8 TALENTED Comic book expert passes on top tips
EK teenager Amy delivers holiday workshop
A teenage maestro from East Kilbride gave a group of comic enthusiasts a lesson in the art of creating and illustrating a commercially-viable series of comic books at a recent school holiday workshop.
Calderwood artist Amy Tucker may only be 14.
But the young author and entrepreneur has already successfully written six beautifully-illustrated comic books in her Mystery Club series, which are on sale in a number of shops across Scotland, including Waterstones, Forbidden Planet, A1 comics, Geekaboo and Little Shop of Heroes.
Following a recent Camglen Radio interview during which Amy talked about how she has developed her talent for writing and illustration since the age of 11, she was invited to host a workshop for children aged between five and 10 at the Number 18 venue in Rutherglen.
“I taught them how to come up with ideas for comics, how to come up with characters and how to make their own comics,” Amy told the News.
“I have always liked comics and making comics. I discovered self-publishing so I thought I would give it a try selling my own comics and making it a business.”
Amy launched her enterprise, Mystery Club, in 2016 and is now working on the seventh comic book in the series.
In the highly-imaginative series, main character Amy Abnobotchi is the only human in a world full of animals that have evolved to a human level of intelligence.
She lives in a tree house with a renegade scientist named Professor Loco, who is her polar-opposite.
They have formed their own Mystery Club – and strange goings on unfold.
Calderglen High School pupil Amy, who has created more than 20 characters with their own personalities and idiosyncrasies, already has her heart set on a career as an author and illustrator.
With her comic books selling well in book stores and online, an ambitious Amy is heading in the right direction.
She has also reached the top three in the arts category of the Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards finals 2018.
Winners of the awards, which are run by our sister paper the Sunday Mail to recognise exceptional young people in Scotland, will be announced at a ceremony at the Clyde Auditorium on Friday, November 30.
“I am just taking it one step at a time right now and am continuing to work on this comic series to hopefully develop my skills further and see where it goes from there,” said Amy.
“Hopefully the children who attended the workshop learned quite a bit about comics. I think they had fun.
“It is always good for people to have interests and hobbies and I’m hoping to run another workshop during the next school holidays.”
To learn more and to buy Amy’s comic books, visit www.mysteryclub.co.uk