On the Radio

I've been on BBC Radio Sheffield before, but not for a quite a while. Sometimes it's to talk about my work, but mostly I'm invited to join in live discussions that look at the week's news. This can be nerve-racking. It necessitates manically swotting up the week's papers, particularly since they often invite me during party-political conference season - eee! I always dread making some awful gaff.

So it was a relief that yesterday's programme was different. It was again set up by Polly Ives to plug Sunday (see All Good Publicity...).

The downside was that it was the Breakfast Show, so an 8.30 taxi. Gareth Evans interviewed me (he'd been there since 6am!). He was great and very relaxed, which puts you at ease. The producer asked me to take in some books to talk around, even though it was radio, but we didn't really need them. It turns out Gareth has 4 kids, so they have Giddy Goat at home.

I don't suppose it lasted more than 10 minutes: it's hard to judge when you're all adrenalined up. I did make a gaff in the end though - believe it or not, I got the day of the event wrong!! Luckily Gareth corrected me, so no harm done. Duh! Polly will kill me...

All Good Publicity...

I've been doing a different sort of writing this week. Polly Ives of Music In The Round (see Giddy Goat the Musical) arranged for me to write an article in next week's Sheffield Telegraph: all part of the promotion of the Giddy Goat Christmas performance next Sunday.

The Telegraph run a regular feature, Favourite Things, where local celebrities (!) are asked to write 1000 words on their favourite places in and around Sheffield.

I've really enjoyed doing it. I thought of the old, Victorian cemetery (above) straight away, and our quirky, local cafe. There's also a very special place just outside the city, called Surprise View (the lovely photo's by Phil Bird) that's always been a favourite. But then I really had to think. You are asked not to choose the obvious places that everyone loves, like the Botanical Gardens, Crucible Theatre etc but to make it more personal.

It gave me the opportunity to consider what I love about Sheffield (and I do love Sheffield). I moved here around 20 years ago from London, because I couldn't afford a house down there. I didn't know anyone.

I chose Sheffield almost randomly, because it was surrounded by such amazing and wild countryside (no less than 2 National Parks on our boundary) and because, during a one-off day trip, I liked the lively, multi-cultural feel of the place. I worried it might be hard, but I have never looked back! This is John and I well wrapped up in the local Derbyshire hills last winter.

If you would like to read my choices for 10 favourite places in Sheffield, click here. Then why not leave me a suggestion of your own?

New Children's Laureate?

Anyone who has anything to do with children's books will know that Micheal Rosen has been our Children's Laureate for a while now. Each incumbent has 2 years to do what they can to promote young people's reading. It's a fairly new post and the first was Quentin Blake, a personal favourite of mine. He's one of the few illustrators who manages to carry the casual quality of the original sketch through to the finished artwork.

I got to meet Jaqueline Wilson when it was her turn, as she was presenting the Red House awards, the year I was shortlisted for Mr Strongmouse and the Baby. She really is the warmest, gentlest person.

I heard Micheal Rosen speak at this year's Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Group conference. He is very passionate about the current trend for teaching literacy in schools by reading excerpts, but never whole stories, so children don't get to find out about the joy of getting lost in a book.

This is a tiny sketch I did of him. There are more in the Picture Gallery.

Now you can help to decide who will be the next Children's Laureate. They can be any living British author or illustrator of children's books. Visit the website and put forward your nomination. It's open to adults and kids, but if you are under 14, you also get the chance to enter a competition: you might win the chance to go the the announcement ceremony in London in June 2009.

Animals Hanging From The Rafters!

I spent yesterday afternoon revisiting the Lauren Child exhibition at the Western Park Museum, this time with Marie Knudson, curator of my exhibition next year. And yes, it seems I can indeed have animals hanging from the ceiling! Yeehah!

We decided, as a good starting point for ideas, we'd go round the exhibition methodically, looking at how things were framed, how the children's props were constructed etc. It was useful too to look at which things were standing the test of time and which were already falling apart. The giant jigsaws for instance, are already peeling and the computer game is flaky. The reading books though are still in very good nick.


Watching kids is interesting too. The Lauren Child has a cupboard made up to look like a fridge, with plastic food to take in and out, which kids just love. We reckon we can borrow the idea but do it better: Marie says we can make the ark from A Lark in the Ark, with little opening doors where children can take animals in and out. She's even suggesting hand-sewing soft toys of my animals from the story. We thought also maybe a mirror with animal masks and a dressing up box, so children can dress like a goat say, in a coat, or maybe be a giraffe, and put on a scarf...


We have decided on building an H shape in the middle of the gallery space, providing two themed 'rooms' for children. In one side we'll probably have the Lark in the Ark play ideas, in the other a reading room with cushions, themed on another of the books. It could be When You're Not Looking! as it would be nice to feature that somewhere, since I wrote it too, but the artwork won't frame up well, as it is all dropped onto coloured backgrounds (see above), so doesn't really exist as it appears in the book.

Another idea I had was a 'stick the flies on the warthog' game, based on Stinky! , using magnetic flies.

We will of course have a drawing area against one wall, with activity sheets, like step-by-step instructions on drawing my animals. I thought we could hold a competition for the best drawings, with books as prizes, but also perhaps framing the winners alongside mine in the gallery.

And Marie suggested a treasure hunt, with little cut-outs of my various characters stuck onto walls and windows throughout the building, for the children to tick off.

As you can probably tell, I'm completely giddy about the whole thing, almost as giddy, some might say, as a Giddy Goat!! Thanks for all your enthusiasm Marie. With your help, it's going to be GREAT!

Illustrating a Book Cover

Although most of my work is commissioned in the UK, I also have an agent in the US, Kendra Marcus, and every so often something comes up. The exchange rate has made it very difficult to work with US publishers in the last few years, but things are slightly better just now.

This latest job is a single illustration: a cover for an educational book. These jobs always have silly deadlines and are normally needed yesterday. This time it's not too bad. Above is my rough, which I had to get done ASAP, but the artwork isn't due until the end of next week.

The weird thing about educational work, is that they send you a pre-designed image to follow. This is because there are usually several elements that need to be included, to do with the lesson being taught. The drawing above was done at the publisher's as a guide for me.

This is how it's done for advertising too. It's not as creative, or as much fun as generating the image yourself, but it does make the job quicker. Having said that, I've had a right job with this one, battling to make the shadow idea work. I'm still not 100% sure: I've taken a lot of liberties, but it's one of those ideas that works a lot easier very rough, than when you have to draw it properly!

I Have Won An Award!!!!!!!

On Thursday afternoon, I packed my posh frock and spangly earrings, and took the train with hubby John to Stockport, for a book award ceremony. And guess what? Class Two At The Zoo has won the Stockport Schools Book Award! Yahooooooo!! I am thrilled to bits: though I have been shortlisted a few times, this is the first award I have ever actually won.

It's especially nice that it's Stockport, as I work with their School Library Service quite a lot, visiting local schools. The other lovely thing about this award, is that it's the children of Stockport who do the voting. Over 50 schools took part and they were a big part of the ceremony.

This is some of us prizewinners meeting the mayor. I am standing next to Tabitha Suzuma the KS4 winner, behind me is Nick Sharratt who won Early Years, and Julia Jarman is towards the left, looking at the camera.

There were 800 people in the Plaza theatre, including children of all ages, looking gorgeous with button-holes and corsages. It was children who came up on stage to announce the winners, and give the awards. Children had also pre-recorded readings from all the shortlisted books, which were played on a big screen.

Julia Jarman and I had to make a speech: I'm not sure I've ever spoken to 800 people before! We were up after Nick Sharratt (who is lovely). Nick won with Never Use A Knife and Fork, and balanced bagels on his head on stage. How to follow that!? Julia and I decided to do a double-act and read our book aloud, which went down really well.

We were each presented with a framed illustration, done by a local child. Mine is just FANTASTIC! It is a drawing of the anaconda grabbing Diana with his tongue, based on this page in the book (I'll put it on the blog when I can sort a photo out).

The following day, winners visited local schools, reading our books to children. I had a great time at St Simons' and St Thomas' (hello all) and at half time Julia and I were treated to a lovely buffet lunch, back at the School Library Service headquarters.

Everybody is so nice at Stockport SLS and looked after me really well (thanks Viv and Lindy for running me all over). It was a really special ceremony: thank you so much for everything. And a special hello to Susan Smith, who has been really poorly, but couldn't miss the event - get well soon!

Publisher's Party!

After my meeting on Wednesday, I stayed in London until late, for a Christmas party (yes, I know, not even December yet...) at Egmont Children's Books. As a freelancer, you don't get the usual 'works do' so, although it's a bit of a trek from Sheffield, I try to go to the publisher's parties if I can.

I deliberately set up my meeting at Hodder (see Lila & Sausage Visit a Publisher) to coincide with the party, to get better value for all that travelling time. This is one of my 'journey-down' drawings from the train.

The party was in a really interesting venue. Last year it was a normal wine bar, but this time Egmont hired the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden! It was very strange, but great fun, standing around chatting and drinking wine, surrounded by actual buses and trams.

The museum itself is very swish and futuristic, and the juxtaposition of this with the buses and with the waiteresses carrying round trays of tasty nibbles, was all rather surreal: I half expected David Tennant to appear in his tardis.

It was great to meet up with all the folk at Egmont, especially my designer Sarah Malley, who I know looks in (hello Sarah!) and who I have worked with for years. Also the lovely Peter Bently, author of my Egmont book, A Lark in the Ark. Authors and illustrators generally only meet one another at these dos, so that's another good reason for making the effort.

It was a fun evening, so a big thank you to Egmont Children's Books. It was quite a slog home though on the train. I didn't get into Sheffield until 2am. Needless to say, I was far too zombified to draw, so this second sketch is another from the journey down!

Lila & Sausage Visit A Publisher

Sorry it's taken a couple of days to feed back about my meeting with Hodder. So much has been going on this week, my head is spinning (more later...)!

I saw my editor on Wednesday afternoon and she was very positive about the story. She said she loved the characters and the adventures they get into.

There are many stages to getting a book commissioned and you have to jump through a number of hoops, but I seem to have got through the first one. She needs to show my work to another editor and then, if she likes it too, the story gets taken to what they call an 'acquisitions meeting', where it is given the thumbs up or down. Cross fingers...

One problem is that my story is definitely aimed at the older end of picture book age (5 - 8 rather than 3 - 5) and apparently, at the moment, it is proving a lot easier to get younger books through the acquisitions process. It's all to do with what 'the trade' buy. I don't fully understand it all, but it is an extra hurdle in my way.

I'll keep you posted. There's still a way to go, but at least she didn't throw me out!

Finishing Touches

Today has been my last day to work on my Lila and Sausage story, before presenting it to a publisher for the first time (eek!). I've been finishing those thumbnails (see Progress Report), so it's drawn all the way through in miniature. In places I've also trimmed the text further, as I went along.

Obviously book shapes vary enormously, not just from publisher to publisher, but even within the same imprint. I decided to design it to fit the page proportions of Class Two at the Zoo and Class Three all at Sea, partly because these are my other Hodder titles and it's Hodder I'm showing it to first, but also because the almost square format suits the story, as it makes for longer, slimmer double page spreads.

I have also done this colour sample of Lila and Sausage today, as well as one complete page from the story.

I am off to London with it all first thing in the morning, for a lunchtime meeting. Afterwards, I'm getting together with an illustrator friend (remember Cassia?) for a debriefing, followed by commiserations or celebrations: whichever seems appropriate!

I arranged the meeting tomorrow, to coordinate with a party in the evening. It's Egmont's 'author and illustrator' party: at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden this year. I'm invited because they are the publishers of A Lark in the Ark.

It's a long way to go just for a few glasses of free wine, so the meeting makes it more worthwhile. It'll also help to cheer me up if Hodder hate my idea!

Fiddling With Proofs

This morning I had to leave my sketching and do some of the jobs I was talking about last time, fiddling around with some of my finished images in Photoshop. It's a bit boring, but it's so good to be able to be in control, right the way through.

You may remember that the Dragon's Dinner proofs were not quite right (see Dragon-Proof!). They're not dreadful, but the colour balance is a bit off. Apparently they've added extra rhodamine (a bright pinky red) to make the dragon's red 'zing' more, but it's made other colours a bit dull and caused a visual anomalies with this cave illustration, where little bits of incidental magenta mark-making are jumping forward from the background.

So I've been trying to adjust certain things subtly. It's hard because what I see on-screen looks fine, it's just that it looks different on the printed proof beside me.

Most of the book will be adjusted at the printers. Remember I said that very occasionally a second proof is done? It seems this is one such occasion. The publisher feels we need to see the colour corrections before we go to print, which is reassuring.

Learning Photoshop

I was asked recently how I learned how to use Photoshop. It is a more interesting question than you know...

About 1995, I wasn't much good with computers. I could do word processing like everyone else, and had tinkered a little, but that was it. I was teaching Illustration on an HND Graphics course at the Sheffield College. My Line Manager decided it would be useful if I could teach Photoshop the following year. I was given a copy and told to go home and learn it over the summer break, ready for September. I'd been on a day's course the year before, so knew how Photoshop worked, but of course, I'd forgotten all the detail.

Not my best summer. Lots of stress, quite a few tears. I decided the only way was to try to stay one step ahead of the students. Come September, I was sort of ready.

There was a nice new computer suite, full of Apple Macs. Unfortunately, I had a PC at home. Not a problem once your inside Photoshop, but I'd never used a Mac before: I didn't know how to turn it on!!!!

I had to ask my students for help (19 year old blokes mainly). Amidst the grinning, one pointed out the 'on' key, carefully disguised with an apple logo. Grrrrr...

It took me most of that year to regain my credibility. It was appallingly nerve-wracking too, constantly trying to pretend I knew what I was doing. But, by the end of the second year, I realised that I at last had a grip. I left the college soon after, to return to full-time freelance work, but that baptism of fire stood me in good stead.

Progress Report...

Well, I have been working pretty hard this week, trying to get Lila and Sausage sorted out, ready to show to Hodder.

I've been working a lot on thumbnails, which is not something I'm used to. I normally work full size from the outset, but that's when I'm working with someone else's text, that's already been edited by a publisher and is more or less set in stone. Because this text is mine, and so far unseen, it can be altered to fit the way the illustrations are shaping up. Or I can edit out a whole section if I want to, to change the way things will look, or to help the illustrations fit the set picture book length (see Planning My New Story).

I've done various drafts of the thumbnails as things are evolving, to perfect the plan, compositions and characters. For example, turning this:

into this:

and then into this:


One thing that's taking a bit of getting used to, is the fiddlyness: even the above sketch is only a couple of inches high. But I haven't got the time for full size, and the images will almost certainly change again if the story gets taken up by a publisher.

I am drawing the occasional image in a more finished way though, to show how the characters could look (although I did this one before the thumbnail rework above, and I now prefer the tiny version!):


I am pleased with how things feel, but it's a new area for me (see Trying To Write), so it will be good to hear a publisher's take on it. I have no illusions though - the hit rate is never good. But nothing ventured...

I'll let you know how it goes. Right, better get back to it.

Giddy Goat The Musical!!

Well, not exactly a musical, but a 'zany, action-packed, musical adventure!'

A few months ago I got a call from Polly Ives from Music in the Round, to say that the composer, Paul Rissman, had written a score based on Giddy Goat and they were performing it in Sheffield, for children, as a kind of musical storytelling. Unfortunately I was out doing a storytelling myself that day, so I missed it, but they were kind enough to invite me to a rehearsal. I was curious about how it would work.

Polly read the story aloud, while a small group of musicians, Ensemble 360, played the score. It worked really well and I was blown away by Paul's music: a truly beautiful composition. The piece lasts 45 minutes, obviously much longer than it takes to read Giddy Goat, but the musicians have integrated various games and interactive elements for the children, making it even more fun!


I was sad to miss the actual performance, but they sent me this photo. It got a great review in the Sheffield Telegraph: ‘One of the best children’s entertainments to come along in a long time’.

Turn's out they are touring it now, so I have provided them with my illustrations from the book, which will be projected as the story unfolds. When I posted him the DVD of Giddy Goat images, Paul Rissman sent me back a beautiful bouquet of flowers! Thank you Paul, that was a really sweet thought and you'll be pleased to know that the sunflowers are still going strong.

It's in Sheffield again on December 7th at the Octagon on Western Bank. The music begins at 3pm but I'm doing a workshop for kids (and any keen grown-ups!) beforehand, at 2pm. I can't wait to see it.

It's aimed at kids aged 2-7yrs, but frankly I think you can enjoy it at any age. Tickets are £3 for kids (& conc) £10 for adults, but you get free mince pies and orange juice, my illustration workshop and, if you bring along your copies of Giddy Goat and Giddy the Great, I'll sign them and draw you a little picture! Book by calling 0114 249 6000.

Other performances booked so far are:

Oakham School Chapel - 11th Nov
Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford On Avon - 15th Nov
The Stables, Milton Keynes - 10th Feb
Bridge House Theatre, Warwick - 15th Feb
Harlow Playhouse - 4th April
The Wigmore Hall, London - 23rd May
The Circle, Telford - 4th June

Exhibition Ideas

I must start thinking soon about what I want for my exhibition next year. There is an interesting Lauren Child exhibition on at the moment in Sheffield. I had a quick look last weekend, but I need to go back with a notebook, as it's very inspirational and has opened my eyes to what's possible.

They've created interactive areas for children in the centre of the space, with all sorts of play props tied to the book characters. I also like their idea of a 'feedback tree' instead of a visitors book: kids write what they liked best on a paper leaf, then stick it onto a tree illustration on the gallery wall - simple but very effective and good fun.

As soon as my meeting is done, I will give serious thought to which bits of artwork I want framed up. Once I have chosen, I'll know what themes I have to work with for the children's role-play props and workshop sheets. Marie at the gallery tells me she doesn't need a firm decision until May/June next year, but I'm too excited about the whole thing to put it to the back of my mind til then!

The books I'm featuring are aimed at 4 - 8 year olds, so that's who any activities should be aimed at. We seem to have a reasonable budget, but there is only a single room, so space is an issue (although it has an extremely high ceiling, so I wondered about maybe suspending something above...).

The private view is planned for Thursday 13th August, 6pm - 8pm, at Tameside Central Art Gallery. The exhibition will run from then until November 7th.

Sketchbooks

If there's anyone out there who would like to work as an illustrator one day, my hot tip is to get yourself a pocket sketchbook. It needs to be small enough to fit into a handbag or pocket, otherwise you tend to leave it at home. You can get them at A6, which is very handy.

The sketch on the left was done in Sheffield's newly refurbished Botanical Gardens. The one below is fishing boats, drawn on holiday in Portugal.

I often show a sketchbook to school children (see Dyslexic Dinosaurs) to prove that I do actually carry one.

It's the very best way to practice. The trick is not to be too precious and draw whatever is in front of you. When there is nothing else about, I have been known to draw my own hand or foot.

Sketchbooks also provide a fascinating visual record of the forgotten corners of your life. I treasure my sketchbooks above all else.

I was inspired to write about sketching by a wonderful blog I came upon recently: Urban Sketchers.

Every single day, the blog features freshly drawn sketches from all over the world. They are all of professional standard, but all very different, both in content and style.

Here are a couple of recent examples to wet your appetite: the one to the left is by Tin Salamunic, working in the US, the sketch below is José Louro in Portugal. The whole blog is a visual feast!

If anybody would like to see more of my sketchbook work, I have just put some animal sketches into my Picture Gallery.

Phone A Friend

Regular readers will recognise Sausage washing his tail.

Life has been so disjointed lately, I've been having trouble getting down to my Lila and Sausage project. There's so much admin associated with school visits that, when I do have a day to work on my story, I lack concentration and allow myself to get distracted.

It's easy to lose enthusiasm and momentum under such circumstances, but I've been given a real boost this week, by chatting to a friend: fellow author/illustrator, Cassia Thomas (the illustration below is her work)


Cass has looked over Lila and Sausage for me, and given me some really useful feedback. When you're too close to the work, it's difficult to see the real strengths and weaknesses, so another pair of eyes is invaluable. Even better when those eyes belong to another illustrator, who really understands where you're coming from.

Cass was totally honest, but also very supportive, and I've made quite a few changes. They are mostly subtle things, but this drawing (originally my opening image) is going entirely, to create more room later on, when things get exciting (I hope!).

I feel I have a better handle on it now: more energised and ready to get stuck into drawing what's needed. I've got 7 days to get it presentable.

So, thank you Cass - you're a star!

Last But Not Least...

Today was my final school visit of the season, at home in Sheffield, at Rivelin School. I spent the day reading stories to Y1 and Y2 classes, singing made-up 'snaky' songs, doing my Rolf Harris impression with the flip chart and generally being rather silly, as usual. I had the school hall all to myself, so we got to dance the cancan too (in the style of wombats, emus and crocodiles!).

I do enjoy the silly stuff. I shall miss that, in the cold, dark months between now and World Book Day on March 5th, when it all kicks in again.

It's been an astonishing autumn though, probably because it's National Year of Reading. I've been out for 19 days in the last 5 weeks! That's 19 out of just 25 working days: no wonder I'm feeling a bit dazed. I wouldn't have it any other way though - what a lovely way to work with kids.

So, a big HELLO!! to all the kids at Rivelin Primary School. If you write that story about the grumpy mouse who lost his trousers, send it to me please! And if you want to see me with that anaconda I was telling you about, click here.

By the way, if you know any good jokes, there's still time to go in for the joke competition and win loads of free books...

Dyslexic Dinosaurs!

I had a lovely day yesterday, running workshops tied into Dyslexia Awareness Week. The Stafford Dyslexia Unit work with small groups of 9 - 11 year olds, seeing them one morning a week. They have got some extra funding to do a really exciting project - the children are going to write, illustrate and produce their very own picture book, called Digby the Dyslexic Dinosaur. Fantastic eh? The books will be properly bound and I have been promised a copy!

It was decided to kick things off with an illustration workshop: perfect timing, given that I have so recently finished work on Gnash Gnaw Dinosaur! and consider myself quite the dinosaur-drawing expert these days!

The sessions were in Shire Hall Library. Unfortunately I was nearly an hour late for the morning one, because of late trains. Everyone was very patient (thanks guys) and we coped OK. I was at least able to show them some of the sketches I'd done on my late train, passing the time. Children are always amazed to see such freshly drawn sketches.

I read Gnash Gnaw Dinosaur! using the publisher's proof (see A Mock-Up Of Gnash Gnaw Dinosaur!), rather exciting: first time! We started with draft drawings, deliberately rough, so we could create the basic dinosaur structure, building with simple shapes. Then I showed them how to use body language to make poses believable and how to create facial expressions with eye directions and various eyebrows, to add drama and life.

I was impressed that the children all drew with confidence and worked really well together, even two children for whom it was their very first time. They all caught on very quickly.

They drew more polished versions, adding their own, really interesting ideas. There was the predictable footballer dinosaur, but drawn with perfect poise. Some children stuck sheets together to create long chase sequences. One boy drew a tunnel of burrowing dinosaurs, another created a lava flow for his dinosaur to flee from, complete with burning trees. There was a tiny dinosaur, rolled into a ball like an armadillo, rolling downhill away from a big dinosaur using him as a football. One boy even created his own lift-up flap, inspired by Gnash Gnaw Dinosaur!.

And a special 'thank you' to Sue, the TA, who mucked in and created a spectacular 'executive' dinosaur, in tie and glasses!

I do hope the book goes well everyone - I'll swap you a copy of yours for one of my Gnash Gnaw Dinosaur! when it's available!

My journey home was much easier. This is the day's 'man on the train' sketch. I had only just started his hand when he moved it away. Fortunately people tend to adopt the same poses so, if you wait, they go back. I had to do the hand in about four goes. Very tricky, as hands in these sort of positions are a bit of a nightmare in the first place!