Pug-a-Doodle-Do! by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
Sarah McIntyre is one half of the dynamic duo Reeve & McIntyre. With Philip Reeve, they are creative collaborators behind several books, including Oliver and the Seawigs, Cakes in Space, and a story with 66 pugs in it* (published by Oxford University Press, Oxford) . . . Their newest creation, Pug-a-Doodle-Do!, is a companion piece with characters and fun activities from all of their previous books. Philip is mostly in charge of the words, while Sarah draws the pictures, but in this book, they came up with the ideas together, creating things that made them laugh. (They hope the book makes you laugh, too.)
We’re so happy Sarah stopped by to chat with us!
3 & 1/2 Questions: Sarah McIntyre
Click on the image above to download the “Draw A Comic” printable page from Pug-a-Doodle-Do (courtesy of the Oxford University Press and Sarah McIntyre).
In Pug-a-Doodle-Do! doodlers can have fun playing with characters from your previous stories and feel like they’re creating with you too. They can learn how to draw a pug or a sea monkey, doodle beards on ladies, or follow Colin the Crab. There seems to be some killer cakes and evil food though — have you been haunted by cakes in the past?
Yes, we love going back to the characters in our books! It’s always a bit sad when their story comes to an end, we want to keep playing with them. That’s why I love seeing kids take them and run with them, in drawings and further stories.
Haunted by cakes? Honest answer? Someone in Russia once gave me a mushroom piroshky where the mushrooms in it were dodgy, and I didn’t know. And it did bad things to my head for a couple hours and I saw a giant chocolate doughnut parading around my bedroom. I was absolutely terrified!
I liked the “Which Reeve and McIntyre character are you?” quiz (It was a tie for me) Sometimes people say that we look like our drawings . . . is there a character that is most like Sarah?
Yes, Iris the mermaid, from Oliver and the Seawigs! When I was nine years old, I wanted to be a mermaid when I grew up, and go on underwater adventures. So I kind of did, in a story. She even get to wear my pointy specs at the end!
3. One of the highlights for me were the mini stories within this activity book, like “A Day in the Life of Lord Krull”, or “The Magnificent Dartmoor Pegasus Named Kevin” (pictured below). Will we see a full length comics or graphic novel from you in the future?
I always want to create a book-length comic, but they just take so long to make! Comics tend to come out of us in short bursts like this. Philip works so quickly; we were sitting at my desk drawing stuff for Pug-a-Doodle-Do! and suddenly he’d made this four-page Lord Krull comic! The Dartmoor Pegasus story took me longer, I did about one panel every morning. Actually, one of our books, Jinks & O’Hare Funfair Repair started as a four-page comic for The Phoenix Comic! I wrote it, Philip penciled and inked it, and I colored it. We’d kind of hoped to do a series, but the coloring took me SO LONG. Most people don’t know how much time goes into coloring comics.
Please complete this sentence: I like to draw __.
Fat ponies. I do. It’s true. Their big tums.
Thanks again for answering our 3 & 1/2 Questions, Sarah! Ms McIntyre has graced us with her presence before; we shared her 24-hour comic, “Scribble,” and she was a guest on Weekly Doodle Challenge, giving us a shape challenge prompt. You can see more of Sarah’s work here, and follow her on twitter.
Download the “Draw A Comic” printable page from Pug-a-Doodle-Do (courtesy of the Oxford University Press and Sarah McIntyre). Doodle the comic and share on social media with tag #PugADoodleDo
*This doodle book’s name is a nod to Pugs of the Frozen North.
All images ©Sarah McIntyre and courtesy of the artist.