Back To Some Real Work...

Yesterday was another one of sorting out sundries all day, so I'm determined to do some proper work today. OK, it's not quite school work, but this was the nearest image I could find for now!

I have been inspired to get back to it, by looking at other people's stuff. I have been sent a lovely, and very silly 'singing sheep' story, by the poet Giles Paley-Phillips. And take a look at the illustrated excerpts by Cassia Thomas for If You Go Down To The Woods Tonight written by Claudia Everest. It's a great idea and lovely pictures, but unfortunetaly not out quite yet. This invitation on the back of the book really made me smile - I love the dress code!

I had a good session last week, when I removed myself from the studio to avoid the distractions of the computer (see Too Many Distractions). I really progressed my ideas for one story in particular, so I am going to try working on those sketchbook ideas today and see how I can develop the drawings at my drawing board.

It's a very new way of working for me, because normally the text is set pretty much in stone by the time I start drawing. This time I can let my images spark new story directions, which is exciting but a little alarming!

Even when I've written my own stories before, I've always worked the text out completely, with images purely in my head. I am trying this out as a new system. It's a shame the weather isn't a bit more inspirational: it's blowing a gale and the rain is lashing at the studio windows. Brrrrrr...

The Bookmarks Have Arrived!

What a fun time I am having at the moment. I very nice man (hello Delivery Man!) just delivered me three smallish, but really heavy, cardboard boxes. My goodness: 6000 bookmarks are a lot! I puffed and panted and got one box up to the attic. I think I'll let John do the rest when he gets in.

They look great, though I say so myself. They are much wider than a normal bookmark, but I think that will be fine with a picture book, and it makes them more substantial for kids - almost a long format postcard.

I got them even cheaper in the end: £350 plus VAT, which comes to £410 all in. They've done a great job too. The colour is spot on and it's a lovely silky laminate finish.

Children's Illustration: Another Exhibition!!

I am SO excited! Marie Knudson and Katie Kennedy from Tameside Art Galleries visited the studio today, to talk about an exhibition in 2009. I've never been much into exhibiting my work, as there's so much to do, and work doesn't sell easily. But this is really different. Marie and Katie are so lovely, with lots of exciting ideas, and they are happy to do all the difficult or boring bits for me; all I have to do is the fun stuff.

The exhibition will be in the Central Art Gallery, from August 14th to November 7th. I can choose about 20 spreads from maybe 5 books, plus we are also going to frame smaller, related pieces to hang below, at child height, as well as bits of background information and anecdotes: I simply HAVE to use the nipple story (see An Itch To Scratch).

But it doesn't end there. They are going to commission designers to create a couple of crazy wallpapers from my illustrations, to feature on the gallery walls. I can also devise children's activity sheets for visitors, and they even have a man who will make themed props to create a roll-playing resource that kids can use. How brilliant is that!?

The idea is that we use the gallery space for me to do children's workshops and storytellings, surrounded by the work. So as well as the formal opening night in August, we are planning a big family opening day once the school holidays are over, in September. And when it comes down in November, Marie is looking at the possibility of turning it into a touring exhibition!!!

I can't quite believe it. I might burst if I have to wait until next summer!

Too Many Distractions...

Hello again. I've been trying to get down to some writing today. Well at least, sketching some ideas for bits of stories. I have two or three possibilities to think about, and you'd think it would be easy to get myself to do something so creative.

Instead, I am still finding a million other jobs to do, admitted, most of them are fairly legitimate, but still...

One less justifiable distraction is a reunion in a couple of weeks with school friends from 30 years ago. Remember that centenary visit to my old primary school? (see Alice in Wonderland Goes Back to School). Well, it's started a ball rolling, and it's very tempting to spend ages on Facebook and Friends Reunited, rooting people out.

I only have up to next Tuesday before my school visits start kicking in, so I've got to get my head together soon, and get down to what I should be doing. So, I have resolved to turn off the computer this afternoon, take my sketch book and pencil off into another room, and try again to concentrate.

Wish me luck!

Children's Book Illustration: Best Job in the World?

When I visit schools, I tell the children that I have the best job in the world, because all I have to do all day is draw pictures, but I'm afraid that is less than the whole truth. This week so far I seem to have done nothing but admin.

On my desk I have a long to do list. If I don't write things down, I forget them: I have the memory of a senile goldfish. I have been focussing on trying to cross things off faster than I add new ones.

The wonderful world of email is largely to blame. It makes communicating with clients and colleagues so much quicker and easier, but also creates a steady flow of new messages to deal with, each heralded by a friendly but demanding 'beep', that I can never resist investigating, nomatter what I'm in the middle of.

Today I have spent literally hours going through emails, trying to make sure I have all the information I need for all my October school visits and booking all the trains. 

I've also just spent £250 buying my books from my publishers, ready to take them with me into schools, for signing for the children. Let's hope I sell some!

Actually, the main reason I hope people buy them, is the weight. My little suitcase on wheels is great, but hauling it on and off trains can be hard going, and I always hope that it's lighter travelling home!

Picture Book Antics: An Itch To Scratch

Kids always ask me which of my books is my favourite, but I don't really have one. I have a special love-hate relationship with whichever book I'm working on, but I tell them I enjoy certain characters more than others. Ugly, naughty, crazy, evil or stupid are always more interesting than cute.

One character in particular that I had special fun with, was Big Gorilla from An Itch to Scratch by Damian Harvey. He's a little been ugly, but also rather grumpy, and with good reason - he has a terrible time!

Damian has him contorted with itching until the very last page. Not much fun for Gorilla, but excellent fun for me!! I have a mirror on my studio wall, not for gazing at myself while I work, but for posing. It's often easier to look than imagine, so when I need to know how a gorilla would twist himself up to scratch his back, I act it out in front of my mirror. My neighbours must think I'm nuts.

Damian tells me that he based Big Gorilla on his wife (I bet she's really pleased). He says her legs are not quite so hairy (what a charmer!). Actually, it's because she always has an itchy back. Their little girl, Laura, generally scratches it for her. Ring any bells?

I also have a funny story about An Itch to Scratch that always makes school children snigger. When I sent the first drawing of Big Gorilla to the publisher, Gullane, they were not as enthusiastic as I'd hoped. 'We need an American co-edition,' they said, 'but we can't possibly show that to the Americans.'

The question needed asking: 'Why not?' I said.

'Because,' said my Art Director, 'he's got nipples. Americans don't do nipples.' And apparently it's true: in US picture books, nipples are taboo, even on animals. So the art director went to work in Photoshop and erased Gorilla's nipples. When she emailed him back across, he had two rather odd, bare orbs. It didn't work at all. Interestingly, it actually drew attention to the nipple-factor, like a great, big, neon sign saying 'This is where my nipples should be!!'

So we put the nipples back. But then there was the issue of the 'bottom-crack'.

It seems Americans aren't that keen on them either. 'Perhaps we can stick some extra straw and bits across his bottom,' suggested the publisher, 'to disguise his bottom-crack?'. So as you can see, that is what I did.

You'll be glad to hear that despite the nipple/bum-crack factor, we did get that US co-edition, although they changed the title to Just The Thing. And I've not yet had a letter from a shocked American reader....

If you want to read more about Damian Harvey's exploits, or find out what else he's written, check out his blog and website.

Picture Book Illustration: Computers Are Wonderful Again...

Now my monitor trauma is over, I've been able to finish the scans for Dragon's Dinner, so I love my sweet computer again. What do think of the cover now it's got this lovely lime background? I'm SO pleased with it!

Newer illustrators (and all kids) won't remember life before computers, but I do. I started with an old fashioned typewriter (I couldn't type though and used buckets of Tippex - does that still exist?), no email of course, not even a telephone for the first 6 months, just a phone box on the corner of my road (mobiles wouldn't exist for a decade or so), a photocopier in the post office and a fax machine at a local newsagents.

Now of course Photoshop is KING, but then, whenever I needed to enlarge an image, I took it to the post office lady, who would spend what seemed like hours, trying to work out how to get it to print the right way up, so it didn't cut half the picture off.

And no tinkering with illustrations: once done, they were done for good. Now though, all sorts of things are possible. Above is an image from Dragon's Dinner, as I originally drew it, in pastels. But going through the scans, I realised the shadows on the house weren't dramatic enough, so darkened them up slightly in Photoshop. I also corrected a shadow error (can you spot it?) and enlarged the fireball a fraction, to allow more room for the text.

It's all fairly subtle stuff, but the overall effect is much better.

I am not responsible for the text: Jenny, the Designer at Hodder has done that bit. She chose the font and had last word on the text position. Look carefully though: can you see the name of the little cottage? That was done by me, but notice it's not on the original. That's because it's done separately, to allow for translating foreign editions. Whatever Mouse Cottage is in Spanish, Dutch, Korean etc can easily be dropped into the image, in place of my English version. The easiest way for me to create the text, is on a layer floating above the image, drawn in 'virtual' pastels. I use Corel Painter for this, which emulates pastels. I can even create a virtual version of my textured paper to draw on! (see Tracing Up the Cover of Dragon's Dinner)

So, though they can be a pain in oh, so many ways, computers are still wonderful, don't you agree?

Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!

I was working away on my Dragon's Dinner scans this morning. All looking good. I turned the computer off at lunch time, to give it a rest, and went downstairs to grab a quick sandwich and a half hour eye-break in the garden. Couldn't allow myself much longer, as the work is now super-urgent. I promised to have everything done by tomorrow night to post to Hodder.

When I turned the computer back on, it made all the usual noises, but the screen stayed black. I turned it off and turned it on again. Nothing. I turned it off, unplugged it at the wall, waited 5 minutes and turned it on again. Still nothing. Then I did what I always do in such circumstances:

a) panic b) phone John at work.

My long-suffering husband, who has quite enough to contend with, nevertheless managed to find a monitor to borrow, to tide me over tomorrow. What a star. Until he gets in from work though, all I can do is grind my teeth. Grrrrrr.

It's somehow far more frustrating, knowing that the computer is working fine, sitting there eagerly waiting for me to click the right buttons, if only I could see them! At least I have John's laptop to play on while I wait, but it looks like I am going to be doing the late shift tomorrow night.

Dragon's Dinner Cover and Endpapers

Thought you might be interested to see how the cover and endpapers are shaping up since you saw the roughs last month (see Tracing Up the Cover of Dragon's Dinner).

This is my pastel artwork for the cover. There is more dragon than in the rough I showed you, because he is going to wrap round onto the back cover too.

I have now received my 2nd DVD from Hodder, and need to remove the pink backgrounds like before, ready for the colours to be dropped in behind the illustrations (see Working On the Scans). Here's the front endpaper you saw the rough for.

Originally I was going to do the same front and back, as if the chase continued through the book and on, but we decided to do a different one for the back of the book. Here's the rough and the pastel illustration side by side.

Spot the bit I missed... Yes, he burns his back in the story, which I remembered in the rough, but forgot on the artwork. Duh! I'll have to talk to Jenny at Hodder and see if I need to try and alter it in Photoshop, or whether we can leave it as is.

It's a bit boring, this stage, but restful in a way, as it doesn't use the same bit of brain as the more creative stuff. Of course, it means I'm back in the cave again.

Writing Children's Stories

Yes, writing stories is back on the agenda!

Since the publication of When You're Not Looking!, I have submitted several more stories, but not had any others taken up. I have around 30 published books now as an illustrator, but only that one as an author too.

Author/Illustrator friends have said it might be because I submit them as texts only, without visualising them. But the illustration bit takes a long time, particularly as I don't like to work on thumbnail sketches, much preferring big drawings. I've never been able to dedicate sufficient time to it until now.

I'd really like to get some more stories out there. I'm sure my ideas will work: I can see them in my head and they're really funny, honest!

It would really help my status in the market too, as author/illustrators definitely have a higher profile, and no amount of shameless self-publicity is going to change that!

So why am I not beavering away right now? Well, I have been working pretty hard on it today. I went into the local children's library, so I could first read lots of good picture books and get in the mood. I took a new sketch book, and sat on one of those tiny plastic chairs, at a little table, for nearly 4 hours. I read for a bit, then sketched and wrote for a bit, then, when I started to grind to a halt, read some more.

It seemed an ok system, so I might try it again. Not tomorrow though: we've got a man coming to oil the new wooden floor in the hall. So lots of furniture moving to do tonight. Oh joy...

Illustration Friday

I recently signed up to Facebook, not really knowing why. It's turned out to be really interesting as a way of making contact with an endless collection of other children's illustrators and authors around the world, as well as right here in Sheffield (what is the collective noun I wonder...).

So I've been avoiding doing any work this morning, by 'researching' on Facebook. I justify this, by calling it inspirational, which it is, but I see I can easily lose hours this way, so I'd better take myself in hand.

One thing I have found that I would like to share with you, is Illustration Friday: a lovely idea created by illustrator Penelope Dullaghan. Each week, a one word subject is emailed out to hundreds of illustrators. If they have time and feel inspired, they produce an image on the theme. I found it through Mike Boldt and these are a couple of illustrations he has done for it recently. One is 'grow' the other 'visitor'. Great eh?

Kids Bookmark

Now my latest illustration work is out of the way for a while, I should be catching up on boring stuff, like my accounts (I've a folder of receipts 2 inches thick - don't tell my accountant!). Instead, I've been trying to design a bookmark. I want something to give away at school visits, to promote the blogs and remind children of my website.

It's proving trickier than I thought, trying to decide on images and what to say. Though I've got a fairly good eye, I'm not a graphic designer. It's double-sided, so there were effectively 2 to do as well. I think this is it. What do you think?

The photo of me is not just vanity (honest guv): I thought kids might like to be able to show parents and say 'This is who I saw today at school'.

I thought the dragon from Dragon's Dinner could protrude from the top of the book and look like he was protecting it for its owner! It's a spread from that book that I'm working on in the photo:


I've found a friendly-sounding, local firm, who will do me 6000, laminated, for £500, which doesn't sound too off the scale. Got to make my decision in the next few days though, as October is my busiest month of the year for school visits. I have 15 days booked in so far, all over the place (Wales, Grantham, Staffordshire...) and it all kicks off on October 2nd. Oh dear, all those early mornings...

Alice in Wonderland Goes Back to School!

I received an interesting email out of the blue this week, from someone I haven't seen in 30 years. By a bizarre chance, a good friend from my class when I was at senior school, is now a teacher at my primary school, Eastfield Primary School in Enfield, where I grew up. She told me that the school is celebrating its 100 year anniversary this year. Congratulations Eastfield!

I had a root around, and dug out this photo. It's a school play from the late 1960s (!), Alice In Wonderland. Can you guess which one is me? I'm not sure exactly how old I was here - perhaps 9 or 10. Whoever painted the scenery did an excellent job, didn't they?

My friend has invited me back to visit my old school next month, to spend the anniversary day working with the children. It should be good fun and very interesting to see if anything I remember is still there. It's the playground I remember best. We girls used to play a game with a tennis ball tied into the end of a leg cut from a pair of our mum's tights. With our backs to a wall, we would swing the ball, bouncing it against the wall while we chanted playground songs.

In case you didn't guess, I am Alice on the far right.

School Visit in York

This morning I had to be out of the house at 6.40am (!) to get the train to York, where I have been spending the day with Chapter House School. A teacher gave me a lift from the station. Walking from her car across the playground, I could see fairy lights sunk into the tarmac. 'Looks like a landing strip,' I joked. 'It is,' she said, 'it's the helipad.' A penny dropped - I'd had no idea that Chapter House wasn't a state school.

These kids had the most fabulous resources, and after-school activities included golf, ballet and horse riding. I wondered if they might be a little underwhelmed by Yours Truly. But not a bit of it: absolutely all the kids were really enthusiastic.

It was a day of illustration workshops with Y3 to Y6. For two of the sessions, I did my new 'predator' workshop (see Stockport Art Gallery), adapting it, so the children invented crazy monsters. I took some monster artwork from Rocky and the Lamb and we designed a bizarre monster together on the flip chart, as inspiration. Then they got drawing. It's always fascinating to see the variety of images kids come up with, despite having the same starting point. One lad's monster had a deep trough in his back, for spare spear storage; one girl drew ears with indicator lights; another invented a ghastly creature, like a mutant insect!

To keep myself sane, I did something different for the Y5 class in the middle of the day. I based the session on Giddy the Great and, since in the sequel Giddy is a keen climber, we designed him fantasy towers to balance atop, rather like my Mr Strongmouse workshop in reverse (see A Day in Derby). Some children get the greatest pleasure from racing to see how tall they can make their towers, and we stick paper end to end to accommodate their ideas. Others prefer to sit quietly, carefully creating intricate drawings, packed with detail.

It was a shame not all the class teachers stuck around to watch the sessions, but the organiser, Mrs Metcalfe, was a trooper, rallying round and holding the fort all day. A big thank you to her, as well as all the great kids I met during my visit!

Punting and Staying Up Past Our Bedtime

OK, last bit about the conference, promise...

You might think it was all listening to lectures, but we were in Cambridge, so it had to be done - we went punting. There's only so much concentrating you can do, so the outing was factored in as a rest on Saturday afternoon. I've never been punting before. Fortunately, we didn't have to actually punt - there were some rather handsome, tanned young men to do that for us. All we had to do was lay down and watch the banks glide slowly by. Luckily for us, it turned out to be a proper August day. The sun reflected up off the water and down from the white stone of the beautiful, old colleges that towered above us. I trailed my fingers in the water and chatted idly to my neighbour...

Unfortunately, the serenity was broken every few minutes by first time punters and hen parties, getting their boats tangled up with one another, blocking all traffic by getting stuck sideways across the river, or grinding their punt along the side of ours. I pulled my hand in quick! Actually, that rather added to the fun and I was waiting to see someone fall in, but sadly, nobody did.

That evening, after the talk by Anthony Browne, we ate a formal meal at very long tables, in a very high-ceilinged dining hall (where I met Gus, see Author/ Illustrator Collaborations). Lawrence Anholt, author of the Chimp and Zee books, made an after dinner speech, and then a number of us wandered into the bar. It looked like things were dwindling towards an early night, when John Dougherty took out a guitar and began to strum.

Normally this is the signal to make a dash for cover, but John was very good. He played all those songs that anyone over 30 knows the words to, like American Pie and Ground Control to Major Tom. People gathered round in a cosy semi-circle and began to sing along.

They called last orders; the bar staff went home; still we sang. Tony Mitton and Jane Ray, Lynn Breeze and Anthony Browne. Fiona Dunbar even had a bit of a dance. It wasn't until around 1.30 that we finally ran out of steam. I think John had played his fingers raw! We slunk across the courtyard to our rooms in the vacated student's residence.

I finally lay in my bed and peered across at the clock: 02.00. The alarm was set for 7am, because we had to pack up and vacate the rooms before breakfast. No wonder we were all a bit dazed at Sunday morning's talks.

If you want to see some of the drawings I did at those talks, to try to keep myself awake, click the link on the right, to my parallel blog: Picture Gallery.

In the meantime, the answer to the quiz question about the 'bats in hats' was, of course, When You're Not Looking!, the one picture book I both wrote and illustrated. And here they are!

Cats and Drawing - Bye Bye Maddy

Just a quickie, to let you know that Maddy the pussy's real Mum and Dad came back from holiday today, so unfortunately my furry, daytime companion (see Cats and Pastels Don't Mix) has to go home.

I will miss having her around to irritate me while I draw, distract me by trying to jump off the roof, steal my chair etc although perhaps my computer will breathe a sigh of relief!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Hurrah! Whoopee! Yee-hah! I have finally finished the scans (see Working On The Scans), the window blinds in the studio are pulled up for the first time in days, and does the sun stream in? Of course not. Because it is raining fit for Noah.

It is drumming so hard on the roof and the velux window just above my head that I can barely hear my music. And the forecast is for it to keep at it all day. Which is a bit depressing, but is particularly annoying today, since I have to walk to the post office at some point, to post the DVD of reworked scans and the endpaper artwork (see Tracing up the Cover of Dragon's Dinner) off to Hodder.

Maddy the cat has the right idea for a day like today. She is currently curled up on top of my monitor (I still have an old-fashioned one, not a flat-screen, which is massive as an old-style TV) warming herself nicely by blocking the cooling vents, which probably means that if I don't turf her off soon, the computer will start to smoke...

The image above is from A Lark in the Ark by the way, which seemed irresistibly apt. It's a very silly story written by Peter Bently and was a joy to illustrate. The animals get bored, so decide to play Hide and Seek in the ark. They hide in Noah and Mrs Noah's bedroom (where they are not allowed) and the book has flaps for you to find them all. But what's particularly funny is that they have all dressed up in Noah and his wife's clothing and Peter has rhymed the animals and outfits - bears in flares, wombats in combats, llamas in pyjamas etc.

A great idea, you might think, but one that would probably run dry after 4 or 5 animals. But Peter came up with 16 different ones for me to illustrate, and all of them squeezed into cupboards, or behind furniture, which was sometimes a challenge to fit in, as of course they always had to be drawn in pairs.

A little quiz question for you now: those who know my work, might recall that I have drawn 'bats in hats' once before. Remember which book? I'll leave you to think about that one, and give you the answer later.

If you want to hear how I went out sketching old boats to get reference for A Lark in the Ark, see highlights from my sketchbook, and find out who I based Noah on, see A Real Lark in the Ark in The Picture Gallery.

Right, where's that brolly..?

Anthony Browne Gets into Trouble

Yes, here's another installment, quick on the heels of the last, but I don't want all that techy Photoshop stuff from last time to frighten off my gentle readers...

I want to tell you more about last weekend's CWIG Conference, because there's simply oodles of interesting stuff to pass on, like the talk by Anthony Browne, the award winning author/illustrator, who I'm sure needs no introduction.

Firstly, he told the moving story behind My Dad. His own father died when he was young, and Anthony noticed one day that all the father characters he had created in his books were negative. He wondered if perhaps he was in some way punishing his dad for leaving him. Once he realised this, he wanted to do a more positive book, in celebration of all the good things he remembered of their relationship. By then though, he was a father himself and didn't want readers to think that he was writing about himself. He put the idea on ice.

Then his mother dug out a tatty, old dressing gown that had belonged to his father. It even retained a slight memory of his Dad's smell. Anthony used this as his focus, and the book was written at last.
He talked too about the terrible problems he'd had with copyright. Anthony likes to make visual reference to famous painters in his illustrations. The cover of Willy The Dreamer was inspired by this painting by Magritte.

Anthony carefully copied the exact waves and clouds, so people would make the connection. But the Magritte estate threatened to sue, and the illustration had to be done again.

Unfortunately, the entire book was a series of visual puns based on famous paintings. The publisher, having already paid out some rather hefty lawyer's bills, didn't want to take any chances, so Anthony set about repainting the whole project.


But this was not the only problem. The book Willy's Picture's was also a homage to some of Anthony Browne's favourite paintors. It contained, amongst other things, a funny illustration based on Max Ernst's famous painting, Elephant Celebes (below). You can guess what's coming...

For you to be able to use images without fear of infringing copyright, the artist has to have been dead for 70 years. More re-painting. The book did appear eventually, but almost all of the artists featured in it had to be changed to people long dead..

Unbelievably, Anthony then had a third project that fell foul of copyright restrictions. He created a book all about the Beatles. Paul McCartney was apparantly very pleased and was writing an introduction, but one member of the band refused permission. Anthony Browne never found out who it was, but the book had to be abandoned.

Everybody left the talk wondering how on earth Anthony Browne had managed to put it all behind him and carry on. He didn't come across as bitter and twisted, but I'm sure he grits his teeth every time he thinks about it.

The illustration at the top of this post by the way, is taken from the end of Class Two at the Zoo, written by Julia Jarman. In case you're wondering, it's snake spit that they are covered in. You'll have to read the book to find out why!

Photoshop Stuff for Computer-Heads!

People have asked me to explain a bit more about how I knock out my pink paper backgrounds from around my pastel drawings, like the one above (see Working on the Scans), without losing the detail. Which means this is going to be full of computer stuff, so if that's not your thing, just close your eyes and it won't last long...

You'd think I would use the magic wand, but the paper texture creates problems, and a higher setting grabs too much image. I use select, colour range instead. However, that still picks up any spots of pink paper showing through the image, so I first use the selection tool to deselect the main body of the image.

So that nothing is final, I don't actually delete the background at this stage, but create a layer mask of it, which can then be adjusted.

Because I only made a rough selection with the selection tool, there is always work to be done around the image edges, putting back any pinkish coloured areas. I also need to tidy up any unwanted pastel smudging or splodging. This is where the layer mask is essential. I touch up using a combination of mask tools: a solid pencil and a brush set to dissolve.

I create a new layer in an arbitary, midtone colour beneath my work, to test how things are looking as, in the final book, the vignette won't generally be seen on white, but on a colour.

Once the cut-out is satisfactory, I use the clone stamp to brush over places around the pastel-textured edge where there is unwanted pencil line showing, from my original guide-line, or any other colour anomolies.

I save the image with the mask layer still in place, so that the colour of shadows (or smoke, like in these examples) can still be easily adjusted, depending on the colour background that is finally chosen to sit beneath the illustration.

By the way, the illustrations here are more characters from the batch of scans I am working on as we speak, for the story Dragon's Dinner by Susannah Corbett, due out next year.

William Nicholson in Hollywood

My favourite talk at the weekend's CWIG conference (see Back From The CWIG Conference) was by William Nicholson, probably best known in the children's book world for Seeker. But did you also know that he wrote the screenplays for Gladiator and Shadowlands, as well as many other books, Hollywood films and TV dramas?

He was, despite this, a warm, modest and witty man, who told us how he had spent years dragging himself kicking and screaming from his earlier, unreadably pompous, clever-clever and entirely unpublishable novels, to the rather more successful place he finds himself today. He also warned about the emotionally draining world of Hollywood. It seems the rumours are completely true, that Hollywood pays an author to write a script, which they regard purely as inspiration for the final film, re-writing it as a matter of course, pretty much from scratch, regardless of its merits and, in most cases, not for the better. And then they rarely get made anyway! William's advice to the hopeful Hollywood screenwriter was: 'Live in the moment and forget where your work is going. And think of the money!'

He also spoke about the difficulty of writing a project like Shadowlands: a fictional story based on real people and events. He had problems with a living relative, who disputed a section of the play and tried to get it stopped, on the grounds that 'it 'didn't happen like that'. Things were eventually resolved, but William says his method and justification for what he is forced to invent, is to write the 'emotional truth', always imagining the real character was sitting beside him, and asking himself, 'How would they feel about this?'