Splashing into the streets

Wet night in Soho last night reminded me of the line 'The boys just dive right off the cars
And splash into the street' from Time by Tom Waits (very little relevance apart from that but it's always good to have context)

Diary of Dennis the Menace - available now!

Some time in early May last year I was contacted by my agent to say that Puffin were looking for someone to give a 'new illustrative approach' to Dennis the Menace for a series of books written by award winning children's author of 'The Wrong Pong' Steven Butler.
I paused from sipping a large gold flecked martini on my yacht, waved away a palm frond bearing serving girl & thought '...hmmm, draw one of my childhood heroes...HELL YEAH!'

*montage of furious scribbling, various life events, getting an invite to the Beano 75th birthday party, uplifting music etc.*

...& so, the first book, The Diary Of Dennis The Menace is published today, it's very funny, keeping the right level of mischief & chaos (you bumfaces you!) nicely designed by Mandy Norman, & the pictures ain't too shabby either.
Has been an extremely enjoyable job, I dearly wish my mum was still around so I could proudly present her with a copy.
Here's a few of the pictures (I got to draw a few other old favourites too! : )

(Puffin Books, TM © DC Thomson & Co. Ltd.)

I've just received my copies of Diary Of Dennis the Menace!

Very excited to have just received my copies of The Diary of Dennis The Menace written by the very funny Steven Butler , drawn by me & published by Puffin books. They look superb, congrats to Mandy Norman for a lovely design job - it's published on 6th February so I shouldn't really give you a peek but I'm very excited...this is how I feel... DING! DONG!* : )

*If you're a fan club member you'll KNOW what this means!

Diary of Dennis the Menace...coming very soon!

The Diary of Dennis the Menace is out on the 6th February published by Puffin books - the very clever Steven Butler (@sbutlerbooks) done the writing stuff & I done all the pictures - save up your pocket money kids!

Diary of Dennis the Menace in The Bookseller

Fame at last!* Article in The Bookseller about Diary of Dennis the Menace by Stephen Butler, & illustrated by me - out in February!

(* not strictly true, I won a tenner for a drawing of Judge Dredd in the 1982 Judge Dredd annual too & I've been on the telly!)

My monster from The Big Draw at the Discover Story Centre

Had a great time at the Big Draw event at the Discover Story Centre yesterday, organised by my agents Arena Illustration & thoroughly enjoyed watching other people draw for a change!
Jonny Duddle, Adam Stower & Thomas Flintham all did a fine job & was great to meet author Timothy Knapman who I'm going to be working with on a new book for Scholastic.
(I drew a monster too)

I didn't win a prize. Upstaged by 7 year olds! ; )

Scary yeti!

Does what it says on the tin...

The Diary of Dennis the Menace

Very excited to say that I've been let loose & allowed to get messy with one of my favourite comic characters! I've been extremely thrilled to be illustrating the covers & insides of this new series of Dennis the Menace books written by the very charming Steven Butler - here's the first cover.
Very pleased to announce that Dennis is at his menacing softy-baiting best!

You can pre-order a copy here or else go & buy it from a PROPER bookshop which is a far more edifying & enjoyable experience, you might meet somebody nice or find another book that you'd have never seen otherwise!

Long yetis & short yetis...

I've been colouring in yetis on holiday, who knows what yetis look like anyway?

Astronauts!

This is what space ACTUALLY looks like kids! (yes, & of course the moon's made of cheese dummy!)

Holidays!

NB no crustaceans were harmed in the making of this picture (that sandcastle got well f***ed up though!)

Parp! Parp!

Parp! Parp!

Bear / monkey percussion fusion ensemble

If this picture was a noise it'd be WELL LOUD!

BOOM! BOOM!

Yeti pancake disaster

Happy pancake!

Zombies - before & after

It's always nice to get the final copy of a book sent through!
 It suddenly inspired me to look at the stages this cover went through from my (rather maximalist) original rough (top) to my final artwork (less zombies, less superheroes) to the final book where the (decidedly more minimalist) zombies seem to have acquired a rather fetching shade of green!

WHAM-BAM-JELLY-AND-JAM! - Cartoon Kid - ZOMBIES!

I just received my copy of the new Jeremy Strong Cartoon Kid book - Cartoon Kid Zombies!
It's got falling trousers, dancing hippos, talking cakes, police elephants (naturally!) toilet paper mummies & lots of other zombie based shenanigans that Casper & his superhero friends encounter - what more do you need?

It's been a lot of hard work & a lot of fun working on these books & this looks like this will be the last in the series which is a shame (especially as I can draw some of the characters in my sleep by now!) & I've grown quite fond of them.
WHAM-BAM-JELLY-AND-JAM! Anybody can be a superhero! (as long as you stick your pants on the outside, I ALWAYS do!)

You can buy a copy from here but I'd suggest getting one from your local PROPER bookshop - who knows what else you might find?

Elephant in spacesuit

Continuing the Friday space suit theme...

Advent of unwanted gifts #2

Nice tie.

Advent of unwanted gifts #1

Xmas jumper