Macaroni Chimpanzee - a week's comics by kids in NI

Five days of classes in art centres in Northern Ireland? Yes please. Here are the comics created with kids in Cookstown, Enniskillen and Omagh. And..

... Portstewart and Newtownards. In this blog here I've recorded the books I sold to the kids afterwards, which was a nice bonus. But of course it's all about the kids and their comics. Look at the marvellous stuff they came up with.

Burnavon Arts in Cookstown was my first time there in two years. A couple of sellout classes and the first Peppa Pig title of the week. This had me worrying there was going to be a lot of that.

The Ardhowen Theatre in Enniskillen is the venue I've visited most often in Northern Ireland. I lose count of how often I've been, but it must be half a dozen by now. They came up with two of the most inspiring titles of the week, Peppa Pig notwithstanding.

Strule Arts in Omagh is another that I've visited a few times, which made it all the more surprising that they'd only managed to sell three tickets for the morning and twelve for the afternoon. It was here that I discovered Omagh has no bookshop and no newsagents, and neither it seems does Enniskillen. This means there's nowhere in those towns to buy a Beano, let alone a Dogman or a BunnyVs Monkey. That does mean that, technically, in those towns on those two days, I outsold The Beano, Dav Pilkey and Jamie Smart. A pyrrhic victory.

Sadly I didn't see The Giants Causeway while I was up in Portstewart, a first time visit to Flowerfield Arts. I saw a bit of the rocks near Portstewart itself, but it was too cold and windy to venture further. Next time. The comics inspired a couple of nifty covers, and were my most highly priced classes. £25 a ticket? And both classes sold out. Reader, I did the classes on a fixed fee, not a door split.

The final day of the week was a return to Ards Arts in Newtownards, where I've been going since 2016 (one of the few places in NI where I've done both classes and a Socks show). Another pair of sold out classes and some wonderful comic productions. That second title, Catanajo Gie Song, was one of those examples of a kid trying to write one thing and it coming out totally incomprehensible. We'll never know what the poor child was going for.

The celebrities that these ten groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Rick Astley, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Mr Beast, Leonardo DiCaprio, Eminem, Ryan Reynolds, Donald Trump, George Washington, David Attenborough, and Michael Jackson.

My Books and where to get them:

Richard The Third - Amazon - Etsy - Barnes & Noble - Waterstones

Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy - Kindle
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon - Etsy 

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Paperback

Sweet Smell Of Sockcess - Putting A Show On At The Edinburgh Fringe - Amazon - ebook

Who Notes - Doctor Who Reviews - Amazon - Lulu - ebook

Space Elain - Amazon - Lulu - iBooks - Barnes & Noble 

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy - Webtoons

The Book Of Esther - Lulu  - Amazon - Webtoons

Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories - Amazon

Captain Clevedon - Amazon

Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon  

2023's Comics By Kids, 2022's Comics By Kids

Colouring Books: Punk, Cult TV, Eurovision Vol 1, Eurovision Vol 2, Eurovision Best Of British & Irish, 1960s Pop, 1970s Pop, 1980s Pop,  1990s Pop, 2020s Pop, Bowie, Scottish Pop, Doctors Who