The 2023 Annuals are arriving in shops

They've been available to buy from online sellers since August but now the Annuals for 2023 are finally turning up in bookshops. My local Smiths and supermarkets still haven't put them out but other people are reporting seeing them in their branches.

I found a few in WH Smiths in Birmingham last Thursday and took the photo shown above. As you can see, the space they've allocated to them is very small considering the size of the city, with the books all bunched up at the end of a shelving display. A big difference from the 1960s/70s when huge stacks of every annual would take up a big display in the shops. 

As mentioned before, I have work in both The Dandy Annual and Beano Annual this time. As most readers will have them as Christmas presents I couldn't resist doing a festive episode for each of my strips. Expect to see Keyhole Kate, Postman Prat, and Biffo the Bear in snowy surroundings!

If you have any difficulty finding those annuals in shops, you can buy them directly from D.C. Thomson at this link...

https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/books/annuals/double-trouble-pack 

***************************

 

Biffo: sketch and finished art comparison

I thought you might like to see a comparision of the pencil rough to the finished art on one of my Biffo the Bear strips. Actually this was one of only two that I drew digitally, trying out Clip Studio Paint. (Colours were done in Photoshop though as usual.) 

It turned out OK but I still prefer drawing traditionally, pencil and ink on paper, rather than using a pad and stylus so I'll be sticking to the old methods for now at least. It actually took me far longer to do it digitally, mainly because I was learning on the job, but even so it felt too detatched and unnatural for me personally. I'm pleased with the result but I prefer paper.

You can see the full mini-strip in Beano Annual 2023, out now, along with seven other Biffo strips I did (six of which were done the "old fashioned way").  

•••••••••••••••••••

I might not be online much over the next couple of weeks. After Covid and other ailments and setbacks I'm now trying to catch up with work I should have done ages ago, plus a few new bits and bobs to do. Not a lot of ongoing work, but several one-offs for various people. I'm still not feeling 100% and get tired during the day so it's taking more effort than it used to. But... deadlines are looming so if I don't draw I don't get paid and I can't survive. Things haven't been great the past few years so I'm now trying to rebuild my health and my career. 

I will be putting another piece or two of my original art on eBay, (no, not Beano stuff), probably tomorrow (Sunday), so I'll be posting about that soon.

******************

The 2023 Annuals are out now!

My order for the Dandy and Beano 2023 Annuals arrived today and once again they're great books for young and old. Each hardback annual has 112 full colour pages packed with brand new strips including many of the usual favourites with art by Laura Howell, Nigel Parkinson, Hunt Emerson, Nigel Aucterlounie, Steve Bright and many more...

...including a few strips by me. For Beano Annual 2023 I've written/drawn 8 Biffo the Bear mini-strips and really enjoyed working on that classic character. Yes, I made sure to put his best pal Buster in there too, meaning that I've now drawn both the D.C. Thomson 'Buster' and the Rebellion (IPC) 'Buster' characters in an official capacity. 

For The Dandy Annual 2023 I've written/drawn 4 full page Keyhole Kate strips, plus 8 Postman Prat mini-strips. Kate is one of the oldest characters in comics, originating from The Dandy No.1 back in 1937. Prat is more modern, and first appeared in the new-look Dandy in 2010. Both are back in all-new stories.

I know a lot of people think annuals weren't published until December years ago but, nope, they've always been published this time of year. Most of the books are given as Christmas presents though so I've made sure to do Christmas episodes of all my strips in these editions.

Each book has a R.R.P. of £9.99. If your local bookshops haven't displayed the annuals yet you can order them directly from the publisher as I did. Here's the link...

https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/books/annuals

Annuals for 2023 available soon!

One of eight Biffo strips I've drawn for Beano Annual 2023.

 

The 2023 Annuals should be out any day now. In past years annuals have been published in July (even though most people buy them as Christmas presents) but this year's Dandy and Beano Annuals were announced to be launched in August.

I have work in both and pre-ordered them ages ago. I'll post previews here as soon as they arrive. 

Dandy and Beano Annuals ready for pre-order

A reminder that the 2023 annuals will be published this August but you can pre-order them now directly from D.C. Thomson at this link:

https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/books/annuals 

As I've mentioned before, I did work for both The Dandy Annual 2023 and Beano Annual 2023. Specifically Keyhole Kate and Postman Prat for the Dandy, and Biffo the Bear for the Beano book. All characters that I enjoyed working on and hope that one day I will again. Here are some preview images...

 

Biffo is coming back!

Here's a tiny preview of part of a panel from one of the Biffo the Bear strips I've done for Beano Annual 2023 which will be published this August.

I was asked to write and draw eight Biffo mini-strips in all and they'll appear throughout the book. It was fantastic to work on a character that was such a familiar part of my childhood. The iconic bear first appeared in The Beano in 1948, replacing Big Eggo as a cover star (Big Eggo being another character I've worked on, for the weekly Beano a few years ago). 

Biffo is an interesting character to create stories for because he can do anything; gardener, plumber, clown, athlete... and they're just some of the topics I didn't use. As you can see, I've also revived Biffo's best pal, Buster, which means I've now drawn both the D.C. Thomson Buster and the Fleetway / Rebellion version. (No, they're not related.)

As I said above, Beano Annual 2023 will be out on August but you can pre-order it now from the publisher's webshop at this link:

https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/the-beano-annual 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Thoughts on Biffo the Bear

I really enjoyed doing the Biffo the Bear strips for Beano Annual 2023. They won't be published until August 2022 of course so I can't show any more yet than this glimpse of my original art here. 

When I was commissioned to do eight Biffo mini strips I was a bit apprehensive how I'd tackle it, but then I realised that Biffo can fit into any situation. That was always the strength of the old strips that Dudley Watkins drew in the 1950s and 1960s. Biffo could be a sailor one week, a barber the next, or he could have domestic slapstick doing some wallpapering, or embark on a marathon! Biffo is an everyman, or every bear if you like, albeit with a busier life than most, and a life with limitless possibilities! Through it all he's generally affable, sometimes clumsy, sometimes reckless, but he's mainly a good spirited, well meaning bear.  

Although I got the handle of writing the character, drawing him was another matter. It took me a while to fashion my take on him, whilst also keeping him looking traditionally "Biffo". Doing my research with old copies of The Beano I noticed that even Dudley Watkins and his sucessor David Sutherland made slight changes to the look of the character from week to week. His snout grew longer, his ears shifted from close togerher to further apart, and that sort of thing. All comic characters evolve and change, even in the space of months. 

I was pleased with my results in the end though, and I really hope I get more opportunities to create more new Biffo the Bear strips either for the annual or, hopefully, for the weekly Beano.

Digital Biffo

Way-in-advance preview time. I've drawn eight Biffo the Bear mini-strips for Beano Annual 2023 which will be out in August 2022! That's a long way off so I can't show any panels from it yet but I thought you might like to see a section of one panel when it was in progress.

Earlier this year I decided to take advantage of a cheap offer for Clip Studio Paint software and try my hand at digital drawing. I bought a graphic tablet at a reasonable price too, and set to work. 

Frankly, it's all new to me, and it took me longer to draw digitally than it would with pen and ink. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually though, but I was pleased with the results of what I've accomplished so far. I drew two of the Biffo strips entirely digitally, and it took me a while as I'm still learning the techniques, but they turned out well. You can judge for yourselves next Autumn when they're published!

At the moment I've gone back to drawing traditionally, with pencil and ink on Bristol Board. I still colour digitally though (with Photoshop) and have been for about 20 years. I prefer colouring digitally far more than colouring with inks. 

Anyway, at the top of this post you can see part of a panel I've zoomed in on, and my digital vector "inks". I'll use Clip Studio Paint again when I have more time to get used to how everything works! I don't think I'll switch to digital entirely though. I've always enjoyed drawing with daylight on my board, rather than staring intensely at a screen all day, but learning to draw digitally will definitely come in handy!