It's A Wrap - Findlay Macbeth drawn!

Hooray - it's a wrap, I've finished drawing Findlay Macbeth. 125 pages drawn since Jan 3rd (which, stat fans, averages as 3 pages a day, even including the days when I didn't draw a thing. See the full worksheet here).

So now I have to get it ready to print, get an ISBN number, check it all over, and do that Kickstarter I've been talking about since I wrote it in December. Lots to do.

Oh, and I'm about to get busy with schools, and the Socks are making their return with (supposedly) a new show, so it's really good that I managed to get this done in the only realistic window of drawing time I was going to have for months. Time to get busy doing the hard bit.

I'm so pleased with the writing, and pretty pleased with the artwork. That is to say, parts of the art is excellent, and other parts are a good indication of what my artwork looks like. You know, I'm not as good as the great comic artists I grew up on, but I have a quirky if variable style and, dammit, it tells the story regardless of what you might think about the idiosyncratic technique (and I won't be writing that in the blurb or the publicity by the way). And by god it's been great fun.

I forget how much I enjoy drawing comic strips until I get the chance to do it, and then nothing feels better. And finishing on deadline, like I just did today, is one of the greatest feelings. Obviously I've not been paid to draw this book, so I'm going to have to sell a shedload of them to justify a month and a week spent hunched over a drawing board making pretty pictures. Let us see how I get on shall we?

I recorded a bit of video at the Cartoon Museum on Sunday, where I was doing a Comic Art Masterclass, which should act as the start of my Kickstarter promo. Just another thing on the Things To Do list. Stay tuned.

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. His debut graphic novel Findlay Macbeth comes out in 2020. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here.