studio goodness + morris pics and poems

Yesterday, my studio mate Gary Northfield was pleased as punch to get a certain parcel in time for this weekend’s MCM Expo. I’d say Bad Dog is a mini comic, but since it’s printed like a newspaper, it’s more of a maxi comic. It looks great and it’s funny enough to have me spewing my tea. (But be warned, some of his characters use naughty language.) Come along Fri, Sat or Sun and pick up a copy at the Fleece Station table!

And speaking of the Fleece Station, our studio’s been featured in Artists & Illustrators magazine’s November issue! When editor Steve Pill got in touch with me about it, I cracked up laughing when I saw a photo of another artist’s gorgeous museum-like space. But Steve wanted to show ours anyway: tight room, mess and all.

Click on the image – or here – to read a larger version. Apologies, it keeps coming up a bit over-compressed, no matter how large I save the original file.

A special thanks to Barry Griffiths and Stories from the Web, who ran a Morris the Mankiest Monster poetry and drawing competition! Congratulations to Grace and Ciara for using the online tools to come up with these monster pictures:

And to Tiarnan and Eve for their poems. Here they are! (Gotta love anything that rhymes ‘clumsy’ and ‘bumsy’.)

MAX the Manky Monster

MAX the manky monster is famous
For swearing oaths
As well as that he loved to eat gigantic loaves
HE was funny he was clumsy
And had a big hairy bumsy
One day he went out to eat a baby
Instead he ate a little old lady
The next day he felt so bad
He was always known as “SAD”
And that was the end.

By TIARNAN, aged 10, from St Francis School, Lurgan P6

Why Morris Is Manky

I asked Morris one day,
When we were out to play,
I asked him twice,
While he ate chips and rice,
Why are you so manky?

He never answers,
There is something he knew,
When I go to ask him,
He just starts something new!
I ask him again,
Hoping for an answer,
I just want that for Christmas,
I just want that from Santa…
THE ANSWER!

The next day at school,
He is swimming in the pool.
And I say,
Like before this day,
Why are you so manky?

Then he is washing his face,
Just after dusting the place.
He is very clean,
Like a washing machine,
And he’s gone from nice to mean.

He’s in a grump,
A right big flump,
On the bathroom floor,
He says he’s ok but we know he’s in a bore.
And then I walk in, throw my sweet wrapper in the bin,
And ask him again,
“Why are you so manky!?”

“I’m not manky, I’m not!” he says,
And there’s a clear honest look on his face,
And he goes from mean to good as he makes the world a better place.

By Eve the Lazy Bones, aged Eleventy-twelve. Lol, jk, I’m 11., from Knowsley, England

Right, we’re off to MCM Expo! Hope to see you there!