And don't forget to floss

Seriously - don't! These rotating toothbrushes are all very well, but if you don't floss afterwards, you may as well not bother. Due to the inevitable gum-recession that comes with age, my lower set are looking like Christopher Lee's gob these days - lots of three-inch-long teeth!!!! As I've been typing this I have suddenly realised what the phrase "long in the tooth" means. How funny. God - I live in fear of dentures. My dad had all his teeth out when he was demobbed in '47 and he wasn't yet thirty. That childhood vision of the teeth in the glass on the parents' bedside table is a lasting and terrible reminder of what old age can mean if you 're not orally diligent. Vicar.

Credit Crunch

A few quickie frames on a script about a soppy tw@ who has lost his voice and wants to draw out some wonga from a bank. Cue hilarious misunderstanding and a SWAT team. My memory is hazy on this one ...

Petrolheaded buffoonery

A five-page comic strip done for the Big Book Of Top Gear 2010, featuring our hapless trio of petrolheads in yet more W.E Johns-esque shenanigans. I did few pages in 2009's book and I thought I did a bit of a weak job, but they liked the idea of the comic strips enough to offer me another bash. The bugger was that I was briefed just before Penny and I flew off to Paxos for our only week away all year, and I had to spend several afternoons of my holiday thumbnailing the damn script at the quayside whilst drinking coffee and supposedly having a relaxing break - knowing that on our return home, I would have 8 days to turn 3 pages of closely-typed script into 5 pages of loosely-inked mediocrity. I feel fairly happy with the result, and the deadline wasn't really the problem - it was having to adjust to using a nib-pen and black ink again, after so many years just using pencils and markers, doing storyboards and visuals. I really did enjoy using them, and wished I could get one of these jobs every week, as I'd become more fluid with the materials and inevitably the work would improve.

Just a coupla Tusssscan views, Brian

Just a couple of pretty marker visuals from some animatics featuring the ever-popular Tuscan countryside. They could always choose to film these ads in Hull or Romford, but art directors look for any chance of a jolly in the sun when it comes to shooting the latest 30-second blockbuster epic for bloody supermarket olive oil or somesuch! Damn their avarice!!

Aping the great Roy Wilson

Traces of some panels from an animatic done a while ago now. These were title cards in the style of Roy Wilson - one of the true giants of 20th century cartooning in this country. I knew and loved his work when I got the job, but what fun it was to ape his figurework and create a few new compositions (hopefully) in his style. The finished coloured-up versions are long-since lost as they "disappeared" (onto some art director's wall, I was told) before I was able to scan them, which was a shame as they came out rather well. But then with Wilson's art as a template, you can't really go wrong! If you don't know his stuff, check out The Comic Art Of Roy Wilson - a marvellous book by Alan Clark and David "Crown Court" Ashford, two hugely enthusiastic and knowledgable UK comic historians and collectors.

Freezation.

A dramatic little board done for an Insurance company a few years back, this one.
Cannot remember the storyline - it was basically just an opportunity to have a good time drawing moody storms and crashing waves!