Having exchanged emails with Emily, my agent who I still have yet to meet face to face, her impression of Twelfth Thing was that it deviates a bit from the Richard The Third style of adaptation. So, as well as showing that to potential publishers, I ought to work up a few pages of something else more like my initial book.
So, this week, I started work on King Lear. I started by rewatching the Anthony Hopkins BBC version, then on Friday morning (Jan 26) I started adapting. By early afternoon I had Act 1 Scene 1 written, with some twists and takes that I'm satisfyingly proud of. And my teatime I'd laid out the first 8 pages. I have next week to draw as much as I can, then we'll be coming up to the Illustrators Showcase in London on Feb , which is where I should meet Emily and we should show off my new work for the first time.
We should, then, be looking at: Richard The Third, revised and expanded; Midsummer Nights Dream, first 52 pages; Twelfth Thing, first 59 pages; and King Lear, however much I can do in the next week.
Weds 31 Jan: Pages 15 - 22 (8 pages) + assembled and coloured King Lear front cover + drew new Midsummer Nights Dream logo, plus buying new presentations books to start printing pages out for next Tuesday's illustrators showcase.
Feb 1 & 2 - Colouring pages for showcase (Midsummer, Twelfth & Lear)
Tues Feb 6th: For illustrators showcase I have:
King Lear - Pages 1 - 12 full colour, 13 - 22 grey coloured backgrounds
It was on Friday morning, 19th January, waking up at 5am in my hotel room (room above a pub) in Enfield ahead of a day in school, that I came up with the idea of Post Office Scandal The Musical. By the time I went to work I'd written the lyrics for Post Office Rhapsody and had designed the first rough idea for a poster, which I tweeted to the world (the ITV base image which I subsequently thought better of).
Since then I've written a few short sketches, a few songs, and recorded a few videos. Below is a list of what we've got so far.
The thing that prompted the writing of the show was the fact that we've sold very few tickets for our three Leicester Comedy Festival shows - something which is not helped by the fact that we appear in the body of the programme, but don't appear in the timetable at the beginning of the book. Which mean that if anyone's planning what to see at, eg, 6.15 on Friday of 7.45 on Saturday, our show doesn't show up as a possibility. Added to this, of course, we're just listed as The New Show, which is not unusual given that I put the show in the programme at the end of last year, at which point I never know what the next year's show is going to be. So let's keep a helpful tally of sales too, shall we.
Sales as of Sat 27 Jan: Fri 23rd 3, Sat 24th 9, Sun 25th 4 Tues 30 Jan: Sales now at 3 / 11 / 4
My first Comic Art Masterclasses of 2024 saw me travelling up north for a three day run in Cheshire Colleges, followed by a day in Enfield. My first classes since November, I soon remembered how to do it.
Ellesmere Port's branch of Cheshire College saw me working with sixth-form age students, as did all three days in Cheshire. For the second session I even managed to sell forty quid's worth of books after the class, a feat I didn't manage to repeat again during the week. Kids don't have money, but that lesson had lots of teaching assistants, who do.
Crewe came up with a couple of inspiring titles, which gave me some nice covers to colour that night in my hotel room. Grouping the classes close together means I don't have too much travelling every day, so I get time to do this colouring, and to forage, and even to watch a bit of telly.
Chester came up with a couple of callback titles, not only to the previous day's Crack, but to one from the end of last year, which was among the covers I showed them, entitled Shooting Someone's Nan. It is an unfortunate thing that, when I show them the previous groups' comics for inspiration, it can sometimes stop them thinking of anything more original themselves (hence the slew of Peppa Pig titles that I have had in previous years. I'm starting the year with a new, smaller clutch of comics to show them, which I hoped wouldn't narrow down their creativity).
Heron Hall in Enfield, which saw me doing a near five hour drive the night before, saw another callback cover to Shooting Someone's Nan. Whatever, I made it look good. And I was particularly pleased with how I managed to interpret Rocket Rat On Drugs.
I started the year as I no doubt mean to go on, trying my best to draw something on the flipchart if the school has provided their own flipchart, and not bothering if I have to use my own flipchart. Is that mean of me? Whatever. My paper, my rules.
The celebrities these eight groups chose to star in my demonstration strip - that thing I rattle through on the flipchart to give them the rudimentary tips and tricks to start drawing their own comic strips - were: Tom Holland, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Jun (a K Pop star, m'lud), Johnny Depp, John Travolta, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj.
The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are proud to announce their brand new show, premiering at the Leicester Comedy Festival on Feb 23rd to 25th 2024: Post Office Scandal The Musical.
Listed in the programme as The New Show, (because of course acts put their entries in the programme at the end of the previous year, long before the subject of this show became headline news) Post Office Scandal is the Socks' 13th new hour long comedy show, following such Edinburgh Fringe hits as Socks Do Shakespeare, Socks Do Superheroes, Eurovision Sock Contest, Boo Lingerie The Socky Horror Show, and Minging Detectives.
The show has already proved controversial, with some online commentators suggesting the subject matter may be in poor taste. Barbara on Facebook writes:"Those involved had their lives ruined, a few were even driven to suicide So what's so funny about that !!!"
The Socks are keen to reassure fans, who they hope will be selling out the Kayal Upstairs venue at Leicester Comedy Festival, that they will be handling the topic in the best possible taste. Anyone who remembers their past songs and sketches, that have dealt sensitively with everything from Brexit to the sexual politics in Shakespeare, and from The Bechdel Test to racial stereotypes in Eurovision, will be prepared for the Socks handling this with the delicacy and gentle touch you'd expect from a man with socks on his hands.
Scottish Falsetto Socks New Show: Post Office Scandal The Musical is at Kayal Upstairs, Charles St, Leicester as part of Leicester Comedy Festival on:
I'm starting 2024 having made a head start on writing and drawing my new graphic novels, all with my agent and potential publishers in mind. In December I delivered amends and additions to Richard The Third + the first 42 pages of a new Midsummer Nights Dream to Emily. She's given me notes on Midsummer which I have yet to respond to.
In the meantime I started work on Twelfth Thing - Twelfth Night, But It's A Monster Movie - in December. I have 18 pages written and drawn, and will be trying to get about 50 pages of that ready to present. Then, with Emily's feedback, we'll see what's worth showing to anyone. This will give us Richard The Third, which is what started the process, it's great but it's already been published which may be a problem. Then we'll have the teasing first quarter of MND and Twelfth. Will that be enough to excite a publisher? There is a showcase event in February where maybe I'll get my first chance to meet Emily and some editors and publishers and get an idea of what I need to do next.
2024 has, in many ways, started here.
Twelfth Thing worksheet:
Dec 22 - 18 pages written and drawn Jan 2 - page 19 - 22 (4 pages)
Jan 3 - page 23 - 28 (6 pages)
Jan 4 - page 29 - 32 (4 pages, pencilled only)
Jan 5 - page 29 - 32 (inks)
Jan 8 - page 33 - 39 (7 pages)
Jan 9 - page 40 - 47 (8 pages)
Jan 10 - page 48 - 56 (9 pages) - and that's it for now
Jan 11 - Front cover drawn, dummy assembled ready to send to Emily.
