Monday, 11 March 2013

How Oink! Was Produced



One of the great things about freelancing for Oink! comic was that not only did it feature regular strips but it also had room for many one-off strips and features. This had the twin benefits of providing readers with unexpected material every issue as well as a nice bit of extra work for the creators.

One such strip was How Oink! Is Produced, which I did for the back cover of issue 15 (15th November 1986). This one-off story revealed the genesis of the comic, from the creators to the shops. 


It's quite unrealistic and unfair of course. The editors treated us fairly and generously. Although copies were actually delivered to shops by a pig on a cart pulled by a butcher.

This was one of the first strips I did in colour, (using Dr.Martin's liquid water colour and Caran d'Ache pencils) and it was a bit of a trial by fire but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I'm selling the original artwork this week on eBay, so if you're interested click HERE. 

I'm also selling a Tom Thug half pager that I did for Oink! No.32. This one's unusual in that the story is told in rhyme! I remember being pleased with panel three, with the shading on the scarf and the stippling on the post. Here's a scan taken directly from my original art:


Bidding ends on Sunday 17th March. All bids welcome!


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8 comments:

  1. Graham Exton11 March 2013 at 19:57

    I remember it all EXACTLY as in the strip.

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  2. Anonymous11 March 2013 at 20:09

    Thanks for sharing these great insights into how Oink! was made, fictional and otherwise, Lew! I've always thought a great big website dedicated to the comic would be fantastic but would probably be wrapped up in a load of legal wrangling to scan in the strips etc. Would love to take it on myself though!

    But I really do enjoy everything you're doing here, but I'll admit the Oink! updates are my fave! Thank you!

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  3. Hardcastle English11 March 2013 at 21:00

    Thanks for this blog!
    You're really taking me back to my childhood :)
    Let's not forget the fantastic Frank Sidebottom (RIP)- he wrote some fantastic stories for the Oink!

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  4. Lew Stringer11 March 2013 at 22:37

    He certainly did. Oh yes he did. :-) I posted a little tribute to Frank on my previous blog. Don't know if you've seen it: http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/frank-sidebottom-creator-chris-sievey.html

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  5. Peter Gray11 March 2013 at 23:34

    I do love the one off pages in Oink which I've seen recently...i only had the free copy of Oink as a kid..the one with the polar bear on the cover..
    so its great to see your work in Oink here..

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  6. Lew Stringer12 March 2013 at 00:19

    That was issue 7, I think, that they gave away. A good issue but not the best. There'd been another preview issue given away with three IPC comics before No.1 came out. That one used the material we did for the dummy issue in 1984.

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  7. Unknown13 March 2013 at 21:20

    I loved that Oink back page, it was on the first Oink comic I got, so it's stuck in memory! Definitely one of my favourite comic strips :)

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