My most recent Comic Art Masterclasses have taken me from Bexleyheath to Battersea, via Dartford and Coventry, and what a smashing little bunch of comics they've thrown up along the way.
At Bexleyheath Library in the morning, and Crayford in the afternoon, these were the fruits of a pair of sold out half term classes.
These two covers, produced at Exhall Grange school in Coventry, show the two extremes I can get with class suggestions. Little Jimmy, not a bad title, led me to quite an uninspired drawing. While Ronald McDonald and his epic title led me to a nifty drawing of the man himself. Unfortunately, when I came to colouring it later, I didn't notice until too late that I was colouring the version without the kids little doodles on. Sometimes I think these are a vital part of the texture of the background. Clearly it doesn't bother me so much that I even notice when it's not there sometimes!
L'Ecole De Battersea was an interesting school, in that, as its name might suggest, the pupils speak French. Luckily they also speak English so I was able to do the classes as normal. Another interesting quirk came up when, while scattering a range of comics around the room (mostly generic comics of all sorts, but including my own books) I was about to hand out a copy of my Comic Tales From The Bible, when I was stopped by the head teacher, who happened to be there. We can't, I was told, let the kids have stuff like that. They have a very strict secular thing in France and, by extension, in French schools, so Bible stories are very much not on the table. Literally. I should imagine, if I'd have produced the illustrated story of the life of Mohammed, I'd have been in similar difficulty. Good classes and great school by the way, even though they'll never experience the joy of my Jael Wife Of Heber.
Leigh Academy in Dartford brought up another interesting development, which I must look into further. The kids were able to pre-order my books and pay for them by something called Parent Pay. Thus I sold and signed a dozen Richard The Thirds after the two classes. I must look into whether other schools have a system like this. Cos this could revolutionise my book sales. (A dozen books per school last year, for example, would have added up to nearly 1000 books sold. I have very much got Parent Pay on my Things To Bring Up In Conversation list).
The celebrities these eight classes suggested to star in my demonstration strip were: Mr Beast (twice at the same school), Michael Jackson (twice, also at the same school), Ant McPartlin, Andrew Garfield, Albert Einstein, and Lionel Messi.
My Books and where to get them:
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