Happy 85th Birthday to The Beano 🥳

My first Newsletter in quite a while (sorry x)

This week the seminal British comic ‘The Beano’ celebrated 85 years of being enjoyed by kids all across the country (and the world).

Growing up The Beano was a constant presence in my life and I spent many a happy morning reading the comic (along with The Dandy and Buster) and felt totally enchanted by the incredible art throughout.

In 2012 the editor of The Beano Mr Michael Stirling and assistant editor Ryan Gavin gave me a fantastic opportunity to illustrate a weekly poetry segment.

This was my first ever professional illustration commission and I was so happy to see my drawings accompanying poems written by the likes of Jacqueline Wilson, Laura Dockrill , Spike Milligan and many other incredible writers. The image above is from ‘Bogies’ by Laura and is probably my favourite. Here are few of the others:

Around that time I was also thrilled to create a couple of pieces celebrating The Beano in the style of classic artists. My Beanotown piece inspired by Lowry is currently displayed in the DC Thomson head offices on Fleet Street in London. It was also part of the incredible exhibition 'Beano: The Art Of Breaking The Rules’ curated by Andy Holden at Somerset House in 2022.

Before then 'Beanotown’ and a painting of The Bashstreet Kids 'Pug’ inspired by Van Gogh was also hidden amongst the artwork of the Dundee Gallery for a special celebration of the classic comic.

Goodness me, what an adventure I have had with The Beano. My 8 year old self would have have been over the moon to know that one day I would get my first big published commission in the pages of the comic that I loved so much.

Thank you The Beano. And Happy Bloomin Birthday 😘

PS…Lots of exciting things coming up. Will post more on here I promise :)