Nigel Parkinson
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nigel Parkinson is a British
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
who works for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd and mainly draws for '' The Beano'' and '' The Dandy''.


Biography

Parkinson is the official artist for Dennis the Menace in ''The Beano''. His career in comics began in 1980. Over the following twenty years he worked for many British publishers including for example Fleetway drawing Thunderbirds,
Stingray Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ( ...
,
Scouse Mouse Scouse (; formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English) is an accent and dialect of English associated with Liverpool and the surrounding county of Merseyside. The Scouse accent is highly distinctive; having been influenced h ...
and others,
BBC Magazines Immediate Media Company Limited (styled as Immediate Media Co) is a British multinational publishing house that currently publishes a significant range of titles, including '' Radio Times, BBC Top Gear, BBC Good Food'' and a host of others. In ...
drawing strips based on TV shows like ''
Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...
'', '' Baywatch'', and as a 'ghost' artist for many titles published by D.C. Thomson. His first work for ''The Dandy'' was in 1982; his first work for ''The Beano'' was in 1996. He started drawing Bea in October 1998. Parkinson also occasionally draws
The Bash Street Kids ''The Bash Street Kids'' is a comic strip in the British comic magazine ''The Beano''. It also appeared briefly in The Wizard as series of prose stories in 1955. The strip, created by Leo Baxendale as ''When the Bell Rings'', first appeare ...
, and was particularly active on that strip between 1999 and 2001. He also ghosted Mike Pearse's style for the
spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...
strip
Singled Out ''Singled Out'' is an American dating game show created by Burt Wheeler & Sharon Sussman which originally ran on MTV from 1995 to 1998. Each episode featured a group of 50 singles competing for a date with one main contestant. The original hosts ...
in BeanoMAX. In 1998, Parkinson started work on ''The Dandys then-new football-mad character,
Owen Goal Owen Goal was a British comic strip published in the comics magazine ''The Dandy''. It centers around a schoolboy who plays for a school football team. The comic strip is one page long and features Owen's interaction with his overweight, lazy ...
, redefining the strip and drawing it until Dandy Xtreme in 2007. In 1999 Parkinson commenced drawing Dennis the Menace initially alternating his interpretation of the character with artist
David Parkins David Alan Parkins (born 2 November 1955) is a British cartoonist and illustrator who has worked for D.C. Thomson, publisher of ''The Beano'' and ''The Dandy''. Now based in Canada, he illustrates children's picture books. Parkins was born in ...
, until 2003 and in 2010/11 with Jim Hansen,
Barrie Appleby Barrie Appleby is a British comics artist who works mainly for Scottish publisher D. C. Thomson & Co., drawing strips such as Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger for ''The Beano'' since the 1970s. He has also drawn Cuddles and Dimples for ' ...
and Tom Paterson. In 2012 he was commissioned by D.C. Thomson to become the sole official Dennis artist. At the same time he was asked to draw
Minnie the Minx Minnie the Minx, whose real name is Hermione Makepeace is a comic strip character published in the British comic magazine ''The Beano''. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953, ma ...
in the Beano, which he both drew and wrote, often with Paul Palmer, before handing over the strip to him in 2016. In 2003, ''The Dandy'' asked Parkinson to freshen up the look of the terrible toddlers Cuddles and Dimples, taking over from the original artist,
Barrie Appleby Barrie Appleby is a British comics artist who works mainly for Scottish publisher D. C. Thomson & Co., drawing strips such as Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger for ''The Beano'' since the 1970s. He has also drawn Cuddles and Dimples for ' ...
and changing the appearance of the characters and the personalities of their parents. His foxy version of Cuddles and Dimples' mum has become a fan favourite. Since 2005 Nigel Parkinson has also illustrated all of the Beano Jigsaw Puzzles and most of Dennis the Menace merchandise. In 2008 he began drawing Puss'n'Boots and
Marvo the Wonder Chicken Marvo the Wonder Chicken is a character in the UK comic ''The Dandy''. The strip first appeared in 1990, and continued in odd issues until 1999. He returned in 2008 to tie in with the planned DC Thomson TV series. The strip is "silent", with on ...
for The Dandy and designed a new version of Lord Snooty - Lord Snooty the Third - for ''The Beanos 70th birthday year. In 2010 he wrote and drew a comic strip based on comedian Harry Hill's TV Burp for ''The Dandy'' (with co-writers including Harry Hill,
Sean Baldwin Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angliciz ...
, David Quantick and Duncan Scott) and in 2012 a 12-week run of The Banana Bunch. In early 2012 he asked fellow Liverpudlian Sir Paul McCartney if he would appear in the final print edition of ''The Dandy'', as he had said in 1963 that his ambition was to have his picture in the comic; McCartney did, and later claimed some of his friends and family thought it was a highlight of his career! In 2013, a drawing of Mock the Week regulars Dara Ó Briain, Hugh Dennis,
Andy Parsons Andrew John Parsons (born 30 November 1966) is an English comedian and writer. He regularly appeared on ''Mock the Week'' from Series 3 to Series 14. With comedy partner Henry Naylor, he has written and presented nine series of ''Parsons and Na ...
and
Chris Addison Christopher David Addison (born 5 November 1971) is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He is perhaps best known for his role as a regular panellist on ''Mock the Week''. He is also known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of ...
alongside Dennis was shown (and commented on) on an episode of the series. He has also drawn adverts for
Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
, Wenlock & Mandeville,
Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...
,
Nesquik Nesquik is a brand of food products made by Swiss company Nestlé. In 1948, Nestlé launched a drink mix for chocolate-flavored milk called Nestlé Quik in the United States; this was released in Europe during the 1950s as ''Nesquik''. Since 1 ...
, and Real Construction. He drew the record sleeve for Kaiser Chiefs's single " The Angry Mob" and Count Arthur Strong's Christmas CD. He drew the stamps collection for both Isle of Man Post office in 2018 and The Royal Mail in 2021 He is one of the few commercial cartoonists in the UK to operate a studio system with assistants. His colour artist since 2005 is Nika Nartova. From 2015 he began attending Comic cons regularly (having refused all but one offer, Bristol in 2008, until then) with Nika Nartova where they do sketches for attendees, give interviews and talks and demonstrations. Together and separately they have visited nearly 40 different British towns and cities including London (7 times), Edinburgh (twice), Cardiff (twice), Belfast, Manchester (3 times), Glasgow (3 times), Birmingham (3 times), Brighton, Newcastle, York, Kendal, Blackpool (4 times), Exeter (twice), Reading (three times), Leeds (twice), Cambridge, Liverpool (6 times), Bolton (3 times), Wigan (twice), Weymouth, Southport, Walsall, Dundee (twice), Loughborough, Bradford, Norwich, Nottingham, Shrewsbury, Nantwich, Buxton (twice), Blackburn, Bournemouth, Enniskillen (twice), Northwich (twice), Macclesfield (twice), Oldham and Sunderland as well as Comic Cons in Ireland, Greece and Malta.


Comic strips

The main strips that Nigel has drawn are:


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkinson, Nigel 20th-century births British comics artists Living people DC Thomson Comics Year of birth missing (living people) The Dandy people The Beano people Date of birth missing (living people) Dennis the Menace and Gnasher