Valentine's Day Thug

Here's the Tom Thug strip I did for the Valentines Day edition of Buster way back in 1991. In hindsight I can see all the flaws in my style now, and I wish I had access to computer colouring in those days as I was never really comfortable with colouring with a brush. Nevertheless, Tom proved to be a popular strip in the comic so what do I know? Script, art, colours by me, lettering by Jack Potter.

Wishing a Happy Valentines Day to those of you in a relationship and a Happy Independence Day to those of us who are single! ;-) 

Convention timetable shaping up

I've been in discussions with three convention organisers this morning and will be announcing more con dates soon. I'm pleased to say I'll be attending 10 events so far in 2017, all over England, (and one, I've already announced, in Northern Ireland for the Enniskillen Comic Fest). 

I'll be doing at least one a month from April through to November, with the exception (so far) of August. More news soon. 

New event!

I'm very pleased to announce that I've just been invited as one of the guests at Loughborough Comic-Con 2017, which will take place on Sunday 22nd October. For more info, check out their Facebook page:
https://en-gb.facebook.com/loughboroughcomiccon2017/

Hope to see some of you there!

Eight strips in print this week

Freelancing for various comics and magazines that have different frequencies means that sometimes new issues all come out in the same week. This week being an example, where I have eight different strips in print across four titles.

On Wednesday (February 8th), Toxic No.284 sees the return of Frankendrac in the two-page Team Toxic story. (That's Frankendrac above.) Published by Egmont UK.

The same day sees the Valentines Day themed issue of the Beano in the shops, for which I did Pup Parade and Ivy the Terrible...

Wednesday also brings us Epic No.128, which features four strips drawn by me (written by Niall Murray). Two pages of Hygiene High, plus mini-strips featuring Zombie Sports, Eric Fail, and Terrible Movies...

The following day, Thursday 9th February, sees Doctor Who Magazine No.508 published, which includes The Daft Dimension...

Toxic, Beano, Epic, and Doctor Who Magazine are all available from newsagents and supermarkets across the UK.

STIKKUMS!

If any of you have young children or nieces and nephews, the Stikkums app that I did the artwork for might be ideal. There's now a "lite" version that's completely free, (then you pay 99p for each add-on pack) or a "premium" version (only £2.99) that comes with all the add-ons. In basic terms it's like a digital version of the Letraset Action Transfers, but with the advantage that you can move the characters around, resize them, flip them, colour them, and create as many scenes as you like.

Here's the info at the Stikkums website:
http://www.stikkums.com

Advance Peeps

I have quite a few strips in print next week so here's a sneak preview of one in advance. The next Beano will have a Valentines Day theme (and will be bagged with gifts). Here's a panel from Pup Parade, where Peeps receives a Valentines Day card. Who's her secret admirer? Find out when the issue goes on sale on February 8th!

SHAKE!

Here's a comparison between a photo of my original art and my finished version after I'd coloured it in Photoshop. As you can see, I do the roughs using blue pencil, and the scanner only picks up the black inks, not the pencils, which saves hours a year in erasing. 

You can see the published version in Pup Parade in the latest Beano, No.3870, on sale now!