Potfest in the Park

This weekend, John and I made a flying visit to the Lake District. I was working in a library all day Friday, so John came to meet me after my last workshop and we zoomed straight up the motorway. 

We have some old friends who live right on the northern border of the national park, very close to the coast, and they invited us to visit and go to Potfest with them on Saturday. 

We have been once before: it's an outdoor event, in the huge gardens of Hutton-in-the-Forest, showcasing some really exciting ceramics. Artists come from all over the world to show their latest work and it's incredibly varied. 

The weather was a bit iffy and we had more than one shower, but they were pretty well timed. The first was when I had just bought a rather nice brie sandwich and a lump of handmade orange and poppy seed cake for lunch, and I was able to hot-foot (wet-foot?) it under a marquee in time. I scoffed my lunch while John was still queueing for a BBQ burger in the rain. Then I drew these ladies scoffing theirs:

I couldn't resist this lovely dog and had just started a quickie-sketch when the rain began again and another mad dash was needed!

It was a really fun day, with my friend Mary and I cooing and 'Look-at-that-look-at-that!'ing every two minutes. We treated ourselves to a few little bits and bobs, but resisted spending any serious money. I did fall in love with the most extraordinary sculpture of a gorilla though, and if I'd had the odd few thousand pounds set aside...

On Sunday afternoon we had to drive back home, as I am back running illustration workshops in libraries again on Monday. Not before a walk on the beach though, looking across the Solway Firth to Scotland, with the wind whooshing our hair around and our pockets soon bulging with free treasures.

As you can see, I sketched in the car on the way back to Sheffield, as the weather was still threatening, so the light and clouds were interesting. It's an interesting discipline, since most things you see are gone almost immediately, so it forces an instinctive response.

I finished my sketchbook before we got to Sheffield: the drawing above was the last page. It's a book that's been knocking around for quite a while: I've generally got about half a dozen half-finished ones on the go at any one time, in various shapes and sizes. 

Finishing a book and putting it up on the shelf in the studio with its brothers and sisters is always a slightly sad but mostly proud moment.

Thank you Martin and Mary for the great idea, the great company and the great nosh (again). 

Children's Illustration Workshops for the Summer Holidays

I am out and about again a lot at the moment, doing workshops for children. Luckily, it's all in Sheffield, so no horrible, early mornings - hurrah!

It's all part of the Summer Reading Challenge, which is about keeping children reading through the summer holidays, so they don't drop back by the time school begins again. the challenge is to read a certain amount of books over the break. They get little prizes along the way, like stickers etc then, if they read them all, they get presented with a certificate and a medal.

To help to get people inspired and to make it as much fun as possible, as well as attracting as many new people in, who might not know about the Summer Reading Challenge, there are often associated activities put on in the libraries over the holiday. Which is where I come in!

There is always a theme - this year it is 'The Story Lab' with a group of fun characters for children to spin stories around. I have been invited to visit 12 libraries in Sheffield, this week and next, delivering illustration workshops to show the children how to draw the Story Lab characters and start to spin some stories through the pictures.

Yesterday I was at Crystal Peaks Library in the morning and on the children's mobile at Hackenthorpe in the afternoon. This is a drawing that 6 year old Millie Briggs did for me as a thank you for my session. Today I am at Woodseats and Woodhouse Libraries. If you look on my availability listings, you can check out where I am going to be next week. It's all free, so if you are 7 or over, come along and pick up all my best hot drawing tips!

SketchCrawl: Drawing and Painting in the Peak District

We picked the perfect weekend for our Peak District SketchCrawl, much against the odds, I must say!

Given how it's been this summer so far, I was getting worried that we'd be rained off, but it was lovely sunshine at 9am on Sunday morning, when a small group of us met at Sheffield Station and took the train off into the hills. 

Half an hour later, at the tiny station of Edale, we got out and walked up the track to the new, state-of-the-art visitor's centre. We sketched there for 45 minutes, while we waited for other people to arrive. 

On a different day I might have had a go at the unusual, rounded building, with its lovely 'green roof', featuring a stepped waterfall which runs down through it's centre, then cascades over the doorway and down into a little rock pool in front of the entrance.

But I had psyched myself up for countryside, so felt in the mood for hills not architecture.

So I perched myself rather precariously on a dry-stone wall in the car park and painted this:

More people arrived, including Pete, a musician who I met at the Carolan SketchJam in April, and who's been trying to make it to a SketchCrawl ever since.

We were 10 strong by the time we set off to the foothills of Kinder Scout. We camped out on the grass and sketched for the rest of the morning. It was on and off sunshine which was probably just as well, as there was no shade at all. I'd lugged a tin of pastels up there, so I tried them out on the 1st page of a new sketchbook and was rather pleased with the drawing at the top.

We ate picnic lunches then set off along the low path the follows the river. It got hotter and hotter. We created a new base-camp by the river's edge. We sketched and paddled and chilled: a wonderfully relaxed afternoon.

At 4.30 we wandered back along the path to The Nags Head pub (the beginning of the long-distance footpath, The Pennine Way). the sun was really low by now and picking up every nuance on the side of the hills. It was way too lovely to waste, so I grabbed a pencil and tried to draw while we were walking along. I managed the bottom of the two below, but gave up and asked the others to walk on ahead while I did the one above it; sadly, no time for colour:

It was still really hot when we got to the pub. We sat outside and I enjoyed a cold lager-shandy while we shared the sketchbooks. It was so relaxing and pleasant that we stayed for a 2nd round. Nobody really wanted to go home. By the time we decided we really did need to make a move, we discovered that we had just missed a train and there wasn't another for 2 hours!!

At which point we gave up worrying and went inside for a meal. Which was where we met Jasper, the biggest golden retriever I have ever seen: more pony than dog. I did a 2 minute sketch with my watercolour pencils. His owners were really pleased and took a photo.

It was 9.30 by the time we got home. A long but thoroughly lovely day. Thanks to all who came and helped to make is so much fun. Next one is the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, on Saturday August 11th, where we had a great time last year. The fabulous Miro show, that I sketched in March is still on. Meet us at the Information Point, outside the smaller cafe (Park Lane Entrance) at 10am.

Urban Sketchers Symposium: the Mercado

As you might have gathered, I enjoyed every single second of the symposium and was on a high from the moment I woke each morning, to the moment I fell into bed, often at midnight. 

One of the many highlights was our trip to the Mercado: a big enclosed market, surrounded by lots of individual stalls, selling everything from mangos to bongos. Here we are above, sketching on the steps outside. 

The indoor market was great for pressies, and we had good fun 'bongoing it up' on the steps outside. These are my friends and fellow sketchers Inma Serrano and Scott Renk, and you might spot someone else, wiggling in the background...

The indoor market wasn't my thing for sketching, so I explored the food markets outside. People were, as always, very friendly and interested. They thought it hilarious when they spotted a friend in one of my sketches.

This man below was chopping something. He was quite old, but I was struck by his wonderful muscles! I started him from the front but he moved, so I walked round behind him:

At one point, I snuck into a narrow alley behind the veg stalls. It was quite dark. This man was having his lunch. I asked with gestures if I could draw him. He grinned a 'yes' then posed very still, with his lunch going cold! I bit further on a woman was taking a rest with her sleeping dog under her chair: 

You can see most people's names on the sketches: I always think in these situations that it's polite to ask and record names. It makes it feel less intrusive and slightly more inclusive.
I could have stayed at the market all day, but it was soon time for lunch and we had to head back:

Urban Sketchers Symposium: I'm Back!

I got back from my travels in Santo Domingo on Wednesday afternoon. Since then, I've spent most my time catching up on emails, but have been bursting to tell you about the symposium. 

It was a truly fantastic week. Getting together with all my fellow sketch-obsessives, meeting the other Urban Sketchers correspondents, drawing and drawing and drawing, more or less from dawn to dusk, for 5 days solid.

I've made so many new friends too, from all round the world (hello to all my new sketching buddies!). Sketchers are such a lovely bunch of people: we continually inspired one another and shared all our best tips. We sketched each other, we borrowed each other's art equipment and we greedily looked through each other's sketchbooks at every opportunity.

There were 3 hour workshops twice a day which were really well thought out and very interesting, generally aiming to nudge people out of their comfort-zones, getting them to try new techniques or materials. I could only take 2 workshops, because I was teaching for 3 of the slots, but I thoroughly enjoyed all my sessions, whether I was the instructor or the pupil. I'll tell you more about the individual workshops later and share some of what I have learnt.

In the meantime, I must say a HUGE thank you to the lovely Orling Domingues for all her hard work, arranging and coordinating the conference and looking after all her instructors. Poor thing: she has not had time to do a single sketch in about a month! 

She did a great job and it couldn't have gone better: if I'd had a more fun time I think I might actually have exploded.

Illustrating a Picture Book: Getting the End Right

I abandoned John again last Tuesday. As we speak, I am in Santo Domingo, sketching my hand off at the Urban Sketchers symposium. In the meantime, I thought I'd leave you with this 2nd post about the changes I've been making to my roughs for SWAP?!?

You remember there were 2 major redraws needed, as a result of feedback from the publisher: Lucy and Sparky leaving ballet class, which we looked at recently, and the final spread. 

At the end of the story, Sparky finds out that little girls have baths every night. At last he wants to swap back.

Originally I had Lucy enjoying the bubble bath Sparky didn't want to have, with him sitting on the loo beside her, reading 'Ballet for Dogs'. But the text has changed slightly since then. Now the same conversation flows across both pages, so it makes no sense for them to be in a different part of the house.

So in an earlier drawing, I introduced a window...

...through which Sparky could escape the bath, ending up in the back garden. I thought that would be quite funny:

Except, my publisher rightly pointed out that, since this is where they make up their disagreement, it needs to be a more intimate illustration. We need them side by side, clearly back to being best friends again.

I like the plan of ended on a cosy, cuddly, positive image: always a good idea for a picture book. But I had to think of a new way to add humour. So I drew Lucy picking food out of Sparky's fur while they talk. This also has overtones of the kind of grooming that animals do, which is also very intimate and about bonding.

I originally wanted her picking a chip from his ear, but her arms just aren't long enough, so I settled for a pea squashed in his fur.

I have been having trouble though, working out how to place this image on the page, because of the gutter. It shouldn't go through anybody's face, but there's no room between them, without losing what Lucy's doing. I've sent it to Gullane to see what they think and if they have any brilliant suggestions!

Trying to Decide on a Book's Title: 'SWAP?!?'

My latest book has been going under the working title of Dogswap for most of it's life thus far. I originally called my story It's Not Fair!, because that's what Lucy thinks when she wakes up: it's not fair that she has to get up for school, while Sparks gets to stay home. Hence the role-swap.

But It's Not Fair! is too negative, so my editor came up with Dogswap. But that makes it sounds like two people swapping their dogs, which is a very different thing. I suggested a list of possible alternatives, the best of which was Dog Day, but we're not satisfied with that - it's a bit limp, compared to the fun and anarchy that you find inside the covers:

It's unusual to get to this late stage with the title still in the air, but not important. But we need to make a decision soon, as we must have everything sorted by mid September, ready to present the finished project to overseas buyers at Frankfurt Book Fair in early October. This is our  opportunity to get other publishers interested in co-editions. So we need a proper title. Here are some of the other things we've come up with and rejected along the way:

I LOVE being a little girl! - Sparky says this a lot, but it could turn off little boys;
I Love Being a Dog - pulls attention away from Sparky, who is the funniest of the two;

I Want to Be a Dog - as above, also a bit close to Lydia Monk’s I Wish I Were a Dog; 
The Very Furry Little Girl - doesn't sufficiently indicate the theme;
Swap back? NO WAY! - doesn't make sense if you haven't read the book;

And so, we have decided to go for short and snappy: just plain SWAP?!? That should give me plenty of scope / space to draw something funny and eye-catching. Watch this space!

Illustrating a Children's Picture Book: Reworking my Roughs

I was telling you about having to redraw a couple of the spreads for my latest book. 

The first one is this 'leaving ballet class' illustration (you can see the sketch work which lead to this drawing here):

The publisher's feedback was that there was not enough indication of where Lucy and Sparky were coming from and that it would be clearer if the ballet school was shown in the background: a good point. It's so interesting to get another pair of eyes on what I do! My art director also felt that the dogs in the foreground had too much prominence and the cat was laughing a bit too hysterically.

This is my rework. You can see it in context, with the page of Sparky's ballet efforts on the other side of the spread: 

The difficulties were:

a) trying to leave space for the text -
I couldn't get Lucy and Sparky central or as big as I would have liked, because I felt the rather intimate bit of dialogue between them needed to be alongside the characters, rather than up in the sky, which would be the obvious place.

b) getting round them needing to be walking in the road -

The natural place for the school would be on a road, but because of the angle, all the children would be crossing the road, a bit of a health-and-safety nightmare (yes, you have to think about these things). I decided to suggest it was more like a regular school, with a car parking area out front, which is why I've included a couple of cars (despite the fact that I hate drawing cars!). 

c) no room for Mum -

I wanted to keep Mum holding Sparky's hand: I felt it was important to show that she does love Lucy, despite being too busy to notice that she is now a dog! But she would have blotted out most the background, or everything would have had to be very fiddly and small behind. So I have cropped her off, just showing the hand.

d) no room for the 3 dogs and cat -

Though I loved the humour they added, I had to lose the 3 dogs and the cat: there is no room now at the front and, if I'd put them into the background, things would have been got too fussy. It's hard to let good things go, but sometimes you have to. If you look closely, I have squeezed in another shocked dog.

I'll talk you through the other reworked spread next time.

Quick-on-the-Draw: Sketching Workshop Folder

When I'm at the Urban Sketchers symposium next week, I will be delivering the same speed-sketching workshop 3 times: once per day. The rest of the time I get to play!

Just as I did with the recent dry run, I want to use lots of my own previous sketches as examples to help brief in my workshop exercises. But it's going to be really hot in Santo Domingo - in the 80 and 90s every day (gasp!) so I don't want to be lugging loads of sketchbooks around with me. I remember from Lisbon last year, that there already seems to be plenty to carry. So, I scanned in the most relevant sketches and made myself a little folder. Now all I have to do it carry that.

Of course, as you can see, I couldn't help getting carried away and making a nice title sheet, to act as the cover:

As if I didn't have enough to do, worrying about all the other stuff I mustn't forget to pack tomorrow! Tell you all about it when I get back. I have pre-written some posts about the work I've been doing on my book, to keep you going in the meantime.

Baby Can Bounce!: Bouncing into a Shop Near You...

Hurray! Baby Can Bounce!, my new baby book and the sequel to Baby Goes Baaaaa! is now out.

The bold baby animal illustrations are designed specifically to catch the eye of babies from 1- 3 yrs, but I've worked hard to try and make sure that both books are also a funny read for the poor parents (some baby books can be a little basic in content, so gruelling on the 50th repetition...). I wanted mine to be fun to read aloud and easy to share with baby again and again. 

I got the idea for Baby Goes Baaaaa! from noticing that many of my friend's baby's loved making animal noises. I knew that phonics was very important for early language development and learning, so created a book to help readers practise the all the different sounds that all babies enjoy: educational and fun!

My publisher was so keen on the concept, they immediately asked me to create a sister book. I wanted it to be just as useful for baby's development as book 1, so I did a little more research and discovered that it is also very important for small babies to practise mimicking faces and actions: Baby Can Bounce was born! 

I used the same cast of characters (different animals on every page) but also introduced a tiny harvest spider, who pops up to share each action, helping me to keep the same level of humour, but also creating a link to hold all the illustrations together. 

The idea of course, is that you and baby make the noises / do the actions together, as you share the book. 

They are being stocked in Mothercare, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, as well as all the usual bookshops, which is great, as they will find a larger audience. So, please, pretty-please: rush out and buy them RIGHT NOW. Go on... you know you want to...

You can follow the progress of Baby Can Bounce, to see how a picture book is created from scratch. I put all the sketches, roughs and artwork-in-progress here on the blog, as I went along. Just click the link and scroll down.

I have also made a short video about drawing cats, which ends with me showing you, step-by-step, how to create your own drawing of the singing cat in Baby Goes Baaaaa! (the same cat as is licking the ice-cream above):

If you enjoy it, there are more films on my YouTube channel and also on the film page of my website.

Business Cards for the Urban Sketchers Symposium

Another parcel arrived this week - my new business cards!

I designed some fun bookmarks to hand out at school, library and festival events, when I am wearing my 'children's illustrator' hat, and these still work really well (though I'm in the process of updating the design to include some of my more recent titles). 

But the bookmarks seem a bit weird if I am in my 'sketcher' mode, so I decided to get another, very different set done. I couldn't really justify spending a fortune since, for the most part, my sketching is for fun and does not bring in an income, so I went with the Moo mini-cards. 

They are really cute, cheap as chips, there's no set template, full colour both sides and you can have as many different images on them as you like. Fantastic. Of course, I then couldn't resist spending ages trawling through sketchbooks, trying to get lots of different ones... 

The only drawback is the unusual, skinny format, which was probably a good thing, as it meant most of my sketches were too square, so I had to call a halt at 20. They all have the same design on the back though: 

I am really pleased with them and they will be perfect for handing out at the Urban Sketchers Symposium next week. Can't wait!