Perhaps you know, or perhaps you don't, that I have a YouTube channel. It's been in existence since 2006, but is not exactly buzzing with content.

Most recently I've uploaded some old audio interviews from around the time of The Rainbow Orchid - one with the Comic Academy, one on BBC Radio 2 with Simon Mayo, and then one on my local radio station, Meridian (there may be a couple more to come).

You'll also find some the Curious Expedition 2 trailers, as well as a handful of drawing videos (I'd like to do more, but am never quite organised enough).

The biggest playlist is the Adventure Films Podcast I did with my brother, Murray. These each have, currently, around 100 views each, except for The Golden Voyage of Sinbad which has 10k! I presume this has been linked from somewhere.

I do plan to get the War Films Podcast episodes up at some point, and more comics and art stuff in the future too - just don't expect a lot in a rush. Subscribe to keep notified of anything new, though.

Y-DNA is very slow to mutate, which is what makes it so useful in analysing your genetic history. But equally slow are updates and new information. With atDNA (autosomal) there are new genetic matches every day, most of them very distant of course. With Y-DNA, I've just had my first update in three years.

I'd originally done a basic Y-DNA test with FamilyTreeDNA back in 2018, analysing just 37 markers. It disclosed my haplogroup as R-M269, which wasn't very revealing - it's the most common group in Europe and is estimated to be between 4000-10000 years old.

I actually had more details than this from a couple of other previous DNA tests that included Y-results along with their atDNA analysis. LivingDNA put me into R-L21 with a subclade of R-S3058, and 23andMe gave me R-S190, which was the deepest result. Putting my Ancestry DNA results through the MorleyDNA Predictor also concluded R-S190. The line of descent goes like this ...

R-M269 > R-L23 > R-L51 > R-P311 > R-P312 > R-L21 > R-CTS241 > R-DF21 > R-FGC3213 > R-S3058 > R-S424 > R-S426 > R-S190

S424 and (particularly) S190 are markers that define a unique family line known as the Little Scottish Cluster (LSC). Anyone who tests positive for these haplogroups shared a common ancestor from somewhere between 1000-1500 years ago in southern Scotland, perhaps around the Perth and Stirling areas. As this was a time before the adoption of surnames, there are a variety of surnames within the LSC (see this paper (PDF) by Steven R. Colson, 2007).

If you really want to get deep into your haplogroup subclades, you can take a 'Big-Y' test, but as this was beyond my finances, I thought I'd never do it, and I was happy enough knowing what I already had. But then my 50th birthday coincided with a generous sale at FTDNA, and I went for it - the Big-Y700 test.

The results of this got me much deeper into the branches, with my new haplogroup terminating at FT16096 ...

S424 > S426 > R-S190 (LSC) > FGC3215 > ZZ23 > Y12464 > Z17998 > FGC3101 > Y16002 > Z17999 > FT16096

Out of just over 400 men who have tested and signed up to the LSC project (not all with Big-Y tests) this put me in a sub-group of about a dozen individuals, though they tested positive for various sub-branches which I didn't, it put my Ewing line out in its own little twig.

So that's where I've been for the past three years until a recent new batch of Big-Y tests were analysed and I was joined on my little FT16096 twig by another individual. Now there's someone to compare me with, the subclade can be better defined. A variant that was once unique to my Ewing line is now shared and can therefore be identified, resulting in a new haplogroup terminus, namely FT173826 - a clade defined by having a derivative A at position 6869996 on the Y-chromosome, instead of the ancestral G.

The common ancestor of this new haplogroup most likely dates to around the year 1350, it could be older, but could also be as recent as 1600 or so. But perhaps the most interesting thing is that this other tester also has the surname of Ewing, suggesting my surname could have been fairly consistent for quite a number of generations.

As a side-note, thanks to the results of the Ewing family DNA project, I know I am not at all closely related to the majority of Ewings there, who are largely descended from Scots-Irish Ewings who left the Emerald Isle for the US a few hundred years ago. This is not surprising - the best and most accessible Y-DNA testing company at present is FamilyTreeDNA, who are American, and as most of their customers are American, it is American Ewings who make up the bulk of the Ewing project.

These Ewings belong downstream of the R-M222 haplogroup, which means our 'common ancestor' clade is R-DF13, dating to around 4,400 years ago. At least I can now definitively say I am no relation to JR and Bobby Ewing from Dallas, the bane of my life in the early 80s! But perhaps it also means I would not strictly be a member of Clan Ewing, said to descend from Ewen of Otter. No Ewing tartan for me! (I jest, though actually I wore McLachlan tartan at my wedding twenty years ago, with a Cameron pin).

So, partly for that reason, at the moment the Little Scottish Cluster holds more immediate interest for me. You can look at a heat-map of the surname Ewing in the UK, and compare it with the general route of migration for my own haplogroup line. My earliest known ancestor, as of this writing, is James Ewan (aka Ewing), born probably around 1765 and living near Perth, shown with the little star on the map below (see my Ewing family history here). It all seems to add up rather neatly (though I'm sure the reality is not quite so tidy as it looks!).

One aspect of Y-DNA I find endlessly fascinating (honestly!) is the short tandem repeats, or STRs, that count the number of repeating alleles at specific locations in the Y chromosome to help pinpoint identification. For instance, a must-have characteristic of the Little Scottish Cluster is having an STR value of 9 at position DYS 590 (TTTTG repeated 9 times). Only 1% of R1b men have 9 here, where it is usually 8 (most members of the Ewing project have 8). And I seem to be unique, at the moment, within the LSC in having a value of 12 at DYS 393, where the majority has 13 (91% of R1b men have 13).

Not a lot can be concluded at the moment, and answers would only really start to come if more Scots Ewings and Ewans did Y-DNA tests. This would doubtless enlarge the tree and help to map Ewings in the LSC, and would also likely reveal other groups, possibly relating to McEwans, MacLachlans, and other Eoghan-related surnames. I'll look forward to the next update ...

Here it is, the final DLC for Maschinen-Mensch's Curious Expedition 2. Previous DLCs have been paired with the (British) Avalon Club and the (Chinese) Taishi Academy, and now it's the turn of (the American) Lux Labs with The Robots of Lux.

There's a bit of a difference with this one as the three new featured characters are all from another computer game called Steamworld Heist, which I'm not familiar with, but had to learn a bit about of course in order to draw them - Piper Faraday, Billy Gill and Valentine Butterbolt.

Other new features include the Naturalist (who can train any animal in the game), the robot chameleon (which was super fun to create), the plasma spiders and the yeti, not to mention a number of new items and bits of equipment, as well as a new location, the old theatre (complete with not-so-hidden Tintin reference).

This DLC features the final bits of art I drew for CE2 towards the end of last year and the beginning of this one. The base game on its own is a very rich experience, but add these modules and its scope just becomes enormous and varied. It's an incredible game and I'm still in awe of how it all came together, and privileged to be a part of it.

The game and its DLCs are available on PC at Steam and GOG, as well as for XBox, PlayStaton and Switch. And if you're quick, they're heavily discounted as I post this!

A couple more Brambletye Box strips have gone up, and you may recognise this character from a previous meeting ...

It's Mr. Arthur Privett, a fellow historical researcher who made an appearance at the beginning of The Secret of the Samurai. He's not as impressive as he likes to think he is!

Here are a few character sketches for the current Brambletye Box scene (the Glinck's auction). If you want to see more behind the scenes work like this then please consider signing up to my Patreon page here - thank you!

Work on The Brambletye Box is proceeding nicely. I've just scripted the next scene and all the layout and roughs are completed, and drawing has begun (in fact the first strip is already up).

This scene sees the reintroduction of Lily Lawrence (learn more about her here), so I've been sketching and drawing her to get reacquainted. Here she is, announcing her up-coming appearance.

It's quite unusual for me to preview a project I'm working on when its so early on in development, but following the lead of publisher Fabled.One I can share the news that I'm doing the artwork for a new board game called Calleva.

Set in Britain in 20 BC around the city of Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester), it's written by Mat Humphrey - who has a number of really interesting and excellent games in the works, including the also announced Chickens 'n Aliens and Tomb of Akhenaten. I can't wait to see how this turns out and to share more with you. You can follow our progress on the Facebook page and Twitter. Here's the artwork for one of the Calleva cards, already completed.

My announcement of The Brambletye Box a couple of weeks ago was met with a lovely warm wave of enthusiasm, and that has really helped to get things going again with it. Obviously it does sometimes have to take a back seat to my commercial work, but already I've scripted the next scene and completed the thumbnails and A4 roughs for it, and I'm about to commence drawing, so hopefully you'll see those strips going up online very soon.

Remember you can support the comic further at my new Patreon page where I'm previewing sketches and other bits and bobs. A number have already signed up and I'm incredibly grateful for this, it's all kindling to keep things moving forward. Thank you!

I've been blowing into the cooled ashes of the world of Julius Chancer, and a little flame has sprung up and started dancing around. Enough that I feel it's time to open up and get Julius out in front of you again. So here is the start of his next adventure - The Brambletye Box.

At the moment I'm just making the first 5 pages (19 web strips) available to read (start here). More will follow as and when I'm able to put them up. I'm not going to promise any consistency just yet as it will be at the mercy of my work schedule - but by publishing them now I am making a commitment to getting this done as best as I can.

You can help ensure more work gets done by joining my Patreon. This is all new to me, so I'm starting out with low expectations and asking for very little (if anything) - just to gauge support and see how it goes. Your feedback on whether this avenue is worth pursuing will be most welcome.

The Brambletye Box takes place immediately after the end of The Rainbow Orchid. I will publish as much as I can online, with the ultimate ambition of it eventually appearing in album format as a single volume. Here's the promo blurb ...

The theft of the mysterious Brambletye Box from a controversial auction sets in motion a race to discover, not only the thief, but the story of an ancient Sussex ruin, three powerful stones lost to history, and a fantastic island where legends of strange beasts and a magical meteorite originate. Julius Chancer returns in a quest to discover the truth and save the world ... if he can!

As ever, I am incredibly grateful for your support and your patience. Julius has another big adventure ahead of him, let's see where he ends up this time!

Maschinen-Mensch have just announced the next expansion pack for Curious Expedition 2, called The Shores of Taishi, taking us into the realm of the East-Asian influenced islands of the Celestial Shores.

This DLC contains some of my favourite art for CE2, particularly the new Peacock tribe and their village. Other features include a recruitable red panda, a range of new enemies, such as the Ushi Oni and Dangkang, the animal shelter of the Tanuki, and a host of new items, trophies and locations.

Check out the trailer here, and add it to your Steam wishlist here. The Shores of Taishi is released for PC on May 19th, and soon after for consoles.

If you have any awareness of the comics world at all then you'll know that George Pérez has died, aged just 67, and after an illness about which he was very open, and seen out with an incredible spirit of generosity and grace. By all accounts, this was his character anyway, and he was hugely loved and admired throughout his almost 50 years as an artist.

I mark his passing because he was principal artist on one of my favourite comics from the early 80s, The New Teen Titans (co-created with writer Marv Wolfman). My relationship with superhero comics lasted only a few years - from about 1980 to maybe the mid-80s, and The New Teen Titans was the one comic I made sure to seek out every issue, and is pretty much the only run of superhero comics I still have in my collection today (including many of its offshoots and rarities).

I was totally absorbed in those stories - Brother Blood, Deathstroke, Terra, the Brotherhood of Evil, Trigon, the Vigilante, the runaways - just some that have stayed with me after decades. I carried on with the Teen Titans after George left - but it was never the same and my interest quickly petered out (though I did go back and collect the original 1960s Teen Titans run with the also-fabulous Nick Cardy, and I was very happy when José Luis García-Lopez made a guest appearance on art chores of The New Teen Titans too).

But the work and style of George Pérez is forever impressed into my brain from those early-80s formative years of comics reading, in the same way many of the classic 2000AD artists are, Joe Colquhoun from Battle, or the best of the contributors to Warrior. His work went way beyond the Teen Titans - including memorable runs on Crisis on Infinite Earths and Wonder Woman, which I also encountered to a much lesser degree.

So thank you George for the joy and inspiration you added to a very happy period in my own life. It's sad he's gone, but what a fantastic legacy - I'll be digging out some of my old comics for a re-read.

Recently I was commissioned to provide the cover for Fine Food Digest's Spring 2022 edition (vol. 23, no.2).

The brief was for an isometric view of a mini-market with a number of new shopping methods integrated - self checkouts, recipe boxes, store collection, delivery options, and even a robot at a till (not sure we've got those quite yet!).

Individual elements had to be easy to extract to use as separate illustrations for the interior feature article, so everything had to be on its own layer. It wasn't too different from the way I'd been working on the recent computer games project, Curious Expedition 2.

The biggest difference was in the style I chose, with no outlines and a very clean 'vector art' look (though actually it's not vector art).

Thanks to the the Guild of Fine Food and art director Mark Windsor for the work - a challenging but very enjoyable brief!