A Very Flattering Invitation

Those who've been looking in for a while, will remember me discovering Urban Sketchers. I got very excited, because I've always enjoyed sketching on location (see Sketchbooks), and suddenly, here were all these other people doing the same thing, posting their drawings from all over the world! I look in on the blog almost every day, because there is a continual flow of fresh material, all of it fabulous, but all very varied, both in location and technique.

Only chosen 'correspondents' , like Simo Capecchi who painted this beautiful sketch, can post to the Urban Sketchers blog, but there is a sister group on Flickr, open to all, where I was inspired to post some of my own location drawing, like this sketch from my China series:


It was also the Urban Sketchers site that inspired me to attempt to colour some of my pencil drawings (see Messing About in Painter). Imagine my excitement then, to get an email last week from Gabi Campanario, who runs the show, inviting me to become their Sheffield correspondent on the main site!!! I am truly flattered to be considered good enough to sit alongside some of the other quite extraordinarily talented artists.

This is a sketch by Gabi himself, a not inconsiderable talent himself, I'm sure you'll agree:


I have to commit to doing a fresh drawing at least once a month, but I can post them far more regularly if I want to. I can't wait to get going!

In the meantime, you can see more of my China sketches in the Picture Gallery or on my website.

More Experimentation

Further to Friday's session (see Messing About in Painter), I have been trying out some more different techniques for adding colour to my black and white sketches.

On Friday's images, I was painting a digital watercolour layer beneath the drawing, using Corel Painter, but on this image I have used Photoshop instead, to tint the actual line work.

Once again, this is a sketch of a cottage in the village of Edensor. This is what the original sketch looked like.

I did this by converting the actual sketch layer to 'hard light' then creating a layer beneath the sketch and colouring it with various flat colours.

For the next drawing, I attempted to combine this technique with using the Painter watercolours. The first image below is the original, the middle is a line tint in Photoshop, done as above, the third is after I have painted some colour into the image in Painter.

They are still a little crude, but are only intended to be considered as coloured sketches, not as paintings. This is something I've never tried before, so I am still very unsure about it's validity, but it does seem to add punch to the sketches.


Let me know which techniques you like best!

Messing About in Painter

I'm not feeling very well today: as if a stinking cold wasn't enough, I also have a toothache, from a filling I had on Monday. So, instead of doing real work, I feel I can legitimately spend the day playing around. I thought I'd show you what I've been up to...

Lately I've been inspired by how other people tint their sketchbook work with colour, after the event. I have never done this - I consider my drawings finished the moment I close my book and walk away. But coloured sketches definitely have more impact.


I'm not keen on the blandness of the flat brushes you have to make do with in programmes like Photoshop, but Corel Painter is all about mark-making, so I've spent this morning scanning in my pencil sketches and experimenting with various watercolour effects. The detail above gives you some idea of what you can achieve in Painter.


These sketches were originally done one summer in Edensor, a village close to Chatsworth House, in Derbyshire. I was sketching various houses, when a lady came out of one with a cup of tea for me (in a proper china cup and saucer) and a big piece of chocolate cake!

I have been finding it tricky choosing colours, when I've no memory of the actual colour, so I've used what I thought looked best, which feels a little odd for me, as it flies in the face of the 'reportage' nature of the original drawings.

I also thought I'd try something a bit less complex, so I could concentrate more on the marks themselves, like these feet. Here's a detail so you can see the marks:

I wasn't all that optimistic beforehand, but I must say, looking at them now, I'm pleasantly surprised that they do seem to work, especially the last one. So I will definitely be having another go!

Awards!

Thank you Deborah Melmon for these fantastic awards! This is the first time anyone has honoured my blog in this way, so it's especially lovely.

I think I should pass them on to someone whose blog has been making me smile for some time now, and who has the most original style I've come across in ages: Juan Carlos Federico. Below is a taster of his work.

His answers to the Illustration Friday topics are always amongst the cleverest and wittiest of the group, and if you haven't seen his blog already, get over there and cheer up your day - you won't be disappointed!

Website Redesign

I have decided: the time has come to spend some money on sorting out my website. I designed it myself in Dreamweaver 8 years ago, and have been adding to it ever since. It is now a pretty humongous beast. It still works pretty well, considering, and is of course full of my animals, so very visual, but these days it looks a bit clunky in places. The main problem though is that it's very labour-intensive to update. As a result, it's been neglected of late and I've been pouring my love into this blog instead!

I spent this morning with a local web design company, chatting to the very helpful Diego about all the things we could do to make life easier. I'd also like to create an animated masthead, plus maybe occasional bits of surprise movement. There is so much movement implicit in the illustrations, it shouldn't be hard to find something. Like the zooming snails or swinging rhinos above (from When You're Not looking! ) or perhaps this skipping girl (from Two Feet Up, Two Feet Down).

Of course, now I'm all excited, but I have yet to find out what it's all going to cost. Diego says that, to set up something that's 'smart', and uses a database for easy uploading and for updating its own links, it is going to start at around £1000, and go up from there, depending on how much I want to do. Eek!It sounds like at least my, albeit limited, pockets of techy knowledge will help to keep costs down a little, because Diego can show me how to do certain things for myself. We'll see. I want to get going straight after Christmas if I can. So, watch this space (or actually, watch this space)!

In the meantime, what do you think about a scratching gorilla? We could even have scritchy-scratchy sound effects...

Or am I getting carried away now?

Postscript: not only is the website redesign now finished, but I have since revisited it again, adding loads of new features, like free educational resources for teachers, and lots of films of me demonstrating how I create my pastel artwork, talking about how I became an illustrator, or giving step-by-step instructions on how to recreate some of my drawings. Take a look and let me know what you think!

Christmas Card

I should have done this at least a week ago, but never seemed to get round to it. No decent excuses! Anyway, I had a bash at some quick sketches on Friday. My first thoughts were animals, but then I thought perhaps children instead for a change.

I started with this character, who I thought was quite cute (if a bit boss-eyed) but a little passive on her own. So I introduced some action, to add a bit of humour:

I thought perhaps the boy could be better: still a bit static don't you think? I tried again, to get in more fun, by drawing him bent right over and the snowball hitting his bum instead.

Since this isn't a commissioned piece, I thought I might experiment a bit with technique. So instead of colouring it in pastels, I imported the sketches into Corel Painter and tried a bit of digital painting.

I'm not 100% sure I like it, but it's ok. I've tried to keep some mark making, but the marks tend to feel crude to me, compared with real drawing! Any tips or thoughts gratefully received...

Creating a Pastel Illustration for a Book Cover

On Friday, I got the go-ahead for the educational project I was waiting on (see An American Cover). I have spent just over two days finishing the work and I thought it might be interesting to talk you through the process of creating a piece of my final artwork. (I intended to take photos at stages, but had trouble with the camera, so I apologise for that - another time).

Here's the final rough to remind you:

The client actually emailed last minute changes on Monday afternoon, after they had green-lighted this re-rough: to add indication that the wood pieces come from the wrecked wagon and to reinstate the ears, albeit smaller. Fortunately there was still time to incorporate these.

So, here's how it went:

1: I printed out my rough and cut to size my pink, textured, Canson Teintes pastel paper. Though pastel drawings are generally best drawn bigger, the actual print width here is 505mm, so I decided to do this artwork same size.

2: I traced up the line work in fine pencil, using a light box, then 'fixed' it (using Rowney spray fixative - why is that stuff so expensive???).

3: I angled my drawing board (so the dust fell away) and donned my overalls (pastels are a messy business).

4: I laid in the sky first, blending different blues and smudging in clouds. I then rubbed out any unwanted blue from the rocks, erasing back to the pencil guideline. This prevents colour contamination and keep things bright (you can just fix it, but each fix dulls the colours, so I try not to, if possible).

5: The rocky background was next. I established a range of warm colours to contrast with the cool sky. I like to juxtapose marks in a variety of related colours, to add vibrancy: various pinks and oranges for the lighter areas, mauves and blues for the stark shadows (I always avoid brown when I can).

6: I rubbed back as before, to re-find the main character and other foreground details, like the cacti and wagon wheel (rubbing just short of the line, being careful not to create a bare 'gap' around them).

7: Finally the objects. The character's fur came first, then the whites of his eyes, then his clothes in bright, punchy colours, chosen to push him forwards. Then the cacti and wagon. It is important to continually work from the back towards the front, leaving details to last.

8: I now fixed the work thoroughly. This altered the colours, but was necessary before any more pastel could be overlaid (it gets muddy and 'greasy' if over-loaded). It also allowed detail to be added crisply.

9: I put dots in the eyes, added eyelashes and whiskers with pastel pencils, drew spots on his scarf, stripes on trousers and cacti etc. I then re-evaluated the tones, now most things were in. I felt the shadows were much too dark (partly the result of working in poor light on the previous, dingy day, partly the fault of the fixative).

10: I went back, lightening the purple shadows and touching up any other loss of brightness that was too devastating. This is the compromise of working in pastels, and the bane of my life. The drawing is either safe from smudging but more dingy than I would like, or I re-brighten it to get back vibrancy, but at the cost of potential damage.

11: Once I was happy that the background will not change further, I added the dragonfly, lizard, beetle and wild flowers.

12: Another, but very sparing spray with fixative, concentrating only on areas that are at real risk of smudging, avoiding the background as much as possible.

13: After a final once-over and any last minute adjustments, I took the drawing to my cutting mat and trimmed the edges to neaten them. I then surface-mounted it onto lightweight card and cut a paper overlay, which I taped along the top edge (essential to take up the blotting-off of the chalk).

14: I raided my stash of big, cardboard boxes, to create a really stiff package, parcelled it all up and called Fed Ex.

15: I breathed a sigh, equal parts contentment and relief, and put the kettle on!

Hope you like it.

Go Giddy!!

Yesterday was the Big Day for our timid, goaty friend: the afternoon of the Giddy Goat musical extravaganza! In the end, we sold over 800 tickets, which was fantastic.

It all went really well. I was worried there wouldn't be enough children at my pre-show workshop, because the early publicity didn't mention it, but it was no problem. I had 30 - 40 kids which, with parents, was as much as we could manage in the space (I had what was normally the bar: a long, thin, slightly curved area, so tricky to find somewhere I could present from to larger numbers).

I did some big drawings for the children, then showed them tips on how to draw Giddy Goat. For the littlies, I had made colouring sheets and everyone had prints of my Giddy Goat quiz to take home. The children were so sweet and later, as we all filed into the main theatre, several came up to proudly show me their drawings.

The actual performance was amazing. Polly Ives from Music in the Round, introduced each of the instruments in turn, and the children had to spot them coming in from the back of the theatre. Then we had a warm up, listening to the character's signature music, with the audience doing various arm-waving activities together. It was such a buzz watching 800 people shout 'Go Giddy!'

It's a really touching story (big thanks to Jamie Rix!) and Polly read it brilliantly. Paul Rissman has written a truly beautiful score and I provided all the artwork, so there was a constantly changing pictorial projection over the stage, helping to bring the story to life. All the elements knitted together really well and it was so touching hearing the kids behind me go 'aaah...' when the images changed!

Afterwards, I signed books in the foyer and I needn't have worried about the problem with the reprint order (see Giddy Goat Rides Again). There were so many people crammed into the space buying books and pressing in on my signing table from all sides (even a child under the table on my feet at one point!) that I have to say, I felt completely swamped! I've never felt so popular.

By the time I got to sign the last bookplate and I looked up, everyone had cleared everything away and all but Polly and one or two stray musicians had gone!!! Phew.


I filmed the whole thing and will post highlights here, when I've time to work out how.

Re-Roughing the US Cover

Well, I have at last had the feedback for the educational cover job I was waiting on (see An American Cover). As often happens, they have asked for a few changes, so I have done a re-rough.

There were various things. Firstly, there is now more text to make room for on the back cover, so a big chunk of the illustration needs to be raised up. Here's the original again, so you can compare:

The second thing is that they would like me to take more liberties with the shadows, to straighten up the edges and get them to more obviously suggest a city skyline. I'm glad about being able to do this, as it was the main thing I was struggling with. I just couldn't make the shadows credible. Here's the new version:

The last thing was something really interesting, that hadn't even occurred to me. It's the dragonfly shadow that is supposed to suggest an airplane: they need me to swing it round, so it faces up, and can no way remind people of 9/11!

While I was at it, I took the opportunity to change a few other things that I wasn't quite happy with. I've fiddled with the main character's proportions, to make him cuter (bigger head, smaller feet...). I've flipped the wheel over, so its shadow makes more sense, and have added some wild flowers and an extra cactus to allow for colour. I've inverted the lizard too, so he and the beetle have more of a story going on:

It still bugs me a little that it's impossible to make the shadows as big as they should be, but I think this will be less obvious when the book is closed. I'd like to enlarge the cactuses to help the composition, but then the shadows would need to be even bigger still!

Luckily, the deadline turns out to be flexible, so I have next week to do the artwork after all. It's likely to take a couple of days I should think.

Another Party!

At this time of year, we authors and illustrators can be tempted out into the real world by the promise of free booze and lots of much-needed hugging. And so it was that I gave my posh frock another airing and ventured back down to London yesterday, for a second publisher's Christmas party.

This time it was the Hachette Authors' and Illustrators' party. Hachette is the umbrella that includes both Orchard Books and Hodder Children's Books. I have publications with both, and have worked with them for quite a few years, so their parties are always nice, as I know lots of people and the hug-count is high.

I also love the fact that the Hachette party always starts at lunchtime, making it 100 times easier for those travelling a distance. If you're travelling for 3 hours, it's great to be able to have the whole afternoon and early evening too, and to still get home before midnight. These are my train drawings by the way, from the journey down. On the way back I was far too zonked and looked a little like this fellow.

Hachette are very generous too (thanks guys!). Firstly they hired the roof terrace (indoors, thank goodness) at the Century Club on Shaftesbury Avenue, with a continual flow of free champagne and wine, as well as yummy nibbles. Then, when we were turfed out of there at the end of the afternoon, they had hired a second club round the corner, again with a free bar, into the evening.

It's so nice to catch up with everyone, like old friend Damian Harvey and new friend Cassia Thomas, and especially the slightly bonkers Chris Mould (author & illustrator of the Something Wickedly Weird series, amongst many others) whose characters have a wonderful darkness that reminds me slightly of Edward Gorey. Smashing stuff, smashing guy (blushing yet Chris?).

Gradually, a knot of the gigglier illustrators seemed to coagulate in one corner of the room, around our designer Clare Cartey (who did such a fun job on my Class Two and Class Three books). We were kept entertained by the even more bonkers Melanie Williamson, whose work is everywhere, which is no surprise, as her illustrations are fabulous.

Has anyone else noticed by the way? Dragons do seem to be in vogue at the moment: as well as That Pesky Dragon, Chris has Fangs 'n' Fire coming out next year, and of course there's my Dragon's Dinner, plus a few others I've noticed as well. Long may they reign, they are so good to draw.

I never found Susannah Corbett, author of Dragon's Dinner, but I met one or two other new people, like John Kelly, whose animal illustrations have such great faces! Jack's Tractor is his latest book, coming out next summer. I also met Hayley Welsh, fresh out of university, where she actually trained as a wildlife illustrator. She seems already to be attracting lots of interest and is working with Hodder on a new children's book. How exciting to be just starting out...

Another nice chat was with Jane Ray (who I'm sure needs no introduction from me). We have known each other at a distance for 30 years (we started out on the same Foundation Course at Hornsey Art College, way back in the Middle Ages), but oddly, last night was the first time we have chatted properly. I have always loved her work, as does everyone else of course!

So, I'm pretty sure a great time was had by all. Thanks Hachette! I fell asleep on the train home. Thank goodness Sheffield was the end of the line.

Giddy Goat Rides Again!

Well, it's good and bad news...

The good news is that sense has at last prevailed: Orchard Books have decided to re-print the currently out of print Giddy Goat for the Music in the Round musical tour. That's a massive hurrah! as it's such a nightmare trying to get books reprinted if they are not best sellers, just gentle, steady tricklers.

The bad news is that, although they of course intended to get them done in time for the big Octagon concert this Sunday (see Giddy Goat the Musical), it seems they won't be ready, which is rather disappointing. However, the good folk at Orchard are going to print some bookplates, so I'll have something to sign on the day, if people want to pre-order. Then, when the books are ready (hopefully not long), they can stick them in.

I am hoping people won't be put off and will still buy copies, as Giddy the Great recently went out of print too, and the sales of Giddy Goat will make a difference to whether that is reprinted too, or left to die (sob!).

I spoke to Polly last week and we had sold 600 tickets for the concert. That was before the Radio Sheffield plug though. Let's hope the newspaper article also gives it a last-minute boost (see All Good Publicity...). The Octagon seats 1100 though, so I'm confident there will still be plenty of tickets available on the day, if you want to buy them on the door.

Don't forget though - although the flyer says 3pm, I will be there from 2pm, getting children drawing. Maybe see you there!

Sketching New Ideas

Well, I was proven wrong yesterday. I did get the day to try out some sketching after all. I have been playing around with some new animal characters for my baby book idea (see Back to Drawing). I can't tell you too much about the actual concept at this stage, but it will require lots of different characters, rather than a small band of friends.

Because it is aimed at the youngest end of the picture book market, it needs to be much less fussy and detailed than I would usually do. I envisage the characters being large and bold, and working onto plain colour backgrounds, very much like the illustrations in When You're Not Looking! which is also aimed young. The whole book is like this racing snail spread - different cut-out creatures on various bright colours.

It seems to me that baby books often lack humour, which must make them pretty deadly for the parents, and possibly less fun than they might be for baby. So with that in mind, I want lots of the illustrations in my new project to be very silly, like the skateboarding dog above. I think some will also need to be cute and cuddly like these koalas too though:

I don't know what's happening with my other project idea yet (see Lila and Sausage Visit a Publisher), but I figure that, if I have other irons in the fire, I'll be less devastated if it comes back as a 'no'.

By the way, I have just added some archive sketches of China to my Picture Gallery, if you want to take a look...

Back to Drawing

In many ways, it's been great just lately, with lots of unusual things going on, and all sorts of activities taking me out of the studio. But I've been missing the normal, run-of-the-mill day, spent at the drawing board. Isn't human nature funny? When I'm embroiled in a book, working to a deadline and drawing every day, I long to be out and about, doing something different!

So this morning it'll be nice to be drawing. I have a baby book idea in my head at the moment, and I'd quite like to spend a little time this week, making a start on sketching out some possibilities. It all depends on when I get the feedback for the US educational job (see An American Cover). The Thanksgiving holiday has slowed up the turnaround a little, but the artwork deadline is Friday, so I should be hearing any time.

I hate waiting though, so think I'll try to forget about it for now. Still, I know what will happen today: I will clear my desk of the US cover bit's and bobs, just get my head together and put pencil to paper to start visualising my new book ideas, and the US job will come in!!

Let's see if I'm right...