Fay Dalton Scoops Pickled Award

British illustrator Fay Dalton has won the Pickled Ink agency's Pickled Award, launched earlier this year in a bid to find an artist to draw a new graphic novel by Super Gran creator and writer Jenny McDade.

The judges, who included 2000AD co-creator Pat Mills, felt her submission set her apart amongst entries from around the world. "Her photo-realistic characters ooze class, emotion, attitude," they declared, "and have an airbrushed quality that parallels the celebrity photographs splashed over the covers of today’s glossy magazines."

"She's the most exciting female comics artist I’ve seen since the Golden Age of female comics, which was so long ago most people have forgotten it existed (Jackie, Misty, Tammy etc) and that mainstream female comics once outsold male comics by at least a ratio of two to one," says Pat.

Fay, a Portsmouth University graduate with a first class degree in Illustration, is based in London and says she is inspired by a wide range of artists and illustrators like Gerald Scarfe, James Jean and Cindy Sherman. She enjoys illustrating current social issues such as celebrity culture and plastic surgery but also loves illustrating for children's books, and creating character designs.

"I often illustrate serious subjects with a lampoon twist," she says. "However I approach my subjects with an open mind."

“Fay has huge potential," Pat Mills enthuses. "Her work with Jenny’s great story shows that for a female audience there’s finally a British mainstream alternative to American super heroines, female “art house” comics and Manga. It’s cool and sexy, funny and emotional.
So there’s going to be a lot of blokes following it, too.“

Pickled Ink feel Fay's work will provide perfect visual accompaniment to Jenny McDade’s feisty, sexy, insalubrious, glamorous graphic novel script Party Girls and she's a richly deserved winner of the Pickled Award.

More of Fay's submission, which clinched hr win, will be revealed at the London Print Studio on Thursday 16th December where Pickled ink will be hosting a Q&A with Pat Mills and Jenny McDade as part of Comica Festival, an annual comics festival directed by Paul Gravett.

Pat and Jenny will be discussing Party Girls as well as the world of girls’ comics in general, offering an insight into why female comics dropped off the radar in Britain and the efforts that are being made to bring them back

In the meantime, Fay’s full portfolio is available to view at www.pickledink.com and whilst Party Girls is in development, Fay will be available for commissions.

• Q&A with Pat Mills & Jenny McDade: London Print Studios, Thursday 16th December 6.30 - 8.0pm. See www.comicafestival.com for more info