31 Dec
2010

Posted in: Blog, Pictures, Words
By Fanton    14 Comments

That Was The Year That Was

AND SO it is time to bid farewell to 2010, a year FULL of changes and transformations. The people of Britain chose to end thirteen years of Labour rule, by voting for no-one in particular, resulting in a strange Frankenstein’s monster of political parties leading the country instead. In Doctor Who, we saw The Doctor regenerate from a man looking a lot like David Tennant, to a man looking a lot like an Easter Island statue teaching geography at a public school. Sherlock Holmes found himself transported from the Victorian era to modern-day London where he proved a dab-hand at using mobile phones, while in cinemas across the land, movies decided that being in a mere two-dimensions was no longer enough, and started leaping out of the screen and kicking popcorn in your face.

Elsewhere, The Dandy, Britain’s longest-running comic, underwent its own transformation, changing itself from being half comic, half magazine and all ‘Xtreme’, to going back to doing what it does best – showcasing nothing but excellent COMICS. In doing so, it also transformed me from being a hapless, unemployable wretch, to being a paid cartoonist.

Yes, it was definitely a year of two halves, commencing with me being made redundant from my old job, and left wondering what exactly I do next, misery and despair hanging over me like a particularly noxious guff-cloud. But there was a brighter side to losing my job, and that was that it made me realise I wasn’t really any good at any of my previous jobs, nor did I enjoy them. It was time to focus my energies on something I was vaguely competent at, and which I genuinely, passionately wanted to do – cartooning!

It was when the lovely and legendary Lew Stringer made some very nice comments about my webcomic, The Carrotty Kid, (citing it as being ‘easily on a par with any comic’) that I really got serious about trying to break into the world of strip-cartoonery. If a hugely talented professional like Lew could see merit in my doodles, maybe I COULD get something published?

Shortly thereafter, I was spurned on again by another cartooning great, Jamie Smart, who let me know that The Dandy was looking for new cartoonists and new characters. Not only that, but Jamie seemed genuinely keen to encourage me to go for it, which buoyed my confidence further, and so I did indeed go for it.

Thankfully, the lovely Dandy folk (editor Craig Graham and Michelle O’Donnell) really liked my ‘George vs Dragon‘ idea, and the rest, as they say, is Stuff That Happened In The Past.

Since then, the second half of my year has been immeasurably better than the first, and it has been the happiest and most satisfying experience in all of my working life. I’ve seen my work in print in one of the very comics I grew up reading as a kid, I’ve found myself holding a monster-drawing workshop for children, I’ve been in the local newspaper and I’ve met some more wonderful people along the way. It really has been a fantastic time for me.

So, thank you, 2010, for not being as awful as you first appeared. And thank you, Lew, Jamie, Craig and Michelle for helping to get me here now. And thanks to my lovely family and friends who have supported me, and of course big thanks to YOU, the readers, who have been so quick to take George vs Dragon to your big, collective heart. It all means a very great deal to me.

Here’s hoping 2011 is just as good, if not MORE so. I’ve got some ideas bubbling away, one of which I shall be able to hint about in the new year. Until then, I hope you have yourselves a very, very, VERY Happy New Year, and make 2011 something special!

Twenty Ten was all well and good, but next year it’s going up to ELEVEN.

- Fanton.

9 Dec
2010

Posted in: Blog, Pictures
By Fanton    6 Comments

It’s That Time Again!…

YES, it’s Dandy day again, and you know what the means? MORE MEDIEVAL MADNESS!

In this week’s George vs Dragon (previewed above) the ever witless Wirlin the Wizard returns to once again mess up George’s plans. Poor George, what a tin-plated toerag he is.

Elsewhere, Phil Corbett’s excellent take on Korky the Cat finally gets a full page to itself, while Lord Sugar goes and fires Santa Claus! Plus all the usual hi-jinx and hilarity, for a mere £1.50!

Next week, The Dandy’s Christmas issue hits the stands, boasting a HUMONGOUS 76-pages, for £3.99 – including my very own TWO PAGE George vs Dragon festive special, so look out for THAT! It’ll be more stuffed with goodness than your Christmas Turkey, I’ll bet.

Elsewhere, I’ve done a little guest blog over at the Trapped by Monsters website, a wonderful place run by a group of excellent childrens’ authors, including Tommy Donbavand (writer of the spine-chilling Scream Street series of books), Joe Craig (the Jimmy Coates series) and Ali Sparkes (Shapeshifters, Monster Makers et al) and many other authors and artists besides. It was very kind to be offered a spot on their blog, and you can read me waffling on about comics and The Dandy by clicking right..about…HERE.

That’s all for now. I’m off to go and send my letter to Santa. I hope he’ll bring me that moon on a stick I wanted!

Laters!

- Fanton.

17 Nov
2010

Posted in: Blog, Pictures, Words
By Fanton    10 Comments

News Knight

A picture of me pretending I'm working, taken for The News.

THIS YEAR really does seem to be the ‘Year of Weird Things Happening To Me That I’d Have Never Expected’.

Not only do I wind up drawing comics for one of my favourite comics, The Dandy, and not only did I find myself showing a hundred-plus kids how to draw monsters, but today I can add ‘appearing in a double-page spread for the local newspaper’ to that growing list of oddities.

The local newspaper in question, The Portsmouth News, interviewed and photographed me for a really lovely two-page feature about myself and my work for The Dandy, which saw print today. It’s a really good piece, with the lovely reporter, Rachel Jones, covering everything from The Carrotty Kid to George vs Dragon, and even including a mention for my decidedly NON child-friendly character, Lord Likely. Quite an exhaustive interview, then, and one I enjoyed doing very much. Although sitting posing at my drawing board for photos was a little more than weird. No-one needs to see my face in print, surely?

How the interview looked in the paper. Note the odd, strained expression on my face.

For those of you not in the Portsmouth area, never fear – you can read the interview HERE, thanks to the wonders of the world-wide web! HUZZAH!

MEANWHILE, it being a Wednesday and all, it’s Dandy day again, meaning a new episode of George vs Dragon sees print as well! This week, George has a VERY CUNNING PLAN:

It can’t POSSIBLY go wrong, can it? Find out in The Dandy, out now, for only one pound and fifty pee!

TRIVIA: this week’s George vs Dragon is actually one of the first ever ones I submitted to The Dandy, but which I later had to amend by adding an extra panel for it to fit the comic’s size requirements. FASCINATING, huh?

While I’m busily drawing dragons for The Dandy and becoming an international superstar and heart-throb, I’ve not forgotten my other web-based ventures, no sireee!

The Carrotty Kid returns, in a series of strips by guest-artists hand-picked from the very best of the cartooning crop! The first is done by the excellent Rick Eades, and can be seen by clicking HERE.

A panel from Rick Eades' fantastic guest Carrotty Kid strip.

Elsewhere, Lord Likely is sporting a variety of moustaches for Movember, and has also made his journals available for download via the Kindle, for a very reasonable 99p a month. SO SUBSCRIBE NOW! Or a little later, if you like.

That’s the headlines, now you stay classy, PLANET EARTH.

- Fanton.