The current issue of The Dandy Extreme contains another one of my jolly Pinky's Crackpot Circus (as written by Robert Mc Naughton), so hopefully you'll all be rushing out and buying a copy (it also contains the ever-unmissable Desperate Dan, by Jamie Smart, my favourite strip anywhere at the moment!).

Here's a clip of Pinky and chums  in their P.Js....



            



























 And lest you forget,   Little Cutie is on it's 3rd installment in the DFC and should hopefully be running till Christmas! Hooray!

As we hurtle into the 21st century, us creative-types have to keep up with all the latest shiny thingamybobs and seeing as my book is out soon, I've set up a Facebook group for Derek The Sheep!

 Not everyone I know looks here and not everyone I know is on facebook; now there's no escape from DEREK NEWS!!!!

It's not that exciting an announcement, granted, but I thought I'd let you know anyway. All current and future Derek promo-appearances will be listed here and there. And here. And probably here, if I remember.

Not only am I debuting in this week's DFC with Little Cutie, but I'm also turning up in this week's Beano! It's a strange little Derek the Sheep tale about not enjoying being at a disco and him and his mate Kevin Rabbit sellotaping lettuce to their friend's head. Here's a lovely picture from the strip...

Hopefully, I'll have news of another strip written and drawn by me coming soon. Something completely different!

Great article reviewing the recent evening of Beano talks in Dundee

http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2008/08/in-review-happy-birthday-beano-event-at.html

I had an absolute blast in Dundee! The talk was a nerve-wracking nightmare, but somehow I blustered through.

Many thanks to everyone involved, including Christopher Murray and Matthew Jarron. It was great to have a chat with people afterwards, including the many veteran Beano artists, Derek the Sheep fans and comic fans who came along. Also big thanks to Alan Digby, editor of the Beano and Morris Heggie, DC Thomson archivist and ex-Dandy editor, for giving so much of their time on the Thursday. I went along to the DC Thomson building along with my friend Ashley Fitzgerald and fellow Beano artist Laura Howell and we were allowed to sift through a big stack of original art with Morris' in-depth knowledge on hand to talk us through it all. Then, after lunch, Alan gave us a fantastic Grand Tour of the DC Thomson building.

I hope I get to go back to Dundee again soon, if only to listen to Alan Digby sitting in the pub, singing on the guitar, whilst I sit there supping my fifth pint of lager and enjoying every second of it! Happy days!

Issue 11 of The DFC is out next Friday and sees the debut of my new creation Little Cutie.
Little Cutie is Charlie, a poor, harassed coot who has attracted the unwanted attentions of a young, persistent cygnet by the name of Sophie. No matter what he does, or how rude he is to her, she still fancies him rotten! There are other adventures abound as Charlie deals with jealous geese, greedy fat squirrels and a goldfish with an insatiable taste for burgers.

It's the Beano's 70th Anniversary this year and I'll be taking part in a couple of events coming up soon.

Firstly, On the 30th July, I'll be talking about creating Derek the Sheep at the official anniversary exhibition Happy Birthday Beano! in Dundee (home of DC Thomson, publishers of the Beano and Dandy). The programme also includes the prodigiously talented Beano artist Laura Howell, DC Thomson archivist and former Dandy editor Morris Heggie, current Beano editor Alan Digby and long-time artist for the Bash Street Kids (and Dennis the Menace back in the day), David Sutherland.

Secondly, on the 23rd of August, I'll be taking kids classes at the Cartoon Museum in London, where again I'll be chatting about Derek The Sheep and getting kids to draw mad characters and stories in a Derek-stylee. This will be part of many activities (click the cartoon classes and events link) running alongside the museum's own large Beano exhibition running from 30th July to 2nd of November.

For the last few weeks I've been working on a new strip for the groovy new children's weekly comic The DFC. It's a jolly strip called "Little Cutie" and revolves around a coot called Charlie and his pals on a pond and starts in issue 11 (which comes out in August).





























Not that you should wait so long before you subscribe to the mag, cos it's packed to the rafters with geniuses like Philip Pullman, Simone Lia, Jamie Smart, Dave Shelton etc., etc..., so you may as well subscribe already.


In other news, artist Rob Kirbyson has painted a lovely portrait of Derek the Sheep! And what a wonderfully handsome portrait it is too.

I've been asked by DC Thomson to take part in their discussion panel at this year's Bristol Comic Expo. It's on Sunday 11th May at 1pm in the Park Room at the Ramada Hotel. 
My name isn't listed on the guest list or anything, so you'll just have to take my word for it!

Derek makes an all-too-rare appearance in this week's Beano (my fault, sorry!).
It's the first of a mad two-parter involving magic beanstalks and mega-widescreen T.V.'s (there's even a guest appearance from Noel Edmonds next week. Sort of.) And while you're in the newsagent you should also pick up the Dandy Extreme for more adventures of Pinky's Crackpot Circus!

Found a  couple of Norbert Le Mouton reviews dotted about the net and have updated the Reviews section accordingly. I've relied on google-translate to make sense of it all for any non-French speaking readers out there, so descriptions of "blunders and meatballs" and "Be gay as a finch with the stealing sheep" may be a little way off the mark, but I'd like to think that they're pretty accurate!

The second Pinky's Crackpot Circus is featured in the latest issue of Dandy Extreme
on sale now!

Recently drew some illustrations for Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) concerning their small arms control project in Southern Sudan. I've put a small selection up in the illustration section.

My French comic strip book Norbert Le Mouton, published by Editions De L'an 2/Actes Sud, is now available to buy!

 You can pick it up from amazon.fr and various other online French stores.

But, if you can't speak French, then the British version will be available in September from Bloomsbury!

Merci beaucoup!

I'll be putting in an appearance at the forthcoming Angouleme Comic Festival, promoting my new book Norbert Le Mouton. The festival runs from the 24th to the 27th January and I'll most likely show my face from Friday 25th onwards.

A short, but sweet, little interview with me, conducted by groovy cartoonist/writer Douglas Noble. Thank you for your kind words sir!

Derek makes an appearance in this month's Beanomax Xmas special. Very festive it is too. And stupid.

Started work on a new strip for the Dandy, "Pinky's Crackpot Circus" written by Robert McNaughton, which is pencilled in for the beginning of Feb next year. Hooray!

Norbert Le Mouton will finally make his debut next February! Check out the preview pics over at the L'Edition De L'An 2

Recently started drawing "Weird World" illos for Spider-Man Tower of Power and have added a small selection to the illustration section.

The 2008 Beano Annual is most likely hitting the shelves as we speak and there's a particularly strange 4 page Derek story in there. Derek decides to try out a bit of yodelling and Lenny gives his alpenhorn a good blast. You even get to see Cecil the Bee in a pair of lederhosen! Very fetching they are too.