Dandy Days Are Over!

Today is a very sad day in the world of comics, as Britain's longest running comic, The Dandy comes to an end.

In 2003 my nan bought me a copy of The Dandy Summer Special, it was ever since then that I fell in love with The Dandy. I have been collecting The Dandy every issue since the end of 2003. Earlier this year when I found out that The Dandy was ending I felt really quite upset by the news. The Dandy along with The Beano have had such an impact on my life. It was The Dandy and The Beano that actually got me into cartooning in the first place! Also all the times in my life when I was feeling down I would pull out a Dandy and read it to take my mind off things that were bothering me, and escape to another world, which is Dandytown. One of the first things I said when I heard that the Dandy was ending is "I will buy The Dandy to the very end!" and I have!

Today the LAST EVER print version of The Dandy comes out, and oh my what a way to end such a BRILLIANT comic. We see the return of loads of classic stories and more modern stories, so there really is something for everyone in the final Dandy! Stories include: Marvo The Wonder Chicken, Claude Hopper, Hungry Horace, Jak and Todd, The umbrella Men, Harry Hill, Korky the Cat and of course Desperate Dan. Plus, that's not all! There's also a very special Dandy story drawn by the legend that is Nigel Parkinson and features Paul McCartney.

I won't give away the ending of the comic, but I think it's the perfect ending to a perfect comic. The all-new Dandy Digital also launches today over at www.dandy.com, so that's worth a peek. However The Dandy as we know it is over! I will certainly "ALWAYS KEEP A DANDY HANDY!"


The LAST EVER Dandy on sale NOW! Only £3.99 for 100 pages (if your lucky enough to find a copy)! Bargain!

A 'Dandy' Day Out!

DC Thomson and Co. Ltd. image used only for review purposes

DC Thomson and Co. Ltd

A few months ago I was on the internet and I saw an advert for an exhibition about the Dandy comic, this October at The Cartoon Museum in London. After months of persuading my mum to come with me, I went to the exhibition this week, and it was BRILLIANT. It is a must for all Dandy comic fans. It includes original comic strips and pieces of art from some of the fantastic Dandy artists from over the past 75 years. The exhibition includes original artwork from: Dudley Watkins (Desperate Dan), Tom Paterson (Keyhole Kate), and Nigel Parkinson (Harry Hill). The exhibition is really interesting, as you get to see how the comic strips are put together. Unfortunately photography was not allowed, so I am unable to post any photo's of the exhibition pieces. The exhibition also contains a sneak peek at the new Digital Dandy, which looks quite interesting...The exbition is a must see and a brilliant way to say goodbye to The Dandy comic. It runs from 24th October until Christmas Eve 24th December 2012 at The Cartoon Museum in London. The final print edition of The Dandy will be released on the day The Dandy turns 75 on Tuesday 4th December 2012, there'll be more about that on this very blog soon.

Rejected Art work

Earlier this year, I sent some art work off to The Dandy in the hope for it to be published. Unfortunately they didn't accept my submission and I got the dreaded rejection letter. The Dandy didn't really give me any reasons why they rejected it, which would have helped me to improve my future comic strips. So for the first time ever here is the rejected comic strip I sent, entitled "Billy Basher". I would really like to know what everyone thinks to it, especially cartoonists as it would help me to improve my future comic strips. So comments are very welcome! It has always been a dream for me to get my art work published in the Dandy, which will never happen now due to its closure in December (as I mentioned previously). I was lucky enough to get my art work printed in The Beano a few years ago as I was runner up in a "design a poster" competition. My next step is to hopefully to get work as a cartoonist for a comic. Hope you enjoy the comic strip I have uploaded and remember to let me know what you think and what can be improved. Until next time, goodbye!

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Ellis Shuma's Comic Blog!

Hello and welcome to my BRAND NEW comic blog! I am new to writing blogs so please bear with me. I will try to make my blogs interesting and fun to read. So some of you might be wondering why have I created a blog? Well the answer to that is because I want to show some of my work to try and get into the art industry, drawing comics. The Beano and The Dandy have had a huge influence on my work and have even helped me to develop my own style, while drawing comic strips. The Dandy particularly has taught me that you don't always need a ruler to draw comic strips, which is why I don't use a ruler for some of my comic strips.

On this blog I will be posting some of the comic strips I have drawn and wrote myself, many of which have NEVER been seen before (I would love to know what you all think of them too, so feel free to comment). I will also be posting a comic series, which I teamed up with a friend to create. It's called "The Pound World Series", which is currently running on my Facebook page. We are very proud of that series.

I will be posting mainly about my own work, though I will be writing a few posts about other comics, such as the closure of The Dandy in December, so look out for that! The image that you see is of me drawn by my very hands. So now you know what to expect on my BRAND NEW blog! I would appreciate it if you could send out links to my blog on your Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Thank you for reading my very first post, check back soon, and remember to spread the word about my new blog, as I am desperate to get into drawing comics as a career.