Worrisome Wilf

It's a brand-new project by my former Harry Hill comic strip scripting colleague, Séan Baldwin! Don't worry, I've got nothing to do with it! It looks great.
To become a backer or just find out more about it, have a look here
And above all, no worrying!

Very Important International Discussions

...took place in the Balkans on Friday, where a certain Beano colourist and an uncertain Beano cartoonist discussed the matter of Beano cartooning and colouring. No alcohol was consumed during this significant business conflab, which, as you can see, covered many topics and was entirely amenable, mostly productive and partially tax-deductable.

All Greek

Here's the view from my aircraft window, as we circle over Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. Just to left of centre of the picture, that little white dot in the triangular green area on the strand is the White Tower of Philip of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great. So this is where I'll be for the next few days, but don't worry, I'll be back soon, at the drawing board again, refreshed by the Greek food, wine and weather, not to mention the locals. 

Dennis has it Covered!

Recently I've drawn 3 Dennis the Menace stories which start on the cover of the Beano- granted, this is unusual. But the internet has been mildly in turmoil over this, with many asking "When was the last time a Dennis story started on the cover?" and some very silly answers have been given "last time was in 1998" I read somewhere. Ridiculous. I regularly drew such covers throughout 2006, 7 and 8. Here's just one of them, from 2007. I could have selected any one from about three dozen.

Dennis the Cyclist

Here's a poster we did a few months ago which has been published, but not in The Beano- as part of a cycling safety campaign Brake. Just thought I'd post it here for completeness.

 

Lichtenstein? No Thanks.

The latest issue of VIZ takes to task the memory of Roy Lichtenstein, the Pop "Artist" of the 1960s who became very wealthy and was much lauded through his incredible skill and talent in copying from others. The artworld prides itself on 'found objects', and in his case, he 'found' his 'inspiration' in the pages of ephemeral comic books and elevated the images into 'Art'. Except his talent for composition, line, lighting, perspective and colour was as suspect as his moral bankruptcy for appropriation with no mention of the real artistry involved- the draughtsmanship of the likes of Tony Abruzzo, John Severin, Bob Powell Mike Sekowsky, you name 'em.



The real 'genius' of Lichtenstein was in looking at his comic book collection so closely that he spotted this ad on the inside back cover and sent off for one.  It meant he could blow up any image to huge 'wall size' and trace around it. Which he did again and again, never as deftly or confidently or boldly as the original illustrator, but attempting to.




Art critics raved about his 'imagination', his 'foresight' his 'ability to take trash and make it Art' and his 'brilliant captions which both tell a story and hide the truth of his art'. Except he just copied those as well.

End of rant. Thankfully, anyone reading this or this will see that VIZ feels the same way about this charlatan that I do, that Dave Gibbons does, and that you might, too.





[ I 'borrowed' these images from 'Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein' (see it here) which did all the work for me here.
Oh the irony.
However, the invective is all mine].

Uh-Oh! It's Her!

I've been drawing Minnie the Minx in the Beano every week since October, and haven't mentioned it here. Perhaps I should. It's been a great pleasure to draw the little minx, it was always a favourite strip of mine in The Beano, and I'm fairly sure some of her pages from 1958, 59, 60 by the legendary (but real) Leo Baxendale, are amongst the very best and very funniest pages I've ever seen.
Although I've only been doing Minnie regularly for six months or so, I have drawn her before. Minnie The Minx was one of the first pages I drew for the Beano in 1998, ghosting Jim Petrie for five or six episodes, includng a two-parter where Minnie travels to the USA and meets her cousin, who turns out to be an even worse minx. I also did one where Minnie appears on 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'.
More recently, I ghosted a few Ken Harrison-style Minnies and usually feature her in BeanoMAX every month where she appears alongside Dennis, Roger, and some of the Bash Street Kids. 

So when I found out that I would be drawing a regular Minnie, it didn't feel any different at first- but now I feel very honoured to be doing it. Recently, I drew some annual pages too. Most of them have been written by Iain McLaughlin who wrote for Jim Petrie and Ken Harrison too, and he relished devising Minnie's crazed antics.

1963 and all that

My new blog, "1963 and all that"  will hopefully be a nostalgia-fest and an eye-opener, looking back on the events of fifty years ago, some in detail only now possible.
Give it a go!
http://1963andallthat.blogspot.co.uk/

BC- Before Colouring

This is what things look like before they get the magic of colour added- in this case, by Nika. Here are practically the full extent of my colour notes to her back in 2007 when I drew this, destined for a Gibsons jigsaw that year. Anyone seen the finished coloured version?

Longer Countdown Than Expected...

The BBC have decided that Count Arthur Strong's TV series will be better off being premiered in June rather than April- so hold on to your popcorn and relax a couple more months. I'll leave you with the Count's wise words from 2006: "Madmen like that give lunatics a bad name, and that's why headcases get stigmatized, the bloody idiots!"