December 1

So it turns out it's December already (no-one panic.)  That means that the lovely folks on twitter have started to #illo_advent again.  I won't have time for many but here's one for day one...

You may now panic.

Christmas cards are available here for those of you feeling festive and in need of cards.  

It's too soon I know, but Christmas cards!

This year's Christmas cards are ready and available to buy here  

All are printed in recycled card on the UK and are looking for good homes.

You could get your seasonal mitts on all of these:

Stocking Fillers

Meet Snug, Smirk, Slurp and Scrump, Santa's lesser known helpers. They may look like they're relaxing but due to an unforeseen stocking-filling shortage (someone forgot to order the tangerines...it was Gary) these four furry heroes have taken it upon themselves to fill the stockings themselves.

Lovebirds

Spread the love this Christmas with this lovebird wreath. These birds whistle Christmas carols all year round, come with their own stripy hats and are all house trained...except Mo, but he's pretty so we let it go.

Mouseltoe

These two lovebirds have been the talk of Santa's workshop, the will-they-won't-they couple of the season. All bets are off but no-one is safe with kissletoe about!

Mouse wreath

A mouse-infested wreath may not sound like an ideal gift but I guarantee these furry friends are the height of Christmas spirit. They knit their own hats, jingle their own bells and will only eat your cut price cheese, not the fancy stuff you reserved for guests.

Life Is Magic - Cover

If anyone is counting (which I'm obviously not) then you'll be aware that my first picture book is published in March 2016 - which is still so far away!!!

The lovely Booksniffer did a cover reveal a few weeks back and I thought it was about time I put the cover up here.  So here it is in all its glory.

As you can see, it's published by the lovely people at Andersen Press who were very kind and let me draw on every available surface.  I can't show much more for now but I will say that the back cover is pretty sweet, and the super secret cover beneath this cover for the hardback is my absolute favourite.

Below are some of the cover sketches.  

This is a page of early sketches sent to my editor and art director.  We really brightened it up and added a few more mischievous rabbits but the overall idea isn't that far removed from the final image.    

There is a lot of hand lettering in the book.  Once the first page was finished I think I realised how important the lettering was, it really informed the look of the book for me so we wanted to carry that over onto the cover.  

Evidence that I'm left handed and have not yet learned how not to smudge an image

Favourite cover bunny

These bunnies do incredible work...or so we tell them

I haven't chronicled my epic star drawing yet but believe me I drew a lot of them.  Last count was something in the region of...65392...that's a lie, but there were a bunch.

You can pre-order Life Is Magic here or you can be very, very patient and buy it in a lovely bookshop.

Hypnotic bunnies

Creating a GIF is something I've long wanted to teach myself.  Here's my first one.    
It's oddly soothing so sit back, put your feet up and prepare for a moment of calm.

Snuggle Up With A Good Book...too

Recently I made a digital poster and I liked it so much that I made a screen printed version which looks eerily similar.

These prints are available to buy here

Here are a few photos of them in progress...

Booksniffer: bunny-sitter extraordinaire

Last week the lovely Booksniffer was kind enough to do a cover reveal of my very first picture book.  You can read the blogpost here.

What she didn't mention was that she also bunny-sat a few of the cast and crew for a few hours so I could put my feet up.  They tell me they were very well behaved.  So thank you Booksniffer for all your hard work, bunny-sitting and all.

Don't worry, I'm a doctor.

On a recent flight to London my fellow passengers and I were delayed on the plane for quite a long time.  In order to keep my sanity I decided to illustrate a sick bag for the next lucky, sadly queasy, person to sit in my seat.   

Mornin'

Snuggle up with a good book

I've been making a lot of posters recently and it's quite addictive.  This is the first in a set of three that I'll hopefully screen print soon.

The Enormous Crocodile

Finally found some time to catch up with the Daily__Doodle and it just happens to be Roald Dahl week.  The last proper doodle I remember doing was for Fantastic Mr Fox so my timing feels perfect.  I read a lot of Dahl as a kid but I don't have a great memory for it.  I managed to find an audiobook of The Enormous Crocodile online (read wonderfully by Stephen Fry) to sketch along to.  I decided to add the sun motif as a cheeky nod to the end of the book.

Life Is Magic

Apologies for the huge gap in blog posts but I've been very busy working on my first picture book.  (Hooray!)  Here's a picture of it at the Bologna Book Fair this year with the lovely people at Andersen Press who are publishing it.

It has been so much fun to work on but completely consuming as it's absolutely jam-packed from cover to cover.  I can't really say much more about for now but I can tell you it's bursting with magic, bunnies and shenanigans.

Robot

This is an update of a Daily Doodle that I went back to work on.

Be nice to the robots, they will rule us all one day.