Thursday was World Book Day, which makes this, I assume, World Book Week. It's certainly the week on the calendar when my Comic Art Masterclasses are most in demand, as you can see from these, the fruits of five solid days visiting schools. Kicking off with St Ambrose Barlow in Birmingham who had me doing two Mega Groups.
My class is usually done with a maximum of 30 pupils, each of whom goes away with a comic containing a strip by everyone, and an individual caricature. A Mega Group, which I do reluctantly but have to sometimes, involves bringing two classes together in the hall for the initial demo part of the session, then they break off into their separate classes to draw their characters, return to the hall for the second demo part (wherein a celebrity treads on a worm in my demonstration strip), then back to their classes to draw their strips. I join the first class and lead them in naming the group comic, then I join the second class who get their caricatures drawn. Finally I print off two different versions of the comic, containing the two classes' different strips. The end results look pretty damn good, though I say so myself.
From Birmingham, it was then a four-and-a-bit hour drive to Cumbria, where I stayed over in Bassenthwaite, ready for the next day's classes at Beckstone Primary in Harrington. Lovely kids, lovely comics, and a five and a half hour drive home.
From the mileage of Cumbria, to the luxury of a school that was only 25 minutes from home, Elmlea Juniors in Bristol. Of course, thanks to rush hour traffic, I managed to be 25 minutes late. The two delightful classes came up with possibly the most random title of the week and a Brexit metaphor, which was quite good going for year 3 and 4.
Lochinver House in Potters Bar, a private boys school, was inevitably the poshest and best connected of the week. Apparently Martin Freeman's kids go there, as do the sons of a number of football players. Which might explain why there were so many suggestions of footballers I'd never heard of when it came to naming a celebrity. We ended up with Billy Sharp. Me neither. After I'd finished these classes I had to get into London to appear on stage at the British Library with David Sedaris, Helen Fielding and Nina Stibbe, about which I'm sure I'll write more.
The week ended at Newton Ferrers Primary in Devon, with another almost Mega Group (in fact it was one big group of 42 kids in the hall, with whom I produced an oversized comic, again with deceptive ease) and a normal sized class. A good week's comic teaching, and ten lovely artefacts to show for it.
The celebrities these ten groups chose to star in my demonstration strip were Donald Trump (3 times), Ariana Grande (twice), Freddie Mercury, Billy Sharp (plays for Sheffield United apparently), Amy Tinkler (Olympian of some sort), Bob Marley, and Melania Trump.
Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres. email for details. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here.
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