One week to go...

My next book, The Station Mouse, is publishing one week today.  That's when Maurice will begin his new job.  He's a very responsible mouse so he's got it marked on his calendar.  There's still a lot of unpacking to do, but with a whole week to go I think we can let him sleep a little longer.

The gift

Yesterday I was working on some new story ideas but I haven't really made any artwork for a while so today I made myself a small gif.

The Station Mouse at FCBG

On Friday I was lucky enough to receive an early copy of my third picture book The Station Mouse.  Here it is in all its shiny cover-foil glory.

It follows the adventures of Maurice, a mouse, who works in the lost property department of a railway station, and is published by Andersen Press on June 7th.

I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at the FCBG Golden Anniversary conference this weekend and had a lovely time chatting alongside Lizzy Stewart about our work.  Here I am showing sketches and trying to explain what makes little Maurice look like himself.

Photo by @minervamoan

Here are a few of the images I discussed.

Bottom left is the very first image I drew of Maurice

(left) An early page from my sketchbook exploring what Maurice does all day
(Right) A final page from the book

Thumbnails and dummies.  This is me trying to see if all my story ideas fit together.

Attendees of the conference were also able to get their hands on early copies of The Station Mouse.  It's nice to know there are already a few out there in the world being read.

Pigeon P.I. paperback publishes

My second picture book Pigeon P.I. is published in paperback today.  Hooray! 

Complete with a snazzy new blue cover, the lovely people at Andersen Press have managed to cram all the nice little details from the hardback, including the secret cover underneath the hardback dust jacket, into the paperback.

Available from all lovely bookshops today!

And to celebrate there are now some pigeon based prints in my SHOP.  

TOTES!

And prints!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I've been listening to an audiobook of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll today so here's my White Rabbit.

and Alice falling 'down, down, down...'

and the sleepy dormouse, who's my favourite character in the whole book.

Nana

A little picture of Nana from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie.   I drew it a while back but I've only just got round to colouring it in.  I was interested to read that she was a Newfoundland.  My friend has a black Newfoundland called Hamish who is a whopping great dog and a big softie.  So I've borrowed him for my Nana.

The Wizard of Oz

Finally, after months of working on it and keeping quiet, I can reveal that I've illustrated a new picture book version of The Wizard of Oz adapted by Sam Hay and publishing with Egmont in September.

It's more than a little intimidating to reimagine a classic like this but I hope that for young readers it'll be a fun introduction to the land of Oz.

You can read a little about it  here on the Egmont blog

My art director, Abi, and I spent a long time working on cover ideas but in the end we wanted something that really showcased the characters.  Here's a sneak peek...