Hastings Book Festival 2025

 

I was really happy to be invited back to my hometown for the Hastings Book Festival where I did some live drawing, illustration chat & conducted draw-alongs for the kids (& their grown ups) 

I demonstrated how cats eats pizza from pizza trees & showed everybody how to draw Professor Poo & Ploppy from Poo Crew Adventures - Journey to Pootopia my graphic novel with James Turner. I also got to sign some books & chat to a few folk afterwards which is always really pleasurable & rewarding!

Thanks to everyone who made me so welcome, wishing Hasting Book Festival the very best - I want to come back next year!

Guinness Book of Records 2026

Published this week: the GUINESS WORLD RECORDS 2026! I had the pleasure of creating a comic-strip rendition of conservation crusader Aneeshwar Kunchala - commissioned by Guinness World Records to celebrate him being the world’s youngest documentary presenter!

'Eco-hero Aneeshwar Kunchala is the youngest documentary presenter and Guinness World Record Holder aged 7 years 288 days. He's on a mission to protect our planet, the keen naturalist urges others to do the same on TV, online and in print. This comic strip was commissioned by Guiness World Records 2026 to celebrate his achievements.'

More here on my agent's page

More Monster Facts

Monster Fact: Monsters are prone to growing alarmingly & therefore rarely wear clothes. 

If you meet a clothed monster it's liable that the clothes belonged to a recent meal & it is advisable to RUN!

Do you like monsters?
Do you like facts?

More MONSTER FACTS HERE

 

Homage to Mick McMahon

I don't usually post 'fan art' but I drew this recently as an homage to the great Mick McMahon which gives a nod to his magnificent iconic depiction of Judge Dredd along with a reference to Junkyard Demon a strip he drew for Marvel's Doctor Who Weekly which featured a typically idiosyncratic take on Tom Baker's Doctor & a wonderfully baggy Cyberman. 
I first encountered his work in 2000AD when I was about 10 years old & initially loathed his work which seemed 'odd' to 10 year old me!  Very soon after I gradually 'got' his work & he swiftly became one of my favourite artists. Always willing to experiment & move on, his work is continuously fascinating to me & an incredibly strong influence on me. 
I met him when I was 11 years old & he drew me a picture in my autograph book which I treasure. I met him again in 2017 at the 2000AD 40th birthday & he was incredibly gracious.

My Hammerstein, drawn by Mick in my autograph book 1980

 

Me & Mick at the 2000AD 40th birthday party.

More Monster Facts

 Monster Fact: Vegetarianism is extremely rare in monsters. Their favourite food is invariably YOU.

#MonsterFacts

More Monster Facts

 Monster Fact : Monsters do not receive mandatory holiday pay & rarely take time off - it is considered wise not to disturb them when they do*

*This also applies to freelance illustrators, crocodiles et al.

Dogs, as EVERYBODY knows have Wednesday afternoons off.

St Austell Festival of Childrens Literature.

I had a wonderful couple of days down in Cornwall at the St Austell Festival of Childrens Literature. 

On Friday I visited Newquay Junior Academy where the kids & staff gave me a lovely welcome (& I also met their lovely school dog Nelly!)

(my drawing of Nelly the dog, a talking cat, a seagull with its bag of chips & a dog eating a sausage)

During the event I talked to the kids about how I became an illustrator (via roadying for bands among other things!)  & introduced our graphic novel Poo Crew Adventures: Journey to Poo-topia, a fast-paced adventure, which brings together clever, funny storytelling with lots of amazing facts and taps into kids’ fascination with all things poo-related & I PROVED that poo is THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT IN THE WORLD!

We also had a game of ‘Poo or True?’

A draw-a-long of the book’s protagonist Ploppy with some great drawings from the kids!

I also gave a behind the scenes look at what goes into illustrating a narrative non-fiction graphic novel, answered some great questions from the children & signed LOTS of books.

On Saturday I took part in The Big Draw Off - A Graphic Novel Showdown Like No Other! with author illustrator Steve Webb which was brilliantly compered by JoJo Silva from Capital Xtra.

We both talked about our work & then were set various drawing challenges getting prompts from audience members & also creating characters based on audience members with hilarious results - a really fun interactive event (& not often you get to shout 'poo!' in a church!)

Big thanks to everyone involved to make it such a brilliant festival! I hope I'll get invited back!

If you'd like me to visit your school or your festival please contact me on info@stevemay,biz

 (in training for The Big Draw Off)

(A pictorial Steve (May) & Steve (Webb) in the beautiful Holy Trinity Church, St Austell)

(The two Steves & JoJo our compère)