Appearing between 2004 and 2011, Derek The Sheep is the Beano‘s first and only creator-owned strip.

In 2008, Bloomsbury published the first 13 Beano strips in a handsome book. It was also published in France by L’Edition de L’an 2, under the moniker Norbert Le Mouton. Derek’s book was chosen as Booktrust’s 2009 Booked Up Picture Book Option and listed as 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die.

In 2017 Gary reprinted a new edition of Derek The Sheep, as Derek The Sheep: Let’s Bee Friends, under his new imprint Bog Eyed Books. Further volumes will follow in 2018 and 2019, finally completing Derek’s acclaimed Beano run in book form.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Ah bliss! Gary is chilling in his Garden. But wait!! Look CLOSER! Look what’s happening right under Gary’s NOSE…Grumpy Caterpillars! Space travelling ladybirds! Ninja Hedgehogs! PARP! What was that? An insect orchestra – wow! HAHAHA! And what’s that? It’s all the laughter coming out of GARY’S GARDEN – why don’t you come and see?

CLICK PICS FOR STRIPS!

“Without a doubt one of the best comic books I’ve ever read…Every one of these stories is utterly brilliant and made me laugh, though of course the whole book is a bit genius! 10/10” – Wondrous Reads

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Last week ushered in the exciting news that Gary’s Garden became my SECOND book to hit the shores of the good ol’ U.S of A (the first of course being Julius Zebra out from Candlewick in April). Gary’s Garden is published by Scholastic and is the second Phoenix collection to dip its toes into the American market, after Jamie Smart’s juggernaut of a book, Bunny Vs Monkey came out in January.

Larry ‘Ladybug’?! You crazy yanks and yer funny language!

What I’m particularly excited about is that Gary’s Garden is my first COMIC out in America and that means I get jolly mentions on websites that I admire and have been following for years (I’m a BIG fan of American comics, old and new).

Me admiring my lovely American comics.

This includes The Comics Journal, an esteemed publication which I used to devour when it was a printed magazine and is now a great online resource for news and articles on the comic form, and where this week Gary’s Garden is a Spotlight Pick! Hooray!

And I also spotted that the book got an honourable mention on Tom Spurgeon’s essential Comics Reporter news site on last week’s New And Notable Releases. Thanks Tom!

Both these mentions are greatly appreciated, but what was especially nice to see is that both sites were very aware of the Phoenix Comic, which is very encouraging. Let’s hope both Gary’s Garden and Bunny Vs Monkey do well over in America and then we can bombard them with all the OTHER delights that fill that wondrous weekly comic!

Also, excitingly, if you like reading comics on a computer or ipad, thanks to the Scholastic edition, you can now read Gary’s Garden on Comixology!

“Hahaha!! That spider said BUM!!”

……………………………….

In other (completely unrelated) news, I just had one of my tweets featured on a news site!! Woohoo!! Check it out!

(Scroll down a bit, fifth tweet down.)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/eastenders-viewers-react-sam-mitchell-8320645?

Sam Mk I and …er… Mk III

Forget comics, THIS is PROPER fame!

I would often admire from afar the likes of Jamie Smart and Andy Fanton regularly having their sharp witticisms being displayed on national news sites and cried myself to sleep, knowing that it would never happen to me.

BUT NOW IT HAS AND I AM NOW OFFICIALLY FUNNY!!!

It’s a shame it was a tweet about Eastenders, but it’s a steep learning curve and all that. Next time it will be about Jeremy Corbyn or Michael Gove and then I’ll be asked onto important TV shows to regale Andrew Marr or whoever with my ingenious observations.

Just you wait.

Save

Save

Save

Save

“The Unkindness of Ravens” by Glen Mehn

Last year I was very excited (and honoured) to be asked to contribute illustrations to Jurassic London‘s Pandemonium: Stories Of The Smoke, a short story anthology, inspired by Charles Dickens and his legacy and published to celebrate Charles Dickens bicentennial. Edited by those awesome dudes over at Pornokitsch, Jared Shurin and Anne Perry, it is a fascinating and brilliant collection of stories, whereby the authors took on the subject of London and gave it their own mind-boggling, fantastical twists, from the “Past, present and (very far) future” (to quote from the website).

“Uncle Smoke” by Archie Black

Stories of the Smoke features some of the best up and coming young writers in speculative fiction, including Jonathan Green, Lavie Tidhar, Adam Roberts, Esther Saxey and many more (check the list here).

I must confess, having had my head stuck in comics for many years now, I was completely unfamiliar with modern literary short story-telling, so I grabbed at the chance to work on something wholly different from my usual fare and loved every second of it! I got the chance to draw the Walrus from the Horniman Museum, (how could I pass up that opportunity?!) AND I drew the rotting head of Oliver Cromwell. Good times!

“The Collection” by Esther Saxey

I was well into my stride with using a good old-fashioned dip pen at that point and the editors and I felt it was the natural medium for scribbling the Dickens-esque illustrations that were needed. Scattered throughout this blogpost are all six of my drawings for the book (plus the one for a companion e-book Pandemonium: Fire).

“The Pickwick Syndrome” by Kaaron Warren

Stories Of The Smoke sold out of it’s hard back run very early on, but has been available for Kindle and Kobo for nearly a year now. By the end of this month, April 2013,  you won’t even be able to download it from those places, having come to the end of it’s one year shelf life.

“Martin Citywit” by Adam Roberts

So, if you have an e-reader, then I’d recommend you go download yourself a copy sharpish!

Kindle (US / Int’l): $4.99 (Amazon)
Kindle (UK): £3.99 (Amazon)
Kobo: £3.99 (Kobo)

“A Brief History of the Great Pubs of London” by Lavie Tidhar

A small portion of the proceeds from Stories of The Smoke is donated to English PEN, who “work to defend and promote free expression, and to remove barriers to literature”, so a cause very worthy of your support.

And don’t forget the companion e-book Pandemonium: Fire, with my jolly picture of a cow on the front cover! Kindle (US / UK) | Kobo

Sketches by Zob by Osgood Vance

Is it possible to fly to the moon in a bubble of snot? Can you really have an argument with a cloud? Are there bogey monsters at the bottom of the garden? All these questions and more are explored in an hysterical and charming collection of comic strip adventures, following a teeny tiny gang of dinosaurs as they wind each other up and muddle their way through the myths and mysteries of prehistoric life.

“…Very charming, VERY funny, and beautifully drawn…” Philip Reeve, author of Mortal Engines, Goblins and Oliver and the Seawigs. More here.

“One of our funniest family reads this year.” Playingbythebook.net More here.

“Exuberant, ebullient and stoopid to boot, this has stampeded to the top of my Babel of books to be recommended to all young and impressionable minds” Stephen Holland, Page 45 More here.

“The Terrible Tales of the Teenytinysaurs! is an absolute gem of all-ages storytelling – vibrant, animated and utterly endearing.” Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier More here.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

BOOK LAUNCH BLOG POST July 2013

It must be said, that the last two or three months have been pretty hectic, what with the launch of my jolly new book Terrible Tales Of The Teenytinysaurs, and all the events that I’ve been organising, or invited to, around it.

I was greedy enough to have TWO book launches for Teenytinysaurs, the first on the day of the launch, 2nd May at the brilliant Bookseller Crow in Crystal Palace (complete with Teenytinysaurs cardboard cutouts!).

AAIIEE! Big dinosaurs roaming Crystal Palace! (Nothing new there, then…)

Alex Milway and his daughter Cecily tuck into their homemade dino biscuits!

Some loverly flowers from my editor Lizzie Spratt at Walker.

Fleecestation in the house. And what a beautiful Stegosaurus hat! (Photo © Sarah McIntyre)

Then I had ANOTHER one nice ‘n’ central on the 31st May at Gosh Comics, the most awesomest comic shop in London! (FACT!)

Getting stuck in to some obviously hilarious drawings at my Gosh launch! (Photo © Nicky Evans)

Scrummy Teenytinysaurs cakes made by my very own sister! (Photo © Lauren O’Farrell)

Both Bookseller Crow and Gosh have been fantastic support for me over the years, with Derek The Sheep and The Phoenix, so I was really chuffed to have launches at two of my favourite shops. The two events were brilliant and we sold plenty of copies at both, so thank you to everyone who came along and to John, Justine and Karen at Bookseller Crow; Tom, Julia, Hayley, Josh, Andrew, Steve and Mike at Gosh and to Hannah and Paul at Walker for making it all possible.

(John at Bookseller Crow even told me that if it wasn’t for the fact that someone’s proud dad had bought 40 copies of their son’s book, Teenytinysaurs would be their no.1 bestselling book for the last two months! Woohoo! Get in!).

A small selection of the (probable) billion copies sold so far.

If you missed my brillskillz book launches, then keep an eye on my events page for exciting appearances at Festivals and Comic Cons around the country! Bring Tangfastics!

And if you’re STILL not convinced that you need a copy of Teenytinysaurs in your life (how very dare you), then check out these cracking reviews from Philip Reeve, Forbidden Planet, Page 45 and Playing By The Book (including mindblowing home-made video!). I also did a little interview about the book with fellow Fleece Station studio mate, Sarah McIntyre!

Check out my teaser work-in-progress gallery!

Save

Save

Save

Save

Writing and drawing comic stories about Heroes and Heroines from history for National Geographic Kids since 2008. Many stories reprinted in Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and South Africa. Winner of “Best Magazine Feature” at the National Geographic Awards in Washington, 2012.

Albert Einstein                                                                           Amelia Earhart

Martin Luther King                                                                     Anne Frank

Captain Scott                                                                             Emmeline Pankhurst

William Shakespeare

Save

I regularly visit schools and libraries, teaching kids of all ages and abilities how to draw comics and cartoon characters.

Due to the popularity of Julius Zebra, I am in extremely high demand for schools and libraries, so bear with me as I fight through my emails. If you don’t hear back from me after a week, then please do give me a friendly nudge!

Please fill in the form below to request more details, thank you!

Save

Save

Little Cutie appeared in the much-loved, and much-missed, DFC weekly comic in 2008-2009.

Save

I’ve been making crazy little mini comics since 1999. More details soon!