion anfoesol i ddod o hyd i driniaeth ar gyfer ffliw’r moch. Maent yn cael eu cludo i Ynys Môn am fod diddordeb yn yr arbrofion gan y llywodraeth yn Llundain, ond ar y ffordd mae rhai ohonynt yn troi yn Zombie – ac mae’r gadwyn yn parhau… Mae’r ffilm ar gael i’w gwylio ar Youtube – ond chi sydd i benderfynu a fyddai’n well gynnoch chi aros nes y bydd y pandemig yma wedi mynd heibio cyn i chi edrych arni! Teg dweud bod gan y ffilm nifer parchus iawn o ddilynwyr erbyn heddiw. Arfon oedd yn gyfrifol am y gwaith celf ar y poster, ac mae hynny’n sicr yn bluen yn ei het. ‘Zombies from Ireland’ Fel person creadigol, beth yw’r gwahaniaeth rhwng gwneud ei waith personol a’i waith bara menyn? Gyda’i waith cyflogedig, meddai, mae’n llawer mwy ymwybodol bod angen iddo blesio rhywun arall a bod angen cyrraedd rhyw safon arbennig. Mae ceisio lliwio gweledigaeth rhywun arall yn cario rhywfaint o bwysau. Mae’n cael llawer o waith o America, ac yn cael negeseuon am bedwar o’r gloch y bore i drafod gwaith! Ymysg y gwaith personol sydd ganddo ar y gweill ar hyn o bryd mae sianel ar Youtube sy’n cofnodi’r broses o fynd i siop fideo ers talwm. Mae’n pigo hen ffilm ac yn peintio llun ohoni ac yn ffilmio’r broses. Pa mor bwysig yw’r broses o wneud llun felly? ‘Mae cymaint o bobol yn iwsio cyfrifiaduron i wneud gwaith fel hyn, ond dw i’n eu peintio. Mae’n cymryd oriau.’ Wonder Woman a’r Tardis Er enghraifft, mae wedi gwneud llun o boster y Gremlins ac mi gymerodd hynny bythefnos. Mae hefyd yn gweithio ar hen gloriau llyfrau Dr Who. Mae dros 100 o danysgrifwyr ganddo. Mae’n edmygu gwaith vintage Tex Avery, yr hen Looney Tunes a Tom and Jerry ond ei hoff ffilm yw Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Bu’n cymryd rhan mewn Sharkathon ble gwyliodd ffilmiau siarc am 24 awr i godi arian at elusen Alzheimers. Pan ddaeth cwmni teledu Heno draw i wneud eitem ar hyn roeddynt yn ei weld yn hynod o ddigri mai Who Framed Roger Rabbit? oedd ei hoff ffilm gan fod y tŷ yn llawn o luniau arswyd! Y clasuron yw ei hoff ffilmiau yn y bôn. Mae cartref Arfon fel amgueddfa; yn amlwg mae’n byw ei ddiddordebau a’i waith. Mae’n hoff o gasglu DVD’s a fideos ac mae wedi creu siop fideos yn ei gartref. Mae’n casglu amrywiaeth o bethau o’r ’80au a’r ’90au, yn gemau bwrdd neu ffigyrau He-Man a hen gemau Arcêd. Ella bod rhai ohonoch yn cofio’r eitem ar raglen Al Huws pan oedd o’n chwarae’r hen gêm Donkey Kong tra oedd o’n cyfweld Arfon yn ei gartref. Mae ei holl gasgliadau yn dylanwadu ar ei waith, ac yno am reswm. Wrth i’r ddau ohonom gael y sgwrs dros facetime mae tomen o Daleks uwch ei ben. Bydd Arfon yn mynychu’r Comic Conventions enwog yn Wrecsam, Caeredin a Llundain ac mae wedi cyfarfod Arnold Schwarzenegger mewn Comic Con ym Mirmingham, Stan Lee yn Llundain a David Hasselhoff yng Nghaeredin. Mae’r diwylliant yn rhan o’r brif ffrwd rŵan hefyd, felly mae’n help i hyrwyddo gwaith newydd. Mae Arfon yn sicr wedi gwneud ei farc yn y maes yma – ond cofiwch, yn y Llanw y darllenoch chi amdano fo gyntaf! Gellwch weld rhagor o waith Arfon ar ei sianel Youtube VID-O-RAMA! www.arfon.net 
Mared Llywelyn Williams

English

June of 1990 the first ever article written about Arfon Jones from Nefyn and his cartoons and it was on the children's page of the Llanw Llŷn! Thirty years ago to the month we revisited Arfon to see how much his work has developed since then. Mared Llywelyn chatted with him on the Llanw Llŷn's behalf. Here is the children's page from June 1990 which included an interview with Arfon along with an early cartoon by him, which featured with a short story, “A long time ago, all insect was grey- but one day a Ladybird flew through a rainbow and came out the other side colourful- and so all the other insects decided to do the same.” the article also mentions that Arfon was twelve and that he had created fifty characters which live in his imaginary land, ruled by King Llywelyn the lion. Amongst the various characters there are Larry Lama and Plastic Pete, who can reshape his entire body at will having fallen into a strange chemical. Perhaps you might be familiar with Arfon's work? He successfully pursued his then ambition and today works as a freelance cartoonist and illustrator. When he was younger he worked during school holidays for Darryl Jones in a vintage comic warehouse in Edern, who sold old, vintage comics- a paradise for someone like Arfon who helped to store and catalogue the comics. He went on to College Menai for three years, then moved on to the University in Bangor, enrolling in a part time course for five years achieving a degree in illustration.

His ambition was to be an animator, everyone kept telling him he would need to move to Cardiff to achieve this goal- and so he remained here and embarked on a career as an illustrator. I wonder if any of you remember a comic strip character called Vincent T. Vulture who appeared in the Cambrian News between 1997 and 1998? Arfon was the artist responsible for that, while at college he would create the strip on the Sunday evening, travel to college the following morning- he would photocopy it, post it to Aberystwyth via the postbox outside the college and it would be in the paper the following Thursday. The days of doing things that way have long since passed- Arfon works primarily in comics these days. Which kind? 'horror comics'! Not exactly to everyone's taste- but this genre has a massive following. Once, while visiting the dentist he happened to mention that he illustrated comics- the next time he returned to the dentist chair, the dentist informed him that he had purchased Slaughterhouse Farm and was a big fan! Hope the comics didn't give him any funny ideas- thankfully Arfon got away safely!

In 2013 there was a stir in the world of Welsh media and beyond due to the release of a film entitled Zombies from Ireland. Scripted by Ryan Kift and Sian Davies, it is a zombie movie inspired by the horror movies of the 1980's. The story tells of a boat carrying convicts that had been experimented on in order to find a cure for swine flu on the orders of Parliament- which lands on Anglesey causing an infestation of zombies... the film is available to watch on YouTube. It's entirely up to you if you wish to wait for this pandemic to pass before watching it! The movie has many fans, Arfon was responsible for illustrating the movie's poster. I asked Arfon, as a creative person what is the difference between commission based work and his own personal projects? He said that with commission based work, there is the emphasis to please 'someone else' and reaching someone else's expectations can be daunting at times.

He receives many commissions from America and often finds himself having to respond to messages about projects sent to him at four in the morning! One of his own personal projects is a channel on Youtube in which recounts the days of going to rent videos. He picks a film from the past and paints a tribute to it documenting the process. What is involved in this process then? “There are so many people using computers these days, but I paint everything- and it takes hours to complete” Wonder Woman and the Tardis for example, he also created a poster for Gremlins which took him a fortnight. He now has over one hundred subscribers.

He admires the work of Tex Avery, vintage Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry cartoons and his all time favourite movie is Who Framed Roger Rabbit. When he took part in a Sharkathon in which he watched shark movies for 24 hours to raise money for Alzheimers he was asked by the Heno television crew, who were filming an item, they were amused to find that Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Was his favourite film and not a horror!

Arfon loves the classic movies, and Arfon's home is like a museum and his interests can be seen in his work he collects VHS's and DVD’s and he has created a mock video shop in his home. He collects all manner of things from the 80's and 90's such as board games, He-Man figures and arcade games. Perhaps some of you might remember an item on Al Huws's radio show when he was playing the old Donkey Kong video game while visiting Arfon at his home. His collections are there for a reason as they influence his work. As we both chatted on Face-time he had loads of Daleks just overhead. Arfon has attended numerous comic conventions- from Wrexham, to Edinburgh to London and once met Arnold Schwarzenegger in Birmingham, Stan Lee in London and David Hasselhoff in Edinburgh. These conventions are very popular now and and great for promoting one's work. Arfon has certainly left his mark on this field- but remember it was in the Llanw you heard about him first! You can see more examples of his work on his YouTube channel VID-O-RAMA! www.arfon.net

© Arfon Jones 2020. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.