London Book Fair April 2014

I was overwhelmed by the shear size of the London Book Fair to begin with, and I kept walking around in circles before I got my bearings in the children's publishing section. But it was fascinating, informative and inspiring. Some publishers were happy to give me a catalogue, in return for one of my illustrator cards, and  Advocate Art Agency gave useful feedback on my portfolio.

I was interested to see what books were displayed on each stand, and what was in the pipeline as mock-ups. These picture-books especially caught my eye:-

Walker Books - pop-up books by Petr Horacek (Animal opposites & Animal Counting, 2013) and The Promise (Nicola Davies, Laura Carlin 2013)

Bonnier Publishing (Templar & Orion) - spotting books by Britta Teckentrup (Where's the Pair & The Odd One Out) & Little Tree (Jenny Bowen)

Andersen Press - Aesop's Fables (Fulvio Testa), Mr Wuffles (David Wiesner), Bluebird (Bob Staake) & Rita's Rhino (Tony Ross).

Top Hat - Hattie Peck (Emma Levey) & The Noisy Foxes (Amy Husband). 

Child's Play, Usborne and Little Tiger Press all had excellent stands. 

Maverick Arts Publishing - The Goblin & the Girl (Neil Irani).

Flying Eye - I Like Animals by Dahlov Ipcar) 

Gecko Books - Lets Talk About Animals (Britta Teckentrup)

Scholastic Books had an exciting large mock-up book by Alex T Smith.

Ginger Books (newly set up)has some gorgeous & unusual illustrations.

Polish stand - some gorgeous-looking award-winning children's books (Ibby 2013)

Bonnier

Bonnier/Templar

Polish ibby books of year 2013

Polish ibby books of year 2013

Usborne

Walker

A Spectrum of Experience - From First Time Picture Book to a Lasting Career 

I also attended a fascinating seminar at the Children's Hub with Mike Jolley (Templar Books), Tom Cole (illustrator/author) and Chris Wormell (illustrator/author)

Tom Cole, a recent graduate from Kingston University, is signed up with Artworks agency. He successfully pitched a Berlin Wall story to Mike Jolley at Templar, which is at the printers now. Mike highlighted how Tom's 'killer' images (each with the punch of a poster) got the book through publishing meetings, along with a very poignant text with few words.

Chris Wormell worked 10 years as an illustrator (started as an engraver influenced by Thomas Bewick's animal woodcuts) before moving into children's books. He showed us how he developed his 'pensieve' of sketchbook ideas into suitable stories, with a far messier approach than Tom's.He's gradually learnt how  important it is to have sympathy for the child character and have a story that's not so scary the reader can't get to sleep!

Tom Cole

Chris Wormell

Earls Court Exhibition Centre

I went to the London Book Fair for the first time earlier this month, held at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre, but I was saddened to learn the fate of this venue. This handy and iconic art deco style London landmark has been London's main exhibition hall for many decades, but it's to be demolished to make way for a new development. 

I'll miss the distinctive sense of place and history associated with this building and it's proximity to the tube station. These sketches are my homage to this special place.

sketch from tube station bridge

sketch from steps to exhibition centre

Limited edition prints of The Meade, Chorlton

Have just finished another local scene/map, this time of The Meade in Chorlton, based on a circle. Limited edition prints and cards will be available soon.
My other local scenes/maps are based on a triangle (Chorlton Green), a rectangle (Beech Road Park) and a line (Beech Road). Square or hexagon anywhere...?

scbwi annual illustrator showcase exhibition in London

Hooray - my hedgehog image will be in the scbwi (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) annual illustrator showcase exhibition in London at Timberyard Seven Dials, Covent Gardens, 1st April - 2nd May.
Here's the lovely flyer put together by Anne-Marie Perks and Bridget Strevens-Marzo.

Some of my favourite picturebooks 2013/4

I had a good browse in the bookshop a couple of weeks ago and here's a pick of my recently-released favorites.

 There's a Shark in the Bath by Sarah McIntyre (2014 Scholastic)

Dulcie finds sharks in the bath, but her parents don't believe her. She plays with them to distract them from eating her. When Dad comes to check what she's up to in the bathroom, she sends them back to sea. When she sits down to eat breakfast, she hears a rustle in her cereal bowl. There's a small elephant with a speech bubble "are you going to eat me?"

Great fun plot, plenty of humour and colourful comic-style illustrations.

Big Bad Owl by Steve Smallman & Richard Watson (illus) (Little Tiger Book 2014)

Scowl (wonderful name!), the grumpy owl (sits on the labelled grumpy branch with black cloud scribbled above). The other animals try to cheer him up but he's rude to them. Scowl annoyed to find Little Bird is sitting on his grumpy branch. Little Bird tells him to flap off, because Scowl has broken his happy hat. Scowl has been out-grumped for the first time in his life! He's sorry he's broken the hat and admits he likes being grump, too.

A lively fun story.

And from 2013:-

You're a Rude Pig, Bertie by Claudia Boldt (Jonathan Cape 2013)

Bertie insults everyone except Ruby, and he throws a party to impress her. Nobody comes, because his invites are so insulting, but it resolves ok in the end. 

A fun story with lovely b & w lines, pastel colours and offset print effect in places.

The Crocodile who didn't like water by Gemma Merino (MacMillan Children's Books 2013)

Winner of Macmillan competition 2011

The crocodile was afraid of water ... and couldn't fit in with other crocodiles. Then it breathed fire! It wasn't a crocodile after all, it was a dragon.

Gorgeous fuzzy line work like drawing on carbon-copy paper/mono-prints, and print-effect colour, too. Very simple cute croc/dragon and delightfully simple story.

Time for Bed Fred by Yasmen Ismeen (Bloomsbury Bks 2013)

Exuberant inky illustrations, dog remains in monotone, great use of grey.

The Slightly Annoying Elephant  by David Walliams & Tony Ross (Harper Collins 2013)

David Walliam's first picture book

An elephant arrives to stay, saying he's been adopted..and then all his friends come, too. A cautionary tale about the need to read the small print when you adopt an animal at a zoo. Wonderful stuff!

Aunt Amelia by Rebecca Cobb (2013 Macmillan Children's Books)

When Mum & Dad go away for the night, Aunt Amelia (a crocodile) arrives to look after a very cross little boy & girl. But they soon change their minds about Aunt Amelia when she she puts her own alternative spin on the list of sensible instructions Mum and Dad have left behind.

Simple text with lots of hidden details in pictures (birds nesting in Amelia's extravagant hat)

Rebecca Cobb says she uses a lightbox to trace through her rough pencil sketches using a sharp stick dipped in ink - the line feels close to drawing with a pencil. She colours in using watercolour, inks & coloured pencils "because these all make different marks and I can choose whether something needs to be coloured in a way that is sot, scratchy, neat or messy" (Booktrust interview 2013).

Mr Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown (2013 Little Brown Books for Young Readers)

Mr. Tiger is bored with being proper and he decides to go wild...

All the animals, including elephants, rhinos, cows, and monkeys, dress in Victorian clothes, walk upright on two legs and look very prim and proper. Mr Tiger rebels, roars, takes off his clothes and goes into the nearby wilderness. But he gets lonely... 

The striking 1950s retro-style pictures really caught my eye, in muted limited-palette colours, except for the oranges to Mr Tiger. Bold shapes with interesting patterns and rich textures. The compositions are interesting, too, especially the page where the tiger starts to slip down off the page as he goes on all fours. The illustrations are made using india ink, watercolour, gouache and pencil and digitally collaged.. The style reminds me of illustrations by the Canadian illustrator, Jon Klassen, in I Want My Hat Back. 

Peter Brown describes his process on his blog. "... I made tons of little watercolor and ink shapes (as well as a few pencil drawings and handmade textures), and scanned them into Photoshop where I colored and layered and combined them into the finished illustrations. It took a while to figure out my new technique, but I’m pretty happy with the finished result." 

A fun story and great illustrations. 

Tiny wren

Tiny wren featured in scbwi's Word & Pictures celebration feature last Monday
http://www.wordsandpics.org/2014/03/now-we-are-one.html

Life drawing

Trying to capture movement in a walking figure. From last week's life drawing session.