Mothers Day

This is one from a local newspaper I draw for. They have a tourist attraction called the Judges Lodgings and as a Mothers Day treat they suggested taking your Mom there. Now I'm not sure if that's a treat but I was commissioned to do something on it anyway, and here you go.

The one below was the opening of a french restaurant. Obviously the local newspapers serve two purposes, to inform, news wise and to help the local businesses that advertise in them. My job is to entertain and highlight these customers in a favorable light. Sometimes it's easier than others; this one was fun and oh so true of anyone who's been confronted by a foreign menu and not wanted to look a fool in front of the waiter.

History Page 2

I said I'd post regularly on the Dandy pages I produce and here's another in the series. Once again, although I write, illustrate and colour the pages, they insist on the lettering and balloon placements being done in-house.

This one deals with historical facts about William the conqueror: Facts like, the king of France thought he resembled a pregnant woman or that he was too big to fit into his own coffin and actually exploded when his soldiers tried to force him in...Gross, but the kids lap this kind of stuff up; I know I did when I was a kid

Enjoy

To enlarge just click on the image

Looney Toons

I was on my way home today and listening to the radio when this idea came to me. It was too much fun to pass up so I had a bit of fun with Photoshop and used a lot of license with Warner Bros (please don't sue me chaps and chapesses) and thought I'd put it up here for general consumption

Enjoy

Villa un united

I've been doing the villa comics main characters for a couple of years now and it's become a regular for me; although it's not weekly regular or even monthly. But quarterly.

It's still great fun to be involved in but a very strange process and here's why.

Normally in the comics industry you have an editor, who knows about comics and the industry in general, a writer who's honed his or her craft over the years and an artist who is talented in a likewise fashion. On the Villa comic it's a weird situation; an almost hybrid form of production, in fact, and here's how it works: The writer produces a very good script, it then goes to the PR department, not the editorial, but the PR department, who are, no doubt wonderful at what they do, but what they don't do is editorial. That's a whole new discipline of its own.

The PR department then re write the script how they think it should go and they pass it back to the writer who sends it onto me. I draw and colour it up and forward it to the clubs' editorial department who see all kinds of mistakes that they would've seen the first time round and corrections have to be made.

Why oh why can't it be send to the editorial department in the first place, I hear you cry. I couldn't agree more, but sometimes good ideas, like spring water, take a long time to filter through the thick layers of common sense and pride.

That said, I've always enjoyed producing the pages for Villa and I could be doing similar ideas for Coventry City and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Who knows, maybe they'll have an editorial department that they actually use.

The samples here are from the pages of the latest comic and last issue took four pages from me, next time I hope it's five; I love to draw and my capacity to sit and create knows no boundaries. 

Stop the Blot!

And this should be the last of today's entries.

Stop the Blot is a campaign to halt the development of a few luxury houses on a site of outstanding beauty in Shropshire. The initial plans were rejected but as is always the way, the developer just kept on submitting until he got what he wanted. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for the stunning Shropshire hills and its precious environment, he came up against little England at its finest. So a bunch of eccentric retired colonels, church wardens and grannies are taking the council and the developer to task.

God bless England for all its battling eccentrics.

This is a campaign run by the paper so there may be more on it. I've also been asked to illustrate their campaign leaflets so I'm actually involved in more ways than I usually am with these stories.

Burglar King

I forgot to post this yesterday, but it's another of my editorial service cartoons.

In this one, the family pet--a Cocker Spaniel--- woke the owners up to a pair of burglars and gave chase, bringing one of the thieves down and effecting an arrest...Probably thought they were cat burglars...sorry about that, couldn't resist it.

For more samples of editorials, click on the Editorial cartoons tab above

Model Family--Latest

Here's the latest cartoon strip I draw for a model aeroplane enthusiasts magazine called RCME monthly. It's about a father and son who are crazy for models aeroplanes; the son is a genius, the father is an incompetent fool and the mother just doesn't get it.

For  samples of the Model Family and more of my specialist strips, click on the 'Specialist Strips' tab above.

History Pages for the Dandy

It has once again been a busy week and it looks to hot up even more.

I've been doing a lot of smaller stuff but this series I've been commissioned to write and illustrate is so much fun I thought I'd post them as and when they're completed. They're for  the Dandy and make up part of an increasing quota of work that they're putting my way at present. I've worked with them in the past, drawing and writing both Ollie Fliptrick and Beryl the Peril, plus many many more characters and ideas.

Anyway, the page shown here is a comic version of the Horrible Histories series and this one is all about those marauding Vikings and the odd facts that surround them. Facts like: Did you know they invented ice skating and used Deer antlers? or that they were fastidious in their appearance and took regular baths? or that the women chose their husbands, not the other way around or more gruesomely, that they drank the blood of their victims out of the victims own skull: Kids love this gruesome stuff. Sadly there's no writing as that's done at Dandy HQ, and you can't get the full effect, but seeing as this is primarily a site to show case my art, I thought it would be fine

Hope you enjoy anyway.

For more samples of comic pages, click on the comic page tab above.

On Yer Bike

A young sixteen year old girl has decided to cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats for charity...She's certainly a fresh approach; I sure as hell can't get my daughter off the computer---unless a boy walks past, that is.

Cartoon from the Doncaster Free Press

Dandy Annuals

I know, two on one day. But what can I say, I've been busy. This was another commission from the dandy for their annual. If was one of those 'spot-the-difference' panels. Obviously I've only shown one of them but I'm sure you'll have a bit of fun looking around it.

Enjoy

Language, Please

In times of austerity the pressure groups come out and start demanding with menaces, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the Welsh Assembly. They chose the year that we're all being told to cut back, don't move, don't breath or even think about having a life, to spend our hard stolen taxes to insist that the police now have to be Bilingual. This will all be at a massive cost, of course.

I mean, in the grand scheme of things is this really essential? Will your local hooded numpty really care if his rights are read in English or a language that only seems to exist to hurt your tonsils or for the over production of phlegm?

Lawyers, not ones for finding new ways of letting murderers out on a technicality, are going to have a field day with this: They're going to say, 'How do we know his rights were read correctly? Did he use the feminine with the past tense or the other way round?'. The Judge will look horrified at being caught out by the tabloids and release him with a pay out, an apology and a new house in Kensington to carry out his murdering spree unhindered

I just think the whole thing is wrong and a massive waste of money, so I enjoyed writing this cartoon a little more than most.

As ever, click on the image to enlarge

Work in Progress

I know, two  posts in one day...I'm becoming like the proverbial bus!

Anyhoo, this is a work in progress; A writer approached me with a project she had, sadly I can't go too much into it as it's a little industry sensitive, but I believe she has the interest of a top North American publisher who's looking to produce a series of science based comic graphic novels for a schools market that they presently saturate.

Enjoy, and as ever, just click on the image to see it in more detail

Perry Scott Nash cartoons

A series of cartoons to illustrate a health and safety manual on building site regulations. Thankfully this market is increasing now. Perry, Scott Nash are a new customer and openly admit that due to the nature of these booklets, ie very information led, that bright cheerful cartoons are just what they need to help get the message digested.

 This is admittedly just a selection of the order, but it give some idea of what they were after

They were very happy with what they got from me and say that there will be more work to come which is always a good thing to hear.