Have you been out today?

A6 sketchbook number 4, S.O.B., '94.





There really was someone of whom I was reminded when I trod on a snail. Believe it or not it was actually meant quite fondly.

Made some time just to doodle among the more urgent tasks of the day (paying work and buying a new kettle). Quite liked these...

A6 sketchbook number 4, S.O.B., '94.





I still own that easel. Can't remember the last time it saw any use though.

Bit about The DFC in Publisher's Weekly here.

Final episode of Bartholomew Quigley, Flea in today's Guardian. Final episode of Good Dog, Bad Dog: The Golden Bone Of Alexandria in tomorrow's Guardian. And thus I slip quietly back into obscurity...

In other news: I recently completed the cover for Stephen Davies's third Sophie book, Sophie And The Pancake Campaign for which I chose to portray no pancakes whatsoever, instead opting for not only a camel but also a pursuing land rover. I'm sure there are people for whom the depiction of overly be-kneed mammals and motor vehicles is an easy pleasure but I fear I'm not one of them. What was I thinking? Turned out okay though, I think.

Next on the agenda (among a few other odds and ends) are some short adventures for the Dogs which I need to begin right soon and for which, as yet, I have not a jot of inspiration. But, hey, I'm sure it will all turn out fine. Probably...

A6 sketchbook number 4, S.O.B., '94.

I have a strip, Bartholomew Quigley, Flea, running in the G2 section of the Guardian through next week. It's kind of a spin off from Good Dog, Bad, Dog. Even more so than with the Dogs it was an opportunity that came up rather suddenly and had to be turned round in a hurry but I think it turned out okay (I don't really have any sense of perspective on it yet, I only finished the artwork yesterday). Made me appreciate all the more the input Faz put into the Dogs though. I was working entirely solo on this one and I really missed not only Faz's colouring but also his informal frontline editorial input. It taught me a lot about the four panel format in any case, albeit largely through getting stuff wrong. Anyway, take a look and see for yourselves.

Not sure if it'll be viewable online but I'll post a link if so.

A6 sketchbook number 4, S.O.B., '94.







I was going to say that the chaps with teapots related to a comic strip I submitted to Deadline magazine called Tales Of The Tea Junkies but thinking about it that must have been a few years earlier. Maybe I was thinking about a sequel? If so, happily, the world was spared. It was really quite bad and done in colour with rather too much straight from the tube gouache and, as such, was politely (more politely than it deserved, frankly) rejected by then editor, Si Spencer (much given to lengthy, rambling, typewritten rejections rather than one line stock replies), who was writing for Eastenders a while back I believe.

Lower spread features the excellent Mr Josh Dyson (in the stripy shirt), at that time a flatmate of mine. He used to be partial to a poncho in those days though, sadly, I never drew him so garbed.