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Blog / News

CHARLIE AND THE MAGIC PEN : The True story of Charlie Grigg

8/15/2019

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My good friend the writer and performer Billy Spakemon approached me early in 2018 about an idea he had for a children’s story about Black Country artist Charlie ‘Chas’ Grigg and asked if I would illustrate it.
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Front cover of 'Charlie and The Magic Pen'

About Charlie and 'Our Best Kept Secret'

PictureCharlie Grigg
Chas was a modest family man, living all his life in the Black Country, who quit working full time in a factory to become highly successful comic artist for publishers DC Thomson, working on titles such as The Beano and The Dandy, and drawing characters like Desperate Dan and Korky the Cat. Anyone over a certain age in the UK (including myself) will have grown up reading these comics and they would have brought hours of fun and escape from the real world.

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Charlie as a young boy
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Me, performing a song I wrote about Chas
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Emma Purshouse reading her new work about Chas
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Billy Spakemon (seated) and Chas's son Steve Grigg
​I’d already been involved in a creative project about Chas called ‘Our Best Kept Secret’. A group of fellow Black Country artists, writers and musicians contributed work about Chas for a series of live shows to raise funds to get a blue plaque which was installed at Rood End School where Chas had attended as a boy. Read the article. 
Me, performing at one of the fundraising events for Charlie Grigg's blue plaque
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Charlie Grigg's Blue Plaque at Rood End School, Langely

Dream to reality: Creating the book

​Billy knew I also did graphic design and illustration and so asked if I would illustrate a new story he’d written which tells Chas’s story for a young audience, about 6 years old and up. The message is an important one, that young people CAN feel that if they have a dream (like being a professional artist) then they should follow their dream, put the effort and tenacity in. Of course I said yes and then began the task of bringing Billy’s handwritten script to life. 
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Billy Spakemon's original script
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Chas's comic strip about Rufus Rabbit
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Chas's comic strip about 'Bloop' for the Sunday Mercury newspaper
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My initial scamp drawings of Charlie and the heading of the cover
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I began by drawing outlines in pencil, then inked them and combined elements to make the required image. This example shows MY hand(!) drawing one of Chas's actual characters, Bloop (see above).
I then scanned the drawings and coloured them on the computer using Adobe PhotoShop®.
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I did the design of the book too, combining Billy's words with the illustrations to create an engaging story for young people.
It took a lot longer than I originally imagined. I have empathy now for Chas, having to produce drawings for comics for strict deadlines, it’s a lot harder than it looks. I wanted to use a style that resonated with Chas’s own work – bright, colourful and full of wit and charm – and I hope I have done him justice and that people of all ages enjoy the story and images.
The finished book is 48 pages, 210x210mm in size and printed on gloss art paper.  Please Contact me if you’d like a copy @ £5.99 each. Early indications are that the book is selling well.
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A sample spread from 'Charlie and The Magic Pen.'
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Back cover of Charlie and the Magic Pen
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A young person enjoying reading the book

Dementia and Dudley 'Me Myself & I' Support Group

Sadly Chas suffered from vascular dementia late in life and his son became his primary carer. I met Steve Grigg during my research for the songs I wrote about Charlie for the Our Best Kept Secret show and I got to hold Chas’s original drawings of Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan and lots more. It was one of those moments in life that I will keep with me forever. Chas attended the Dudley dementia support group : Me, Myself and I - for carers and people living with the effects of dementia.
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Chas never let on that he was a world renown artist, it only came out after his passing. It seems that my own life has paralleled Charlie’s. I also left my full time job to follow my dream of becoming a full time designer and art workshop leader. In another, more poignant parallel, my own mother suffered with dementia and passed away recently. The Dudley Me, Myself and I Group has been a great support to me and my family and on 1st September 2019 myself, my partner and daughter are all taking part in Wolverhampton Half Marathon to raise money for the support group. PLEASE SPONSOR US!
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Click the link to sponsor us!

BOOK LAUNCH SEPTEMBER 21st 2019​

There is a book launch event on 21st September 2019, to coincide with World Alzheimer's Day at Black Country Living Museum of Charlie and the Magic Pen and another, bigger book about the Our Best Kept Secret project - there will be live music, readings,  reminiscences and large screen projections. Some of the proceeds from this event and book sales are going to the ‘Me. Myself and I’ dementia support group. Click here for tickets.
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"Support Life" Update: Getting the story of Rich McMahon out there

8/13/2019

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I was an artist on the Wolves in Wolves public art project in Wolverhampton in Summer 2017.
I designed and painted 2 5ft tall wolf sculptures: one called 'Old Gold' for Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club featuring facts and figures about the club and one called "Support Life" about suicide prevention and mental well-being in association with University of Wolverhampton.  You can scroll down this page to read an earlier blog post about the ‘Support Life’ wolf.

The workshops that I held with various groups for vulnerable people (see various logos below) led to me reforming my community arts workshops company which you can visit here: Real Arts Workshops.

One of the things that was important to me was that the story behind the wolf was told via the dibond panel attached to the plinth. 
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Rich McMahon. Photo (c) Justyna Ptak
​My good friend and previous musical partner Rich McMahon lost his own battle with depression in 2015. We worked together in a musical partnership for a number of years including on his show Beyond Borders touring the village halls around the Midlands and performing an eclectic mix of folk, pop and rock songs, covers and original, telling the story of how music can break down barriers.
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Alex Vann and Rich McMahon. Photo (c) Paul Collins
​When I learnt that Rich had taken his own life it had a profound effect on me. Why didn’t he speak to me about his struggles? I’ve been there myself so I could empathise and maybe avert a disaster but then I never spoke to him about my own issues. So many questions came to me and a terrible feeling of things being left undone. We never wrote a song together, we didn’t do any studio recordings together we had so much more work to do.
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Through the workshops for Support Life I was able to talk with professionals who work in this field and I was able to ask some of my questions. I gradually came to accept that even if Rich had been ready to talk (and he wasn’t) each person is a unique being with their own set of complex issues and my situation is different from his. See below for a list of these agencies with links to the work they do.

When Support Life was installed at University of Wolverhampton early in 2018, I noticed that the information panel wasn’t there. It bothered me that Rich’s name was missing when he’d been so important in the thought process behind the wolf design and painting. So I designed a new information panel and got in touch with the University about getting it installed. David Wedge from the Alumni office was really supportive throughout and I’m pleased to say the panel is now in place on the plinth and I hope people take the time to read about it.
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Link to Wolverhampton Suicide Prevention Forum
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    Author

     Alex Vann is a true all round creative. As well as owning Alex Vann Design he is the founder of the community arts group: Real Arts Workshops, a portrait artist and a gigging musician.

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