David Alan Parkins (born 2 November 1955) is a British cartoonist and illustrator who has worked for

D.C. Thomson DC Thomson is a media company based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded by David Couper Thomson in 1905, it is best known for publishing ''The Dundee Courier'', ''The Evening Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Post'' newspapers, and the comics ''Oor Wull ...

, publisher of '' The Beano'' and '' The Dandy''. Now based in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, he illustrates children's picture books. Parkins was born in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, but moved to

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

at the age of five. He didn't take up art until

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

, when he also began drawing caricatures of his teachers. He studied Wildlife Illustration at Dyfed College of Art for a year, before switching to

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

Lincoln College of Art The Lincoln College of Art was an educational institution devoted to the arts, based in the English city of Lincoln with its origins in the mid-nineteenth century. The institution changed shape and name numerous times over its history before bein ...

, specialising in

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

. Graduating in 1979, he became a freelance illustrator, working on postcards, school textbooks, newspapers and magazines as well as comics. Parkins' first work for ''The Beano'' was on "

Billy Whizz Billy Whizz is a fictional character featured in the British comic ''The Beano'', first appearing in issue 1139, dated 16 May 1964, when it replaced The Country Cuzzins. Billy, the title character, is a boy who can run extraordinarily fast. His ...

" in 1989. He quickly made his mark on the strip and the character, and made several changes, the most notable of these being the introduction of Billy's new lightning bolt tracksuit in May 1992. In 1990, he started to draw "

Fred's Bed Over the years ''The Beano'' has had many different strips, ranging from comic strips to adventure strips to prose stories. Prose stories were the first to go, being phased out in 1955. Adventure strips were phased out in 1975, with the last on ...

" in ''

The Beezer ''The Beezer'' (called ''The Beezer and Topper'' for the last three years of publication) was a British comic that ran from (issues dates) 21 January 1956 to 21 August 1993, published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. Comic strips in ''The Beezer' ...

'' as understudy to Tom Paterson, although in practice Parkins drew the vast majority of strips. He drew the strip until it was forced to end when the comic folded. In 1993, he stopped drawing Billy Whizz, but

Trevor Metcalfe Trevor Metcalfe (born May 1939 in Brotton, Yorkshire) is a British illustrator and comic book artist. Known for his comic strips in IPC Magazines comics such as Sweet Tooth and Junior Rotter in ''Whizzer and Chips''. Influences include Leo ...

and

Vic Neill Vic Neill (24 November 1941 - 24 December 1999) was a British cartoonist who drew for D.C. Thomson and I.P.C.'s comics. His first notable comic work was on Sparky strip Peter Piper. In 1969, he replaced Dudley Dexter Watkins on Topper cover s ...

had been drawing a number of the strips for some time. By this point he was drawing " Desperate Dan" for the Dandy, along with a revival of another Beano strip, "

The Three Bears "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (originally titled "The Story of the Three Bears") is a 19th-century English fairy tale of which three versions exist. The original version of the tale tells of an obscene old woman who enters the forest home ...

". Parkins' version of the latter strip was later cited by former Beano editor

Euan Kerr ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'', also known as ''Beano'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it became the world's longest-run ...

as one of his personal favourites. After the Beano's 60th birthday celebrations in 1998, Parkins took over the comic's long-running character " Dennis the Menace". His first Dennis strips featured the story arc which introduced Bea, Dennis' younger sister. He drew Dennis on a regular basis until 2003, but his workload meant that a number of stories were also drawn by Nigel Parkinson and later

Jimmy Hansen Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * Jimmy (2008 film), ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * Jimmy (1979 film), ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melat ...

in this time. Parkins' time on Dennis encompassed the character's 50th birthday celebrations in 2001, and to mark the occasion he drew a special one-off Dennis strip explaining how he got his famous red and black striped jumper. David Parkins was also the artist of Desperate Dan for The Digital Dandy in 2013. Parkins has also illustrated two of Richard Platt's books in the

Pirate Diary ''Pirate Diary: The Journal of Jake Carpenter'' is an account of the pirate life cast as the journal of a young cabin boy, written by Richard Platt and illustrated by Chris Riddell. It was published by Walker in 2001, two years after ''Castle Di ...

series. He has illustrated over fifty children's books, including titles by Dick King-Smith, Julie Markes, Laura Leuck and Martin Waddell. He has drawn cartoons for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', the '' Times Higher Education Supplement'', ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'', the '' Literary Review of Canada'', and ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

''. In 2006, after his fiftieth birthday, he emigrated to

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. In 2013, he became an occasional editorial cartoonist for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

''. David Parkins is also the illustrator of ''That Cat Can't Stay'' and ''I Always, ALWAYS Get My Way'', both written by Thad Krasnesky and published by Flashlight Press.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parkins, David British comics artists British cartoonists 1955 births Living people The Dandy people The Beano people Dennis the Menace and Gnasher