Work update

So, the annual Frankfurt madness for me is over now. Very much looking forward to hearing how all the hard work was received when my lovely publishers get back. In the meantime I've been working on an ongoing project, as well as having a little break and doodling a few personal things and other bits for Inktober and Daily Doodle. Enjoying the freedom my Cintiq is giving me and I feel myself exploring a new style of illustration. Will keep you posted! Also have to say massive congratulations to two of my very best friends on the birth of their first child. Isaac arrived last week and is simply amazing. 

Feeling Autumny!

I know the preferred word is Autumnal, but I like Autumny better.

 October = HALLOWEEN! Woohoo!

That Frankfurt feeling.

So the annual Frankfurt book fair is almost upon us and I've been working flat out on some super cool titles that will be showcased there. Hopefully will be able to share them with you once all the feedback is in. Also signed off on the internal illustrations for the latest fiction title I've beenworking on. More news on that over the next few weeks. 

In the meantime, here is a quick illustration I doodled this afternoon :) 

Happy 1st Birthday, Jacob!

Illustration for a friend to put on the invites for her son's first birthday party.
Super fun to do - he's such a cutie. Happy Birthday, Jacob!

**NEW BOOKS - AVAILABLE NOW**

Gosh, I am pretty rubbish at keeping this up-to-date! Anyways...better late than never! I've been keeping busy over the past year working on a range of rather scrummy titles for various publishers. So without rambling on for too long, let's take a peek below at titles available to buy now.

PAPER TOYS SERIES

First off we have the new Paper Toys series that I designed and illustrated with b small. This super fun series has mini paper models to press out and make - NO GLUE NEEDED! From the Action Heroes title, how about making a deep-sea diver or maybe an astronaut? Or perhaps you'd prefer an ice dancer or a pop star from the Superstars title! Each book includes 6 models to put together, including one blank template for you to colour in your own hero or star. Each character also comes with fascinating facts, a 'Paper person profile' for you to fill in - and not only to you get all this cool stuff, but there is MORE to download from the b small website. Perfect extras for rainy days. Each title is priced at £6.99 from your local bookshop or on Amazon.

WEIRDOS VS. BUMSKULLS

Next up we have another cover design and internal illustrations for a new fiction title with Catnip Publishing. Blossom Uxley-Michaels is BACK for round two in the Weirdo vs. series by Tash Desborough. Weirdos vs. Bumskulls proves to be indeed even funnier, even weirder and even ruder than Weirdos vs. Quimboids, published by Catnip in 2013. 

"Blossom and Petrina, school weirdos, are on a (natural) high after thier band Camel Toe shared the bill with International Rock God Josh Raven. Now they have the chance to perfom at a real festival when they enter Battle of the Bands.

But then Blossom meets Vince, sexy lead singer of rival band Bumskulls. And supposedly loved-up Petrina has been spotted staring (dribbling) at the bass player...

In a churning whirlpool of love, sex and music, can the weirdos keep their quest for musical domination on track? Or is everything about to go NORKS UP?"

Greg James says 'It's flippin' funny', Karl Pilkington says 'This book is as good as all the other books I haven't read', I say it's bloomin' brilliant (as is the first one - and that is a scientific FACT) so get your mitts on a copy ASAP. Oh and it's neon again AND there is another Camel Toe track for you to download - 'Nork-grabbing Qumiboid! Woohoo!

In other news for this series - Weirdos vs Quimboids has been selected for The Summer Reading Challenge 2014 Young Adult List where it will feature as one of the 10 'must reads' for 14+. 

For more info and other cool stuff, visit Tash's website.

1000 Pirate Stickers

Back now to some activity books, this time for my old workplace, Usborne Publishing. First up we have another in the 1000 sticker series - this time 1000 Pirate stickers. I designed this one from scratch with illustrations by Mattia Cerato and additional illustrations by myself and Emily Golden Twomey. With 24 scenes and 1000 stickers to add to them or to decorate your own cards and pictures, this bumper packed sticker book is sure to keep little ones entertained on journeys this summer. 

1000 Pirate stickers is available to buy now, for ages 4+.

 

Fairy Activity Pad

Next we have Fairy Activity pad, another one for Usborne in their activity series. This great little pad with a whopping 180 tear-out pages is again perfect for anyone going on their travels this summer. Lovely little format, full of games, doodles and puzzles a plenty! A must for fairy lovers of ages 6+. I got to work with the lovely people in the Wolverhampton office on this one to illustrate many of the pages.

LONDON ACTIVITY PACK

Finally, we have The Usborne London Activity Pack. This perfect little handy carry case comes with a set of postcards to colour, a mini London colouring book, mini Things to Spot in London and a mini London Doodling book. I was asked to design and illustrate a handful of the spreads in the the Doodle Book (see below). 

Sturdy but compact, another great activity set for holiday travels or to buy as a souvenir. Available to buy now from the Usborne website.

So, there you have it! I'll have another post later in the year with the next batch of work. Have some wonderful things to share over the next few months - more fiction, more activity books and a super cute selection of baby board and novelty books are on the to-do list at the moment. Exciting stuff!

New comic book day!

Last year, I did a little work for BOOM! Studios on their awesome Adventure Time comic series. Today, issue 26 is finally released! Still can't quite believe this happened. AT is one of my most favourite series and I am in total and complete awe of the writers and artists that contribute to it.  To be a teeny part of it is unbelievably awesome and to add my cover to my collection alongside theirs is so flippin' cool. Most of all, I want to thank my bro for introducing me to AT way back when. He's a true dude. 

Check out my cover below and for the other amazing cover this month from
Hannah Bischak (cover A), Craig Ardnt (cover B) and Emily Hu (cover C)
check out BOOM! Studios website.

TGIF

*NEW BOOK ALERT* - and a snazzy book launch to go with it!

It's taken me a little time to write this one up as I've been snowed under with other work and Frankfurt preparations. I always seem to forget (or mentally block out) how hectic this time of year is.

I've been doing a selection of work for some fantastic fiction titles recently. It makes a great change to what I usually do in the children's publishing world. It's allowing me to broaden my portfolio and I'm loving it.

Introducing *drum roll*  - Weirdos vs. Quimboids by Natasha Desborough, published by Catnip Publishing!

"Cursed by the initials BUM, saddled with woolly liberal-minded hippies for parents and an UNDYING love for the Proper Real-Time HOT Felix Winters, BLOSSOM UXLEY-MICHAELS is a seething mass of sexual frustration and political confusion. But when she's invited to work on the school radio, Blossom's convinced her status is about to rocket from Weirdo to Winner . . ."

Reading the unfinished manuscript last December made me laugh out loud and cringe so bad and I knew straight away that I had to be on board. Written in a diary format by the leading character, Blossom, we follow her  and her best friend and trusty sidekick Petrina - Ola Olsen (POO) on their quest to be cool. Working for the school radio station with the hot guys and promoting their band - Camel Toe - how can they fail! Throw in some quimboids, slightly insane parents and all the other troubles of being a teenager and away we go!

So with all that to bear in mind, we set off to try and deliver a cover that would do the book justice and aim it at the right target market. It wasn't all plain sailing getting this design right. After many changes and suggestions from big book sellers, this book went through not only a name change, but also a fair few complete different looks and approaches. While at the time there were a number of heads banging heavily on desks, I'm am pleased with how this one turned out. Who wouldn't enjoy being given the option to use NEON PINK on a cover??

On Sept 24th, I was invited along to the Wvs.Q book launch. It was great to meet a lot of the lovely people at Catnip and Bounce - and of course Natasha herself! After many quite frankly hilarious Twitter messages and emails back and fourth, it was great to finally meet her in person. The night was filled with food, drink and mingling with fantastic publishing and book people. Tash did a reading from the book and signed copies left, right and centre (including mine!). Lovely night with some lovely people to celebrate a flippin' brilliant book. Looking forward to the next one...

Tash teaching us the 'Scale of shame'. Levels go from 1. The burden of the embarrassing name, to 10. Watching a sex scene on TV with your parents or actually catching them at it. *proper real-time cringe*

Awesome Non with her Weirdos T-shirt and Camel Toe pin badges, myself and Tash.

(Picture pinched in a friendly way from Non's blog... )

(Thank you Matt the Librarian for this picture...)

Weirdos Vs. Quimboids is available to -----> buy <----- now! It comes with a cool option to download one of Camel Toes' songs - Poncerama via a QR code on the back of the book, too. Pretty cool and that is a scientific fact! 

For more info and extra goodies check out Tash's website www.natashadesborough.co.uk where she is groping Dave Grohl's bum. Jealous.

*NEW BOOK ALERT* Introducing - THE FABULOUS FOUR FISH FINGERS

Sorry *again* for the radio silence on my blog recently. It's been a super busy few months and I've been working on numerous wonderful projects that I will be able to share with you very soon. 

For now, I can tell you all about the release of a flippin' awesome debut novel from Jason Beresford, The Fabulous Four Fish Fingers - published by Catnip, with illustrations by little old me! 

This hilarious fiction story centres around four ordinary kids who are given some not so ordinary super powers. Throw in a couple of comedy villains - a pant-eating anteater, aptly named The Panteater, who only eats pants as he is allergic to ants, and a man, rabbit, piratey thing called Jumper Jack Flash - who are out to steal ALL of the sweets in Tumchester. As the plot thickens and the town's supply of sugary treats runs dry, the best friends must come together and work as a team to stop the hairy duo.


"KangaRuby bounced, Nightingale soared and The Chimp swung with Slug Boy gripped in his fingers. The scene that greeted them was truly terrible…" 


This book is for ages 7+ and is aimed at fans of Andy Stanton, David Walliams and Roald Dahl. Check out some of my illustrations that accompany the story throughout...

The Fabulous Four Fish Fingers is available to buy NOW from most good bookstores, Amazon and other retailers. Perfect read for the summer holidays. There will be more updates over the coming weeks, in the meantime check out the website for the book - www.thefabulousfourfishfingers.com.

Also, you can follow these peeps for more info:

@jason_beresford

@catnipbooks

New Book Alert!

Got a nice package through the post just before I left for LA again from Usborne. Spent a few months last year designing and part illustrating this title - Animal Alphabet Activity Book. This book is great for teaching children the alphabet, phonics awareness and pen control through numerous activities including puzzles, colouring, doodling and lots of things to spot. Sarah Horne's illustrations are as quirky as ever, and this is one very satisfying doodle-in book!
Available for pre-order from Amazon - or from the Usborne website from 01/06.
Here's a sneaky peek at a few spreads.
©Usborne Publishing 2013

School doodles

Recently, I was asked to do some doodles for a school back in my hometown of Liverpool. Rudston Road County Primary was actually the school I attended from the ages of 4 - 10, so I was delighted to be asked to do something for the school website, prospectus and correspondence material. Think a few of them have popped up throughout the school too. Slightly different feel to this artwork, something I'm trying out. Here's a few examples of the final pieces.

Hand printed Christmas cards

So I had a little bit of spare time in between projects so I thought I should probably use the time to get some Christmas cards printed. This year I have gone for the Christmas jumper type design and incorporated some 'LA' things into the more traditional pattern. Only did a quick run of 15, using stencils, sponges and paint instead doing of my usual screen prints. Still building my kit over here!