Sunday 18 January 2009

More New Characters


Thought you might like to see some more animal ideas for my newest project. I have this little croc in wellies:


I'm trying to go for silly but cute at the same time. I might try him out with a rain hat. I gave him an umbrella at one stage, but it was too dominating. For a standard picture book, a school bag would be fun, but it won't be right for babies. Thanks for your great suggestions for octopus and skater-dog by the way - very useful!

There's also this mummy and baby owl coming out to play:

I envisage the artwork in bold colour with plain backgrounds, like this one from When You're Not Looking!:


I've emailed all six characters to my publisher now, so I'm keen to hear their feedback. If the Editor likes the way it's looking so far, I'm hoping these sketches might be sufficient visuals for an acquisitions meeting, having done When You're Not Looking! together previously. We'll see.

6 comments:

Buskitten said...

Georgous characters, Lynne - I love seeing your work, it's so inspiring. Have you any suggestions about how to get a publisher interested? I sent loads of stuff off, and not even a reply. It's quite disheartening. Any advice would be so welcome (apart from give up and go back to being a Social Worker, haha!)

granny grimble said...

I really love the croc in wellies. He is so cute and I can just hear the slap, slap, of his little wellies in the puddle. I can't think of anything more that would improve him, his eyes don't leave much room for a sou'wester. He could have a few musical notes coming out of his mouth (Singing in the rain!) :0)
granny grimble

Lynne the Pencil said...

Thanks - let's hope the publisher agrees!

Buskitten - one of the reasons I have been so detailed about my various submissions, is to help people get a feel for how to present to publishers. There is more advice and suggested books that might help, on my website. A couple of other tips:

You should always try and find out the relevant specific named person to send to.

Also, if it's illustration samples, follow up your submission with a phone call, about 10 days later. For texts, leave it a couple of months.

The hit-rate isn't good I'm afraid, and it's worse than ever now. There are services you can get, by ex-publishers, who will look over your submissions and give you advice for a fee. Or you could join a Facebook group of children's authors and use the discussion area to get more advice.

Good luck!

Buskitten said...

Thanks for the advice Lynne - your work is an absolute delight! I enjoy your blog very much, and I'll have a good read of your site to pick up tips.
Thanks again!

Jess said...

I like the look of glee on the croc's face!x

Deb said...

Have been under the weather all week with the flu and looking at your blog today has just made me laugh and smile for the first time in a few days! Thanks for showing your process. Your characters are just so adorable!!!!