This is a 2 page strip from BUZZ Comic - City Lives, City Kidz, in Their Own Words” Illustrated and interpreted by myself and fellow Irish Illustrator extraordinaire, Philip Barrett.
BUZZ was devised by the Oonagh Young gallery and funded as part of a Neighborhood grant from Dublin City Council Arts Office. The stories are based on audio recordings of the children from fourth class at the Central Model Senior School on Gardiner Street, Dublin. BUZZ is designed to reflect the real experiences of children growing up in the inner city today - family life, attending school, playing etc.
I really loved working on this project and the kids involved where amazing!
The comic is 24 pages and printed on cheap newsprint to give it that authentic 1970's british humour comic feel. Archival quality prints of the artwork are available to buy. For more information please contact info@oonaghyoung.com
The word Buzz is common slang in Dublin.
eg: There was a good Buzz at the gig! Really another word for vibe or atmosphere.
Hot off the presses! Cover art by me.
The actual Pen and Ink Line art for the strip. Drawn slightly larger than final print size.
Close ups of the line work and my dip pen for scale.
I printed the text and guidlines for the panel borders in blue line, straight on to sheets of Arches hot pressed paper. I then began drawing the artwork keeping the pencils to a minimum as l prefer to do a lot of the drawing in the inking stage to keep things as fresh and loose as possible. Tightness is the enemy of cartooning!
Just some blown up panels from the printed comic for no good reason other than I love the dot screen look of enlarged newsprint!
Finally we get to the actual strip itself, in handy scroll down format for your viewing pleasure.
Some happy readers below.
