Happy New Year!

I'm sure you all have better things to be doing on New Year's Eve than reading a blog (as do I) so I'll keep this brief. 2016 has been a steady and productive year for me and I'd like to thank you all for following this blog, and for supporting my work. 

It's unlikely any of you buy everything I'm in, as the various comics appeal to different tastes and age groups, but presumably you've all read some of my strips this year or you wouldn't be following this blog about my work. So, again, many thanks. 

If you are interested in checking out my work this week, the year closes with several publications out there published in 2016 that feature something by me:

Beano: Pup Parade and Ivy the Terrible.

Toxic: Team Toxic

Epic: Three mini-strips (soon to be joined by a new two page strip).

Doctor Who Magazine: The Daft Dimension

Derek the Troll: A self-published comic reprinting all my old Derek the Troll and Rock Solid strips from the 1980s.
http://www.lewstringer.com/page7.htm

The Dandy Annual 2017: Postman Prat, Kid Cops, The Smasher.

Aces Weekly: Digital comic featuring all-new Combat Colin strips in some issues.
http://www.acesweekly.co.uk

As for 2017... I'll reveal more about my plans for that soon. Let's hope the coming year brings us all good health and good fortune, and whatever parties or celebrations you're at tonight I hope you have a great evening! Happy New Year!

Back in the BEANO!

The New Year issue of The Beano is in the shops today and I'm very pleased to say I'm back in the comic too. New runs of Pup Parade and Ivy the Terrible begin in this issue, and I'm doing the scripts and art for both. 

I thought you might like to see part of the pencil rough of a Pup Parade panel, compared to the finished art (before it was lettered by the Beano staff). I use Pentel blue 0.7mm pencil for the roughs, then ink it with Kuratake Mangaka Flexible pens and uniPin Fine Line pens. When scanned at the right adjustment, the blue line isn't picked up by the scanner, then after tidying up the image in Photoshop I then use that software to colour the strips. The finished job is then e-mailed to the Beano, along with another copy of my previously approved script, and the Beano letterers add the captions and dialogue balloons based on my script. Repeat the process for every strip, day after day. 

I'll go into more detail about the process in a future post if anyone is interested? In the meantime, don't miss The Beano No.3865, out today!

Christmas with Tom Thug (1990)

Here's the Christmas Tom Thug page from Buster in 1990, back when I was hand colouring pages before I had a computer. I still remember colouring this with Dr.Martin inks 26 years ago (and it feels like it too). They were great days working on that comic. Wishing you all a brilliant Christmas!

Best wishes for Christmas!

As we approach the end of another year it's only natural to be reflective on the past 12 months. On a personal level 2016 hasn't been a bad year for me; I paid off my mortgage, work's been steady, and I've really enjoyed being a guest at various conventions around the UK, meeting old friends and new people. I must admit I do bury myself in my work, partly because I enjoy it, partly because it compensates for not having a family, but as always, the support of good friends has been appreciated more than words can say. I count my blessings.

I know that for some, 2016 has been a mixed and sometimes terrible year, so I tried to think of a Christmas card that was an appropriate message for all. What it came down to really was a message of peace for the future. Not only to wish you the peace of a non-hostile environment but also peace of mind. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and good health, happiness, and prosperity for 2017.

Thanks, Phil!

Photo by Phil Boyce, from his blog.

One of the original readers of Oink! back in the day, Phil Boyce now runs The Oink Blog, where he's reviewed every issue over the past few years. More importantly Phil's blog (and his Oink! Facebook page) has brought together a lot of those readers who have been eager to comment of how much they enjoyed Oink! in the 1980s. Myself and other Oink contributors have really enjoyed interacting with those readers online so Phil has done us a great service.

Now, Phil has reviewed my recently published Derek the Troll comic, and given it a glowing report. Thanks, Phil, and a very Merry Christmas to you! It's very much appreciated. You can read his review at this link:
http://the-oink-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/derek-troll-new-lew-stringer-comic.html

Christmas at Butt-Face's place

Here's a preview of my Team Toxic strip in the next issue of Toxic. That cheeky chappie Butt-Face invites Team Toxic to his house for Christmas dinner. Has the bumfaced baddie reformed or is there another motive? Find out in Toxic No.282, on sale Wednesday 21st December!

EPIC! preview

Today's issue of Epic! magazine contains three mini-strips I was commissioned to draw. As you may recall, they started in last month's issue and it looks like they'll continue for a while, I'm pleased to say. (I'm drawing the next set next week.) I'm not sure who the writer is, but I'll try and find out. 

The strips are Terrible Movies (above), Eric Fail, and Zombie Sports. Next month will see another new strip begin that I've drawn, but more about that in a few weeks!

Epic! No.126 is published by D.C. Thomson and comes bagged with a bunch of gifts for £4.99. 

Combat Christmas 1989

Here's the festive Combat Colin page I did for The Transformers No.250, back in 1989 when I was freelancing for Marvel UK. If this scene doesn't appear in a future Marvel movie I'll be very disappointed. :)

Don't forget that brand new Combat Colin stories appear from time to time in Aces Weekly!
http://www.acesweekly.co.uk

Daft Christmas!

There's a special festive Daft Dimension strip by me in the Christmas issue of Doctor Who Magazine that will be in the shops this Thursday (15th December).I won't show you much of it or it'll ruin the gag, so here's an extreme close up of part of one panel. 

This issue has 100 pages and comes bagged with a free poster, all for the usual price of £5.99. Here's what to look out for in your local shops....

...and don't forget that there's a brand new episode of Doctor Who on BBC One on Christmas Day!

Facebook!

I have two Facebook pages. One is set to private for personal stuff, family photos, etc, and I only accept friend requests on that from people I know and/or regularly communicate with. The other is public which I use to show previews of my work and suchlike. 

If you're on Facebook and you're interested, you can follow me at this link:

https://www.facebook.com/lewstringercartoonist/

Thanks for your time.

Christmas past

Here's a photo of me, with my cat and dog, in the back yard of the council house I lived in back in December 1967. Yes, a balaclava helmet and short trousers were the norm for boys back then. Our legs were freezing but at least our ears were warm. 

Plus we had an outside toilet. It wasn't all glamour in the swinging sixties. 

1967 was a good year. All my family and pets were still around and healthy, I was making new friends at school, great TV programmes like Captain Scarlet and The Prisoner were fresh and exciting, and the 'Power Comics' were at their peak with five titles (Wham!, Smash!, Pow!, Fantastic, and Terrific) and they'd inspired me to draw my own comics on a regular basis. Maybe I'll show you some of my crude, sketchy, early efforts soon.

Sent to Coventry!

New convention announcement! I'm pleased to say that I've been invited as a guest to Coventry Comic Con next year, on Sunday 1st October. Here's more info at the link below. See you there!

http://www.coventrycomiccon.uk/guests/

They're back! On 28th December...

A new series of Pup Parade begins in The Beano in the New Year issue, which will be on sale on Wednesday 28th December. This series will only be half-pagers, but I'm still enjoying writing and drawing them. This accompanies the new series of Ivy the Terrible mini-strips that I'm also doing which also starts in the same issue. Never Be Without A Beano!

She's back! On 28th December...

I haven't been in The Beano since the recent relaunch but I'll be back in the New Year issue, on sale 28th December, writing and drawing the return of Ivy the Terrible (shown here) and Pup Parade. Right, I'd better get back to the drawing board for the next set of strips....

Who's this?

Here's a sneak preview of a new strip I'm drawing for D.C. Thomson's Epic! It doesn't start until January so I won't reveal too much now, just to say that this is one of the characters. 

I'm only providing the art for this series, but it's all good fun, and it's interesting to work from scripts provided by someone else for a change. More news soon!