sjbeckettdesign

In a Dandy daze!

sjbeckettdesign — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:51:27 +0000

Blimey! In my previous post I mentioned I was working on 3, 2 page strips for the Dandy Annual 2013. Well I’m pleased to say that I was later asked to take on another 3 strips, so 12 pages in all! I’ve had great fun writing for some real classics from the archives. Both characters I’m working on are new ones for me. I’m bursting to tell which characters but I’ll keep their identities under my hat for a bit longer.

I’ve really relished the opportunity to write these stories and I’m very proud of what I’ve done. Still got all the pages to colour but scripts and inked pages are complete and have been OK’d by Dandy ed Craig.

It’s been a great start to 2012 and I’m looking forward to following up this work with some new pitches which will hopefully see me back in the pages of The Dandy weekly very soon.

Laters!

Surviving Comics!

sjbeckettdesign — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:10:05 +0000

Happy New Year folks!

I’m really happy to be heading into 2012 with lots of exciting projects to work on.

I’m currently writing and drawing 3 new comic strips for the 2013 Dandy Annual. I have the pleasure of bringing back a real oldie from the Dandy archives, and I’m having great fun. So thanks to Dandy Ed, Craig Graham for offering me the gig.

Another bit of comic news, something that may be of interest to Dandy fans and UK comic historians/archivists is the return of my bushcraft hero Ray Fears. Not to the pages of The Dandy though! Ray is embarking on a reprint run in the latest issue of Bushcraft & Survival Skills magazine.

And also joining Ray Fears is a new character created for the mag. Burp Grylls! Who will be guiding us through the more unpleasant aspects of bush tucker foraging and well… burping a lot!

All this and some up coming work on a new Book of Hope for UCB UK is keeping me busy, busy, busy.

Defining Hulk & Wolverine artist unleashes TOUGH GUY!

sjbeckettdesign — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:47:20 +0000

It’s a real pleasure to be able to announce the release of Tough Guy, the Graphic Novel.

Available now as a digital download. I illustrated the book last year, and I’m thrilled to say the book sports a brilliant cover drawn by Marvel comics legend Herb Trimpe, which I really enjoyed colouring!

The book is a great fun read for fans of the likes of The A-team and Action Man. It has a real Saturday morning cartoon vibe. Suitable for all ages.

You can see some pages from the comic here and here.

Read the official press release from Mohawk Media here.

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree

sjbeckettdesign — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:50:01 +0000

It’s not going to be a ‘Silent Night’ for the residents of Dandytown this week. As The Dandy’s newest menace, Frosty, decides to liven up some dull carol singing, with a bit of hot rocking! Plus lots more bright, bold, bonkers fun in this weeks Dandy, which sport a rather lovely Bananaman cover!

Enjoy! Ho ho ho.

Meet Frosty!

sjbeckettdesign — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:31:40 +0000

It’s December the first and I guess the countdown to Christmas starts today!

The Dandy have also started the celebrations and this week sees the debut of my new comic creation ‘FROSTY, He’s Sno angel!’ This new menace on the block, sure knows how to give his neighbors the shivers! I really enjoyed doing these strips and fans of earlier, more traditional DC Thomson humour comics may find this strip much to their liking. The character will run for 3 weeks over the Christmas period. Now I’m busy dreaming up some new characters to impress the ED!

This weeks Dandy is also one of the funniest issues I read since last years revamp, Wilbur Dawbarns, ‘Mr Meecher’, ‘Nuke Noodle’ by Alexander Matthews and Nigel Auchterlounie’s ’My Freaky Family’ being particular highlights for me.

With a bit of a price hike to £1.99 The Dandy is still the best value for money on the comic shelves.

Enjoy!

A Quick Catch Up

sjbeckettdesign — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:52:59 +0000

Ooh! It’s been a while since I did a post. Thought I’d better rectify the situation and show that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.

Been a busy old time that last few weeks. I’ve got myself a few new comic strip jobs including some Christmas strips for
The Dandy featuring a new character of mine. I’m really pleased with the way these comics turned out and I hope you will enjoy them. (Sneak peek, left) They should be published in the next few weeks. I’ll keep you posted.

And as Christmas is fast approaching, here’s a plug for the new Dandy Annual. This years book featuring 2 comic strips I have written and drawn for classic Dandy character ‘Brain Duane‘. The ‘Duane‘ stories were only my second assignment for The Dandy after my Daredevil Dad stories. I was a little daunted by this but again, I’m pleased with the end result (even now, a year on since working on them!)

So anyway, here is my first ever sketch of Brain Duane.

More soon… Enjoy!

Soooo Cheesy!

sjbeckettdesign — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:31:01 +0000

It’s Dandy day and this weeks issue sees the final installment of Ray Fears survival tips. This week Ray shows us the unique properties of the Yarrow leaf. It doesn’t end well.

Also this week sees the publication of my Madvertisement featuring a very cheesy pop duo. Plus lots of fireworks fun featuring all your Dandy faves.

Enjoy!

Idle Thoughts

sjbeckettdesign — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:52:57 +0000

What makes a successful pitch?

Blood, sweat, determination? Or just a good idea?

In my experience over the last year or so pitching character and story ideas to comics, it has been revealed to me that idle thoughts can make for a successful pitch.

Sometimes we can, or indeed, I can try too hard to mould something together to fit in to what I perceive to be a house style or the next big thing. Spending time producing nice artwork to back up my brilliant idea, only to find it fired into the reject bin with little or no explanation as to why. Sometimes things just don’t cut it out there in comic land, and I’m OK with that but sometimes it leaves me puzzled.

But cheers for idle thoughts, because idle thoughts create the best ideas. All my published work so far has been the result of an idle thought, a day dream whilst walking to work. Today I was informed of an editors interest in another one of my idle thoughts, of which now needs to be fully realised into a funny character to entertain the readers of The Dandy. This time with a bit of input and guidance from Dandy Ed, Craig Graham, which is great. Hopefully this character will see the light of day very soon. I’ve just got to bring my pencil sketch to life now and write some scripts.

Hooray for comics!

Ray’s a knock out in the jungle

sjbeckettdesign — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:25:19 +0000

It’s Wednesday, it’s Dandy day. This week Ray Fears is in the jungle hunting Ka Ka.

With only one more Ray strip to go it’s about time I got some more stuff commissioned. So see ya later, I’m off to pitch some more ideas!

Enjoy!

Whose afraid of the…

sjbeckettdesign — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:14:44 +0000

Having fun working with a new character created for a new client. More on that soon, in the meantime here is a sneak peek from a comic strip which will be part of the promotional campaign for the clients new business venture.

Enjoy.