My first mainstream cover

I understand the school holidays are upon us again? I couldn't wait for the summer break when I was a kid. Six weeks off! Days by the seaside! More time to play with your mates! More time at home (I had a happy home life). And summer specials to read too! Fantastic. I'm afraid I wasn't a great fan of school, but I have some happy memories of it, and made several lifelong friends through it so it wasn't all bad. :)

The very first cover I drew for a mainstream comic had a 'Schools Out!' theme. Mark Rogers, editor of Oink! commissioned me to do a Tom Thug cover for issue 33, back in 1987. I'd been a contributor to Oink! for every issue but this was my first cover. It was Mark's idea to show Tom and other kids bursting through the school gates but the rest of it was pretty much up to me.

On the left you can see my initial pencil rough, and Mark's comments and suggestions in blue biro. On the right is my finished, published version. I was still learning to use colour (Dr.Martins water colour inks, and Caran D'ache pencils) so it's a bit crude but it did the job.

Oink! was a great comic to work on and the contributors had a blast. It seems the readers did too, going by the reactions of those I meet now. Happy days!