Comic Art Masterclasses - Summer 2023

 

I have a record number of Comic Art Masterclasses coming up this summer, all open to the public and all on sale now. Suitable for age 7 and over, in just two hours you'll have produced a comic to take away, along with a caricature by me, and you'll have learned how easy it is to do my job!

Brace yourselves! The classes are at...

2 Aug - Beverley Festival Of Words
10.30 https://www.eastridinglibraries.co.uk/whats-on/events/?entry=beverley_library_0208232_1030
1.30 https://www.eastridinglibraries.co.uk/whats-on/events/?entry=beverley_library_0208232_1330

3 Aug Cockerton Library
9am & 11.30 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/darlington-libraries-kev-f-comic-art-masterclass-tickets-650895494947?aff=odcleoeventsincollection&keep_tld=1

4 Aug - The Cresset Peterborough

https://cresset.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873644546

7 Aug - Ards Arts Newtonards
10 & 1 https://andculture.org.uk/classes/kev-fs-comic-art-masterclass

8 Aug - Strule Omagh
10 https://struleartscentre.co.uk/show/kev-f-s-comic-art-masterclass-2023/
1.30 https://struleartscentre.co.uk/show/kev-f-s-comic-art-masterclass-aug-2023/

9 Aug - Ardhowen Enniskillen
10am sold out
2.30: https://ardhowen.com/show/comic-art-masterclass-with-kev-f-12-16-yrs/

10 Aug. MAC Belfast
10.30 & 2pm - Sold Out https://themaclive.com/event/kev-fs-comic-art-masterclass-2

11 Aug - Roe Valley Limavady
10 & 2 https://roevalleyarts.com/workshops/comic-book-masterclass-for-7-14-yrs

12 Aug - Larne Museum
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/larnearts/t-rpjxeeq

9 Sept St Ives Festival
10am & 1.30 https://stives.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173645141

16 Sept Kettering Festival Of Literature
https://www.ketteringcivicsociety.net/lit-day.htm

24 Sept - Budleigh Salterton Lit Fest class
2pm https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/budleigh-salterton-literary-festival/kev-f-comic-art-masterclass/e-qppxdy

30 Sept / Oct 1 - Lakes Comic Festival
https://www.comicartfestival.com/exhibitor/lakeside-comics-marketplace-2023

7 Oct Bewdley Festival
10.30am https://boxoffice.bewdleyfestival.org.uk/index.php?cPath=68
2.30pm https://boxoffice.bewdleyfestival.org.uk/index.php?cPath=84

23 Oct Zion Bristol
10am & 1pm https://www.eventbrite.com/e/comic-book-art-workshops-at-zion-tickets-662942909087

My Books and where to get them:

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

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Amazon

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy 

The Book Of Esther (new pocketbook sized) - Lulu £8.50 - Amazon £9.96

Captain Clevedon - Amazon

Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 - Amazon -  Lulu  - Etsy 
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon

Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon - Lulu  - Etsy 
Punk Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

80s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

80s Superstars - Amazon

90s Pop Star Colouring - Lulu - Etsy

2020s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Bowie Colouring - Amazon

Scottish Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Rom Com Colouring - Amazon

Royalty Colouring - Lulu

Christmas Movies Colouring - Amazon

NB: Etsy editions are signed and posted by me, and generally cheaper  

My Books and where to get them:

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

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Amazon

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy 

The Book Of Esther (new pocketbook sized) - Lulu £8.50 - Amazon £9.96

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 - Amazon -  Lulu  - Etsy 
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon

Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon - Lulu  - Etsy 
Punk Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

80s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

80s Superstars - Amazon

90s Pop Star Colouring - Lulu - Etsy

2020s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Bowie Colouring - Amazon

Scottish Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Rom Com Colouring - Amazon

Royalty Colouring - Lulu

Christmas Movies Colouring - Amazon

NB: Etsy editions are signed and posted by me, and generally cheaper  

LFCC weekend - selling art and books

I felt it worth keeping a special note of the sales at LFCC, the London Film and Comic Con this weekend, as it involved a couple of firsts. I've brought along with me my humour comics from the 90s, and more interestingly original art. I have me with an issue's worth of Dr Strange comics, by Mark Buckingham and Gary Frank, inked by me, pages from 2099 Apocalypse by Mark & me, and 3 pages of Beano by me.

To guide me on prices I had this eBay auction going on, which was going interestingly as Hev and I set off to London:

As you can see, a Beano page by me is standing at £67, while Mark's Dr Strange page is only on £23. Oddly, the Dr Strange page had gone up as high as £78, then dropped the next day when someone withdrew the bid, saying they'd bid by mistake. So, with this in mind, I set my original art prices at £50 a page.

By the end of a very quiet Friday I had sold: 3 x Gary and 3 x Mark, all at £50 each, plus one book for £5.99. For me, £300 takings is not bad going. But when I shared this info with fellow artists, they were horrified. Though David Roach suggested the pages by Mark might be worth £75 each, David Leach was certain they'd be worth £200 each. Rich Johnston, who has seen Mark selling sketches at the Lake Como Festival in Italy for 100s, suggested most emphatically that I should be pricing Mark's pages at £500 each. And as for the Gary Frank pages I'd sold for £50 each, he insisted I take those off sale immediately as they could be worth 1000s.

So, on Saturday, I prepared to pitch the pages at higher prices, to sound people out, to not let myself undersell the artwork this time. And, lo, not a single person even enquired about the artwork! Friday had three people snapping up artwork, but nobody buying books. Saturday had no-one giving the artwork a second look.

Or, it seemed, anyone buying books. That's unfair, as I didn't do too badly by the end of the day. But, compared to last year at the same event, the traffic to our table seemed much much lower.

As you might be able to see from the photo, I'm in a nice spacious corner, with tons of display space. This is in the corner of a horseshoe-shaped space lined with my fellow artists' tables. Which means, unfortunately, that a lot of the public walk past the entrance to our area but don't actually enter it. 

To counter this, I took to straying out into the main thoroughfare with my clipboard and pen and offering to caricature passing punters for free, in order to entice them to my table, and the other tables in our area. I think it worked. By the end of the day - a day which ran from 9am to 7pm - I had taken £118.93, all from book sales.

I also removed the Dr Strange page from sale on eBay, on Rich's suggestion, because he thought I'd under-described it and under-publicised it. And if it went for £23 I would feel a bloody fool (if, as it keeps being suggested, these pages are worth ten times that).

Overnight Mark himself contacted me and updated me on what his pages should sell for. He sells Dr Strange pages for $300 (or £235) each. I opted for £150. (He also says Fables pages go for £400 and Miracleman pages for £1500. I'm clearly in the wrong business).

Sunday - well this was a turnaround of fortune, and the best part is that is was all my own doing. Right from the start of Sunday (9am) I armed myself with my clipboard and pen, and went out into that passing crowd and I drew them in. Literally. I went for families with kids if I could, couples if I couldn't, and I drew one of them for free, then offered to draw the others as they came over to my table and browsed. 

I'd made my first sale by 9.20. After two hours I texted Hev to tell her I'd gone over the £100 mark. Shortly after, one of the groups of parents with a kid showed an interest in the Dr Strange artwork and bought a page, for the new asking price of £150. Result!

By winding down time around 5.30, I had taken the grand total of £326.37

Which gives us final taking of:

Friday £305.99 - 6 pages art, 1 book (compared to 2022's £20)

Saturday £118.93 - all books, no art (compared to 2022's £158)

Sunday £326.37 - 1 page art, the rest books (compared to 2022's £111.50)

+ approx £100 cash across the three days

Giving us a grand total of approx £850 (compared to 2022's £293). A great result indeed. (Let us leave aside the 6 pages sold at £50 each which, if they'd sold at £150 each, would have netted £900 rather than £300)

LFCC Book Sales Breakdown:

Midsummer Night's Dream Team - 16

Prince of Denmark Street - 14

Socks comics - 11

Findlay Macbeth - 10

Colouring books - 3

Shakespeare Omnibus - 2 (total stock!)

Tales From The Bible - 2

UT comic - 1

Remind me to thank Tony Lee once again for having me along as a guest, and let me not forget my caricaturing as a selling tool.

NB: One weekend at LFCC = 90 days on eBay (see above, £843.94 90 day total)

My Books and where to get them:

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

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Amazon

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy 

The Book Of Esther (new pocketbook sized) - Lulu £8.50 - Amazon £9.96

Captain Clevedon - Amazon

Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 - Amazon -  Lulu  - Etsy 
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon

Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon - Lulu  - Etsy 
Punk Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

80s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

80s Superstars - Amazon

90s Pop Star Colouring - Lulu - Etsy

2020s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Bowie Colouring - Amazon

Scottish Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Rom Com Colouring - Amazon

Royalty Colouring - Lulu

Christmas Movies Colouring - Amazon

NB: Etsy editions are signed and posted by me, and generally cheaper  

My Books and where to get them:

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

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Amazon

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy 

The Book Of Esther (new pocketbook sized) - Lulu £8.50 - Amazon £9.96

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 - Amazon -  Lulu  - Etsy 
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

Eurovision French edition - édition en français

Eurovision Spanish edition - Libro para colorear

Eurovision German edition - Popstar Malbuch

Eurovision Italian edition - il libro da colorare 

Eurovision Swedish edition - Popstjärna Målarbok

Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon

Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon - Lulu  - Etsy 
Punk Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

80s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

80s Superstars - Amazon

90s Pop Star Colouring - Lulu - Etsy

2020s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Bowie Colouring - Amazon

Scottish Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Rom Com Colouring - Amazon

Royalty Colouring - Lulu

Christmas Movies Colouring - Amazon

NB: Etsy editions are signed and posted by me, and generally cheaper  

Sales figures for June - live rules again

Here we see me rocking the bowtie look at Macc Pow in Macclesfield on July 1st. I didn't sell a book until I'd undone the tie, after which I did fine. As we'll see below as we have a look at a month's book (and other things) sales.

It would appear flogging things on eBay is the big earner online this month. I'm pretty sure that 90 day total, when compared to last month's £377 means I've sold £267 worth this month. Going through the payments I see I've been paid £257, after fees. So, if I only wasted a day putting all that stuff online, it paid off. Most worth-selling items in June were:

Blah Blah Blah magazine No1 - £24.48

Bundle of 2 x Smash Hits, 2 x Face, 1 x NME - £14.47

A year of Tiger & Scorchers - £13.20

Weeping Angel in original packaging - £12

Beano calendar signed by Euan Kerr - £10.50

Phat magazine No 1 - £10

10 x SSI newsletters - £10

Edinburgh Fringe programme 1985 - £10

Edinburgh Fringe programme 2011 - £8

Bundle of 29 x NMEs - £7.96

Savage Action No 1 - £6

Special USA mag - £5.75

Mask Comic No 1 - £5

Amiga Shopper magazine - £5

Edinburgh Fringe programme 2004 - £4

2 x Dalek calendars - £3.98

Live sales at book festivals have felt like the big earner, cos you get the money in your hand, or in your iZettle machine, and you can see the whites of the eyes of every buyer. Plus you get to sign the books.

At Macc Pow in Macclesfield on July 1st I took £60.50 (+ £20 cash), which compares to 2022's £70.50 (+ cash. I only have a record of Zettle sales). This year's sales were:

4 x Findlay Macbeth

3 x Socks Superheroes comics

2 x Prince of Denmark St

2 x Midsummer Night's Dream Team

+ a couple of colouring books.

Before and after a class in Clevedon on June 10th, sales came to £145 (as previously recorded). Making Clevedon the most fruitful day's book sales so far this season.

After my class in Ludlow on June 18th I took just £24

After my class in Braintree on June 25 I took £75. These takings are all on top of classes for which I also got paid. All of which makes Macclesfield look like a long way to travel (approx £50 worth of petrol) for a small return.

LFCC London this coming weekend is a different kettle of fish, as it involves a hotel stay and two nights' opportunities to socialise with my comics friends, not just selling comics. That said, at LFCC London 2022 I took only £20 on the Friday, £158 on Saturday, £111.50 on Sunday. So let us see how we fare this time.

For online book sales for June, stay tuned. I can tell you my Draft 2 Digital dosh has gone up to $6.03 from 11 book sales (compared to May's $2.79).

Etsy total June 2023 - £55.92 (compared to May's £58.05 and April's £171.05)

Eurovision Vol 1 x 4, Vol 2 x 2

Blurb sales - to come, though it looks like it may be zero. (Update: as of July 11th it's still 0)

Lulu/Amazon sales came in on July 11th. The total was £29.94 (books sold in June). This compares to 

June £48.33, May £52.26, April £8.56, March £38.57, Feb £35.25, & Jan £26.84. The sales were for:

80s Pop - 1 (Canada), 3 (UK)

Eurovision Best Of - 3 (UK)

Eurovision Vol 2 - 2 (UK) 1 (US)

Captain Clevedon - 2 (UK)

Tales From The Bible - 2 (UK)

Doctors Colouring - 2 (UK)

Scottish Pop - 1 (UK)

MNDT - 1 (UK)

PODS - 1 (UK)

Punk - 1 (US)

Royalty - 1 (US)

2020s Colouring - 1 (US)

Book Of Esther - 1 (Italy)

Here are May's Lulu/Amazon sales for comparison

Which books sell best? See the itemised breakdown of 2023 live sales here.

My Books and where to get them:

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

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Amazon

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy 

The Book Of Esther (new pocketbook sized) - Lulu £8.50 - Amazon £9.96

Captain Clevedon - Amazon

Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 - Amazon -  Lulu  - Etsy 
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon

Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon - Lulu  - Etsy 
Punk Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

80s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

80s Superstars - Amazon

90s Pop Star Colouring - Lulu - Etsy

2020s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Bowie Colouring - Amazon

Scottish Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Rom Com Colouring - Amazon

Royalty Colouring - Lulu

Christmas Movies Colouring - Amazon

NB: Etsy editions are signed and posted by me, and generally cheaper  

My Books and where to get them:

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

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Amazon

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy 

The Book Of Esther (new pocketbook sized) - Lulu £8.50 - Amazon £9.96

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 - Amazon -  Lulu  - Etsy 
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

Eurovision French edition - édition en français

Eurovision Spanish edition - Libro para colorear

Eurovision German edition - Popstar Malbuch

Eurovision Italian edition - il libro da colorare 

Eurovision Swedish edition - Popstjärna Målarbok

Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon

Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon - Lulu  - Etsy 
Punk Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

80s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

80s Superstars - Amazon

90s Pop Star Colouring - Lulu - Etsy

2020s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Bowie Colouring - Amazon

Scottish Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

Rom Com Colouring - Amazon

Royalty Colouring - Lulu

Christmas Movies Colouring - Amazon

NB: Etsy editions are signed and posted by me, and generally cheaper