Insights

A strong punchline creates a sudden shift in meaning. The audience follows one idea, then discovers that the sentence, scene, or character has been heading…

Bad Grandad has never needed much encouragement to cause trouble. Give him a walking stick, a questionable plan, and an audience, and he will turn an ordinary…

Boo is perfectly suited to a place where the books whisper, the lights flicker, and every checkout desk has a supernatural secret. A haunted library gives the…

A carrot-loving hero, a stubborn medieval horse, and a village full of suspicious onlookers make an ideal recipe for comic chaos. Carrotty Kid meets a talking…

A dragon can be fierce, majestic, or wonderfully ridiculous, but a fluffy dragon needs a different visual language. Its silhouette should suggest softness…

Working on The Dandy taught me that a comic strip is a performance frozen on the page. Every panel has a beat, every pause has a purpose, and every expression…

A silent comic panel asks the reader to understand a scene without dialogue, captions, or sound effects. Its meaning must arrive through posture, expression,…

A memorable comedic villain needs more than a bad attitude and a dramatic entrance. The character should have a clear desire, a recognisable way of thinking,…

Bad Grandad has always been the sort of character who can turn an ordinary moment into a full-scale disaster. Give him a simple task, a familiar face, or a…

Andy Fanton’s Carrotty Kid turns a humble vegetable into a lively cartoon hero. With a springy name, a mischievous spirit, and plenty of room for visual gags,…