It’s been a very busy last month. I came back from a successful trip to Gallifrey One in Los Angeles, the big Doctor Who Convention. It was officially announced that I will be illustrating a comic strip written by Richard Dinnick for the Seventh Doctor series published by Titan,

I came home to more great news that I’ll be playing controversial MP Shirley Porter in a new satirical drama “Shirleymander” at the new Playground Theatre this summer.

So what about the graphic memoir? When’s that happening. Well, first off, I can confirm that the full script for the book has been approved by my editor, Lizzie Kaye.

I have now started the first stages of illustration. Some of you, I know, are experienced comic creators so forgive me if I’m stating the obvious. But I will talk you through the step by step because possibly many of you don’t know how it goes.

My first step, after the script is complete, is to lay out a rough version of how the book will look with text and pictures. I draw out tiny versions of just the panel layouts first. Then I do what are sometimes called ‘thumbnails’. Mine are drawn out in final print size with detail where I need it. So far to date I’ve done about 17 pages. 

Here are a few pics to show you what I mean.

I’ll be back here with more developments soon!