Update

Hello! It's been a little while hasn't it?

There's been a lot going on in my personal life which means I've had to take a small amount of time off. Mostly taking a step back from my chapter book so it isn't going to the book fair in Frankfurt. Fingers crossed for Bologna next year.

However, I have been working on a exciting new project with a big publisher. This is the sample I was asked to do.

It's a different style for me and a new way of working but I've been enjoying myself. It's been a challenging project but great to see it all together. I was sent a photo of the mock up which looks amazing if I do say so myself! Everything crossed it goes down well at Frankfurt and I get to work on it some more.

I've also been commissioned directly from a HUGE publisher which is something I'm pretty excited about. If all goes well it should take me to April next year. The first brief came through yesterday and the deadline is tomorrow for roughs so it's a busy day ahead.

And here's something just for fun.

No news on the publishing of my picture book yet but I did receive some complimentary copies. I'm super happy with them and can't wait until it's released into the world.

Palm Sunday

Bible stories sample.

The exciting, the samples and the disappointments

Hello! It's been a little while since my last post. But fear not, I haven't disappeared just been working on a few things. My last post covered a project I was working on that fell through, and since then another project I was yet to start fell through as well.

So as you can imagine that left me feeling pretty deflated. I'm just starting out and yet have already had my share of disappointments! The important thing is to try and pull yourself back from it and not take it too personally (easier said than done I know). Everything in this business takes time, a project coming up, sampling, waiting for feedback, waiting to hear whether you've gotten the job, waiting to start the project, waiting, waiting, waiting.....there is A LOT of this. More than I realised. And even when you've done work for a project and you've gotten the job there are no guarantees (see previous post).

So it's VERY important to remind yourself why you do what you do. It's important to keep working on your portfolio, get yourself out there, Love what you do, put in the hard work and don't give up. 

Anyhoo, enough of that! So the things I've actually been working on, well I've been working alongside my agents and LaB to write my very own chapter book (eek!).  I'm having fun with it and enjoying bouncing ideas off the lovely people at LaB. There isn't much to share just yet, a few sketches and ideas but nothing I can show. But it's all very exciting!

Other than that, some possible projects have come up (one straight after the others falling through) that I've been sampling for. One looks very much up my street and is boys orientated. Here are a few character samples. Fingers crossed they like them!

And the second one, which is very different for me is stories from the Bible. Here's a little sneak at that one.

These are only possible projects so I'm keeping everything crossed :)

And the most exciting news yet! My picture book is being published this month! I can't wait to receive a copy of it. As soon as I do, I will be sure to share a few sneaky peeks. I'm also thinking of sharing some of its process which will include some very rough roughs. Which I hope you'll enjoy. Here's to the next few months!

Covers

The project I've been working on for the past few months has took a different direction so it's not going ahead with me as the illustrator. I'm disappointed (more than you know) but in this industry these things happen. It doesn't normally take quite as long as that but the project has been very drawn out. Anyway, since I'm no longer apart of the project, I can show the work I did for it. The project was for a couple of girly activity books.

A project or brief always starts out with roughs...

This isn't even my first rough for the first cover (lots of tweaks were made). My roughs are very rough usually. This one was to be all about fairies, mermaids and princesses.

And the rough for the second cover, which was to be about ballerinas, pop stars, ice skaters and all things girls like to do.

After the initial roughs I made more changes and did more roughs until it was agreed I could go to colour. And here are the coloured versions:

As you can see there is a lot more going on in this version! I added in a lot more characters and details of things 'to spot'. Also remembering to leave enough space for text.

Same goes with this one. Although it looks a lot more crowded as none of the characters are flying.

I had a lot of fun with this project and it was very challenging in parts. Having to draw lots of characters and also drawing small was a definite challenge for me. It's not something I usually do. And the fact it's very girly! I was very much out of my comfort zone a lot of the time. And although it didn't work out, I'm glad to have been involved. And you never know, something similar might just be on the horizon :)

A Christmas Carol

More young fiction work.

Top Secret!

I've been meaning to do some young fiction stuff for a while - something a bit different for older children. I looked through a file I have of old drawings (some of them almost 20 years old) for this:

Now in case you can't tell, it's a safe drawn on a folded piece of paper. I was probably around 8 or 9 when I did this so we're talking 16 or 17 years ago. 

No one has ever seen the inside of this safe and when I open it you'll see why. Type in 2678 and then press enter (I hope I've remembered the code correctly or it could self destruct).

As you see it contains a lot of Top Secret stuff that must be kept that way. You'll also notice that the last person who tried to get into my safe is still there. 

I used to draw stuff like this all the time - I did several of these but the others have been lost to the ages. I really liked spy and detective stuff (still a huge fan of detective stuff) and I also had an obsession with drawing eyeballs. I was a weird child. 

But that inspired this:

Hopefully you'll see my drawing is a little better and that I even used some of the same stuff from my safe.

And here's the 'smelly sister' and Harry.

Now remember to print this Top Secret message and eat the evidence!*

*Not really!

Playing Football

Sketch

Linework

And finished

More people drawing. I wanted to give him some movement so gave him a football to kick. It was also originally part of a school yard illustration I started which got scrapped.

Hello?

Couple of teenage girls nattering on the phone.

Tree Climbing

 

Just adding to the ol 'folio.

And a few close ups. Enjoy!

Spring Cleaning

This month's theme over on The Pencil Play Collective is Spring Cleaning.

A few close ups.

 

In other news, I've been really busy the past few weeks working on a children's picture book. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to share any sneak peeks but you will be able to get a copy of your very own when it's published in the summer!  I'm super excited about being a published illustrator and will share LOTS of photos when I receive a copy :)

Dragons and things

Here are a couple of dragons for you. 

A few close ups.

Can't tell you how much stress the red one was giving me! Couldn't decide what colour to make him. Colour is always a tricky one.

I've been a little quiet recently as I'm waiting to hear back about a possible exciting project. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that it all goes ahead! Will share more when I can.

And now for something completely different...

Fairies

Fairies sample.

A rather pink background.

And together.

Talent

An old one but it fits the theme over on Illustration Friday.

Humpty Dumpty

I made myself a list of things to add to my portfolio that I haven't drawn before. Nursery Rhymes was the only thing on the list I hadn't covered.

Had fun with this one trying to not make it too complicated and just keeping the background nice and simple. Enjoy!

Space

 I've been wanting to do a space related illustration for a while. So here it is.

 

I started sketching this last night not really with a clear idea of what I was doing or where it would end up. Just started with a boy astronaut and it went from there. When I started inking I choose a thinner fineliner than I normally use and wasn't really worried about wobbly lines - I just went with it. Really had fun with this one and hope you like it.

Whisper

Whisper, whisper! A quick sketch which is part of a spread. Fits well with this week's Illustration Friday.

Drawings from 1994

So as promised here are some scans of some VERY old work. The first few drawings (in biro) are from an old 1994 diary. A lot of them were done when I was around 7 so that's going on 19 years! I started drawing at around 4 years old and never stopped. Scrap pieces of paper, envelopes, anything I could get my hands on and I was doodling all over them. As you'll see from this post I don't throw much away and still have a file full of old stuff. So thought I would share some of them with you.

 

I seemed to like drawing girls and there are a few of this one in particular. This makes a change from what I normally draw now! 

 Some creepy faces!

I had a thing about drawing babies and girls with babies in their bellies. I think this might be because I had a Barbie doll where you could pop the baby from her belly.

I liked drawing mermaids too!

 

Aww, it's a teddy bear.

I was terrible at drawing horses and they're still something I am not so good at.

There are a few things I notice from looking through the diary, one of them is I struggled to draw hands (I still do) and the other is that is there are no drawings of monkeys! The diary is full of badly drawn horses, drawings of girls, mermaids, clowns, faces and stories with bad spelling about magic queens and magic rings.

 As I got older the one thing I started to draw more than anything else was The Simpsons. I became obsessed with them at around 8 years old and it inspired me to carry on drawing. Matt Groening was my idol! I collected everything with them on and still have a lot of it (hoarder alert!).

Hope you enjoyed seeing some terrible drawings from my childhood. And if you have any, I'd love to see them :)