Award!!

"Fresh Delicious" (Poems by Irene Latham, illustrations by me, published by Wordsong USA) won an EUREKA! Silver/Honor Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Readers - it's true it's true! Look, I received it through the post and it even came in a fancy looking black and gold envelope thing! Yay :)

then and now

I have a poorly toddler at the moment. We've been enjoying extra cuddles and lots of time reading together which is lovely, and just about makes up for the broken sleep, grumpiness and occasional non-stop crying session (on both parts)!

Here we are enjoying "Fresh Delicious" together - a book I illustrated whilst he was in my tummy, maybe having a peep out from my belly button. I finished the artwork on his due date - lucky he didn't arrive early!! The 2nd and 3rd picture show work in progress and are dated about a month before he was born. Funny to think we hadn't met yet at that point, and here we are a year and a half later, sharing my lap and the book :)

***BOOK AND POSTER GIVEAWAY***

Hello hello!

To celebrate the start of Spring and the US release of "FRESH DELICIOUS - Poems from the Farmers' Market" (words by Irene Latham, pictures by me), I'm doing a BOOK & POSTER GIVEAWAY! The poster is roughly 43cmx61cm and has an Educator's Guide printed on the back. (Thank you Wordsong for these!)

To enter, simply answer this question, here on my blog or over on my Facebook page. 

***If you could be a fruit or a vegetable for one day, what would you be and why?***

A winner will be picked at random on Monday 21st March 2016.

Good luck!

By the way, I answered some questions for Irene Latham - a little glimpse into the making of the pictures for FRESH DELICIOUS - which you can find on her lovely blog here.

Fresh Delicious

A surprise package arrived the other day and it contained THIS! The latest picture book I illustrated titled "FRESH DELICIOUS". These wonderful, colourful and playful poems from the farmer's market written by Irene Latham were a real joy to work with, and I was lucky to have a patient, understanding and encouraging publisher in Wordsong to work with.

You see, these pictures were made whilst I was pregnant with baby no 2, and I just about managed to finish all the artwork and hand it in on his due date - talk about cutting it fine!!! I don't know what I would have done had he arrived early. I remember rubbing my bump and telling him to take his time as I frantically worked on these pieces. He even gifted me with some days off to recover as he arrived 8 days later...what a good boy :)

This book will always be super special as it's the first full colour picture book I worked on since our first boy was born. I loved that he even gave me advice and criticism over some of the pieces. I don't know how long it will be until my next book or big project but in the meantime, I'm finding inspiration each day watching these boys grow :)

The final countdown

I'm very nearly due and am still working frantically on this picture book. The deadline that the publisher and I had agreed on has come and gone, and now I am faced with a very real, unbudging deadline: that of the arrival of baby number 2. I pat my belly daily, saying "Take your time little one, there's no rush". I'm relying on his timeliness to finish all the artwork, otherwise I'm in trouble...

This is my second children's book commission since becoming a mum, and as much as I've loved working on picture books again one thing I've struggled with is time, or the lack of it. Whereas before I could work day and night non-stop knowing I can catch up on sleep once it was all over, it just doesn't work like that anymore. That "catching up on sleep time" never arrives. My two working days a week disappear all too quickly and I'm always left wishing for another day, an extra hour even, to get that little bit more done. 

I've been very lucky working with a great publisher who have been supportive and encouraging from the very start, allowing me creative freedom and providing me with prompt feedback which can make all the difference in making the most of the time I have to work. 
I'm just hoping hoping hoping that baby won't arrive early, as I still have the book cover to start and finish and with only two more working days before the due date, I'm feeling a little nervous to say the least!

My little art critic

I'm working on a lovely picture book for a US publisher at the moment - this will be my last illustration project for a few years. 

When my little boy comes home from nursery I like to show him what I've been doing during the day. When I showed him this spread, he looked, thought for a bit then said:

"You need to make the eyes bigger so I can see them on the grey bit like the pig and the fox", referring to the hippo. Not bad for a 3 year old! Comments noted and changes will be made little one!

Work in progress...

I'm currently working on a picture book for an American publisher. Progress feels slow when I only really have 2 full days a week to dedicate to it, but it feels great to work in this way again. I wish I had a whole room for a studio like I used to, but life is different now so I just have to work alongside potties and toys and all sorts of mess.

The book!

This popped through the post the other day - a specially signed copy of "I'm a Little Alien" by James Carter, yay! We love it!! It's out on 1st August 2014. You can find a preview here.

I'm a Little Alien

Here's some artwork I recently completed for James Carter's book of poems "I'm a Little Alien". This is my 3rd collaboration with James. My first ever illustration commission was with him back in 2002, titled "Cars, Stars, Electric Guitars" for Walker Books, then followed "Hey, Little Bug" for Frances Lincoln in 2011. You can see the style of my work has changed quite a bit over the years.

The challenge for me with these books is that the inside illustrations are B/W, and I'm used to working in colour, but I've really been enjoying creating collages using muted tones. I also love working with James as he's such a lovely bloke and his poems are really fun! Even better, included in this collection is a poem he wrote for Oki titled "Duck!" :D

"I'm a Little Alien" will be published by Frances Lincoln this August!

Lovely treasure

Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a good festive break :)

With my little boy off from nursery until now, I'd resigned myself to a bit of break from illustration. There seemed no point in getting everything out, with a curious and grabby toddler about, whose snoozy patterns were all over the place.

Also, it's just been too dark.

And I was knackered, spent, end of year exhaustion - whatever you call it, I'd had enough and decided to just enjoy a bit of guilt-free time off.

These lovely treasures, which Santa brought for me this Christmas have been keeping me inspired, happy and itching to get back to work!

"Rain!" by the wonderful Christian Robinson, whose amazing work can be found here. He does what I long to do; charming and fun illustrations, great characters with lovely colours and compositions. His animation "What is music" is a real gem, and puts a big smile on my face :) 

This Japanese picture book by Tupera Tupera is all about pants and it's really good fun :D First of all, you have to slide off the bear's red pants on the cover to get into the book, and inside you will find all kinds of pants, whose wearer you have to guess. Lovely illustrations and lots of fun!

This beautiful pop-up book by Anouck Boisrobert and Louise Rigaud is truly stunning, in its construction, illustrations and message. Incidentally, its title "In the forest" also carries the same meaning as my surname. I love the colours, but also it's use of white space.

And finally, the sweetly surreal and charming "The table that ran away to the woods". With playful type to compliment the story, it's hard to believe the original artwork was created in 1940. Beautiful and timeless.

Let's make a cake

I received copies of "Let's make a cake" this morning. I worked on this Korean picture book for Froebel over 4 years ago, so it took a long time to reach me!

Watching Makeup Lady leads to many thoughts...

On my way to my first haircut since Oki was born (about 2 years ago!), I sat behind a lady who was putting on her make up on the bus. I find it fascinating watching women putting on make up, being someone who rarely wears it herself. It seems like such a private thing, transforming yourself until you think you are presentable to the world. You're giving away your secrets, but I suppose it doesn't matter so much in front of strangers. 
I also like seeing all these mysterious products come out of the bag. SO many things!

Lately I have noticed people using their phones as a mirror. Owning a very basic phone that pretty much just texts and phones, I'm unfamiliar with all this technology. When this lady was using her phone to put on her make up, my thoughts were:
"Really? A mirror seems like such a small thing to include in your bag, and all you need to do is open it, whereas I imagine with your phone, you have to press a few buttons. Is it really better using a phone?"

I know I'm old fashioned. I like looking at a physical A-Z map, when trying to work out where I am. I once saw an old gentleman on the tube, and all he was carrying in his hand was a dog-eared, well loved A-Z. I thought it looked so beautiful. I love REAL books, pages you can turn and feel. I like playing with the pages, the sound and feeling and slight breeze as you flick through. I love the challenge of starting a brand new big thick book, and when you finally reach the end, how it becomes worn, the creases in the spine, the dog-eared cover...they're signs of the times you've spent together.

Off on a tangent a bit there, but I can't help but have these thoughts as I notice how fast everything is changing around us. I suppose becoming a mum recently has made me be curious about what kind of world my boy will grow up in. I'm happy that Oki loves books, and the only books he knows at the moment are real ones. I suppose if I had the technology, then we'd look at books on a screen too. I've been told about digital interactive books that move about and stuff. I'm sure he'd love them. But for now, I love having him on my lap and us turning the pages together :)

Anyway, back to the Makeup Lady.
Her phone/mirror choice all made sense when she pulled out the most enormous brush I've ever seen out of her tiny bag. Ahh, ok. Fair enough. Yep, you need all the space you can get carrying that massive thing around with you all day!

New book!

I received copies of my picture book "Trips with my friends" the other day. It's an English reading book for a Korean publisher, and was my last big illustration project I worked on before our little boy was born last summer. It's funny how I'd totally forgotten the madness of this project; 7 spreads illustrated over 7 days, whilst being 7 months pregnant! You can see pictures from my old studio here.


Here's our little boy enjoying the book :)