How a drunken evening of drawing helped me become a published illustrator, and helped raise thousands of pounds for charity!
March 2020, and the UK goes into lockdown due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The whole of Scotland tuned in daily to watch First Minister Nicola Sturgeon give her updates, and then as lockdown continued we waited patiently for the hilarious comedy encore voice-over from Glasgow Comedienne, Janey Godley.
It was a Friday night, my wife and I were having a wee drink and watching some of Janey’s Nicola Sturgeon voice-over videos.
"Stay in the hoose or am gonnae take a run and put ma toe up the crack ae yer arse"
This was the quote from the most recent video - it was hilarious, but straight to a very truthful point.
Instantly, I thought, that would be brilliant for a campaign - a World War 1 style poster. Just like the iconic Lord Kitchener ‘Wants You’ 1914 advertisement, by Alfred Leete, which had been developed into a recruitment poster, calling for the viewer to enlist in the British Army to help our country. Like Lord Kitchener, our First Minister reached out to the viewers, asking for our help to “Stay At Home”, and Janey was right behind her, translating it into typical, sweary Scottish slang.
So I began to draw. My love of drawing began when I was little and continued with me all through school and high school. I started drawing Disney characters, progressed into still life, to graffiti art, Japanese Manga, and then digital art.
Once the illustration was finished, I posted it to social media. Janey saw it, shared it, and overnight it blew up over Scotland. People wanted to buy it to display in their windows.
So that’s what I did.
I set up a website and listed the poster for 1p plus £3 p+p to help cover my print, postage and packaging costs. I kept it as cheap as possible as I didn’t want to make any profit from something that was for a good cause. Then I could donate any leftover cash to a COVID-19 fund, although I thought there wouldn’t be much. Turns out the posters sold out in minutes, and I already had over £100 leftover.
I used some of the money to do another print run. Again, they sold out instantly, and I made a profit of over £500, which I donated to various care homes, and people in the community who had been affected by COVID-19.
Posters were going up in windows all over Scotland and what a feeling that was. Seeing my artwork and Janey’s comedy writing being used in such a positive way in order to help spread an important public health message across the nation was overwhelming.
I then got a call from an unknown number… It was only Janey Godley! You could have knocked me over with a feather. What a woman, as lovely and as funny in real life as she is on her videos. Janey asked me to do another illustration of Nicola Sturgeon using her now-famous "Frank Get The Door!" phrase, to print on greetings cards.
Of course, I jumped on that offer - what an honour. So I got to work drawing the now-viral ‘Frank Get The Door’ illustration.
The cards were printed, and Janey donated all the profits from the sale of the greetings cards to STV Children’s Appeal.
Fast forward another couple of weeks and I’m on the phone with Janey again. Shes getting T-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise made and wants to put the illustration on those too. She puts me in touch with Ian Adie from Promotional Warehouse, who it turns out I had worked with 10 years previously when I worked as a graphic designer at M&Ds Theme Park - what a small world.
The merchandise was released, and again, went viral around the globe, and people across the nation proudly showed off their T-shirts and mugs.
A mug even made it to Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia!
Janey donated even more of her profits of the Frank merch to Carers Trust Scotland, and altogether the campaign raised over £30,000. I’m super proud to have been a part of that and help make a difference.
Then the big one lands... The book. As if all this wasn’t mad enough, I was about to become a published illustrator. What?!? 😱
I worked with Luath Press Ltd who published the ‘Frank Get The Door’ book, and were looking for some illustrations to go alongside some of Janey’s hilarious comedy voice-overs. They sent the book over and highlighted some of the stories. What a laugh it was to read and draw illustrations to represent them. I illustrated about 13 of the stories, including Nicola with her feet in a paddling pool, two alsatian dogs social distancing, and even Nicola doing yoga at the beach.
I was a bit nervous at the thought of the First Minister possibly seeing these drawings. But turns out she has and actually loves the book!
I still have to pinch myself when I see the book for sale online, or in stores like Waterstones.
I even got a kick out of Janey proudly showing off her mug on TV during her interview with Lorraine Kelly. It doesn’t seem real and it makes me feel super happy and proud to have been part of an amazing campaign.
It’s been a rollercoaster of a year for us all, my love and prayers go out to everyone during these hard times. I am truly grateful that I had "Frank" in the last year, it’s brought me so much joy in what could have been a much tougher time for me.
Thank you to Janey Godley for making this all possible, and thank you to everyone who has bought a T-shirt, mug, book, or any other part of Janey’s ‘Frank Get The Door’ merchandise. It’s an absolute joy to see you all enjoying the artwork.
Thank you ❤️
You can buy the Frank Get The Door book and merchandise at janeygodleystore.com
