Beano, Daleks, and Dandy artwork in this week's auction

I've listed more of my original artwork on eBay this week and the auctions end on the evening of Sunday 18th January. 

These are the original hand drawn artworks I did for Pup Parade (Beano), Postman Prat (Dandy Annual) and The Daft Dimension (Doctor Who Magazine). 

Here's the link for the auctions (where each listing shows close up photos of the art). All bids appreciated!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47

Click on each image to see it enlarged.

Dandy and Doctor Who artwork for sale

I'm selling my original artwork from The Dandy Annual and Doctor Who Magazine! Auctions end this coming Sunday (16th Nov). All bids appreciated.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47

There's a mini strip of The Smasher from The Dandy Annual 2017, a Postman Prat strip from The Dandy Annual 2023, and a full page Keyhole Kate from The Dandy Annual 2019 plus a Daft Dimension comic strip I did for Doctor Who Magazine No.484 back in 2015. 

All original hand drawn artwork, not prints or facsimiles. Good luck with your bids!

 

 

 

 

 

 

ORIGINAL COMIC ART UP FOR SALE!

I'm selling more of my original comic art, with pages ranging from 1985 to the present day including a Keyhole Kate page from The Dandy Annual and pages from Buster and Oink! 

See each link for more photos of each page including close ups of panels.

I haven't sold any of my Dandy artwork before but needs must so here we go! This is a complete Keyhole Kate page I did for The Dandy Annual 2019...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205822338653?itmmeta=01K97GPMCY22QKBXGC7C82CV2M&hash=item2febf7a65d:g:SvUAAeSwQuJpB6Qu 

 

Next, an unusual one-off strip I did for Oink! No.19 back in 1987. Muesli Man, the health-nut superhero!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205822317590?itmmeta=01K97GPMCZ1FWKE9YAHJHBXWKG&hash=item2febf75416:g:0TEAAeSwc1dpB6Dk 

Far more recent is the current Daft Dimension comic strip from Doctor Who Magazine No.622 featuring Daleks!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205822343809?itmmeta=01K97GPMCZM7D4Z5TB0VK4J97B&hash=item2febf7ba81:g:XyUAAeSwbMFpB6VJ

Back in time 40 years for a real rarity; artwork for a full page advert I drew for Birmingham's Nostalgia and Comics shop, written by the shop's owner Phil Clarke! This was done for a convention programme...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205822332711?itmmeta=01K97GPMCY0QQBV376V9JEG6XH&hash=item2febf78f27:g:b2UAAeSwV6NpB6LH

Back to 1994 now for a Tom Thug on 'Oliday page I did for Buster comic...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205822288076?itmmeta=01K97GPMCYDD2MV6BD1EBZ61C6&hash=item2febf6e0cc:g:sLwAAeSwG8dpB52O

 

...and from around 1990, a Vampire Brats page also from Buster comic...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205822300490?itmmeta=01K97GPMCYP93C4XK8YB9HJYMC&hash=item2febf7114a:g:QVsAAeSwQm1pB55f

Finally, a huge A2 sized spread I drew for the first issue of Know How! magazine back in 2002...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205822308328?itmmeta=01K97GPMCZ75AM4TMKR3CMYH67&hash=item2febf72fe8:g:HRgAAeSwdjNpB59s

Here's the link to see all the artwork as a list...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47

 

Auctions end on Sunday 9th November. All bids very much apprecated! Best of luck!

An Annual Treat

The 'Christmas' annuals have been out since July and seem to be selling fast. My local WH Smith and Sainsbury's sold out of The Dandy Annual 2016 weeks ago and haven't restocked. The Beano Annual 2016 is available in Sainsbury's for £3.49 so this is the time to grab them! Waiting until the last minute, or the January sales, may result in disappointment. Treat yourselves or a relative/friend to an annual for Christmas!

For The Dandy Annual 2016 I wrote and drew all the Keyhole Kate and Smasher pages. It was a pleasure to work on those classic characters again. I don't know if this book will feature Kate's last appearance but I haven't been commissioned to do any strips with her for the 2017 dated annual, which I'm working on now.  

For The Beano Annual 2016 I wrote and drew the three Lord Snooty pages. I haven't been asked to do anything for the 2017 dated book (on sale next summer) so I'm not sure what the future holds for Snooty.

Below is a panel from one of my Lord Snooty pages for the annual. First in pencil rough form, then the completed inked and coloured version... 

Very few of you post comments on this blog but if you have any requests to see old strips of mine shown here, or any thoughts about my work in general, please post a comment below.

New books!

I had a great weekend at the London Film and Comic Con and you can read a bit more about it over on Blimey!, my other blog. When I arrived home on Sunday night there was a nice pile of parcels waiting including three new books I have material in....

The Dandy Annual 2016, for which I did several pages of The Smasher and Keyhole Kate. 

The Beano Annual 2016, featuring three pages of Lord Snooty by me.

And all the way from the USA, the latest Grindhouse graphic novel which collects the first four issues of the current limited series, including the two humour pages I did: Kung-Fu Cheesecake and Snowmanic! 

I'll be covering each book in a little more depth soon, but I currently have pressing deadlines for Doctor Who Magazine and the final issue of Grindhouse, so it's back to the drawing board for me right now! 

Annual advance previews

Again, my apologies for not being able to attend the Birmingham Comics Festival (see previous post). As a tiny bit of compensation for anyone hoping to see me there here's an advance preview of some of the work I did for forthcoming annuals. 

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that although The Dandy folded over two years ago after a valiant last stand, The Dandy Annual 2016 will be out this year, full of new material again. I was commissioned to write/draw/colour/letter 10 pages in all, featuring The Smasher and Keyhole Kate. (There's a panel from one of the Kate pages above.)

And here's part of a two page Smasher strip. I've brought back Smasher's old pal Willie for this one. I also re-used one of the original logos from the 1960s as a nod to the past.

For The Beano Annual 2016 I've written, drawn, and coloured 3 Lord Snooty pages. The lettering will be added in-house although I designed the logos. Here's a preview of the opening panel to one strip...

Both annuals are scheduled to be published in July, although from my experience shops may hold them back until September but they should be available online in July. In fact you can pre-order them from Amazon now if you wish. 

Support the British Comics Industry! Buy The Dandy Annual and The Beano Annual this year!

(Right, that's me finished for the weekend. Back to my sick bed.)

Persistent mice

Charlie Grigg's version on the left of course.

I've just noticed that the opening panel of one of my Korky the Cat strips in this year's Dandy annual is quite similar to a scene in the Dandy Book from 50 years ago by Charles Grigg. Subconscious influence, - or just inevitable given that cats chase mice?

Speaking of that Dandy Book from 1964, if you want to see more, take a look at my Blimey! blog here:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/christmas-1964-dandy-book.html 

The Dandy Annual 2015

I received a copy of The Dandy Annual 2015 the other day, which I'd ordered online from the DC Thomson shop. It should also be in the shops by now, unless distributors are holding them back again. 

It's an excellent book this year and I'm very proud to be part of it. My contributions are:

Script/art:
The Smasher (Three full pagers, one two pager).
Korky the Cat (One full page, one two pager).
Keyhole Kate (Three full pagers.)

Art only (script by David Mason):
Smashing Word Search.

Plot only (script and art by Nigel Parkinson): 
Cuddles & Dimples (the three page beach holiday story).

The three Korky the Cat pages were a last minute commission and had to be written and drawn over a weekend, but it was great to have a chance to draw my favourite cartoon cat again. (Last time was about 14 years ago for the Fun-Size editions of The Dandy.) I was asked to draw him in my own style, rather than imitate Charles Grigg's Korky, but Charlie's definitive version was an inspiration. 

For the Keyhole Kate strips I chose to do them as a three-part time travel adventure, with the pages spread throughout the book. 

As Kate's adventures took her to different locations I thought I'd make The Smasher more home-based this year, so all of his stories take place in or around his house. 

Cuddles and Dimples was fun. I supplied Nigel Parkinson with a very basic plot and he turned it into a fantastically funny story. 

I'll be reviewing the book over on my Blimey! blog later this week, and showing a glimpse at the work by other artists. 

Cover art by Ken Harrison.

Smasher preview (Dandy Annual)

Here's another preview from the new Dandy Annual 2015, in the shops any day now. As you can see, it's a panel from one of the Smasher strips I have in the book. Will the situation lead to something getting smashed? You betcha. 

Smasher logo

I'm still working away on pages for the annuals. I won't show any full panels just yet as it'll be almost another 12 months before they're in the shops, so plenty of time for a few previews closer to the publication date. 

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at a logo I did for one of my Smasher pages for The Dandy Annual 2015. It's always fun to do a title design for a strip. Hope you like it. 

Keyholes in the can

I'm still working on the strips for 2015 annuals so I probably won't be updating this blog for a few days as deadlines are looming. All of the Keyhole Kate pages for The Dandy Annual 2015 were completed a few days ago and are now with DC Thomson, and I'm currently drawing several Smasher pages for the book. I'm doing all the creative work on the strips; writing the scripts, pencils, inks, logo design, lettering, and colouring, so it's a lot of work but very satisfying.  

After that, four Rasher mini-strips to draw for next year's Beano Annual. Anyway, back to the drawing board! 

Things to come

Pencil version of an upcoming Beano pranks feature.

This new blog has been up and running for four weeks now, so a big thank you to all of you who have followed it. Thanks also to the blogs and websites who have given it a plug, and to those of you who have retweeted/shared my posts. It's all very much appreciated. 

Recently I've been drawing quite a few of those Dennis and Gnasher You've Been Pranked features for The Beano so you'll see those appearing in the weekly over the next couple of months. I've also just completed an extra-length one for BeanoMax which will appear in next month's issue, No.77. 

Rasher continues to appear in The Beano too. I'm several weeks ahead on those mini-strips and have just drawn one with a summer holiday theme. (Let's hope the weather improves by then!)

I completed my pages for the 2014 annuals a few weeks back. Six pages for The Dandy Annual (three Smasher strips plus three of something else) and two pages for The Beano Annual (a classic character I've never drawn before). They should be out in July.

I'll soon be starting work on another Combat Colin three pager for the online comic Aces Weekly. I hope that everyone who misses the traditional format of the UK adventure weeklies is supporting it. At just £6.99 for each seven-issue volume you can't go wrong. See the website for free samples and a current special offer: http://www.acesweekly.co.uk/home