Eek, Sheep!

 SUPER BAAAAAAAAD! My new collaboration with the MIGHTY Danny Pearson, 'Eek Sheep!' is out NOW! Expect wooly mayhem, seaside adventure & plenty of jelly!

'A community is thrown into chaos as a flock of hungry sheep take over the local town and cause mayhem! All the people want to do is live in peace once again, but who will be brave enough to stand up to this wacky woolly army?'

You can order a copy here!

(I TOLD you there'd be plenty of jelly!)

 

(You might just find a certain illustrator lurking on the cover too if you look carefully!)

Happy 80th birthday to The Beano!

Happy 80th birthday to The Beano! I loved it as a kid & was extremely honoured to add my own contribution in the form of the 6 Diary of Dennis The Menace books written by Steven Butler for Puffin Books. Huge fun to add my own spin to some of these iconic characters!

Imagine Children's Festival with Harry Hill

I had great fun at the Imagine Children's Festival at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 17th February with the very funny Harry Hill promoting his new book 'Harry Hill presents Matt Millz' illustrated by me.

Harry entertained the crowd with an hour of jokes, clarinet-playing mayhem & a joke contest, while
I was live drawing onstage - everything from dancing cucumbers, comedians' eyes to how I draw Matt Millz. I also discussed how my childhood obsession with drawing, dinosaurs & Doctor Who helped my decision  to become an illustrator (I realised I couldn't be a dinosaur when I grew up & I'm STILL waiting for the Doctor Who call!)

Afterwards we signed (lots of) books & posed for lots of selfies with the kids (I just about have the feeling back in my signing hand now!)

(Many thanks to Iain Sawbridge from The Beano for compering & saying some very flattering things & Hannah Love from Faber for all her hard work)

 My very own dressing room!

Drawing dancing cucumbers

Diary of Dennis The Menace - The Great Escape published TODAY!

It's publication day for the 6th Diary of Dennis the Menace book - The Great Escape written by Steven Butler with illustrations by me.

In this story, Dennis the Menace - Prankmaster General and feared enemy of softies everywhere - has been sent to Posh Street, an elite boarding school run by the terrifying Mrs Snoot. Help! Dennis is surrounded by bookish boffins, can't hang out with the Bash Street Kids and is nearly starving as the school dining room only serves super-healthy food. What he needs is a plan. With a little help from his menacing buddies on the outside, some fart pellets and Gran on a Charley Davison bike, it's time for Dennis to make his great escape . . .

Very sadly I recently found out that this is going to be the last Dennis the Menace book I'll be drawing. It's been a huge amount of fun & I've absolutely loved the chance to be able to reinterpret a childhood hero of mine in the books. I've also thoroughly enjoyed working with the lovely Steven Butler (any author who can make me laugh out loud with the manuscript is ALWAYS a good sign!) & lots of thanks to all the people at Puffin & The Beano.

Doctor Menace!

As it's Doctor Who's 52nd birthday today. I sometimes like to sneak the odd extraneous detail into book illustrations for the eagle eyed... (& slightly geeky) This is from The Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage

Then there were six!

I've illustrated six Diary of Dennis the Menace so far - nice to see them all lined up together!

Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage

The new Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage written by Steven Butler & illustrated by my good self is published today!

Mighty menaces, disaster has struck! Gnasher's got himself into REAL trouble this time.

If he's not careful, DENNIS AND THE DINMAKERS are going to be kicked out of THE FAME FACTOR competition. And with our rockin' tunes, we're guaranteed winners!

I have to do something to help Gnasher out - before he ends up in the doghouse for good!

So who's the 'Greatest rockstar on the planet' huh?

(I had a lot of fun with this one - hope you enjoy it)

Malevolent menace (with raygun) part 2

This is going to be some lucky kid's present this year (the picture, not the raygun!)
(Dennis the Menace & Gnasher © D C Thomson Ltd)

Bash Street Bandits!

I'm currently in the middle of drawing the inside illustrations for this for this but here's a sneak peek at the cover for the next Diary of Dennis the Menace book 'Bash Street Bandit!' written by Steven Butler & published by Puffin Books & will be in the shops in February 2015!

Dennis the Menace - Rollercoaster Riot!

 Diary of Dennis the Menace 3 - Rollercoaster Riot written by Steven Butler & scribbled all over by me is published today by Puffin books!

All aboard THE VOMIT COMET! Guess what fellow menaces - The World's Biggest Rollercoaster is opening in Beanoland this summer! I just need to win an easy-peasy competition to be the first Bash Street School student to ride it - and I might have to trick a few Softies as well . . .

As usual this has been a riot to draw (see what I did there?) & am looking forward to the next book immensely - KEEP MENACING KIDS!

How to draw Dennis the Menace and Gnasher

Me pulling some stupid faces & demonstrating some drawing stuff & nonsense

PS...this is my REAL drawing face

The Diary of Dennis the Menace - Beanotown Battle out now!

The second Diary of Dennis the Menace 'Beanotown Battle' written by Stephen Butler, illustrated by me & published by Puffin books is out now. In this one the boring Mayor has entered Beanotown in a flower comptetition, & you know what flowers attract? SOFTIES!

Dennis & Gnasher have to think of a brilliant emergency menacing plan to save Beanotown from the softy invasion! (warning some of these images may contain SPOILERS!)
In this book I got a chance to draw some of Dennis's friends who might look vaguely familiar & as with the previous book I've been thoroughly enjoying getting to reinterpret some iconic Beano characters again. Stephen Butler's writing is nicely funny & anarchic & great fun to illustrate & again a big nod to Mandy Norman the designer because the books look great!

You can order the book online but why not pop over to your nearest PROPER BOOKSHOP & buy it from there because that's a lot more fun than being hunched over a computer any day!

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!