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!

And I almost forgot to say....Fluff and Billy will be on CBeebies!

Very exciting news.....Fluff and Billy is being read on CBeebies at lunchtime on Wednesday 28th December. Apparently it will be around 12.53pm which I think will be after an episode of Pingu! My publisher says the schedule is subject to change but fingers crossed the penguin pair will be making their tv debut very soon!

Happy Christmas!

I just wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas! I am currently in the middle of producing artwork for a new picturebook so apologies for neglecting my blog a little. My desk is covered in paper and paint but I have dug out my wacom tablet in order to give Fluff and Billy some festive hats! Happy holidays!

Old handmade Christmas cards

I mentioned in my post The Story of Fluff and Billy Part 2 that I used to design Christmas cards for a living. I started my greetings career by making handmade cards and selling them at markets and to shops. Some of these designs ended up in Paperchase - off the top of my head I think it was in 1996 but I can't be sure! As you can imagine, they were quite labour intensive so making thousands of them was quite a challenge (a slight understatement)!