Pink Noir & Leafy Greens - comics by kids

A clutch of comics by kids, and families, in my Comic Art Masterclasses this month in Leicester, Camden, Bow and Salford.

The common thread linking these three days' worth of comics is that the classes were all free. In contrast to last month's classes in Northern Ireland, where tickets ranged from £8 to a staggering £30 a pop (no, I wasn't on a doorsplit), and last month's Nottingham classes where I charged £10 a ticket and was on a doorsplit (no, I didn't remember to add Eventbrite's fee on top). This time the classes were all funded by their respective local libraries and authorities, to enable access to kids and families who wouldn't be necessarily able to afford the tickets. 

In Portstewart last month, at £30 a ticket, we sold out two classes. In these six instances, where the classes were free, we got very low turnouts indeed. These two Leicester examples, at Central Library, had nine and twelve attendees, when I can accommodate up to thirty. They did great work, and were fun to work with. I just wish I could have reached more of them.

Camden libraries arranged for me classes at Kentish Town and Swiss Cottage libraries, both of which have magnificent facilities, but neither of which attracted vast hordes. I had the parents join in with the classes, you can see their drawings in the backgrounds of the front covers along with the kids, in order to boost the numbers. Swiss Cottage library's class had only three actual children in it.

The classes at Bow and Poplar libraries mostly involved dragging in kids who'd come to the library without knowing a class was going to be taking place. One pair of kids were in attendance while their Mum was having a Citizens Advice meeting next door. They had great fun, all of these groups, and produced great work by the way. And thanks to all these libraries for having me. What we've really demonstrated is a frustrating but common feature of the promotion of classes for kids: if it's ticketed, they mostly come, and indeed clamour to the point of sellout quite regularly, and when it's free you hardly ever get a lot of kids there. Hey ho, we do what we can.

As if to prove the theory, these two classes in Eccles and Swinton libraries were ticketed and paid for (I failed to ask how much they charged) and they had good numbers (fourteen and sixteen, plus the parents who watched, and then bought books afterwards). Not sellouts, but just that bit bigger than the free classes. And if the surrounding area of a library is anything to go by, if anyone needed free classes it'd be the kids of Swinton which has, at first glance, seen better days. Quite possibly the ticket-buying punters come from further afield. 

The celebrities these eight groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip ranged from the predictable - Taylor Swift (twice), Mr Beast, and Sabrina Carpenter  - to the more imaginative - Elvis Presley, Richard The Third (twice), and Sir Francis Drake.

My Books And Where To Find Them...

Richard The Third (Colour) Paperback • signed	Doctors Who? Colouring Paperback • signed	Socks Do Shakespeare Paperback	Kids Comics Annual 2026 Paperback
Richard  The Third (bw) Paperback • signed	Findlay  Macbeth Paperback • signed	Prince of  Denmark Street Paperback • signed	Midsummer Night's  Dream Team Paperback • signed
Shakespeare Omnibus Paperback • signed	Comic Tales From The Bible Paperback • signed	Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories Paperback • signed	Space Elain Paperback • signed
Book Of Esther	Who Notes	Sweet Smell Of Sockcess	Attack Of The Sausages
My 1975 Diary Calendar	Colouring Books Paperback • signed	Scottish Falsetto Socks Annual	Tales Of Nambygate

Colouring Books: Doctors Who, Hollywood Legends, 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, Royalty, Rom Coms