Comics at CBBC Live! BIG Comics.

My esteemed colleague Adam Murphy and I - with able support from Lizzie Payton and Joe Brady of The Phoenix, were recently doing our ambassadorial bit by representing the medium of comics at the CBBC Live event in Newcastle / Gateshead. We ran loads of workshops for kids over three days of the event, worked with countless amazing young artists, and generally had a grand old time. I was doing a bit of this....

...and also a spot of this...

...all in general furtherance of my belief that, you know...

We ALSO took advantage of the kind nature of our hosts, the brilliant Baltic Mill centre for contemporary arts, by basically drawing comics all over their lovely building. And because I am a generous soul, I present them here for you to read!

Here's some festival goers reading the whole thing!

Anyway, that seemed to go quite well, so over the remaining couple of days we decided to have a go at making a REALLY big one. Which I now present here for your enjoyment!

THE END!

In fairness, I told you it was big. Here's a couple of shots of the whole shebang:

Anyway! Lots of fun to do, and a huge pleasure to work with Adam, spending a couple of days writing the story into ludicrous plot holes and then scarpering, leaving the other to dig their way out of it somehow. 

Did you know Adam has a new book coming out? He does! The first collection of his frankly brilliant strip Corpse Talk from the Phoenix is to be published in paperback form, ooh, any day now, but you can pre-order it already! And you absolutely should, because it looks amazing and is highly educational and very funny and honest and, look, I could spend all day gushing about this one, frankly, when what you should really probably do is just go ahead and...

Comics in the Rain

I spent a very jolly afternoon on Bonn Square in Oxford the other day as part of the MCS Arts Festival - the original plan had been to be doing a large-scale comic on a big wall, but sewage works, a last-minute change of venue, and act-of-god level weather conditions conspired against us, so I ended up just drawing some comics on a flipchart. In the rain.

(Here's a note, if ever you are inclined to try drawing comics on a flipchart in the rain: DO NOT DO THAT. Honestly, just go and have a cup of tea or something instead, you'll thank me for it.)

Anyway, despite all that, it ended up being good fun, and with the aid of plot suggestions from passers-by and able assistance from Ryan and Louisa of Broad Canvas, who supplied all the materials, we ended up actually making a comic! Of sorts. Enjoy...

The end! And here's the finished thing, taped up to the side of a WET TENT:

...I included one of the performers at the festival, Jebb the Jester, in the comic, and here he is doing a spot of juggling and unicycling in front of the comic he is a character in: 

Which was a first. 

Thanks to Steve Heywood at Magdalen College School for having me along, and the Louisa and Ryan of Broad Canvas for all the help, and indeed the PENS! The lovely, lovely pens.