A few years ago I was lucky enough to check off one of the the boxes on my creative bucket list. I illustrated a novel by Neil Gaiman called FORTUNATELY, THE MILK. It’s a very silly young reader book with TONS of drawings it and it was blast to work on.
I decided to use a bit of a different finish on this art than you might be used in my comics. I normally ink with with a brush but I wanted this to feel a bit more frantic and off so I used a nib. The G Pen. It gave the work a scratchy feel that I really fell in love with. I would love to do a full comic like this at some point. I wonder what it would look like in color?
Here are some of my favorite pieces from the book. I really enjoyed drawing the random Milk bottles to be used throughout the book.
I loved working with Neil and if you did as well, stay tuned. You’ll be happy with what’s to come.
Yeah, but technically even The Diary of Anne Frank would satisfy your criteria
I think this is a WONDERFUL, helpful review. The one that warns people it’s a children’s book is less so.
(via leasthelpful)
The queue for tonight’s Neil Gaiman reading wrapped around the building twice. I took this photo of the end and middle of the line after I had gone around the building with it.
I never got to see the queue.
Just four of the wonderful people on stage last night at Fortunately the Milk at Westminster Central Hall. One of the best nights of my life.
It was a perfect night.
amended surprise ukulele anthem lyrics for Neil’s “fortunately the milk” full-book-reading launch tonight in London at Westminster hall. (he killed it). special guests including Lenny Henry (who played a dinosaur) Andrew O’Neill and Mitch Benn (pirates) Tori Amos’ daughter Natasha (who played a pony)…and many more.
Fortunately the Milk: Gaiman’s kid-novel is a tribute to fatherly trolling
Neil Gaiman’s illustrated children’s novel Fortunately the Milk is a magnificent tribute to the fatherly art of trolling kids with straightfaced, outlandish tales. It’s narrated by a boy whose mother is away on a business trip, and whose father had to go out to the corner store for a pint of milk for the cereal and his tea. Dad takes an unconscionably long time getting the milk, and when he returns, the narrator and his little sister accuse Dad of having stopped to gossip at the store. Not so, insists Dad, who proceeds to explain exactlywhat happened while he was out getting the milk.It’s an astounding tale, starting with an alien abduction, moving swiftly onto a space-time journey to the ship of a vicious pirate queen and a near-death plank-walking, a daring rescue by a time-travelling dinosaur scientist in a hot-air-balloon time machine, and thence through interference with a pre-Colombian human sacrifice, and many, many other adventures, including several involving temporal paradoxes.
It’s an absolute delight to read aloud — I’ve read it to my five-year-old daughter twice since the weekend — and the interludes in which the kids break in to question the dad’s story sparked great conversations, especially when it came to the temporal paradoxes. The fact that the kids clearly suspect that Dad is making it all up, but would rather try to disprove it by picking holes in his continuity than by denying it outright perfectly captures the spirit of an excellent round of dad-trolling.And for all the mad-cappery, there’s a fair bit of attention here to an internally consistent time-travel story, with all the fun that implies. By the end, we’re in a kid-safe place that’s one part Douglas Adams, one part Doctor Who, and one part The Usual Suspects. It’s quite a mix!
There are two editions of the book: the UK edition is illustrated with Chris Riddell, whose art is more Al Jaffee, less Ralph Steadman — madcap rather than grotesque. The US editionis illustrated by Skottie Young, whose work is more grown-up. Both artists complement the text well, but I favor the UK version. You can see some art samples below.
Fortunately the Milk [UK edition, illustrated by Chris Riddell]
Fortunately the Milk [US edition, illustrated by Skottie Young]
UK edition(Chris Riddell)
US edition(Skottie Young)
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FORTUNATELY THE MILK…
Both my copies of Neil Gaiman’s new book Fortunately, The Milk! (US and UK, because I decided that I needed both) It is ridiculous and fantastic and both Skottie Young’s and Chris Riddell’s illustrations are wonderful. Check it out!
“We have spoons. Spoons are excellent. Sort of like forks, only not as stabby.”
It makes me strangely happy (and not in a hah! I sold an extra book kind of way) that people are buying and loving both versions of the book. It’s because both Skottie and Chris are geniuses in their own very different ways…
With love from our UK office, it’s FORTUNATELY, THE MILK
What are they DOING? Do they think that this will sell books?
Please buy a copy of FORTUNATELY, THE MILK, so they can say “Yes, yes Neil, it DID sell books, dressing up as milkmen and pirates and carrying inflatable dinosaurs around, SOLD BOOKS,” and hold their heads high once again.