T-Rex Process

What a varied past couple of weeks, I've been doing a couple different samples for publishers, and of some unusual subject matter (maybe I should say, unusual for me). Here is a T-Rex. The publisher wanted flat colour with texture on top, and a ferocious character. I hope I ticked the boxes!

8 monkeys

23 Bears

Flamingos

Illustration Friday - Forward

Rhino felt like he was never moving forward.

Illustration Friday - Twirl

A little bit of weekend silliness, and maybe only a very tenuous link to this weeks illustration friday theme, but hey! I felt like drawing a pirate.

Rhino

I took inspiration from my yoga class.

Bunnies!

Good morning everyone! Here are some dancing bunnies to start the day.

Zoo

I love a day at the zoo. My favourite animals in London zoo are probably the penguins, although I also have a soft spot for the hippo and the owl.

Pirates don't eat vegetables!

Foyles Bookstore

I found the first book I've illustrated in Foyles bookstore on Charing Cross Road. I must admit I did some sneaky rearranging and moved it to the front of the shelf! hehheheh!

How to Make a Heron Happy - out now

The first book I've worked on is out now. "How to make a heron happy" by Lari Don is about a boy who sees a grumpy looking heron in a park, and sets about trying to make the heron happy. It is published by Floris Books.

How to Make a Heron Happy

'Hamish is worried about the heron in the park. It always looks sad and grumpy, with its hunched-up shoulders and long frowning eyebrows. So Hamish decides to cheer it up: first he brings bread crusts and biscuit crumbs to the park. But the heron still looks grumpy. Next he brings his family to tidy up the heron's polluted pond. But the heron still looks grumpy. Then he brings his class to plant flowers around the pond. But the heron still looks grumpy. Finally he brings everyone he knows to have a party for the heron. But the heron still looks grumpy. Hamish looks at the heron and wonders: maybe the heron isn't unhappy after all? Each page of this delightful story from popular children's author and storyteller, Lari Don, is brought to life with vibrant illustrations. Colour and activity build up as the book progresses and the drab inner-city park is brought to life.'

- as you can see, just sent off the final artwork for How To Make A Heron Happy! For more information visit www.florisbooks.co.uk

Elvis and Chip

My internet is only working when it feels like it (which is not very often) but I have THREE BARS of signal right now and I thought I'd celebrate by uploading something I'm working on. Hope you like!

A Disagreement.

A rough for a project I'm working on.

Fish

I finish this picturebook some time ago but I only recently had it photographed by the college photographer, I'm really happy with the way the photo came out because he's managed to capture all the embossing detail on the front as well as some of the insides.

photograph copyright John K. McGregor, Edinburgh College of Art.

Arnie is "Highly Commended" by Macmillan Publishers

I thought I'd let Arnie waddle back into the spotlight on my blog for a bit, having received the very very happy news that in the Macmillan Prize this year my book 'Arnie's Problem' was awarded a 'Highly Commended". So happy!

Arnie's Problem

Here are a few excerpts from my offering for the Macmillan Prize, a children's book competition. What was supposed to be a relatively quick project turned into a mammoth 7 week struggle, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Work in progress

I'm getting blogger's guilt because I haven't posted in a long time, so I thought I'd put up some works in progress. These images are for a children's story book I've written about a marmoset who goes exploring and gets into a heap of trouble. They're not finished yet, but when they are I'll post the final images.
In the toucan image I forgot to add stripes on the marmoset's tail before I took the photo, but they are there now (on the original).