About
About the Crazy Comic Club
Crazy Comic Club was born in 2004, when, I hooked up with Children’s University in Brighton to run some holiday comic art workshops with kids. Directly engaging with young people was very refreshing after years working from my studio where you rarely meet your audience. I felt regular work with kids would brighten up my otherwise studio-bound week, so I began an after school club, which has blossomed over the years until I now find myself working with up to 100 different kids each week during termtime!
In 2006 a funded opportunity in the deprived Whitehawk area of Brighton was completed, creating a cartoon cookery book, developing children’s artistic skills and encouraging them to eat healthier foods. I have brought in storytellers, drama teachers, animators, filmmakers, mask-makers, photographers, graffiti artists and sculptors to explore the wide use of graphic storytelling in conjunction with other media and disciplines.
I’ve been extremely lucky to be able to work for several years with Kids Company charity which provides practical, emotional, and educational support to vulnerable children in inner city London. A few words cannot do justice to the incredible work Kidsco is doing, or to the amazing young people I’ve been lucky enough to share creative time with in schools and centres across the capital. www.kidsco.org.uk
At Mac’s Place, a young peoples’ advice and information centre based at Falmer High School, we created comics raising awareness of issues that affect teenagers such as sexual health, drug and alcohol abuse, bullying and domestic violence.
The beauty of comic club is how different every workshop is, shaped by the imaginations of the attendees. Whether it be a 120 metre long cartoon strip along a road as part of Car Free Day, working with teenagers in mobile workshop spaces with BBC Blast, or BBC RaW workshops promoting adult literacy through comic workshops across East England, every session is fresh and different.
About My Comics
I started selling my work on street corners in 2001 as a bet with a friend. They were send-ups of various world leaders and A-list celebrities. A shop called me up asking to stock them, then shops in London called me up asking to stock them, then a stranger made an animated web version which became a big internet hit.
It was all a bit of an accident. One day, also almost by accident, I decided to run some holiday workshops for kids for a change, and Crazy Comic Club was born, which has totally distracted me ever since!
