Comics UK

I've just had someone (from Cambridgeshire by the by) email me asking about my Comic Art Masterclass. Not, as is usually the case, how they can book me, but instead asking how they could do it themselves. The very cheek.

I replied:

The reason my Comic Art Masterclasses work is because I have worked full time for most comic publishers there are, so I can pass on the wealth of my experience and tell others how to do it. I also work as a stand up comedian, so I bring those skills to bear on my presentation.

In the three years or so I've been doing the classes, elements of it have grown and developed. When I started I was making it up as I went along, showing them my portfolio of work and responding to their "how do I draw such and such" questions. Along the way I've developed tricks and techniques on the flipchart that educate as they entertain, and have polished the routine to such an extent that a group can produce a comic in a morning which we can run off on the photocopier and they take it home with them. Plus I do their caricatures. Plus plus there's a chance their stuff will end up in The Beano (check out this week's issue, see the Hot Rod Cow strip by me? See the comics on the shelves in the back ground? All drawn by my pupils)

Frankly it's pretty darn inimitable and I wouldn't advise anyone to try. Plus plus plus I travel all round the country (this year already I've gone from Swaffham to Edinburgh, from Devon to Wales, from London to Leicester and many points inbetween) and you've just reminded me I ought to book myself a mini-tour of Cambridgeshire before someone else does.

(If anyone out there would like to learn more about my Comic Art Masterclass, or have me over to their school or college, check out the website and drop me a line. I cost the same as a supply teacher - and there's Jonathan Ross earning half a million a year for 3 hours work, I'm in the wrong business)

Kev F
http://comicfestival.co.uk

Thanks for the masterclass in putting on a Masterclass, Kev.

Whatever Kev quotes, I'll knock off a fiver, folks...can't say fairer than that....

By the way - Shrewsbury will be invaded by cartoonists this weekend (starting tomorrow from about 11am - ends lunchtime on Sunday) for the third annual Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival, and now the only one of its type in the UK. It's not strictly a comic event, but there will be many opportunitites to have free caricatures and doodles drawn by professional artists, plus exhibitions, events and mini-masterclasses to enjoy and participate in. If you can get there, do it! http://www.cartoonshrewsbury.com/cartoonshrewsbury/

Sorry for the interruption and blatant advertising, Kev (you heading for Shrewsbury?) - please post any reply you get to your email. I'd love to attend one of your classes.

It's official! Kev F and Leo Baxendale are on a par! Blatant self-publicists with enormous egos! Has 'modesty' been deleted from your dictionary, Kev? Your arrogant rantings in this and other posts is really beginning to grate! You've a long way to go before you're even one tenth as good as Steve Bright - a man who has worked for many years as a scriptwriter/artist and never feels the need to say 'have you seen my pages in the Dandy?' and 'aren't they brilliant?' By the way, does being a stand-up comedian mean you once told a joke at your uncle's wedding?

Kev is a great self - publicist...it is a skill that I wish I possessed but he is also a very funny and successful cartoonist as is of course Mr Steve Bright. I have organised Comic Art Workshops in the past and presenting a successful class is a vastly different thing than just 'drawing a comic'.
I think Kev should set up a class to teach some of the quieter artists, myself included..how to blow our own trumpet ?!

I agree. I wish I had a tenth of Kev's confidence and energy! From what I gather Kev had a very successful run with his Sitcom Trials comedy show and his stories in the Beano often hit the top in the voting polls, so I reckon he has a lot worth shouting about.

Big Jock wrote:Has 'modesty' been deleted from your dictionary, Kev? Your arrogant rantings in this and other posts is really beginning to grate!

So don't click on his posts. Simple!

I've known Kev for many years and he's a multi-talented bloke. Not everything he does is everyone's cup of tea but that's to be expected. The man's always bursting with ideas and has done a lot to promote comics in this country; editing comics, putting on the UK Comics Festivals, and getting kids into comics via his masterclass. His exuberance is part of his personality and yes, he self-promotes, but in the freelance business no one does it for you. (Unless you're a "megastar" working in US comics in which case publishers send out press releases. Ironic really, considering most US comics sell far less than The Beano).

It's good to see creators promote their work. Especially when one remembers that for decades most UK artists & writers were anonymous and not even allowed to sign their pages. Now we can divulge news and background info on our work so that future collectors won't be scratching their heads at "mystery artists" or mistaking every humour artist for Leo Baxendale.

And with that in mind I'd just like to say that my first Marvel Minitoon strip appears in the current issue of Marvel Rampage on sale now from all good newsagents and supermarkets.

Lew

You're right, I'm an incorrigible self-publicist. But if I don't do it, who will? Perhaps on this forum, I should be as modest as my fellow creators (all much more esteemed than me) who manage to talk comics without including an advert at the end every time.

In my defence, I got into the swing of publicity having to plug away for things that weren't just me. So you'll have come across me trying to persuade people to come to the Comic Festival for years, and the Sitcom Trials for as many. Oddly my most recent run of stand up shows (Kev F Draws The Crowds) had an agent to plug them for me. Last gig (Rotherham April 7th) sold 38 tickets out of 100, so maybe plugging things myself is still the best way.

Anyhow, I'm in a comic this week, but I won't tell you which one, I'll be doing corporate caricatures at an exhibition stand in a Northern city for 2 days this week, but you'll have to guess where, and on Sunday night I perform at a comedy venue in London, check listings for details.

Yours, trying desperately not to plug something really loudly,

kevf wrote:Yours, trying desperately not to plug something really loudly,

Kev, best reply I have seen in ages. Made me laugh anyway! Keep plugging away and hope the crowd isn't too small for you in London! Just remember that the dog doesn't count as part of the audience.