I have been writing and illustrating for as long as I can remember. As a child I would attempt to make Beano style comics during my summer holidays from school. I even won a Design You Own Super Fast Turtle competition for a now defunct children’s computing magazine. I was a very nerdy child.
After three mostly wasted years studying Media Production at a now defunct university, I had my first taste of publishing when making exam papers for an insurance company. This is more boring than you would think, so I took off and spent a year travelling around New Zealand where I discovered the fantastic strip-cartoon series Footrot Flats, drawn by the amazing Murray Ball. When returning to the UK I briefly wrote and illustrated a strip-cartoon myself called Orson the Dog which ran in Luton’s Herald and Post and was very much inspired by Footrot Flats. During this time I would also send single frame cartoons to national newspapers and some even got printed.
My first book I put together was Helpful Cat and was first just a website. But with the rise of self publishing I plunged into making books. Next came along my Shakespeare Series which is designed to help students forced to read the plays as part of their studies. Plays aren’t meant to be read from the book and I could never follow what was going on when I was doing my GCSE English Literature. My version is like social media chats with avatars and location illustrations. I’m not sure why no one has done it before really. I am amazed how well they sell all over the world.
I am now working for a global publishing company in-between bringing up a family. When I have some free time I still enjoy illustrating, writing and making books. A lot of my work is for my children, but hopefully others will like them to.
Thank you to anyone who buys one of my books. It’s great to think that people are looking at something I created and hopefully enjoying it.
Neil Giggins 