Sneak Peeks and Rhymeeeee Mimeeee Words.

It has been a little while since I have updated my delightful blog.

I have been a busy little bee on roller skates, only slightly less graceful. Maybe more like a one legged frog on a trampoline.

First of all I would like to discuss with you all, my fantastical ebook- ibook master combo. I have been rather busy creating an ebook/ibook based on my Dragon School illustrations. I have been building it in ibook author and myebook.

Both versions are nearly there, ready for sale in the big wide world. I have spent this week, making sure its completely dyslexic friendly.  Adjusting font, limiting text per page and other bits and pieces.

The story will be suitable for 6-10 years olds. It’s quite short which is great for struggling readers. After weeks of grueling research into popular children’s books I have figure out what children want the most from their reading experience. So my book is completely educational and factual and contains no humor, silliness, or actual dragons, so it will of course be hugely successful and make me millions!

·      Here is a sneak peek from Chapter 2: Swirly eyes and Spaghetti nose!

All dragons’ hated toasted sandwiches, everyone knew that. It was the worst thing ever. Absolutely disgusting! Well, apart from baked beans sucked from a thin tube out of a bath. But, toasted sandwiches were a dragon’s worst nightmare.

This wasn’t like his last school at all. Just for a second (because that’s all the time he had before he was interrupted by a flying sandwich) he thought about his old school and how nice it was and… a spaghetti sandwich slapped him full in the face, and the spaghetti strands wiggled right up his nose. “Yuck,” he sneezed.

·      Another snip-it from my new book due out for xmas 2012 on ipad and ebook. Chapter 3: Burnt Snot.

 “I have an idea, but it will stink.”

“I’m sure your idea won’t stink,” said Billy, kindly.

 “No, I mean it will really stink,” said Paul. “I once had a gold fish. It died and I flushed it down the toilet. And then my rabbit died and I flushed that down the toilet. Then my horse died and my dad went to flush it down the toilet. Mum tried to stop him; said it wasn’t a good idea because a horse would block the toilet - but it didn’t.”

Billy scratched his head and he looked really confused. A horse…? “Paul what are you talking about?”

Paul grinned. “We should flush ourselves down the toilet.”

Hope you enjoyed.

Illustration wise…

I have mini exhibition in a local theatre on the horizon, which is quite exciting. I am currently preparing to design a few paintings …..ideas include ballet bears , dancing donkeys, singing seagulls and tap dancing toads!

Poetry, Poetry

Write you I do,

Lots of words that rhyme,

Like cheese and thyme,

Ham and lime

I write in time

To a jumping pine

Eating a dime

Standing on a line.

Anyway… I have been editing my “Batty Book of Poems”, which I would like to turn into an ebook. I am continuing to add pages and amusing illustrations until there’s enough to be classed as a book.

I have also entered a few poetry competitions, so I shall keep my fingers crossed. As much as I would love to share those daft words with you, due to the rules of the competitions, I would be hung upside down and made to eat socks if reveled my entries before the results were made public….. so watch this space.

 My magical studio has now come to life; the walls are covered in scrappy drawings and random thoughts, as a studio should be.

For now this is all I have to update, so I shall potter along to the kitchen and enjoy a nice cup of tea... maybe a cookie …or 3…

My NEW arty Studio

Bloggy blog where have I been, moving house is such a dream, lots of boxes, lots of cups, a brand new studio, but no pet ducks!

These last months, since returning from Bologna children’s book fair has been super busy. I have had a lot of paid work on, and have been moving house. I have a lovely new studio, which is desperate for me to start filling it with creative juices. I have been writing some small poems and doodling ideas for a few big projects.

At Bologna book fair, my poetry was hugely popular, as was my black and white artwork. I’m very excited to see where this will lead. The fair was amazing and so colourful. (I must say the free sweets and strawberries were a delicious idea! Yum yum yum!)

Since returning, I have sent off a few of my favourite stories to various publishing houses and am awaiting replies.

This month, I intend to pick up a teen novel I started writing two years ago, before I went travelling. I always wanted to finish it. Whilst I was unpacking my seemingly endless amount of boxes crammed with mugs and more mugs: I found the printout. I re read it, it needs work, but the idea and characters are great fun. Ok well twisted and dark…but anyway, that’s one project I really want to move along with.

Another project I was working on before Bologna was a dummy book for ‘The Moonicorns and The Moon Hole’, which you can see on my website. This book hasn’t been picked up YET by a publishing house, I will give it a few more months and then I plan to design some Moonicorn tshirts.

Recently I have been dabbling in t-shirt illustration. I had a few printed with http://www.streetshirts.co.uk/ and I must say, I would not recommend them. print quality is really bad and they came two weeks late, to the wrong address! Eep! Any suggestions would be great. I am looking into http://www.tshirtstudio.com/ at the moment. I plan to set up an online shop soon. So watch this space.

I have also been trying out some new black and white work. Using orange and red as an extra colour, to spice things up.

I have 100s of projects ready to begin, and begin I must.

Keep popping onto my website and Twitter to keep up to date with my work.

Enjoy the sun, wear a hat, and don’t get burnt upon your back. Spill the sunscreen on your face and eat an ice cream in a happy place!

Welcome to my world

This blog is all about my personal projects, be it illustration or writing. My new blog feels like the perfect little platform to share some bite size nuggets of information about my process as an Illustrator and as a writer. 

Being a creative individual is like being a yoyo. Up, down, tied in knots, eaten by the next door neighbour’s dog.  Anything can happen. Some days when I'm painting a lovely picture, finding the perfect colour means climbing a mountain to catch a rainbow, other days the rainbow comes to you and sprinkles over the page.

With illustration I begin with a mood or feeling which usually begins in the shower, drawn into steam on the shower door. Then I take the idea to my art studio and turn it into thumbnail sketches, really rough sketches, slightly more pleasant sketches and finally tra da- it’s ready to paint.

Recently I have mainly been working on my latest project, ‘The Moonicorns and the Moon Hole’ This week I have bound the dummy book ready to send off to some choice publishers. I will also take a copy with me to ‘Bologna Children's Book Fair' (VERY EXCITING)

Writing is another type of adventure entirely. The ideas for poems or stories often come like an express train, so fast there's barely time to scribble down the first word before the train rushes to the next station. Anyone who has ever written a story will completely understand the hand, brain, speed, ratio dilemma. It would be fantastic if I could simply plug an USB stick into my ear and copy the story directly from my brain. I do wonder though, if this was possible, would it correct my spellings for me?

I have just finished collecting all my children's poems- now called ‘My Batty Book of Poems’. I have been writing these for a while, on napkins, loo roll, snotty tissues, whatever is handy. (You would think I would invest in a handy notebook, but alas the ideas often strike when I least expect them. No matter how prepared I am: an idea cannot be pre-arranged. Creativity is truly a force of nature. Thank goodness for eyeliner pen, lipstick and free pens from the bank!)

Now I finally have an entire collection of my humorous poetic insanity, in one place, I have illustrated them with equally as daft black and white illustrations. This is now bound into a dummy book/ manuscript crossbreed. 

As I mentioned above, this year I am going to ‘Bologna Children’s Book Fair’. So on Friday, Jonathan Edwards (my wonderful website designer) and I are flying to Italy to promote my illustrations and make some exciting new contacts.

I hope you enjoyed a little insight into my world. Please follow me and watch out for my new super exciting posts. Comments are always welcome. Enjoy your day.