Sarah McIntyre posts up ‘One Crazy Monday‘, a cool little three-pager running through a Monday and taking in the news breaking about the closure of the DFC:
(One Crazy Monday by and (c) Sarah McIntyre)
From the strip I noticed that Sarah had earlier posted up an interview with the great Dave McKee (as he was having his first UK solo exhibition) and was too modest to shout about it. For those who may not be familiar with him, Dave is one of the true giants of illustrated children’s books in the UK, with many of his works, such as Elmer, being translated into a number of languages around the world, and his Mr Benn books and animations have become something of a cult; probably fair to say he is one of those illustrators who has created so many bestelling illustrated works for younger readers he must well be one of the early influences on a lot of budding artists (and if we boring old adults admit it, when we look at those books with kids his work still raises a smile from us to this day, doesn’t it?). The interview is quite interesting, taking in his art exhibition and some of his works that most young readers won’t have seen. Since he’s spent a lot of time in France Sarah even asks him about the influence of BD:
“Sarah: Have you ever been influenced by the bande dessinée tradition?
Dave: Oh, yes! In fact, there was a Mr Benn I wanted to do in comic form, called Super Ben. But I actually never did the book. The idea was slightly… not anti-green, but where everybody had their plants and their trees and their terraces, and Mr Baddie had produced something to spray that would make these things grow, so the plants took over the city and it all got out of hand. And Mr Benn comes in and brings things back to balance. But I never did that one.”
(‘Palette Table’ by and (c) Dave McKee, with more than a hint of Elmer in there, I think. The Illustration Cupboard who were exhibiting Dave’s work have some of it – available for sale – to view on their website)
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