Centerparcs Getaway

Ive been very quiet on the blog front lately, due to being very busy! I have just finished artwork on not one but TWO childrens stories, one which will be published as an E-Book shortly!

I will share a sneeky peek from one of them soon, for now wanted to share some pics from the other reason I have been MIA and thats a wonderful get-a-way break at Centerparcs in Wiltshire, in aid of my sisters 21st birthday! 

Staying in a woodland lodge in the middle of forest, its a peaceful change to the hustle and bustle of London!

We even saw some deer pottering around our patio area one morning!

The rapids on the outdoor swimming area.

On the last day we were even blessed with snow (!) which made it look beautiful.

Although was very happy to be leaving, wouldnt like to be stuck there in the snow now!

Grrrr Ticket Inspectors - What I Saw On The tube Today

For the days when you decide to risk not paying your fare, you can guarantee that is when you will run into these babies!

You can see the article on the blog now:

Read it HERE.

The Rejected Stories of Nicki May - Im on Amazon!

Very excited to share with you a book cover I designed a while back that is now released and listed on Amazon!!

'The Rejected Stories of Nicki May' are a collection of short stories aimed at women, and its such a thrill to be seen listed as an illustrator on Amazon!

It was a great brief to work on, you can buy the book on Kindle HERE.

What I Saw On The Tube Today - New Blog Series

Ive just started work with a great blog writer, who writes a serial blog titled 'What I Saw On The Tube Today'. Its a great read, especially for people who regularly use the tube for their commute. 

Ill be illustrating his blog posts, and the first one has just gone live!

Based on what he sees on the tube, its an intriguing read, so go check it out! 

Here is the first image, illustrating the first time he sees a man on the tracks:

You can read it HERE.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone! 

This last year has been crazy, I have had the opportunity to do so many things illustration-wise, and have learnt many new things, I feel more comfortable with my 'style' of work, and really do believe it is looking good in comparison to when I first started!

At the moment I have quite a bit of work going on, including a new blog series of illustrations for a great writer and 2 children's books, one to be published as an E-Book!

So lets hope this year sees many more interesting and fun projects for me!

To start off the year I thought I would share an illustration I created recently for a New York publication, although it wasn't used in the end :-( 

For an article written about by a woman who recently moved, she reflects how life is different in the 2 communities while collecting her morning paper.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Sneek Peek of 'The Bubble Dragons'

Im very happy to give you a sneek peek of my first illustrated childrens book with Flying Books - 'The Bubble Dragons'!

Teen Book Issue 2

Teen Book have launched their second issue, and used some of my illustrations for their music section.

Its a cracker of an issue, check it out HERE.

Meet Sergeant Nutty

Meet Sergeant Nutty . . . 

He likes to command armies from inanimate objects.

A pitch I created recently for a childrens story.

Christmas Card Design!

Its official! The first day of December so I will give in and accept that christmas is on its way! 

So I recently created some christmas card designs, which I entered into Stack Magazines Christmas card hunt.

The brief was to feature christmas and magazines, as they plan to send the cards out with their magazine subscriptions.

Although mine didnt get shortlisted, I quite like them, might send a few out to some special people!

First Children's Book on the horizon!

Im pleased to announce that I am now working with Flying Books Publishers, working on my first picture book due for release next year!

They release childrens picture E-Books, created for iPad, iPhone etc, and I am collaborating with a great writer, the first story being about dragons! 

Really looking forward to getting stuck in!

Veggie Vampire?

Maybe? Maybe not!

Doggy Birthday Party

Some examples I created for a client recently for his picture book about a dog that likes to eat lots of food!

Play Time!

A hamster in space . . . . why not?

Happy Halloween!

Submitted this Halloween illustration to Illustration Rally which you can see HERE:

'Oopsy Daisy Katie' on Illustration Rally

I recently started working more on children's illustration, and entered some of the work into the Illustration Rally picture book competition, which was a great competition where the winner gets to meet with Mike Jolly of Templar publishing and discuss their portfolio!! A great opportunity im sure you would agree!

So I've been working on some spreads for a story based on the silly things my cat Katie does (and there are quite alot!). During a uni project many moons ago, I created a pop-up book called 'Oopsy Daisy Katie', and decided to start with this again and create still illustrations for it. 

These are the first 2 spreads I created, and entered into the competition, which you can see on the Illustration Rally blog:

HERE

Ive also completed a few more since then:

Im having great fun with this book, and all the things Katie gets up to, so fingers crossed for the rally!

Illustration Friday - Scattered

Scattered Memories . . .

New Suit

Illustration Friday - Contraption

Stylist 100th Cover Competition

Last week the brilliant 'free-mium' magazine 'Stylist' was running a competition to design their 100th issue cover, as they plan to launch their 100th issue made entirely by its readers! 

So despite suffering from a massive cold (sob!) I designed a cover to enter, the theme had to be 'celebration' and needed to have the number '100' somewhere in the image, and so to celebrate a great magazine, I designed them a great cake:

They actually had an open office day on the final day for entries, where you could go and visit their offices and see the magazine being put together. It was also a last chance to hand in entries! Here are a few pics I took from their facebook page where you can see my entry on the wall ready for judging:

And here is the cover in all its glory:

Fingers Crossed!

Jane Hissy at The Illustration Cupboard

To celebrate 25 years of 'Old Bear', The Illustration Cupboard are showing a collection of Jane Hissy, with many original drawings on display, her rough sketchbook work, and Old Bear himself!

A lovely exhibition space over 2 floors, the Illustration Cupboard have dedicated it to showcasing illustration in the heart of Piccadilly Circus, London. 

Having been a big fan of Jane Hissy and her Old Bear books (these were the first I read as a child, and was amazed at the pictures, I think this is the first time I looked at a book and thought about making pictures for them myself) I was very excited to go and see these childhood illustrations in the flesh. 

I wasn't disappointed. There were many of the large scale illustrations dotted around the lower ground floor  and they are beautiful. Created with pencils, the detail on them is amazing, with every stitch of knit drawn in, or crease or shadow.

You can also see some of the sketches and roughs created for the books as well as some of the toys themselves.
This video created for the event is brilliant as it shows Jane talking about how she creates her illustrations (she actually sets the toys up before drawing them!) and showing you the lovely toys!

As well as Jane Hissy and Old Bear, they also have a continuous display of illustration upstairs, with prints and originals ranging from Lauren Child to Shirley Hugues:

(another childhood favorite - Where the Wild Things Are)

Its a great space full of inspirational illustration on show, well worth a look if you are in the area. Jane Hissy is on display until the 30th September, and they have a great line up after with animation of Mr Benn (more childhood favs!) and childrens illustration from John Veron Lord's Alice Through The Looking Glass.
For more info you can see their website HERE.

Oliver Jeffers at the Apple Store, Covent Garden

Last night I had the opportunity to go and see one of my favourite illustrators give a little talk at the Apple Store in Covent Garden. 

You may remember I was very happy to receive a copy of his book 'The Incredible Book Eating Boy' (see post here), and have since read 'The Heart and The Bottle' which is beautiful: 

Some spreads from the book:

So last night started off with Oliver telling us about himself, and about the work he does, as he also paints as well as some editorial work and now some typography (he has a great handwriting style!).

He went on to explain about his picture books, how he goes about putting them together, creating the artwork and writing the story, showing examples from sketch to finished art work. 

He even gave us a sneak peek of his new book 'Stuck'

And took us through the putting together of one of the spreads on Photoshop. He brought up a point which has crossed my mind many times - he has lots of 'original' illustrations, but had never took to Photoshop to create his work, fearing that digital/traditional could never be mixed. However due to circumstances at the time, he actually had to create most of the work for this book in Photoshop, creating the basics by hand and then scanning them in, and manipulating them, very similar in process to how Ive been working lately. He found that there is a lot more you can do when you combine tactics, and the work looks great so if it works for Oliver then it can still work for me!

I also picked up a few sneaky Photoshop secrets!

He also gave us a preview of 'Lost and Found', the animation being created from his picture book, which looks pretty amazing:

as well as showing off his amazing story book app for 'The Heart and The Bottle' which looks very fun, a new move for picture books!

And he even stayed around to sign books for people after, I wish I had had the sense to bring mine!

It was a great talk, fun and informative, its great to see how other illustrators work, and even better when they get up to the same things as you!

You can check out his website here.