A small sketch

I went to see Scotland v Brazil at the Emirates stadium in London yesterday. There was a great atmosphere at the match which continued on the train journey home later in the evening- I was in a carriage full of Brazilian students heading back to Cambridge. I tried to do a bit of drawing - this is from a reflection in the train window. All the excitement must have been exhausting for him!

My Studio

I've come to my studio this morning to have a bit of a tidy up - when I'm trying to make a deadline things tend to get a bit messy! I just took a quick pic on my phone to show a piece of the wall I look at when I'm working. I find it really useful to tape up any scraps I like the look of and any colour charts I've made!

I took this picture a while ago but rediscovered it on my phone today - it's a clear demonstration of the ridiculous things I get up to while working. My studio buddy Lisa hasn't been in the studio so much for the last few months as she's busy doing an MA. This means I've been spending a bit too much time on my own!

More exciting news!

Not Me! has made it on to the shortlist of this year's Cambridgeshire Children's Picture Book Awards. All the shortlisted books will be read to school children throughout the county who will vote for their favourite. You can see the full shortlist here.

Also, I recently heard that Gaspard and Lisa, the animation series I worked on last year has been bought by Disney in the USA. As the characters might say themselves, "Triomphe!"

It's been a while...

Apologies for the big gap since I last posted - a lot has happened in the last month. For a start I turned forty which I'm still in denial about! I've also been working hard in the run up to the book fair at Bologna - my publisher Egmont will be showing samples of my new board books there. Let's hope they're well received!

A couple of weeks ago I went to have my photo taken outside the British Library in London for the online magazine Books for Keeps. It was a very cold day so it could have been hard to maintain a hearty smile but the good company of the other writers and illustrators there made it easy. I was lucky enough to be included in their selection of rising talent for 2011 and the article includes a lovely review for Not Me! which you can read here on Page 3. One of the other illustrators featured is Alison Murray whose Apple Pie ABC has been at the top of my wish list for a few months. It was really lovely to meet the creator of such a beautiful book.

This Monday I was at Cambridge Central Library to speak at the Eastern branch of the Youth Librarians Group training day. I was very nervous! I was the last speaker of the day and four really interesting, well informed and entertaining speakers had gone before me so the pressure was on. I could feel my cheeks burning and my throat went dry but I managed to say most of what I wanted to! Everybody was really friendly and joined in printing bookmarks at the end! Just one lonely left over.....