The Tap Dancing Pigeon of Covent Garden

Hi Chaps

The Tap Dancing Pigeon of Covent Garden, a lovely book that I illustrated has now been published!
Pick up your copy now to read about bravery, passion and our beautiful planet!
It's written by Serena Hassan, see more of her here -
 (www.serenahassan.co.uk)
and has had a few nice reviews here -
https://katestutter.com/2019/08/30/the-tap-dancing-pigeon-of-covent-garden-serena-hassan/

http://thesyders.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-tap-dancing-pigeon-of-covent-garden.html

It was great fun to illustrate, with various spreads of London and Covent Garden and I'm pleased with how it's come out.
Here are a couple of bits of it.

Sketching Equipment.

Hi Chaps,

I've recently been getting into outdoor sketching again as in my previous post, 
so for any equipment buffs out there, here's what I've put in my metaphorical Sketcher's Utility Belt.

I've been using a 0.5 HB propelling/mechanical pencil (no sharpener required)
And a slim A6 sketchpad that will easily fit into a bag or pocket and can be carried all the time, rather than a bigger one that is only taken out specifically on special sketching expeditions.
And a rubber/eraser, which I try to use as seldom as possible.

And that's it. I'm thinking of branching out into using a brush pen and things as well, so will let you know about any news or progress with that.

Real Life Sketching.

Hi Chaps,

I've been going out and doing some sketching recently. 
Real life sketching of real life things with a real life sketch book and pencil, that is, rather than doing character and idea sketches straight in Photoshop for work.

I do find trees interesting so have sketched a lot of trees.
I was taking whatever opportunity to sketch I could get, so very often I was sneaking in a sketch when I only had literally 1 or 2 minutes to do the sketch.

So it's been fun to try and capture the character of a tree or view or cloud in a really short space of time.
Here are a few.

Terrific Toddlers

Hi Chaps,

I recently illustrated a set of three books for Toddlers called Terrific Toddlers, written by Carol Zeavin, Rhona Silverbush and published by Magination Press
They are about a diverse group of toddlers who are learning to share with each other, deal with hurt, and to say goodbye.
The books use simple language and are reflective of children’s realities, based on an understanding of the developmental level of young toddlers.
This series is the first to handle the topics in carefully researched, developmentally appropriate ways for toddlers, and is affiliated with the American Psychological Association
I'm really pleased to have been involved with such worthwhile books.
They were very interesting to illustrate, and I also think the designers did a fab job with the design of them :)
Here are a few illustrations

The Tiger Who Came To Tea Exhibition

Hi Chaps,

I went to Acorn Bank National Trust House at the weekend and there I saw the lovely 'A Tiger Came To Tea' 50th Anniversary Exhibition set up by Seven Stories.
It was a very nice little exhibition, including some rough sketches and old drawings by Judith Kerr, and also facsimiles of some of the actual artwork, which was very interesting.
It's always informative and inspiring to see artists' workings, and also interesting looking back to the pre-digital age.

And, one of the best things was the giant cuddly Tiger, very nicely capturing the look of the illustrations.

If it comes near you it's worth a look :)

Outdoor Sketching

Hi Chaps,

Recently I went on a sketching expedition and managed to do a batch of outdoor sketches.
It's something I intend to find time for more often as it makes a nice change to draw from nature rather than sketching ideas for projects.
Here are some of them.

A tree in a wood

A view down a stream while standing in it

A view over some landscape

A study of a bit of dry-stone wall

Ginger Green in four territoties

Hi Chaps

Ginger Green Playdate Queen, written by Kim Kane and Illustrated by me for Hardie Grant Egmont in Australia has now been published in four teritories :)
After the initial run in Australia, it's now avilable in the US, Slovenia and now the UK.
Very exciting indeed!!
They're a fab series and I can heartily recommend them for early readers.

Here are the Australian, Slovenian and US editions of Fancy Friend.

Keep an eye out or ask for them in bookshops and libraries, they're worth a look at :)

New Book, 'Journeys'

Hi Chaps,

A book I jointly illustrated, called 'Journeys' by Jonathan Litton is now out.
The other illustrators involved are Chris Chalik, Dave Shephard and Leo Hartas.

It's a lovely looking book, the treatment of the design by the chaps at Little Tiger is absolutely lovely and the stories of amazing journeys around the world are very interesting indeed.
They range from Amundsen, Livingston, Bligh and Gagarin, in chapters covering Water, Land, Ice and Snow, and Man and Machine.
I've really enjoyed reading through my copy, so I can recommend having a look at it :)

Here's the cover and one of the spreads by me.

Ginger Green Playdate Queen out in the UK

Hi Chaps,

Ginger Green Playdate Queen, written by Kim Kane and Illustrated by me for Hardie Grant Egmont in Australia has now been published in the UK :)
Very exciting indeed, hopefully I'll get to see it in bookshops.
It's initially starting with a run of the first four stories, New Friend, Crazy Friend, Fancy Friend and Next Door Friend.
They're a fab series and I can heartily recommend them for early readers.

So keep an eye out or ask for them in bookshops and libraries, they're worth a look at :)

2018 GANYC Apple Award in Outstanding Achievement in Fiction NYC Book Writing

Hi Chaps,

Well, I've got some fun news, The Knish War on Rivington Street picture book, written by Joanne Oppenheim, published by Albert Whitman, and illustrated by me, has actually won the the 2018 GANYC Apple Award in Outstanding Achievement in Fiction NYC Book Writing!!

There was a ceremony at the SVA Theater in New York on 12th March where the winners were announced.
Here are all the winners in full, the Knish War was amongst some very good company.

https://mailchi.mp/ganyc/ganyc-apple-award-winners-announced-nkoieszu0d 

And here's a photo of the actual proper glass trophy with my name inscribed along with Joanne Oppenheim, the author :)

So, now I think I'm officially allowed to wear a waistcoat, smoke a pipe and describe myself as an award winning illustrator :)

Netball Journal

Hi Chaps,

Anyone out there in Blogland involved in netball?
I've recently illustrated a fab new Journal aimed at young netball players, and it's now available to pre-order for Christmas.

This is a great journal with excercises and projects and quizzes, and stickers.
It was great fun to illustrate - there are a set of different characters that feature throughout, so there was a fair bit of character work, thinking of their characteristics and having those reflected in their looks and attitude and gesture -
and all the illustrations had to be technically correct to follow the rules of the game correctly, so I learned a fair bit about netball :)

The website is here at MyIncredibeleJournals so do have a look, and do mention it to anyone you know involved in the sport :)

Knish War

Hi chaps,

Well, a new book I've illustrated has come out recently, called 'The Knish War on Rivington Street'.

It's set in New York in the 1910's and is based on a real sales battle between two bakeries who both sell Knishes.
(In case anyone doesn't know, a Knish is a traditional Jewish food, baked or fried, that is made of pastry with various fillings.
They're not very common in the UK, but would be along similar lines to a Cornish Pasty.)

But it was a great book to illustrate, lots of detail and building chaos through the bok, and also historic detail needed.
And there's a recipe at the back so you can make your own :)

It's written by Joanne Oppenheim and published by the lovely people at Albert Whitman.

And it has now been reviewed in the New York Times as well, here.
That's two of my books that have been reviewed in the NY Times, huzzah :)

But do have a look and grab hold of a copy, it's a v nice book :)

Ginger Green in US

Hi Chaps,

Ginger Green Playdate Queen, written by Kim Kane and Illustrated by me for Hardie Grant Egmont in Australia has now been published in the US by Capstone :)
Very exciting, the new editions are nice smart hard backs, very stylish.
Here are the copies I was sent.

Capstone are also home to Dirty Bertie, so Ginger's in good company.
So keep an eye out for them in all those US bookshops, they're worth a look at :)

Ginger Green Playdate Queen News!

Hi Chaps,

I have an announcement about Ginger Green Playdate Queen, the series of books I'm illustrating for Hardie Grant Egmont in Australia.
(For more info about the series, see the Ginger Green page on the Hardie website )
(And they're written by Kim Kane, do follow her on twitter here )
They're a fab set of books, and seem to be doing pretty well - working on book 9 and I think seven are out in the shops now.

BUT, the announcement is that, not only is Ginger Green going to be available in Australia, as it has been, but now also in the UK and US! Which is rather exciting.

I've worked on a few series of books in Australia, 'Billie B Brown', 'The Tinklers Three' and 'Penelope Perfect', which are all fab books which I heartily recommend, so it'll be great to have one of them available over here too.

Maybe soon, when talking to people, and they ask what I've illustrated, and I reply 'Ginger Green', rather than the usual blank look, and slightly dazed expression, people might actually know what I'm talking about :)

It's due out in the Autumn, so keep your eyes open, more detail soon :)

London Book Fair

Hi Chaps,

It was the London Book Fair (or LBF17 for those in the know) last week, and I popped along for a look around on Wedmesday.
I didn't see any seminars this year, but as always it was very interesting and inspiring seeing all the new books on the publishers stands.
Walker Books is always a good stand to look round, they've got the usual fab stuff coming up, as with Scholastic.
And I particularly enjoyed looking round the Nosy Crow stand, with new Hubble Bubble books on the way, and I also managed to have a chat with one of the people there, who gave me a few minutes in between meetings.
A highlight, though was the Little Tiger stand, where I got to say hello, and also see an advance copy of their 'Journeys' book I was one of the illustrators for.
Its under their 360degrees imprint, and it looks great. Lovely design and production values.
Here's a snap of the lovely cover

And here's my name in lovely big lettering on the very stylishly designed title page :)

It's a very interesting book. I recommend it.
For instance, did you know that Amundsen, the first man to the South Pole was successful on that expedition due to his expertise with dogs, which he learned while doing the North East passage?
And that there was also a Japanese expedition to the South Pole?
Here is a photo of the South Pole spread.

I'm going to keep an eye out for this one in the shops :)

Crowds

Hi Chaps,

I've been recently working on a book that requires some crowd scenes, and groups of people. Sometimes I do find I can be tempted to let the figures in a crowd or group become a bit non-specific, characterless, loose, drones, who all look the same, due to the repetition of filling the space.
Rather than making them all being individual characters.
And the difference is the enjoyment in doing the illustration.
Whatever the picture, if I can find something in it that fires my interest/inspiration, and gets me engrossed, then I enjoy doing it more, and therefore it comes out better.
So, my first task when doing an illustration, along with working out the composition, is finding the route to being inspired.
So with these recent crowd scenes I'm working on, I blocked out the composition reasonably quickly, and then had a nice relax with my sketchbook and enjoyed myself trying to think up different characters to populate the crowds.
And here they are.

My Shop Updated

Hi Chaps,

I have updated the shop on my website, where you can buy prints of work.
It's all a bit clearer and smoother now with a 'shop' page which has thumbnails on it.

Due to a lack of ability to create my own shop with payment process etc, I though the best approach would be to leave that to others.
Therefore, the thumbnails link through to a purchasing page which is actually on the sites Society6 or Etsy :) So all the payment and deliver processing is done by them.
You can get prints, framed prints and greetings cards from the images on Society6.
And for the Etsy images you can get a digital download to organise your own printing and framing at your leisure, as you see fit :)

Here are some of the pictures available.

Do have a wee look.
There's a link to my website on the right, or you can go directly to the shop page here

New Series, Ginger Green is out

Hi Chaps,

Every play date is different, but Ginger Green rules them all!
The first four of 'Ginger Green Playdate Queen' are now available.
Published in Australia by Hardie Grant Egmont, the books are 'New Friend', 'Fancy Friend', 'Crazy Friend' and 'Next Door Friend'.

They are written by Kim Kane and I can highly recommend them for early readers.
The text is simple, nicely aimed at the target age group, but I would also say that it is deceptively simple, conveying a good amount of depth and emotion in the stories, which have lots going on.

They are published in Australia only at the moment, but you may be able to get international delivery from some of the sites selling them, so have a look around, they're worth a go :)

Small Blue Readings

Hi chaps,

Well, I've my two reading spots of my book 'Small Blue' now.One in a shop, as in my previous post, and one in a library.
The way I decided to play the events was to do the readings first, and then draw sketches of characters from it, (usually pirates or witches).
It was fun and went down well.
Kids do seem to be fascinated by seeing a drawing actually appear out of nothing in front of them.

The shop reading was more freeform, with people drifting in and out, which had its own charm.
I ended up doing lots of individual readings to families there, while at the library there was more of a formal start and finish, and the reading had to be more of a performance.

I've been asked back by the library for another spot closer to Christmas, so I'll see if I can do even better with my patter for that. Any suggestions from anyone for tips and tricks would be much appreciated :)

I'll maybe try and employ my badges a bit more, and incidentally, more on those later.

All my equipment is set up for readings now though -
A3 sketchpad - check
Sharpies - check
Badges to give away - check

All ready for the next reading :)

Author Event at Waterstones Carlisle

Hi Chaps,

Well, I had a great time at Waterstones in Carlisle last Saturday doing my author event for 'Small Blue and the Deep Dark Night'.
Lots of reading it to kids (and their parents) and doing drawings for them (the kids), usually of pirates. It fit in nicely on Halloween as it's sort of about scary things, and I ended up being there for about an hour and a half all in all.

It was excellently set up by the shop, especially thanks to Wendy in the children's department, with a window display, excellent chalkboard sign, and a lovely 'reading chair' and table.

I can recommend the children's section, if you want the good stuff, they've got it there :)

I'm looking forward to doing more readings, my next is at Twickenham Library at 3.45 on 10th November, in one of their regular story time slots.
There shall be reading, sketching, colouring sheets and copies of the book to sign and sell there too :)