Hi I’m Dave Franks. I am a London based illustrator, and veteran of Advertising & Marketing comic strips. I started my career in 1984, after studying illustration at Carmarthen College of Art. I was a natural draftsman even as a tiddler, but I was an outdoor nature-bug and nothing would have tied me to a desk then. I was a Cub then a Cub Scout, and Sea Scout. This outdoor in the wild inclination would eventually cause my academic work to suffer, but I had gained a lot from the experience of just observing the natural world. In the studio, I usually start with pencils and thumbnails, and develop a design and composition more from the impression that reality leaves on my mind rather than from reality itself. The things I like are going to be amplified. To really work comic art needs to be inked “old-school” with a brush, and this gets dynamics and interest into the line-work. One of my first commissions back when was a try out for DC Thompson where they had me draw two pages of Desperate Dan from the Dandy Comic. I “was” Desperate Dan in those days and pretty much did whatever I was told! Later I did some NDA character development stories for them which I’d love to tell you about but…..I then did a stint with leading comics artist Frank Langford to help with his overflow work, and the rest as they say is history.