Socks in Space in Progress

A week of Socks in Space previews and, by golly, I think we're getting there. This week the Socks played the first of three shows at the Leicester Square Theatre in London (60 min preview), the Victoria Theatre Halifax (90 min show of which the second half was mostly preview), and the Wardrobe Theatre Bristol (intended as 60 min preview, but ended up doing 1 hr 20 mins, inc some old favourite stuff).



(Above, London Tuesday). In part or in whole these shows have been testing out the new show Socks In Space on its run up to Edinburgh and it is progressing well. Brand new this week were:

- Doctor Who song - needs cutting in half, not bad.
- Green Screen song - good laughs, needs shortening. By the 3rd show we'd integrated it into the drama better.
- Break up song (Elton/disco) which works well.

Paul (Gannon, who was doing sound in London) runs Geekatorium and is a sci fi expert, so I value his input, His only real criticism was that we could lose the CPR sketch, which is now my favourite in the show and was a total hit in Bristol. Also in Bristol a fenzy of ad libs brought the whole Melies routine to life, and if we can remember any of what we did we'll do that again (if the off-screen suicide of Zeppo makes it to Edinburgh, this is where it was dreamt up in improv). Hev, in Halifax, suggested the Dr Who song might be a bit dated, so possibly it'll be squeezed out. London also drew possibly our most non-plussing review of recent years from What's On In London. "While sock puppets aren’t normally my thing, there were definitely moments in this show that had me laughing, nevertheless" will not be going on the posters.

Last week's writing has brought some killer new jokes, and songs of which I'm really proud, and which will be even tighter when a couple of them use a verse apiece . A new sketch is bubbling under that'll bring the whole shebang together. Next stop London on Tuesday, see you all there.

Edinburgh Festival Comic Art Masterclasses by Kev F

This August, coinciding with the Edinburgh Fringe and the Edinburgh Book Festival, Kev F Sutherland, writer & artist for The Beano, Marvel Comics, Doctor Who and many more, will be delivering a series of free Comic Art Masterclasses at local libraries across Edinburgh.



By the end of the two hour session, which is open to anyone aged 7 and upwards, everyone goes away with a comic containing a strip drawn by every one in the group, plus an individual caricature by Kev F. To get involved with the classes, contact the libraries directly. Kev F's Edinburgh Festival Comic Art Masterclasses will be taking place at:

Aug 5, 6, 7 Balerno High School Summer School
Aug 8 Currie Library
Aug 9 Drumbrae Library (am) & Kirkliston Library (pm)
Aug 12 Colinton Library
Aug 13 Granton Library (am) & Muirhouse Library (pm)
Aug 17 Morningside Library (am) & Newington Library (pm)
Aug 20, 21 Portobello Library

Kev F's Comic Art Masterclasses will be appearing at Beanotown on the South Bank in London on July 27 & 28, Aug 31 and Sept 21. Classes are free, details here.

Drawing on his (gulp) 25 years of working for everyone from The Beano to Marvel, from Viz to Doctor Who, Kev F visits schools, libraries and art centres across the country (and internationally, inc Abu Dhabi and Ireland). If you would like him to come to your school, do please get in touch via his website, Twitter or Facebook.

Socks on BBC Bristol, and in Bristol

The Scottish Falsetto Socks (and their floppy haired mentor Kev F) appeared on BBC Radio Bristol on Tuesday doing a fun interview with Laura Rawlings...



Click to listen to the programme (Kev & the Socks are on first, but the recording might not be up there forever so listen sooner rather than later if you're going to). And the reason we were there? Well, there's quite a lot of Bristol action to plug. This week, on Friday June 28th, the Socks are playing at The Wardrobe Theatre (that's tonight as I write it, see you all there) and if you miss that, they're back at Bristol's Comedy Box on July 17, book now.

Meanwhile Bristol's Sitcom Trials team have two writer-performed sitcoms going to the semi finals in London on July 19th. Lewis Cook's None Of The Above and Naomi Carter's Situation Normal won their respective heats and are going to be taking on the winners and runners up from Bristol, Manchester and London, everyone hoping to win a place at the final in Edinburgh on August 21st. But of course you already knew that, cos you follow the news on sitcomtrials.co.uk, don't you?

So, along with some talk of comics and art classes, it was a nice plugathon, and I even got the opportunity to record a couple of plugs for the Socks shows which will get played during other programmes. Let's see what that does to bums on seats shall we? Ah, and I did a one-minute carciature of Laura as we spoke...



Not lost it.

Comic Art Masterclasses - Cardiff July 7 free, apply now

More great news for budding comics artists. I will be doing two Comic Art Masterclasses in Cardiff on Sunday July 7th as part of Sky Arts Portait Artist Of The Year events. They're free and, if you apply in time, you could take part.



The classes take part at Cardiff Civic Centre on Sunday July 7th at 12 midday and 3pm. they are open to anyone from age 7 upwards, each session last two hours, and by the end everyone will take away a comic containing a strip by every single person in the group plus an individual caricature by Kev F, ie me.

To apply for these classes, provided free to you by Sky Arts and Storyvault TV, email festivalbookings@storyvault.tv saying whether you wish to attend the 12 midday or the 3pm class.

Also coming up, Kev F's Comic Art Masterclass at Beanotown, the South Bank Centre, London - July 27, 28, August 31, Sept 1st.

Free Cheese For Sale - a bumper bundle of comics by kids

Once more the summer term has seen me busy working with primary school pupils presenting my Comic Art Masterclasses. Have a look here at what they've produced in the past week and a bit.



The batches above and below come mostly from afive day run in the primary schools of Lincolnshire, organised by the wonderful Bourne Grammar, with one foray into Cambridgeshire and to Malmesbury and North Somerset. An excellent variety of inspiring titles, I'm sure you'll agree (my favourites must be I Want My Head Chopped Off By A Worm, Alpaca Alcohol Swipe and My Grandad Trumped At The Dinosaur Sale - did I mention these are all years 5 & 6?) and the contents inside are equally good. The future of comics is safe in their hands.



When I ask them to name a celebrity with which I can do my "treads on a worm" demonstration routine, I get 4 suggestions from the room from which we choose their favourite, this being the name I make a subtle note of on each cover. What I never record is the names that get rejected, but I can report anecdotally from this week that Simon Cowell is suggested 90% of the time, it is a very rare class that doesn't mention him, and Bob Marley continues to crop up a lot, as does the Queen. In the past week, however, old favourite Michael Jackson didn't get a single mention. Maybe he was never that big in Lincolnshire.

The celebs they ended up choosing were Simon Cowell (three times), Keith Lemon, Boris Johnson, Bob Marley, Johnny Depp, Ed Sheeran, Rolf Harris, Emilie Sande, Miranda Hart, and (most original suggestion of the week) Zlatan Ibrahimovic who, I'm assured, is a footballer. Like I would know what he looks like.

If you want to experience my Comic Art Masterclass, which is suitable for anyone aged 7 or over (there's no maximum age limit), I'll be doing classes at London's South Bank Centre this summer as part of Beanotown - see details here - and in August I'll be appearing in various libraries in and around Edinburgh, of which more details soon. And you can see me in the Lake District in October, stay tuned for that update. In the meantime you can always book me to come to your local school. Email and we'll take it from there. Details of my class, and more examples and testimonials, are on the website comicfestival.co.uk.

Kids want David Tennant as Doctor Who - Comic Art Masterclass findings

This week I've been doing a run of schools in and around Bourne in Lincolnshire, the results of which I'll post anon. And, as you might be able to see in the photos above and below, I have an interesting finding regarding Doctor Who. In almost every class I ask the kids which Doctor Who they'd like me to draw on the board, and every time this week the answer has been David Tennant. This has been going on for a few weeks now. I asked them why today and got the answer "cos he's the best Doctor."



On the flipchart above they challenged me to draw all 11 Doctors, and I did my best. Shut up. But why should this Matt Smithimosity have come about? I have a theory. It's the Peter Davison Syndrome.

Does anyone else remember the 1980s? Where, despite the Doctor role changing hands two or three times, most people when asked to draw Doctor Who would draw a guy with curly hair and a long scarf? Well into the 21st century, as far as The Simpsons, Family Guy or Dead Ringers were concerned, Tom Baker remained The Doctor. And why? Well, it could be that the shows became less good. But here's my theory, the if-you-will Peter Davison Syndrome. It's all about the scheduling.

Because when Tom Baker left Doctor Who, not only did Peter Davison enter a show with declining budgets and production standards, with a fun-hating script editor and possibly its least fondly remembered producers, but he also joined a show where some idiot had buggered up the scheduling. Having been a fixture of Saturday nights since its inception in 1963, in 1982 someone thought it would be A Good Thing to move the show to twice-weekly slots on Tuesdays ad Thursdays, up against the most popular TV show in the country Coronation Street. And, amazingly, the ratings began a decline from which they never recovered. And, since this meant it was never again watched by as many kids as had watched Tom Baker in the role, he remained the Doctor they would have asked an itinerant comic artist to draw on a flipchart right through the 80s, had the subject come up.

So it is with Matt Smith. As pointed out by Private Eye last week, the broken series of Doctor Who with long gaps between them in recent years mean that, between Jan 2012 and June 2014, kids will have seen 16 new episode of Doctor Who starring Matt Smith, whereas in the same time span of David Tennant's run on the show they would have had 41 episodes. Wow. That means that David Tennant's saturation of the TV schedules as The Doctor was near three times as dense. Is saturation dense? Whatever, you get the point.

All of which explains why, to the current generation of 8 to 12 year old school kids, Matt Smith is only one third as much Doctor Who as David Tennant was. Which is a great shame as I think he's a cracking Doctor, and I'm really sorry that he'll be the first incumbent in the role to have been outlived by a single story arc (this "Silence Will Fall" nonsense that started in 2010 and still hasn't been fully explained).

I may stop asking kids which Doctor they want me to draw. I'll certainly going to have to brush up on my "other 9" Doctors, if they're going to ask for the whole bunch again. And that could happen.

Come to Kev F's Comic Art Masterclasses at Beanotown in London this summer.
+ Comic Art Masterclasses in Edinburgh throughout the Fringe & Edinburgh Book Festival, August 2013.

If anyone wants me to come and show their kids how to do what I've been doing for a living for the last two decades in my far-famed and much-loved Comic Art Masterclasses, drop me a line, a comment, a Twitter, smoke signals, the usual methods. Click below to see more, including video and contact details.



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Beanotown Comic Art Masterclasses on the South Bank

Great news for all our readers - Comic Art Masterclasses in London in July...



Click for more details including the address (the South Bank, London) and booking information. I shall see you all there, yes?