Product placement!

Wordfest Animal Pictures

Here is a small selection of the animals that were decorated at my Wordfest event. Although I always get nervous before events, I really enjoyed this one and was very impressed by how enthusiastic all the children were. They all did a great job drawing dogs and decorating their animals! Big thanks to Sue, Ruth, Anne and Louise from Cambridgeshire Libraries for running the day and making me feel so welcome, and to Isla and Helen from Egmont.

Wordfest Preparations

I am currently preparing for my Wordfest event on Saturday - it's at East Barnwell Centre at 11am for ages 3-6. This is a picture to show the actual height of a new born giraffe.....around 6ft tall! I've also cut out 68 crocodile teeth and have a piece of string that is 6m long to show how tall an adult giraffe can grow. It's wrapped around its own cardboard giraffe as you can see below. Let's hope it goes well....

Just arrived!

I have just received my advance copies of my first two board books: Animal Numbers and Animal Colours which are published by Egmont and out this Monday, 2nd April!

Fluff and Billy News

Firstly, Fluff and Billy do everything together has been shortlisted for a Sheffield Book Award - in the baby books category. Hooray! See the full shortlists here.

Secondly, Fluff and Billy will be published by Sterling Children's Books in the USA in September. Find it on their website here.

The story of Fluff and Billy Part 4 - Penguin drawings

Apologies for my blogging silence of late - I am working hard on artwork that I can't show you at the moment. However, I realised that I could continue with The Story of Fluff and Billy - so here's part 4!

Having decided that my story would feature penguins, I felt that I needed to draw real penguins to help me develop their characters. I already had a few drawings from London Zoo that I'd done for a previous project but I now spent time at Whipsnade Zoo drawing and observing the penguins there. At the time they had Humboldt, Rockhopper and Gentoo penguins and it was so interesting to watch their behaviour and movements ( and to also hear what the zoo visitors said to them and about them)!

I also made a trip to the Zoology Museum in Cambridge. This allowed me to do some more detailed studies like the bigger drawing in the middle.

When I'd gathered all this reference I could start working on my characters.

See Part 3 here.

Happy New Year!

I'd just like to wish you all a Happy New Year! Let's hope 2012 is a good one:)

I decided to start the year by getting into the studio early.....unfortunately in my slightly groggy state this morning I left my healthy, prepared the night before, packed lunch (resolution number 2) at home on the work surface! So resolution number 3 is now to remember my packed lunch!