A Year in Books
Making funny books takes a ridiculous amount of time. Consequently I have a tragic lack of hinterland. The nearest thing to a hobby I can claim is reading....
PSH-PSH-PSHHHHH
This was my final comic of last year and it feels just as relevant twelve months later. See you all in 2024. Punycorn published by HarperCollins Blackwells/...
Hair, Make Up, Tea Boy
You'll often hear cartoonists opine that authoring a graphic novel is like making a movie but you are writer, director, production designer, costume...
Toilet humour
During the editing of a book the author has to occasionally steel themselves and kill a few darlings. Out goes a treasured joke for the sake of keeping the...
Metaphorical Rowing Machine
I am not the world's greatest multi-tasker. In fact, I might be the worst. I only need to spin more than one plate and I get stressed out. This form of...
Fix this
Hacking and slashing. Ruthlessness could never be described as my defining trait. Of late, though, I have been ruthless. Ruthlessly putting my darlings to...
The Big Battle
Way back in 2020 when I was putting together the pitch for Punycorn, I figured I needed a piece of eye candy to sweeten the pot. I thought I'd throw in an...
Punycorn
Here're the first two chapters of my years in the making middle grade funny fantasy which is out now from all the places good books are sold. Published by...
Bang in the Middle
Last time I shared my process for making The Book Tour graphic novel. That was a book for grown ups and was also a project initiated without a publisher...
How long?
How long does it take to create a graphic novel? Too long is generally the answer. It's a lot of work to create a world on paper and form a narrative through...
Andi Syrup 1
With Distressed Beeping now out I thought I'd draw back the curtain on the mystical process of making my one page strips. I will skip the messy, angsty bit...
Punycorn
I don't recall my exact age, somewhere around 12, that I was pursuing a personal obsession at my local public library. Nothing salacious, unless you count...
Increased Difficulty
I read an article recently that lifted my spirits. Kids read 25% more books last year compared to the previous year. 27 million books read during the...
Yam! Bam! mon chat Splash
Phil lifts the lid on the container and sniffs the contents. What is it? I ask. Soup, she replies. The container holds a pallid greenish liquid. What kind of...
Non-starter
In an effort to encourage my productivity, Phil has turned to AI. With the thinnest of prompts she had Chat GPT churn out a newsletter in the style of Andi...
YKK
There's a knock at the door. Not yet nine o'clock and we have a delivery. It's a large rectangular box, light for the size. I assume it must be clothing and...
"Ruthless ambition and ego"
Such was the eye catching headline of a book review I saw recently about literary marriages. The book in question is The Lives of Wives by Carmela Ciuraru....
Mint Condition
Looking at my phone I see on Thursday I walked a grand total of 298 steps. When they say the creative life is about sitting your ass down and doing the work,...
Like Having an Elephant to Tea
It's our wedding anniversary but Phil and I have to work. We make time in the afternoon to go for a walk in the bright winter sunlight. Our route takes us...
Irregular Rapping
Saturday and there's an irregular rapping at the door. Having worked from home before it was a pandemic lifestyle choice thrust upon the rest of the...