Illustrating a Children's Book: the Nuts and Bolts of the Job

Here is the 2nd part of the interview I did recently about illustrating picture books.

In this film I talk about how I plan a book and I look in detail at some of the specific challenges presented by my latest picture book, Bears on the Stairs. I also talk about how I am paid, explaining what 'advances' are and how they work.

(if you missed the first half of the interview, click here)


If you found this video interesting or helpful, there are two further filmed interviews coming up, about how I became an illustrator and about keeping a sketchbook.

If you are interested in becoming a children's book illustrator yourself, my post about how to create the best folio of work should help.

If you would like more hot tips on drawing, you might like this, about sketching people.
If you are a published illustrator looking for tips on doing school visits, try this.

Wow - That Was Fun: Sketchcrawl No.1!

What a fantastic day we had on our very first Sheffield Sketchcrawl!

I didn't know what to expect. Despite all the press coverage in the Telegraph, Gazette and Star (thanks guys) and the emails that have been coming in, as I took the bus into town on Sunday morning, I was thinking perhaps people might change their minds when it came to it...

But I needn't have worried: we had at least 25 people turn up and most of them stayed the whole day. There was a complete spread of abilities and ages too, and a good mix of guys and girls. Perfect.

First stop: the Peace Gardens from where you can see the old town hall. Above is me working on the watercolour and pen sketch below:

The weather was pretty kind and it didn't rain at all, but we started to get quite chilly and were icy-fingered by the time we left the Peace Gardens for the refuge of the indoor Winter Gardens:

Everyone drew constantly, even the beginners, who stuck at it and did really well, especially since some of the settings were not the easiest things to tackle.

As well as meeting all these lovely new people, I really enjoyed the fact that passers-by kept coming up to ask us about what we were doing, and to look at the drawings. I had my photo taken with someone's girlfriend and also with the security man (who was very impressed!).

We had a break for lunch at the Millennium Gallery cafe and then we had an hour in the wonderfully cosy warmth of the galleries themselves. There was one show all about the history of tea, with a 'teacups on sticks' sculpture:

Then I drew the much-loved kinetic sculptures in the outer gallery, created from Sheffield cutlery. It was hard-going, as a teenager, chatting up a girl on the bench next to me, was joggling his legs violently up and down the whole time!

The final stop was a bit of a killer: back into the cold, to draw the area around The Hubs, with a fair old wind whipping round our pencils.



I was glad of my vest and my two jackets (super-sensible or what?).

At 4 o'clock, there was a surprisingly dignified scurry for the pub, to thaw out. I got very over-excited looking at everyone's sketchbooks - such a treat. It's so interesting to see how differently people interpret the same thing.

The sketches above are mine, but do take a look at the Sketchcrawl Gallery where you can see what other people came up with. There are tons more photos of us all in action there too.

A big 'thank you' to everyone who came along. If you would like to take part in the next Sketchcrawl on October 16th (don't worry: it'll be indoors) let me know and I'll keep you posted.


You can see more Sketchcrawl drawings from all over the world at sketchcrawl.com - the official Sketchcrawl website.

Remember: Sketchcrawl Day Tomorrow!

The weather forecast, when last I looked, was for it to be dry with sunny spells, but a bit chilly and still quite windy. So, hot tip: bring an elastic band to hold those sketchbook pages down!

This was the Wakefield Sketchcrawl in May, when I didn't have an elastic band:


Anyway, here's a reminder of the schedule for Sunday again:

10.15 - 10.50: meet at Sheffield Railway Station cafe for a cuppa

10.50: walk up to the city centre

11.00: Peace Garden; or inside Millennium Gallery upstairs foyer, if wet

12.00: Sheffield Winter Garden (Surrey Street)

1.00: lunch at the Millennium Gallery cafe (Arundel Gate)

2.00: inside the various Millennium Galleries

3.00: The Hubs (Brown St / Paternoster Row); or inside bus station, if wet

4.00: Rutland Arms (Brown St) for a bevvy / pass-round

5.00: finish

All comers welcome - see you tomorrow!

'Mum, Mum, I'm on the Radio..!'

I had a bit of excitement on Thursday afternoon. The folks at BBC Radio Sheffield had read about the Sketchcrawl I've set up for Sunday, and emailed to ask if I would be interested in talking about it on Saturday's breakfast show.

To save me hanging around all Saturday morning, waiting to do a live phone interview, I went in to the studio yesterday, so we could record it in advance.

The piece was for Steve White's show, so he did the interview. He was great and made it very easy. I took along a 'crib sheet' with the itinerary for the day, because I knew otherwise my mind would go blank and I'd come across like a total idiot (which would hardly encourage people to come along on Sunday).

I don't think I made any gaffs and hope I sounded halfway intelligent. It was all over in no time flat and they popped me in a cab home. But then, guess what? This morning I got a call from the programme's producer to say the file was corrupted, so I had to do it all over again, over the phone!

Last time I visited Radio Sheffield, was to talk about the musical adaptation of Giddy Goat. It didn't feel that long ago so, when I got home, I looked it up and was astonished to discover it was nearly 2 years back! Somebody is doing something very odd with time just lately...

The Sketchcrawl interview goes out tomorrow morning on the Saturday Breakfast Show at around 7.40am (boy, that's early!). You can listen to Radio Sheffield live here.

Getting the Foundations Right...

Do you remember me telling you about doing a filmed interview in the studio? Well, I thought you might like to see the first one, about the business of setting about illustrating a children's book: how I plan the illustrations, how I create characters, and the benefits of inventing a side-kick for the hero.

It lasts 5 minutes:

See the rest of the films here.

Frog Impressions at Marple Festival

I had a lovely time with the children in Marple on Saturday, but it was really touch and go whether I would be able to make it.


I caught a cold the previous week and lost my voice (again!). I have been totally silent for 6 days (hurrah, says John). I thought I would have to cancel, but come Friday I had a tiny, croaky bit of voice back, so crossed my fingers and gave it a go.

I was decidedly husky, but made it through and I'm so glad, because it was a smashing day and the children were just great. I love it when kids 'hang around' afterwards, not quite wanting to go home.


One little girl, whose parents had got the time wrong, turned up just as we finished. I had plenty of time until my train, and she was so cute, we drew a picture together on the flipchart.

These are some of the sketches I did on the train and platform. I did some in fine-point pen and some in pencil.

It was a stop-everywhere, rattly, cattle-truck of a train, that worked its way slowly across the Pennines, but it was full of life and characters. Two teenage girls sitting directly behind me spent the whole journey helping each other to do their makeup and hair.

ha ha - I just noticed how perfectly our outfits match the book jackets in the photo, even down to the purple T shirt (all carefully staged, of course).

Back in the Spooky Cemetery

Well, it's pretty spooky after dark, but in the sunshine it's lovely. All the tombs are really old, and are entangled with ivy and blackberry bushes. There are wild flowers growing through everywhere, massive trees framing it all and everything green basically going crazy.


You might remember, I did a brief visit there with Liz Steel the Urban Sketcher? Well, these were actually done a few days before that, but there's been so much else going on, I've not had a chance to show you them until now.

The huge, old tree at the top looked like it was trying to wriggle free of the undergrowth and was set wonderfully against the blue sky. I'm using a thin, black, conte stick instead of pencil, as I find that stands out better with the watercolour, and is more expressive than a pen line.

All the pink on this last one was done in squashed blackberry. I ate several while I painted but, as the text at the top says, I had to keep to the higher berries, because the cemetery's a real dog-walker's haven. I sat on this tomb to draw the one above. I have a foam pad to stop my bum getting too chilled - works wonders!

Rounding off the Day

I'm so pleased there are still some days this month when it is warm enough to draw in the garden after the real work is done.

Getting a couple of quick sketches done is a really nice way to round off the day and, no matter how frustrating or unproductive things have been earlier, I am always left feeling that I have achieved something worthwhile.

Yum Yum...

Yesterday was a sunny day. I thought: I'll eat my lunch in the garden, but perhaps it would be nice to draw it first. Unfortunately, by the time I'd prepared it and taken my sandwich, some fruit, my coffee and sketchbook, my pencil-case, paints and me down the garden, I was far too peckish to hang about, so gobbled it up!

Never mind, I thought, I'll draw the aftermath. But 5 minutes in, the sun disappeared and it got quite chilly. I ploughed on. Then the wind started gusting and blowing things away. I persevered. Then it started to rain.

Luckily, I had just about done, and quickly ferried everything back indoors again, just in time for the sun to come out!

Children's Drawing Competition: and the Hairy, Scary Winner is...

What fun I've had, looking at all the children's wild and crazy drawings! And, my goodness, how incredibly hard I've found it, to pick just a handful of winners.

Now, I need you, Gentle Reader, to use your imagination and pretend I have a series of small, gold envelopes to pull the winning names from. OK, got that image? Cue drum roll...

The KS1 joint runners-up are...

...Robert Fox from Fens Primary in Hartlepool (wow - that BIG eye!):

...and Joshua from Dunholme St Chad's Primary in Lincoln:

The KS1 first prize goes to this original and strangely disturbing image, beautifully drawn by... wait for it...

...Sofiya from Blenheim Primary in Leeds. Congratulations!

The two other fabulously scary pictures that made the KS1 top 5 shortlist were by Leon Spinks from Dobcroft Infants in Sheffield:

...and Alexander Evans from Greenhill Primary in Sheffield (this one is really very creepy):

Well done to you all!

And now, to the second category, for the slightly older entrants. The KS2 joint runners-up are...

...Caitlin Casselman from Woodside Primary in Oswestry (beautiful attention to detail on the coloured scales):

...and Grace Middleton from Greenhill Primary in Sheffield:


The KS2 first prize goes to this wonderfully different, vibrant and yet chilling illustration by... drum roll...


...Jade Isherwood, also from Woodside Primary in Oswestry. Really lovely stuff. Well done!

The two other excellent drawings that made the KS2 top 5 shortlist were by Nathan Sawyer from St Giles C of E Primary in Sheffield (so WEIRD!):


...and Faye Hough from Pewithall Primary in Runcorn:

And last, but far from least, I asked friends, family and you folks out there in the ether-land to vote for the illustration you liked best from all 20 finalists (listed below), and the clear winner of the People's Favourite prize is...


...Anna Carr from Dobcroft Infants in Sheffield. I think it's all those yucky bugs all over his fur that did it, although I do like the dangly eyes too. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to vote and well done Anna!

Anderson Press are kindly donating the prizes: hardback copies of Bears on the Stairs for both the First Prize winning children and their schools, as well as a copy for Anna, as People's Favourite. I will of course sign and draw bears in then all.

The 4 runners-up will each receive a signed illustration and there will be surprise goodie-bags from Anderson Press for the illustrators of all top 10 shortlisted scary-creatures.

The following children were also selected as finalists and are to be highly commended for their wonderful work:

Blenheim Primary, Leeds: Mahsa
Boyne Hill Infants, Maidenhead: Shahan Ahmed
Dobcroft Infants, Sheffield: Millie, Anna Carr, Isabella, Matthew Albert Tolson
Dunholme St Chad’s Primary, Lincoln: Chloebeth Peart
Emmaus Primary, Sheffield: Martina Boyes
Greenhill Primary, Sheffield: Callum Gray, Fraya Walker, Lauren Dunkley
Hartburn Primary, Stockton-on-Tees: Alexander Bell
Manor Beach Primary, Lancs: Charlie Sanderson
Mickleover Primary, Derby: Eddie McAteer
Oaktree Primary, Stockton-on-Tees: Callum Stewart
Our Lady & St Anne’s Primary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Haashim Ali, Emily O’Dowd
Pewithall Primary, Runcorn: Ellie White
St Giles CE Primary, Sheffield: Emily Harvey, Samuel Bell
St John’s C of E Primary, Shildon: Lewis Hall, Rera Whitfield
Woodseats Primary, Sheffield: Sam Hanlon, Matthew Hammond, Beth Rowland
Woodside Primary, Oswestry: Cortny Whittall, Natalie Roberts, Erin Hudson, Joshua Vanderploeg
Ysgol Gwaenynog, Denbigh: Sadie Jones

Adults can see all 40 finalist's illustrations on Facebook in the KS1 & KS2 photo folders.

Well done and congratulations to you all. Thank you so much to all the schools and all the children who took part!

Thank Goodness for a Sketchbook!

Sometimes I like to use my sketchbook as a way to help me put up with the dreadful TV John likes to watch. Even the most cring-worthy films are rendered almost OK, if you have only the corner of your mind on them and most of it concentrating on a drawing. This was Sunday night:

I started to colour it in conte, but it was destroying a not-bad sketch, so I waited and added watercolour next day, which brought it back again, although the felt pen I used couldn't seem to make up its mind if it was waterproof or not.

I did this one earlier the same day: an afternoon when the wind made it too chilly to draw outside:


I have always liked the random way windows create frames to view the outside.

Drawing and Painting in the Garden

I've been grabbing pockets of time where I can, catching the last of the summer to sketch outdoors. The back garden is perfect for brief escapes, and provides the perfect opportunity to keep up my practice with paint. I thought you might like to see the results...

I've used waterproof, fine-point pen first, then the watercolour. The lovely, old York Stone of the house is great to paint, with its subtle colour-variations.

The previous owners planted a vine and I'm still amazed that we can grow grapes as far north as Sheffield. They are just beginning to colour:

The ivy too is changing, as the season comes to an end. One wall is covered with it and it turns from green to brilliant red for a week or so, before the leaves all fall. I switched to pencil, although found that the watercolour can wash it off if I'm not careful:

Sketch-Buddy from Australia

Monday was rather unusual. I was visiting by fellow Urban Sketcher, Liz Steel from Sydney, who is on an international sketching tour (with her little friend Borromini Bear).


She started in the US, attending the 1st Urban Sketchers symposium, has recently been in Scotland and is shortly off to Europe. Wow. Are we jealous?

The only time we stopped talking, laughing or eating (sometimes all 3 at once) was the hour we spent concentrating on drawing, at Sheffield's old General Cemetary.


You can see both these sketches close-up, plus more photos, in my Picture Gallery.

As a thank you for feeding her, Liz gave me this gorgeous gift: a printed book of her Paris sketchbook from this time last year. I gave her a copy of Bears on the Stairs in return.

In her other life, Liz is an architect, so one of her favourite things to draw is European architecture (she loves British cathedrals, castles and stately homes too - her focus over the last few weeks).

I must investigate having some of my sketchbook work bound like this, as it's such a lovely format.

It's an extraordinary 3 month adventure Liz has undertaken and, incredibly, she has managed to hook up with another sketcher or friend pretty much every day of her trip, sometimes 2, or even 3 a day! What a wonderfully sociable and fun way to travel.


You can keep an eye on Liz's progress on her travel blog, updating in transit from her iPhone.

Bookaboo - Stinky Meets Eastenders!

OK, that's a slight porky, but he is going to meet actress Maisie Smith, who plays Tiffany.

Remember I was telling you about Stinky! being chosen to feature in the new series of Bookaboo? Well Maisie has been selected to read the story, and it all kicks off very soon, from November 1st, twice a day on CITV and every morning on ITV1 (in the morning CITV slot).

It's been sold to Australia too, so you folks round the other side can watch it this time round (on ABC1 & 2, also in November).

I can't wait to see how they animate Stinky!. They did a really fun job on the anaconda from Class Two at the Zoo, in the award-winning first series...



...when we got the very gorgeous Robson Green reading Class Two at the Zoo:


If you missed the last series, or want to watch the programmes all over again, you can now buy a DVD of the whole of Bookaboo's series 1 at bookshops: