AROUND THE WORLD ON LEIGHTON'S BACK

In February 1997 I attempted to trek across the Himalayas with Michael Palin strapped to my back for an aborted BBC documentary. All I could hear for the entire duration of the piggy back was, "Watch the ledge, watch the ledge...watch the ledge, Leighton...the ledge...careful now...ooh that was close...aaaarrgghh!"

The expedition was thankfully brought to an abrupt end after 9 minutes by a 800ft drop.

CREATIVE ARTS WEEK

You know I've danced in the courts of European royalty and you know I've sung at the wakes of Mafioso types in New York (although I couldn't refuse the offer of that), well I also do school visits where I draw pictures! I was in a local school last Friday for their Creative Arts Week where I went from class to class (20 minutes in each) showing them how to draw a Gargoyle and letting the children have a go at drawing their own Gargoyle too. Needless to say their versions were better. Needless to say I looked like a proper chump.

Children are usually very receptive to this sort of thing and it's good to see their positive reactions to the drawings I do as the majority of my work is intended for them. It's also great to see their confidence in drawing grow as they have a go themselves.

WHERE'S TOTO SNEAK PEEK

These are the first of the Toto colour finals I've done and here they are for you to have a cheeky peep at before they get sent off to be published. Only another 30 odd drawings to go and never enough hours in the day...

LOOK LIKE A GARGOYLE, DRAW LIKE A GARGOYLE

I've often been told that people can't say the word gargoyle without thinking of me so that must of stood me in good stead when I provided some roughs for my pals at Random House. Sometimes, before a publisher offers a job they might need to see how you would handle the various characters and this is one of my provisional roughs for a new book series called Gargoylz. I was offered the commission this morning and couldn't be happier.

WHERE'S TOTO?

Here he is! These are my first roughs for a new bilingual book for bsmall publishing called Where's Toto? Toto's a Jack Russell Terrier who gets lost at a circus but will he ruin the show?