Links links links

I've added a button on the left (or your right as you are on the other side of the screen to me) linking you to the new subscribers offer for the exciting wonderful DFC comic. Go on, LIVE THE DREAM!
For those of you not prepared to pay for quality, you might enjoy Top Shelf's new online strips, updated daily - all looks good at first glance. I've added it to my dailies which pop up when I go online. Also on my daily visit list - which many will know of but many will not - James Kochalka's American Elf, Chris Onstad's Achewood, local lad John Allison's Scarygoround, and the always interesting Daily Cross Hatch.

Mediawatch

Those who missed You and Yours on R4 on Friday (and there's probably more than one of you) can listen again here. The second feature, after something about DEFRA and milk, is about the new DFC comic, with David Fickling and Philip Pullman discussing the project.
And my mum has just told me that I've just missed Go For It, R4's children's programme (first I've heard of it) has been all about comics - including the DFC. I've not listen to it yet, but will tomorrow.

In other news, those who've seen the new Mike Leigh film Happy-Go-Lucky will still be trembling with excitement having seen a copy of Shorty Loves Wing Wong in pride of place in the bookshop scene. The rest of the film was good too. I've still got a handful of the Faber edition for sale (£8), and a couple of the extra special first editions signed by me and Michael Smith (£25, or £100 with 1 of 100 special accompanying etchings). These will be worth millions, especially as Mike Leigh has now immortalised it.

Stuart Kolakovic

The fantastic Stuart Kolakovic has now posted his epic diorama Never Been online.

Highly recommended.

The Reunion

Beano and Dandy fans - nice 45 min programme bringing together some of the old staff from DC Thompson. Go to Radio 4 'Listen Again' here and scroll down to 'The Reunion'. They only leave them up there for a week, so do it sooner rather than later.

 Thanks for the tip-off Dad!

The DFC

Now my contract is all signed, and I feel like it's really happening, I think it's time to announce officially that I am to be a regular contributor to Britain's brand new weekly kids comic The DFC.
Put together by David Fickling Books (children's publisher extraordinaire), and launching at the end of May, I'm very excited to be involved in something potentially accessed by kids all over the country. More info here.
The comic will be starting off as subscription only at first, mainly due to the huge cut demanded by newsagents and distributors, but hopefully as word spreads and it establishes itself, you'll be able to pick it up all over. On the plus side it will be completely free of adverts, which I thing will be very refreshing compared with all the other film/TV tie-in kids comics.
Anyroad, what it means is I've got loads of work, and I can't post any of it here, so you might just have to subscribe (or give a subscription to a young relative/neighbour then borrow them). As well as drawing, I'm having to come up with stories, characters, scripts and all that other stuff, so it's going to keep me well busy, which can only be a good thing. I do have a small advantage in that I have instant access to focus groups through my teaching - The DFC being aimed at 8 to 12 year olds, and the kids I usually work with are bang in the middle of this in Years 5 and 6. I've already put 2 schools to work as consultants, coming up with ideas and antics for me to incorporate.
Afraid I can't really tell you anymore or show you anything as I'll get in trouble.

PAW QUALITY COMICS available ONLINE

Thanks to a very nice David Greene, both TeenWitch and Garden Funnies are now available for purchase on his site SAMU, alongside other small press publications.

Why not treat a loved one?

UK Web & Minicomics Thing 2008

Had a very nice Saturday playing shopkeeper - check out my wares -

I wasn't particularly organised, as though I started off noting down what I sold, at some point I just stopped. Subtracting what I have left from what I took down with me, I got rid of -
8 x Shorty Loves Wing Wong
12 x TeenWitch
10 x Garden Funnies
0 yes 0 x PQC pennants (though did give a couple away and swapsies). Will do a proper photo of these as I picked them up the day before heading down there and they are fantastic!
1 x tattoo sheet, again gave a few out as treats
0 x posters (the philistines)

(at some point I will sort out a working online shop, with all this clutter available for all to buy)

Sold a good handful of Alex Pott's Lost Shoe comics, and Oliver East's Trains are Mint went down very well (a massive £53 winging it's way to him).

All in all I broke even and covered my costs. Until we all went to the pub, and I forgot to remember that trains stop at midnight which cost me £45 in a taxi back to my dads. Easy come easy go.
I knew I wouldn't be returning home with an empty bag and bulging wallet, and actually the most rewarding thing about the Thing was meeting Mr's Tillotson and Tingley, both Garden Funnies contributors. Many other fantastic folks, too many to list.
did return home with a nice pile of people's stuff, which I may post a little of here at some point, once I've got a bit of proper work done. I will mention the incredible 'Muppet Maybes' by Roger Langridge - strips originally produced for a Disney magazine which got cancelled. Made me all warm inside.

Interview with me!

Hey folks, Matthew Badham has posted the interview he did with me on his excellent Overspill blog - go read it here now.
It's like being a proper artist that people are interested in!

Secret Weapons

These'll show 'em at the UK Web & Minicomics Thing this Saturday- who can resist when there is point-of-sale clutter like this? Today I'm picking up some more goodies, so will have TeenWitch, Garden Funnies, Shorty Loves Wing Wong (proper book) and Shorty T-shirts, PQC TATTOOS and PQC SPORTS PENNANTS! All this alongside kids quicktips posters, and a couple of display files full of other comics and my examples of my teaching work.

Also on my stall, Alex Potts's Lost Shoe and Oliver East's Trains.

The Foxes are Coming

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I think is is my first attempt at sequential art, date unknown (but I'll ask my mum). You can make out the reused computer paper it was drawn on - the stuff that was all in one huge perforated concertina folded ream, with the printer sprocket holes down each side and gobbledegook printed on one side, which my dad would bring home from work every now and then.
I've broken the one rule that I insist on when I'm getting kids to create their own stories - no weapons and no death. You should see the faces on 90% of the boys just drop as all of a sudden they have to use their imaginations.

Weekend Leisurely

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By popular demand, here's some more archive material. All evidence suggests this was made one afternoon in 1998, so I'll have been about 23 (so no excuse really). Inspired by that weekend's Sunday supplements.
Original copies of this are out there somewhere, though the British Library has no record.

Barleycup the Goat

Been sorting out the loft at home. Plans are to put a floor down then a velux window, and make a comics den/make some space for when little Popeye arrives. Stumbled upon these Barleycup strips which I did in 1992, so will have been 17 or 18. Haven't a clue what inspired the one above, but I think the story below is one that I lifted from some kind of 'Big Book of Cons and Hoaxes' or some such thing.

click to enlarge

I do remember drawing these, in bed, a half hour at a time. Other than making a couple of photocopies I never did anything with these, until NOW when the whole of the online world can put off getting on with anything by reading them.

There are plenty of other finds (including one or two short comic stories) which I may post in the future. Or I might not.

Garden Funnies number 2

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Please circulate.

click to enlarge

A Revelation

Do you remember being a kid and going on holiday to France and marvelling at all the thousands of comics they had? Over the past few years I've been telling myself I must re-learn the French that I started at school; partly because it's always so embarrassing being British and arrogantly monolingual, but also because the French always seemed to have a whole other world of great comics just out of reach.
I seem to keep telling schoolteachers and anyone else who asks me about comics, that they are a great way to learn a new language, particularly as the pictures help you undersand the words, and the text is on the whole very basic and in manageable chunks. Deciding to practice what I preach, I got myself a French edition of Tintin in the Land of Black Gold (untouched), some Roman soldier historical comic (untouched), and a Smurfs (or 'Schtroumfs') adventure (which I got through in a few sittings).
All this I can now abandon as Cinebook are taking a good handful of titles each year and translating them into English. As I have made it part of my mission to find good kids comics and graphic novels (then get them to read them), I shall be working my way through the lot.


I've started with Lucky Luke (no.7 of 12 Lucky Luke volumes), by Morris and Goscinny (Asterix fame), originally published in 1971. Real enjoyable stuff with excellent animated artwork and plenty of jokes, I can't see any reason why other 8 to 12 year olds wouldn't be into this.

At a comics event sometime last year, Paul Gravett made the point that we have got it all so wrong -Why is it that in Britain we haven't worked out that it's a good idea to keep a book in print? Instead, every annual, whether it be Rupert, Beano, Smash! or whatever, has 2 months on the shelves at Christmas then gets relegated to oblivion with the rest of them? If I wanted to read or study David Law's wonderful early Dennis the Menace, I'd have to pay 30 or 40 quid on ebay for it (and that's if I could find it). In Europe they keep it all in print, and it's all there to buy new and enjoy.
And why can't I go into a regular comics shop and pick up Tintin and Asterix? There's certainly never anything else for kids in these awful places (Gosh! being the exception to the rule). I had to get my Lucky Luke off Amazon, and so god knows how anyone would ever stumble upon these books on the offchance.
Is it too much to ask for shops to accommodate for the next generation of readers? Believe me if I had the time, I'd run an amazing little shop with ALL of this material - and I'd have a little bakery in the back with a little hatch, and a narrow-gauge railway that would bring my customers through the woods, past the lake and ampitheatre (where The Sadies will be playing once a month), and through under the barn containing my printshop publishing set-up.....
Volunteer here! Come on, sign up!

Hot off the press

Just spent 2 hours folding, stapling and trimming, resulting in the first 60 copies of Garden Funnies number 1. It's going to take me awhile to do the whole run (400 copies altogether), but will endeavor to get contributors copies out as soon as possible, whilst also getting it on some shop racks. Garden Funnies will be retailing for £2.
Need to get on with some drawing now, but expect to be announcing another call for submissions in a couple of months I expect. Might see how this first one does first! I'm really pleased with it anyway.

Garden Funnies cover art preview!

Tension is mounting in the world of publishing as the final stages of printing take place in an undisclosed location in Manchester.

Collectors stand poised clutching sheets of acid-free tissue and archiving slips.

And children's snotty faces smear the comic shop windows, their keen eyes seeking out the distinctive red and blue flash of the first landmark issue.

Resister your interest NOW for advance copies.

The Bump - 24 hour comic

Now online and viewable on my proper site - the 24 page story produced in 24 hours as part of the 24 hour comics event (see previous post). Let me know what you think!

Observer Competition entry

Meant to post this here a couple of weeks ago - it's my entry to the Observer/Johnathan Cape comics competition. I think I didn't win because they didn't believe that cats wear clothes and can talk in real life.

I'm Tired

Good weekend in London for a couple of reasons, other than getting to see my Dad and pals. Firstly for the first time ever I walked out of a comics shop richer than when I walked in, Gosh Comics having sold all 10 copies of TeenWitch and pressed £14 into my palm. Could have easily spent it (and plenty more) there and then, but figure that with my birthday next month I might get one or two nice books then, fingers crossed.

Secondly, other than half an hours doze at 4am, I managed to complete 24 comic pages in 24 hours, as part of worldwide 24 Hour Comic Day. Though we weren't locked in the room for the full stint (ICA venue having to close at 11pm) I battled on round at the formidable Alex Pott's house, as did he.



I wasn't entirely sure why I wanted to volunteer for such a torturous event, as staying up for 24 hours doing anything is pretty stupid. Maybe it was that I new it would be wrong if I didn't have a go at it, as I'm supposed to be a comic artist. Regardless of motivation, it seems all participants felt a huge sense of achievement and satisfaction by the end. Like the rest of them, throughout the challenge I experienced alternating waves of enthusiasm and exhaustion, which are probably evident from the lulls in quality of drawing produced. Alex's strategy of inking pages out of order seemed to pay off, making any potential inconsistencies absorbed into the strip, rather than the story deteriorating or tailing off as it went along. This trick ensures that your characters look the same on the first and last pages, foiling any kind of chinese whispers effect that can easily happen. Alex and I also found listening to Dead Meadow, Earth and Bardo Pond in the early hours most productive.

Being part of the group and the camaraderie involved in this made it all the more tolerable. I now know something of the solidarity you see between motorcyclists on winter mornings. The 24hr challenge is not one I would have ever considered to tackle on my own - I just don't have the discipline, plus I'm way too easily distracted by my list of other jobs, projects and chores, whether boat painting, cat portraits or planning workshop stuff. This was a great opportunity to put all that to one side, knuckle down and get some pages done. In fact that might be the most important thing I've got out of the exercise - realising that time needs to be allocated and energy needs to be focused if comics are going to happen. I guess it's fairly obvious that comics are hard work - I always tell workshop groups how good comics are very quick to read but frustratingly slow to actually produce. I'm guessing that what I've managed in 24 hours would have probably taken my well over a month of faffing about and finding other things to do instead.

I've learnt that if I just sit down and get on with it then I can actually do it. I also feel a bit like I've earned a month off from drawing anything. Before entering the room at the ICA (photographs here), I'd decide to avoid making things difficult for myself. Eradicating speech, thought, sound effects and narration reallocated probably 5 hours into telling a story with just the artwork. Creating a silent comic was also a good opportunity to see if I can convey action and emotion in this way. Also on my mind was how I really didn't fancy 2 or more hours of measuring and drawing out margins and panels, so they were banished too. As long as the images have enough space and the sequence is clear, then who needs panels? Looking around the room I spotted plenty of people dividing their pages up into all these little boxes, and I felt a huge relief that I wasn't putting myself through that too. I guess some might say it's lazy of my having just one or two images on each page, and maybe it is, but then I do think making a good comic is about knowing what to include AND leave out.

I've also gained a new confidence in my tools. Those around me sniggered at my draughtsmans brush when I first produced it from my bag, but by the end of the event they were clamoring for something that would sweep away their eraser rubbings with elegant ease. I had also been looking forward to getting to know how to use my recent purchase, the Pentel Brush Pen. Having found it recommended in various blogs and online forums, I can now add my own seal of approval. What it can't really do (or more what I can't yet do with it) is small precise detail - I've found on certain faces I'd have been much better off switching to my usual drawing pen for eyes, mouths and whisker follicles. What it can do is produce a good solid but animated black line, fill large areas easily, and it is very fast - as in capable of keeping up with you as you dash around the page. As I was using a medium textured watercolour paper, I found I was also able to create greytones of an almost charcoal appearance, by tilting the brush and lightly sweeping the surface.
Perhaps my greatest Pentel revelation was that by the end of the 24 hours, I wasn't experiencing any pain in my hand or wrist. This is in stark contrast to how tightly clutching a Rotring or my usual technical drawing pens affect my hand after just an hour or so. Instead of forcing a needlepoint against the page, the brush allows a relaxed and spontaneous method of dabbing, placing and pulling lines and marks around. Four ink cartridges later, and I'm still not quite in charge of what it does, but certainly a lot quicker, bolder and expressive than before, and for me that's reward enough for taking part.
All 24 pages will be posted soon on my main website, which I'll point you towards when it happens.

24 hour comics

I'm one of a number of fools who've signed up to take part in the 24hr comics event as part of the ComICA festival at the ICA this weekend. 24 pages in as many hours, and I've no idea what I'm going to do.
Will post the results next week when I've recovered.