[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-comic-capers-at-essex-book-festival":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"So yesterday Nikki Gamble was tweeting this from the dressing rooms at Chelmsford's Cramphorn Theatre... who could these people be? (Ha ha, we were half hoping someone would draw the top part of the photo.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/essexbookfest14_legs_zps02baf279-3772a03422.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd, of course, it was excellent and energetic writer \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SteveColeBooks\">Steve Cole\u003C/a> and me, talking comics for Essex Book Festival!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/essexbookfest14_poster_zps38492ffc-c2260e7706.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nWhenever I do stage events, I'm always a bit sorry that I don't get photos that I can use on my blog. But this great audience tweeted us a great selection! Here's one from \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LynneWheater\">@LynneWheater\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/LynneWheater_pic1_zps3bc4cb56-f2c9e9c148.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe invited people to dress up for the event and, hurrah! Some people did! Check out these great comics characters. Photo tweeted by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/sarahyewman\">@sarahyewman\u003C/a>! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/essexbookfest14_costumes_zps9b0b8846-f0fcfadf0d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click for more under the cut!-->\\r\nSteve brought a suitcase of costumes and two excellent volunteers came up and were transformed into superheroes, on stage and in drawings. Then Steve and I got the audience to help us turn them - Leopard Lady and Monkey Boy - into a comic strip! Photo tweeted by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/DianaMayoillo\">@DianaMayoillo\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/DianaMayoillo_pic1_zps3d138a51-7e161ffbe6.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThen we led everyone in drawing Superhamster, from \u003Ci>Superkid\u003C/i>, and people customised them with their own costumes and superpowers. Here's a fab one, tweeted by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LordSiBorg\">@LordSiBorg\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/SimonBeckett_pic1_zpse575ca25-eb7980d308.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd the grand artwork finale!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/DianaMayo_pic2_zpsc648c4ee-83afb88777.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSteve and I both love comics, but he gets much more excited about the superhero side of things than I do. I don't like many superhero comics, but there are so many other kinds of comics out there that I have no lack of choice! So I was particularly pleased to see Lucy dressed up as \u003Cb>Hilda\u003C/b>, from \u003Ca href=\"http://lukepearson.com/\">Luke Pearson\u003C/a>'s Hilda comics. Isn't this a great costume? We had a costume competition, and the judge picked the Doctor Who (who DID have an excellent costume, big congrats to him!), but this one was pretty awesome. Look at the hair! \u003Ca href=\"http://www.nobrow.net/6789\">Check out the Hilda books\u003C/a> if you haven't already. (He's \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/thatlukeperson\">@thatlukeperson\u003C/a> on Twitter.) \u003Ca href=\"http://sarahyewman.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/comic-capers.html\">Sarah Yewman has written an excellent blog post about the day\u003C/a>, do go have a look at it! And \u003Ca href=\"http://www.stevecolebooks.co.uk/index.php/comic-capers/\">Steve Cole has blogged about the day over here on his website\u003C/a>! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarahyewman_hilda_zpsdb70b687-68b7846334.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nCheck out this fab Hamster Man comic one of the kids in the audience made! So awesome to see kids making comics on the spot. I sometimes get festival people sighing when we ask for pencil and paper for everyone in the audience (it's one more thing they need to organise), but there's something really special about adults and kids not just hearing about drawing, but actually DOING it. I mean, that's really what it's all about! (So a big thanks to all the festivals who have humoured me so far with this one.) :D \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hamster_man_comic_zps319bb45c-8d24998442.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nYay, Lucy and her friend brought along a couple frisky Sea Monkeys, knitted by their granny! The pattern was created by my studio mate \u003Ca href=\"http://www.whodunnknit.com/\">Deadly Knitshade\u003C/a> and you can \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/oliver-and-the-seawigs/\">download it free from my website\u003C/a> if you want to make one. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarahyewman_pic1_zps86a72b9a-639007f95a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnother cool thing: I got to meet the writer of our book \u003Ci>Superkid\u003C/i>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.clairefreedman.co.uk/\">Claire Freedman\u003C/a>, for the VERY FIRST TIME! She had a morning \u003Ci>Aliens Love Underpants\u003C/i> event, and we were able to have lunch together and talk about \u003Ci>Superkid\u003C/i>, being on stage, tricky-to-manage hair, all that kind of stuff. I usually work closely with my writers, so it always felt a bit odd that I hadn't met Claire, and I'm glad that it's happened at last. (Great to meet you, Claire!) She's \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/clairefreedman\">@clairefreedman\u003C/a> on Twitter.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/freedman_mcintyre_superkid_zps9a57778c-7c1fde9119.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHuge thanks to Steve, who was awesome to perform with. And to the fabulous \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Georgianins\">Georgia Snelgrove\u003C/a>, who organised our event for the \u003Ca href=\"http://justimaginestorycentre.co.uk/\">Just Imagine story centre\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/essexbookfest\">Essex Book Festival\u003C/a>! Thanks to its owner \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/writeawayuk\">Nikki Gamble\u003C/a>, who came to our event despite having just flown in from events in Qatar. And thanks to the Cramphorn Theatre for the use of your lovely venue, that was a fabulous afternoon!  \\r\n\\r\nI just had to show you the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bergerandwyse.com/\">Berger & Wyse\u003C/a> comic strip late that evening that made me spit up my tea. (\u003Ca href=\"http://www.joeberger.co.uk/\">Joe Berger\u003C/a> makes children's books and comics, too; you can follow him at \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/_JoeBerger\">@_JoeBerger\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bergerwyse_zps766d8df1-0181855353.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne more thing: \u003Cb>If you're getting today's copy of \u003Ci>The Sunday Times\u003C/i>, be sure to look out in The Funday Times for my \u003Ci>Shark & Unicorn\u003C/i> comic strip!\u003C/b>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>Edit: Comment from parent Jacqueline Farrow: It was a lovely afternoon. K continued practising his tail-whip yesterday. A was so thrilled at winning the costume comp (he had put a lot of thought into his costume so we were thrilled too) and plans to take his prize books into school for 'show and question'. Both were reading Vern and Lettuce yesterday and what was extra brilliant was how they were relating it to what they'd heard - 'Sarah did it like this because...' etc. Loads of enthusiasm (and as one of them is a reluctant reader that is so fantastic to see). Thanks both of you.\u003C/i>","2014-03-30T12:04:00.000Z","comic-capers-at-essex-book-festival",[],"comic capers at essex book festival!",1776628726273]