Katriona Chapman Illustration Blog

New books, and other news...

2011-12-14T16:01:00.005Z

Just a final blog update before Christmas! A couple of months ago I received copies of two books that I illustrated quite recently, and I haven't had a moment to blog about them til now. 'This is Me' (published by HarperCollins Big Cat) is an instructional book about making a self-portrait from buttons, paint, wool and other fun things. I had just two weeks to complete the final artwork for this book...it was quite an intense two weeks but I managed it!

I really enjoy drawing hands, so loved the task of drawing the little girl's hands as she completed different stages of her project.

This is from one of my favourite pages... the girl's reflection as she looks at herself in a hand-mirror.

Here's one of my roughs from the early stages of planning the book...

'Jo and Jess' (published by Hinkler) is an early-reader book that tries to encourage kids not to be afraid of the dentist.

Another thing I did recently was attend a couple of winter craft fairs with the lovely Vicky Scott...

I also went to see my friend Olu's comic 'Ding' which was on display at the cafe in Foyles, Charing Cross Road. It won second prize in the Observer/Jonathan Cape Graphic Short-story Prize. 'Ding' is based on the fascinating and hilarious snippets of conversations that you overhear in the course of bus journeys sometimes... it has a clever structure which repeats and alternates between the different characters page by page. The Observer describes Olu's illustrations as 'waspish and very funny.' You can see more at Olu's website here: www.oluoke.com

I also couldn't resist showing a couple more examples of Olu's work... first an illustration she created for Camus' 'The Outsider', and secondly a page from her Cuba sketchbook.

One final piece of news is that I coloured a cover for a comics magazine... the new (and brilliant) DotComics by Elliot Baggot and Mike Medaglia who I've been lucky enough to meet at various comics events over the last year. The cover was drawn by Elliot, inked by Mike and coloured by me, and it's the second issue of their magazine, which aims to bridge the gap between web-comics and print. You can find out more at their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/dotComics

Elliot and Mike: Serious about comics! :o)

National Theatre Christmas Card

2011-12-08T12:31:00.006Z

I was delighted recently to find out that I'd won a competition to design a Christmas card for the National Theatre... it's very exciting to see my card on sale in the bookshop there! My design was inspired by the view of the building from the Waterloo Bridge side...I've always liked that the Lyttelton flytower is just a massive cube. It's a great example of brutalist architecture. I also wanted to work in watercolour (which gives some nice textures,) but keep the look of the design quite modern & uncomplicated. Here's a photo of the NT bookshop that I took just the other day...

I have a long history with the National so also thought I could also use this opportunity to blog about some old sketches that I did in and around the theatre about 10 years ago. I used to find it a good place to sketch, as it's full of interesting angles and I found the different levels useful for being able to sketch people without being seen! I also used to challenge myself to draw inside the auditoriums during performances.

First of all here's how my card looks... it's a nice big size!

Here's the National Bookshop's own photo of the card in their lovely wintry window display:

Here are some of the sketches I did at the National around 2001. I used to enjoy the challenge of sketching inside the auditoriums... with the problems of low light levels and constantly-changing scenery! A couple of these sketches I then finished off a little more once I'd left the play.

Look at the ashtrays in the Green Room - well before the smoking ban was introduced!

And finally a few of the quick little sketches of people that I used to do around the building...

Thought Bubble!

2011-11-22T10:42:00.003Z

At the weekend I attended the amazing Thought Bubble sequential art festival in Leeds for the first time. It was a great weekend with atmospheric foggy weather...

It was my first time in Leeds and I really enjoyed the city. Sergio & I loved the Adelphi pub near our hotel where I drank ale in honor of being Up North

Here's Sergio looking after my table at the convention...

...and a few more pics of the Thought Bubble craziness:

Here are just a few of the things that caught my eye, and the nice people that I met:

Kristyna Baczynski

Kristyna's work is incredible... her blog is here: http://kriskicorp.blogspot.com/

Edward Ross

Some of Edward's work combines two of my favourite things... comics and films! Check it out here: http://edwardmaross.blogspot.com/

Dot Comics - Elliot Baggott and Mike Medaglia

Elliot and Mike are lovely guys who've just created a new project aimed at linking web comics and print. The first edition was fab, and I'm excited to be colouring the cover of their 2nd edition for them! Can't wait to share the illustration soon...

http://www.facebook.com/dotComics

Nelson

This week is Nelson week! It's an amazing comics anthology... a collaboration between 54 of the best UK comics artists. There are a lot of signings at various locations in London all week... check out the details here: http://www.blankslatebooks.co.uk/2011/11/nelson-week-19th-27th-november-2011/

Christmas Craft Fairs!

2011-11-09T15:20:00.000Z

Just letting you know about two Christmas craft fairs that I'm taking part in at the end of November. Come along for handmade Christmas presents, mulled wine and cakes!

On Saturday the 26th November I'll be at the Wonder Hill market at the Miller pub in London Bridge (96 Snowfields Road, SE1 3SS)

The next day (Sunday 27th November) I'll be at the Winter Craft Market in Lewisham. It's in the Fox & Firkin pub... 316 Lewisham High Street, SE13 6JZ

I'll be sharing a space with the fab illustrator Vicky Scott... here are two of my favourites by Vicky:

Check out her website here: http://www.vickysworld.co.uk/

Mail Art!

2011-10-27T22:39:00.001+01:00

I found out about Canadian artist Jessica Gowling's artwork through Twitter some time ago, and became really interested in the Mail Art that she does. She creates beautiful packages of fun and interesting art and ephemera that she sends to other artists around the world, and in return they create packages for her. After doing a zine-swap with Jessica in April, I really wanted to make a nice mail art package for her and finally got round to it a few weeks ago. I have to admit to getting a bit carried away making my package... from worrying that I wouldn't have anything to go in it, I ended up with way too much! Here are some pics of what I sent:

There were a few little bits of my artwork including a pencil drawing and some prints, some photos of my garden wildlife and my street, some 70s fashion, a letter, and various other odds & ends. Within the package there was also a little tissue paper parcel containing some 'Loteria' cards from Mexico, a flower, a doll from Guatemala, and some badges/magnets.

There was also a Mexican peso!

I included an envelope containing some postcards & cards by a few of my UK illustrator friends... and some tiny samples of Japanese handmade paper

Because Jessica often creates her own handmade custom envelopes, I wanted to do some work on my envelope. I decorated the front, and as there happened to be a trashy gossip magazine to hand... I decided to create a collage on the back with some of the funniest headlines and snippets from the mag.

Now on to Jessica's package, which I received last week. I did indeed receive a lovely handmade envelope, with flowers taped over the sealed opening on the back:

Of course there were beautiful Canadian stamps on the front too (Jessica being a big fan of stamps, I'd made sure to get stamps with pictures on them when I took my package to the post office! But the UK ones I got weren't a patch on these beauties...)

I felt very honoured to get one of Jessica's hand-printed Moleskine notebooks in my parcel, with an illustration of an owl on it. It was especially welcome as I had been on the look-out for a new notebook

There were also various other owl-themed items, including a letter on owl notepaper, and this amazing owl-painting sticker:

There were other nature stickers, a bird illustration postcard, and possibly my other favourite item: an awesomely random advert coupon for a lawnmower catalogue!

I can't wait to do more mail art... it's so great to receive stuff in the post, and reminds me of the fun and silly letters I used to write to friends as a child. Jessica's blog Nature's My Friend is a fascinating read, and she (somehow) manages to post virtually every day! Do check it out to see what other creative projects she does with artists worldwide... from ongoing mail collaborations, to trout decals that get sent around the world and have to be stuck in interesting public places! Amazing stuff. Highly recommended.

Recent News

2011-10-10T14:46:00.000+01:00

Just a little update on my recent news! I'm partway through a commission for Oxford University Press which has been great fun... and also very exciting for me as they're a publisher that I've always wanted to work for. I've created an illustration for them based on one of Aesop's Fables... the story of the Travellers and The Bear. I'm only showing a little peek at the moment, and a glimpse of the colour-planning that I did to give the illustration a hint of old-fashioned story-book illustrations from the turn of the century. The illustration shows the moment that the bear leans over the traveller who is playing dead, and instead of eating him... it whispers in his ear.

In other news I attended the opening of Stuart Whitton's amazing exhibition 'Origin' at the Exposure Gallery on Little Portland Street in London. Stuart is a fantastic pencil artist, and being a pencil enthusiast myself I was very pleased to get a chance to see his originals at the exhibition. The exhibition continues until the end of October, 10am to 6pm, so if you get a chance do go along and have a look. You can see more of Stuart's pencil illustrations and portraits at his website here: http://www.stuartwhitton.co.uk/

Talking of pencil... I'm working on pencil drawings of foxes for a personal book project at the moment. I realised that as my photographs of the foxes and cubs that live in my garden ALWAYS get such a fantastic response on Twitter... I should somehow turn them into a new book project for my small-press book-list! This will take some time, as I have to fit it in around other projects, but I hope to produce a new book with quite a personal angle on what it's like to live so close to a rambunctious family of foxes year after year. I've made a start though... and here are a few snippets. 95% of the illustrations in the book will be drawn from my own photographs. The image of the two adult foxes below is based on a photo my neighbour Ken took through his back door, of a pair he used to give leftovers to... waiting patiently by his back door to see if there were any bits of food coming their way.

This final illustration is a winter-themed painting I did of the National Theatre. It's my entry in a competition they were running... I'll keep you posted if there's any news on how I did!

A sneak peek at some work in progress

2011-07-27T08:43:00.002+01:00

Here are a couple of pics from a project I'm currently working on. I'm about halfway through illustrating this Indian folk tale, and really enjoying it! My colour-scheme of earth colours and hot reds, yellows and oranges was inspired by Dulac, one of those classical illustrators who I really love. And also inspired by India itself of course. You can click on these images for a closer look.

'New Cross Turn Left' Comics/Small Press Garden Party!

2011-07-25T16:43:00.002+01:00

Just a little update on an event I took part in yesterday... New Cross Turn Left was organised by members of the Fleece Station studio (and others,) and it was a great sunny event full of comics and cake. The studio is part of the Old Police Station in New Cross... and there was lots going on including comedy, music, a theatre piece based on Gary Northfield's 'Derek the Sheep' ...plus thought-provoking art installations in the old police cells. Here are a few pictures of the event...

My handmade books were on display next to Katie Green's gorgeous zines, jewellery and mini original paintings on wood... click on the photo below to see in more detail or go to Katie's blog here: http://katiegreenbean.blogspot.com/ I also had El Ashfield and Corinne Davies' great series of 'Ralph' books on display. http://www.ralphisnotasuperhero.co.uk/

Finally some photos of the event by my boyfriend and occasional collaborator Sergio Galaviz, who was selling mini collections of photographic prints, beautifully presented in string-tie envelopes.

Illustrated map of Mexico!

2011-06-02T11:39:00.010+01:00

I've just finished an illustrated map of Mexico for this wonderful website:
www.theydrawandtravel.com
Anyone can submit an illustration to this site... you might be familiar with their sister site They Draw and Cook which invited illustrators and designers to submit illustrated recipes. (Mine is here! http://www.theydrawandcook.com/recipes/roasted-butternut-squash-and-sage-risotto-by-katriona-chapman) The brief with They Draw and Travel is to illustrate a map of your favourite town, city or country, and to make it quite personal... focusing on places that you particularly love and also that are less well-known. Click on the map above to see it at full-size!

I found it very hard to narrow my favourite places in Mexico down to a few that would fit on this map... but I also enjoyed illustrating the aspects of Mexico that I particularly love (the amazing natural spaces and wildlife, the archaeological sites and the indigenous communities.) Some of the places I've included aren't necessarily less well-known, but they often get missed out because they're difficult to reach, or miles from anywhere else! But as I found on my first big backpacking trip around Mexico in 2003/2004... the absolute best experiences I had came from travelling as far off the beaten track as possible. Here are close-ups of a few details from my map...

Also related to Mexico: click on the image below to check out the section of my blog that documents my love of Mayan art

Also, click on this image to see the 'travel sketches' section of my website (which is dominated by sketches of Mexico!)

International Alternative Press Festival Round-up

2011-05-30T14:21:00.003+01:00

The alternative press festival yesterday and Saturday went very well... I met some great people and I'm going to share some of their fantastic work here.

A highlight for me was Elisabeth Fairman from the Yale Centre for British Art buying a copy of my book 'The Garden', to add to the permanent collection of rare books that she curates :o)

Here are a few of my photos of the festival...

Here are examples of some of the work I enjoyed seeing over the weekend.

Ellen Lindner http://littlewhitebird.com/

Elli Chortara http://ellichort.wordpress.com/

Mike Medaglia http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Medaglia/11589937059

Esther McManus http://esthermcmanus.blogspot.com/

Elliot Baggott http://surrealistetiquette.blogspot.com/

Collemoki http://collemoki.blogspot.com/

Kripa Joshi http://www.missmoti.com/Miss_Moti/Welcome.html

Woodrow Phoenix http://www.woodrowphoenix.co.uk/

Kazuko Morishita http://www.kazukomorishita.com/

The Literary Gift Company http://www.theliterarygiftcompany.com/index.asp
This great online shop has a range of amazing products for book-lovers...

It was a fun weekend and I was so glad I took part.

Update!

2011-05-23T11:21:00.003+01:00

I've been busy lately and haven't updated my blog in a while... so here's a little round-up of my news. I've just completed a children's book commission for HarperCollins Big Cat, and as the book isn't out yet I can only show you a few snippets. Look out for more pictures when the book comes out in September!

I'm also working on a really fun project at the moment which ties in with my love of Mexico. Here are a few bits and pieces... a sneak preview of some of the elements that will be in the final piece (which hopefully I'll be able to post by the end of the week.)

This week I'm also preparing for the Alternative Press Festival which is taking place at the weekend in Conway Hall, Bloomsbury. I have a stall at the festival selling my handmade books (plus prints and cards and other fun stuff) ...I'll be there on Saturday and Sunday the 28th and 29th, from 10am til 4pm. If you're in London over the weekend, do drop in because it sounds like an amazing event! As well as all the comics, zines and art-books for sale there will also be all kinds of workshops and other fun things going on.

Finally... a month ago my garden once again became host to a litter of lovely fox cubs. This year the poor mother fox had eight cubs... a huge litter! Here are a few of my favourite photos of them, plus some photos of the ACEOs that I made in their honour. ACEOs are trading-card-sized original artworks. There are still three of the set I made available at my etsy shop! (www.etsy.com/shop/sleepingllama)

It's Your Write, Colouring book, ACEOs

2011-04-08T15:00:00.008+01:00

Last night's It's Your Write event at the V&A Museum of Childhood was great... I sold some books and prints, did a few swaps, met some great people, and saw the museum's amazing collection of toys. It was great to see toys that I remembered from my childhood (marble run!) and also toys from throughout history and from different countries around the world.

Ed Boxall, Lorna Crabbe

Mary Kilvert

Mary and I!

My stall.

Also at It's Your Write were Mary Kilvert, Ed Boxall and Lorna Crabbe... they all do lovely work and I was lucky enough to go home with books from all of their stalls. I also got to meet the Alternative Press, who I'll be seeing again at the end of May for the alternative press festival. They created an on-the-spot zine during the event, collecting content from people and photocopying/stapling it on the night.

New items on my stall were my Beautiful Birds colouring book (which is really fun, and suitable for kids & adults alike!) ...and my ACEO cards. I love the idea of ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions & Originals)... artists produce work that is trading-card size, so that people have the option of buying a piece original art at a very reasonable price. As someone who loves working small it suits me very well, and I love the idea of making original art affordable. I've created ten ACEOs so far: a series of 5 celebrating my favourite spring-time plants, and another series of 5 on the theme of tea and coffee. The art cards and colouring book are all available on my etsy shop, and you can also buy the colouring book at my Tomatito Press site.

News

2011-03-19T18:07:00.000Z

Here's a little round-up of my recent news! A week ago I participated in the London Comics/Small Press Expo... it was good fun and I met some great people. It was really hard not to spend all my money on other peoples' artwork! Here's some of the great stuff I picked up.

These three ladies were a pleasure to meet, and have some lovely illustrations and book art that's worth checking out: Katie Green, Marisa Cherry Saunders & Jess Bradley. I particularly enjoyed Jess Bradley's colouring book because I hadn't played with one of those in many years! Here are a few pages that I coloured while I was resting the day after the expo.

My friend Clint Green also had a stall at the expo, and his first comic project 'Taroch' sold lots & lots of copies! Here he is on the left with his illustrator Luke Orrin... check out Taroch here: http://www.tarochcomic.com/

The fair inspired me to start experimenting with artwork for a secret new book project. Here's a sneak peek at the experiment so far...

I've also just found out that I've got a table at the International Alternative Press Festival in London on the 28th and 29th of May. This sounds like a great event... more info can be found here.

The London Comic and Small Press Expo

2011-03-08T15:59:00.005Z

This Saturday I'm going to have a stall at the London comic and small press expo at Goldsmiths College, New Cross. It will be quite strange as I graduated from Goldsmiths about ten years ago, & even though I pass it almost every day, I haven't been inside since! It's also my first experience of selling my handmade books at a fair, so it's very exciting. I thought I'd show some of the bits and pieces that I've been working on to decorate my stall with. The expo lasts all day from 10.00 until 5.00, so any Londoners out there, please drop in and say hello! There'll be a lot of great stuff to see... there are talks and signings with guests such as the great Dave McKean. You can see a list of exhibitors and events here: www.spexpo.co.uk/londonfaq

New work...

2011-03-07T12:26:00.000Z

I've just finished this book cover illustration for a book of Medieval stories for Floris Books. They'll add a colour to the background when they create the final cover design.

Mexico Images!

2011-02-25T15:48:00.011Z

I didn't sketch a lot during my recent holiday in Mexico... mainly because I went on a road trip driving from La Paz, Baja California to Los Angeles and back. Most of my time was spent in a car! But here are the few sketches that I managed to get done... plus a few of my favourite photos from the trip.

Small Presses: Ed Boxall - Pear Box Press

2011-01-16T18:22:00.007Z

I bought Ed Boxall's book 'The Gardener' at the Handmade and Bound Bookfair in London in November... and it's inspired me to do a series for this blog about people involved in handmade/small press books. Ed agreed to answer some questions about his charming and evocative books, and his Pear Box Press projects.

I'm very interested in why people self-publish, especially when (like you) they obviously work with big publishing houses as well and it's not for lack of success in the traditional publishing world. Why did you first become interested in publishing books yourself?

To be honest it was for ‘lack of success in the traditional publishing world’ that I self publish. I got into self publishing because Walker Books dumped me! My relationship with Walkers was the best thing in the world in that they taught me loads about making books and then by dumping me they gave me the passion to do it alone!

What do you particularly enjoy about it? Are there any downsides?

I can’t bear having bosses. I am allergic to working for other people for more than five minutes! So self publishing suits me very well and gives me a brilliant sense of freedom. I feel like I’m getting away with something. The established publishing world is a great big mountain that you assume you have to climb, but you don’t: you can just walk off and do your own thing. If you make something good, people will buy it. You don’t need an army of editors and marketing people to tell you whether something will sell.

The downside is simply the practicalities of distribution: I only have around 25 retailers, and that’s taken ages to build up as there’s always fifty other more important things to do than send off samples to shops.

Another downside about not having an editor is obvious mistakes and possibilities can be missed. There are spelling mistakes in my books. And ideas that could be taken further. The thing to do is replace editors with a supportive but honest peer group: some kind of self publishing club who can give you feedback. I’m working on this!

Your stories have a wonderful earthy quality, a gentleness and an almost spiritual sense of connection between people and places and the natural world. It seems that you get a lot of inspiration from specific places that you visit. Is that true? And what else inspires you when you make these books?

Thank you so much! That is the kindest thing I’ve ever heard about my work but does get what I’m trying to achieve well. I am very inspired by specific places. ‘The Railway Enthusiast’ absolutely smells of

Wales

to me and The Shipwrecked Sailor is set in Hastings. When I go somewhere amazing I often feel like I’m only glimpsing the surface. I make books to go much deeper into what these places mean to me. I realise now I find one key image that enchants a place or a thing and makes it’s magic more real for me. Finding the tree in the seashell in ‘The Shell Collector’ enchants what a sea shell is all about, and the moon at the bottom of the sea in ‘The Shipwrecked Sailor’ is an image that tries to express the mystery and madness of the ocean.

I actually think of my books as specific places - I hope they are in no way generic. They are particular places I like to go to. Not very urban, am I?

They also have quite a poignancy and atmosphere... is the mood/feel of the story something that you think about a lot when creating your books?

I hope there’s a melancholy. There’s a feeling of melancholy that feels very real and free. I also hope there’s a real sense of the outdoors- of moonlight, air and weather.

There’s a narrative from image to image but also an atmosphere in the marks and textures that I enjoy in a kind of wordless daydream. I hope other people get this too.

How did the 'Storm Tree Stories' come about?

After spending alot of time chasing what Walker wanted I wanted to do something that was exactly what I wanted. In my heart-of-hearts I wanted to make work that was full of enchantment for the british countryside. Childhood holidays are the starting point but each story opens onto something expansive... a sense of something limitless: the ‘sky full of places to go’ in the shell collector or ‘old Felldun’ in The Railway Enthusiast.

What kind of books did you like when you were a child?

I learnt my letters from John Burningham’s earliest Alphabet, I think from the late 60s or early 70s (see below.) I loved CS Lewis but also Spiderman and then Willard Price’s ‘adventure’ series.

How do your illustrations differ when working for a traditional publishing house or when working for yourself? Do you ask for any feedback from other people when you work on one of your own stories, or do you work very independently?

I can be very playful and personal in how I use markmaking, found imagery and textures working for myself. Things occur to me to put into my Pearbox Press books that I’d probably be very shy about putting to a big publisher. The important thing the big publishers taught me was about covers: how a picture book needs to communicate what it’s about (and be desirable) through the cover in a few seconds. My covers are simple and immediate but then, inside I’m really personal and specific and I hope there’s lots of subtleties.

I work really independently and then, quite late on, I show the books to my wife who is extremely blunt and honest. I also have about 3 or 4 other trusted people I show my unfinished books to. There’s often things they see that can be improved. I am very nervous of feedback and crumble under criticism - a bit pathetic really.

How do you promote your work? What have been the most valuable lessons you've learned about acting as publisher/marketer/vendor of your own books? How do you approach finding channels/venues to sell your books?

Slowly, gently and fairly ineffectually. I’m not a natural business man at all.

I noticed that my copy of The Gardener is a third edition... did you make any changes between editions? Do you print/bind the books yourself?

I didn’t make any changes. I don’t print or bind them myself- a fabulous local printer called GH Graphics does all that. But I write, illustrate and design them myself. My prints are completely handmade by me though!

Printmaking always seems to me to be a natural companion to the making of handmade/small-press books. Have you always been interested in printmaking techniques? You seem to vary your media from project to project, from collage to pencil to paint to printmaking. What informs which media you choose for a particular project?

I absolutely love printmaking and I make prints all the time. In contrast, I’ll make a book or two a year. I love doing both. My prints are for walls: they aim to be graphic and to have impact from a distance but to be involving and subtle on further inspection! In contrast, you hold books up close. It’s an intimate wondering about with your eyes. So, my books are often much more about texture and ‘visual noise’.

What are you working on at the moment?

There are 2 more ‘sky stories’ to go with ‘The Rooftop Garden’ all finished but I need dosh to print them. I also need to re-print all the books that have sold out and I haven’t re-printed yet: ‘The Birdwatcher’, ‘The Railway Enthusiast’ and ‘The Shipwrecked Sailor’. So if anyone has a spare £5000...

Also, I am absolutly loving making some large prints for an exhibition at the Craft Centre and Design Gallery in Leeds that opens at the start of March.

You can see more at Ed's website: http://edboxall.co.uk/

New book!

2011-01-13T09:36:00.003Z

I'm currently working on a new handmade book called The Garden. This time it's a hardback book, and making the covers has been really fun (if quite time-consuming!) This book came about after a collaboration I did with my partner Sergio who draws fantastical line drawings in ink... he compiled a collection which I then coloured in pencil and bound into a beautiful concertina book which ties closed with ribbon. You can find out more at my small press blog, where I'm also giving away a free copy: www.tomatitopress.blogpot.com Please stop by and leave a comment with your e-mail address if you'd like to win a copy of the book.

From my collection: 'A Bit Lost' by Chris Haughton

2011-01-05T13:22:00.004Z

I recently added 'A Bit Lost' to my picture book collection, and it's one of my very favourite new books. The story is picture book perfection... very simple, but very funny and with gorgeous illustrations. The colours of the book are beautiful, and they're not afraid of using dark colours (which I like.) The whole design of the book is sophisticated and very pleasing to look at.

The characters are very appealing and bursting with expression, in spite of their simplicity.

There's a wonderful use of empty space on the pages, which give the illustrations room to breathe and helps to emphasise the smallness of the little lost owl. The compositions are flawless, and there's one half-page variation in page size at the beginning of the story which adds drama to the owl's fall from his nest.

This is my favourite page, where the little owl has told the squirrel that his mummy is 'very big', and the squirrel thinks he knows exactly which creature is being described...

The book is an excellent lesson in how to tell a story with simplicity and style.

You can buy it here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bit-Lost-Chris-Haughton/dp/1406327468

Chris Haughton's website is here:

http://www.vegetablefriedrice.com/

Christmas!

2010-12-30T13:26:00.003Z

I had a nice Christmas in the Scottish Highlands... I didn't do any sketching, but did go for lots of long, peaceful walks and drives in the snow. I saw some mountains that were just stunning... I'm a big fan of mountains! In fact the cottage I stayed in looked out over an amazing mountain landscape. Here are some photos of my Christmas.

Unbelievably... this was the view from our cottage!

Looking out the front door of the cottage... moon above the mountains.

Some people in Scotland live in very remote locations...

Kishorn Islands

Skye...

The mountains at Torridon

Some of these icicles were so big, I wouldn't have been able to get my hand around them!

On one of my walks... the surface of the snow was all crystalised into beautiful ice formations. This is a close-up.

Spotting deer is one of my favourite Highlands activities. These ones were grazing at the side of the road.

Happy New Year everyone!

New work...

2010-12-17T09:31:00.001Z

I've just finished a job for Hinkler Books in Australia, 'Jo and Jess go to the Dentist.' I've made a little montage of bits and pieces from this book...

Matthew Forsythe's 'Ojingogo'

2010-12-12T18:51:00.003Z

This is another favourite from my collection of illustrated books. I love Ojingogo because it's so unusual... it's difficult to even think of it as a comic or graphic novel, and it's pretty much impossible to say what it's about. The sleeve-notes describe it as "tossing aside traditional narrative conventions in favour of creating its own world, language and rules." The only words in the book are Hangul (the Korean alphabet.) I love stories that are quite surreal and humourous and beautifully drawn, and Ojingogo is a perfect example of this! I also like the Asian influences, drawn from Matthew's time as a kindergarten teacher in Korea. He thanks his former students at the back of the book and has even done little portraits of them. The book is also a lovely object... it's a great size and printed on beautiful paper. The cover has a nice texture, and the splash of orange on the inside of the cover gives a great accent to the otherwise very muted colour palette.

Here are some of my favourite illustrations from the book.

You can buy Ojingogo here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ojingogo-Matthew-Forsythe/dp/1897299699

Matt's awesome website is here: http://comingupforair.net/

New Christmas card illustration

2010-11-17T00:18:00.000Z

Today I completed this brand new illustration for a Christmas card. It's on sale at my Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/61995682/robins-christmas-card

Pencil drawings

2010-11-15T08:02:00.000Z

I'm very busy at the moment but thought it was time for a new blog post... so I decided to feature some work that's a year or two old, and quite different from my illustration work! I created this series of pencil drawings for a group exhibition that I took part in at the Shunt Vaults space underneath London Bridge station. They're all based on curves and spirals that occur in the natural world. The last photo shows how I displayed them in the exhibition. The vaults are quite dark, and I put black window-mounts around the drawings then lit them with a tightly-focused theatre spotlight directed at each one.

Here are some pieces by the other artists that were on display. Firstly some beautiful tiny photographs by my lovely boyfriend ...

Second a painting by my friend Masha...

...and thirdly some photographs by my friend Chris.

Two events in one week!

2010-11-02T11:49:00.001Z

This week I had both the launch of 'Little Devil' and a joint open studio exhibition in my friend's painting studio. The Little Devil launch tied in nicely with Halloween, and we prowled the street outside Bookends children's book-shop in Clerkenwell wearing devil horns and waving pitchforks. The open studio was lovely too... very atmospheric with candle-light after dark. We even had a Halloween visitor in the shape of a beautiful toad who was lurking in the bathroom but soon came through to have a look at the paintings. Here's a round-up of the best photos!

News

2010-10-15T12:59:00.001+01:00

A lot of my time over the last few months has been tied up with my hand-made book project 'Five,' so I thought I should do a round-up of other recent news. In the last few weeks two other books have come out featuring my illustrations... one is a lovely chapter book by the sister of Five's author, Simone Solon. 'Little Devil' is a really fun story about three children whose lives are turned upside down when they meet an imp called LD. Little Devil's website is here: www.pumpkinpie.com/littledevil/

The illustrations for this book were really fun, as LD is the embodiment of naughtiness and it was great capturing his bad behaviour. I also did my first wrap-around cover for this book.

The other book that came out recently was '100 Bible Stories,' published by Miles Kelly. I did 22 illustrations for this book, mostly spot illustrations but also a few full-pages. I was particularly pleased with the Moses scene.

I also had a great illustrator meet-up recently with three illustrators whose work I really like. I met Anna Wadham, Lisa Evans and Mary Kilvert for coffee and cake at Scooterworks Cafe in Waterloo... thanks to Mary for the photos! And yes my top matches the tablecloth.

Anna I had met once before, at the London Book Fair... and it was great to catch up. For the book fair we'd both had to create illustrations to go with a letter of the alphabet for our then agent, and she did this gorgeous owl illustration. I also love the rabbit below. You can see her work at www.a nnawadham.blogspot.com.

Lisa's work I came across early on in my illustration career, when I bought Martin Salisbury's book 'Illustrating Children's Books' and some of her student work was featured in there. I found it very inspiring, and her style has evolved in incredible ways since then! Here are a few pieces that I love from her website www.firefluff.com.

Mary creates beautiful patterns and also works in almost every field of illustration that exists! Last Christmas I attended Bust Magazine's Christmas Craftacular craft fair in London, and bought a gorgeous limited edition book of postcards by 'Girls Who Draw' which Mary featured in.

She also helps to run a great blog about illustrators and their cats called 'We Say Meow.' Her portfolio site is www.marykilvert.com.

All three illustrators have great Etsy shops with beautiful illustrated products for sale... you can find them here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/AnnaWadham
http://www.etsy.com/shop/firefluff
http://www.etsy.com/shop/marykilvert

My little book 'Five' gets featured in various places on the web!

2010-10-02T12:46:00.000+01:00

I'm very proud that my little hand-made book 'Five' has had some nice mentions on some great websites recently.

If you don't already know Book By Its Cover... it's an absolutely beautiful website run by Julia Rothman in New York. It features amazingly illustrated and designed books of every kind, categorised into groups such as 'childrens' 'hand-made' 'comics' 'fine art' and 'sketchbooks.' It's a real pleasure to see my book there: www.book-by-its-cover.com

There was also a very nice feature by illustrator Jo Fallon (www.jofallon.co.uk) on the great illustration site Ape on the Moon. In that one you can see my workspace where I cut, sew and stick my copies of Five! www.apeonthemoon.com

Illustrator Jonathan Woodward also asked me to write a guest post on his great website www.zero2illo.com - The post goes into all the details of how my collaborator Masha and I went about creating our book from concept to print. There will be a second part to this article coming soon, detailing how we went about the second stage of our book project... promotion, distribution to bookshops, launch etc. Now I just have to write it...

Book Giveaway!

2010-09-18T21:27:00.004+01:00

Want to know what this little hummingbird's nest has to do with my hand-made book project?! Want to win a free copy of my new book?

To be entered into the prize draw, visit Five's website here: www.thefivebook.blogspot.com and leave a comment.

Good luck!

Article about my book project by Edward Lukes.

2010-09-09T17:06:00.001+01:00

My good friend, journalist Edward Lukes, has written a great article about my hand-made book 'Five' which I'm about to launch in two week's time. The article gives a bit of background about the project... how it came about, and what some of our inspirations were.

You can have a look over at Five's own website: http://www.thefivebook.blogspot.com

New Illustration - Empress Cixi

2010-09-02T22:14:00.003+01:00

Just a quick post... an illustration I finished today of Empress Cixi of the Qing Dynasty. 慈禧太后
This was a lovely illustration to do because the amazing costumes of this period!

Mayan art

2010-08-23T16:56:00.012+01:00

I've never been a huge fan of visiting art galleries, but I was thinking the other day about a time when I was so interested in a particular kind of art that I couldn't get enough of visiting museums and libraries to study examples of this work. It was when I was travelling in Mexico & Central America, and the art was that of the Mayan civilisations that had already collapsed by the time of the Spanish conquests in that part of the world. The main focus of my nine month trip became visiting ruins, archaeological sites and museums because I found the visual style of Mayan art so incredible. I sketched a lot during the trip, and also did paintings and drawings of Mayan sculpture after I got back to the UK.

These two examples are oil paintings... the one below is a study of carved Mayan hieroglyphs based on a detail of a photo I took at the ruins of Palenque in Mexico. This amazing form of syllabic writing is extremely complicated, and in spite of major advances in the 70s and 80s still can't be 100% deciphered. The painting at the start of this post is based on a photo I took at Monte Alban in Mexico.

One of the things I especially like about the way the Mayans depicted people, is that in spite of how stylised the images are (for example the faces are idealised profiles and tend to all look very similar) ...many of the physical poses of the people are oddly naturalistic. The costumes and head-dresses are usually shown in elaborate detail, and the body and limbs of the figure comparatively plain and simple. The figures often have exaggerated, dance-like hand positions which are so expressive compared to the uniformly expressionless faces. Here are some examples from my sketchbook... most of these are drawings of low-relief carvings, but the colour example here is from one of the few surviving full-colour murals that can still be seen (at Bonampak, Mexico.) I did go to see these murals, but the deterioration is very advanced and I copied this from a painting made by Antonio Tejeda (who was commissioned by the Carnegie Institute to copy the murals in 1946 when they were first discovered.) This part of the murals shows a king being dressed in preparation for a ceremony. A couple of these examples are Totonac rather than Mayan... the photo of a sculpted face of a woman shows how varied the styles of artwork could be between the different pre-Hispanic civilisations.

Often Mayan works of art were actually decorative parts of buildings... as in this example of an incredible carved wall at the ruins of Kabah in Mexico. The decoration is made up of hundreds of repeated carved masks of the rain god Chac, and I've included a photo I took of the wall and the drawing of a section of it that I did when I got home.

One of the most spectacular archaeological sites for carvings is Copan in Honduras. Copan has numerous stelae... large free-standing sculptures of kings and priests with their finery depicted in bewildering detail. This first drawing shows a stela standing at the foot of a flight of stone stairs, and is based on my own photos. The other examples are all copies of engravings made by the amazing artist Frederick Catherwood... an early English traveller in Central America who fought illness and incredibly harsh conditions to document Mayan sculptures and ruins painstakingly by hand from 1839 to 1843. Some more of his lithographs can be seen here: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/catherwood.htm

I'll end this post with a few more sketchbook pages from my trips to museums in Mexico and Central America. Again there are a few examples here that aren't Mayan, but still serve to show the amazing beauty and strangeness of pre-Hispanic art. I particularly love the way animals are shown to be of great symbolic importance in many of these examples.

Lots of exciting new developments with my book project!

2010-08-20T11:44:00.000+01:00

There are a couple of new posts over at the blog of my handmade book 'Five'...
The book has officially gone into production and the countdown to the launch begins!!!

www.thefivebook.blogspot.com

Illustration step-by-step

2010-07-27T13:46:00.002+01:00

I've finished my third illustration of the girl with the red hat... and this time I took photos so that I could do a step-by-step blog post. I thought it might be fun because I would be using some watercolour texture techniques to make the manatee's skin look rough and barnacle-y!

1) I began by masking out the whole figure of the girl and the bubbles, so that I could splash around a lot of paint for the watery background without worrying about paint straying onto her skin.

2) Next I did a wash in cerulean blue to start filling in the water.

3) I added another wash on top in blue and green.

4) I scraped some fragments of watercolour pencil onto a spare piece of paper, then when I painted the manatee I dropped a little salt and this pencil dust into the wet paint.

5) Here's another close-up after I've brushed off the salt and excess pencil scrapings...

6) I didn't have much else to do in watercolour except fill in some areas of the girl. I had a bit of a disaster taking the masking fluid off as it took the surface of the paper off in a few places (something that's never happened before!) I still have no idea why... but I decided it was rescue-able and that I could work around the damage.

7) I switched to watercolour pencils to tidy up edges and add detail to the characters... and that's about it!

Watercolour is really enjoyable when you add texture with salt and things, but it can be pretty unpredictable and prone to problems like masking fluid malfunctions. But then again that's all part of the fun. My artwork tends to be very controlled so I like the gamble of using watercolour, where you're literally forced to incorporate random elements that emerge during the process of painting.

Second illustration of the girl-in-the-red-hat!

2010-07-22T16:34:00.000+01:00

This is number two in the set that I'm working on this week...

New Illustration

2010-07-21T19:03:00.005+01:00

I've just finished this new illustration... more in this series with the little girl and her animal compadres to come very soon!

Newlyn, Cornwall

2010-07-07T00:53:00.004+01:00

I've just returned from a week's holiday in Cornwall, so I thought I'd post a few of my sketches and favourite photos from the trip.

The village I stayed in was called Newlyn, and although it's primarily a fishing village it also has a strong artistic legacy with a recognised movement, the 'Newlyn School,' named after it. The Newlyn School were based in and around Newlyn from the 1800s until the early 20th century. They specialised in painting from life, often 'en plein air.' I can understand their fascination with Newlyn because I fell in love with it myself. I love boats and fishing communities, and the village seemed to be one of the least touristy of the area's towns and villages. My cottage was only a couple of hundred yards from the water's edge and had a panoramic view of the sea which was so relaxing to just sit and stare at...

The rest of my photos are on Flickr here... with separate sets for my rock-pool photos and exotic plant-life photos from the famous abbey gardens on the island of Tresco in the Scilly Isles.

I've picked four paintings by the Newlyn School to feature here... their work is sometimes on the sentimental side for me, but there are some lovely pieces and it's also great to see some of the places I visited on my trip in their work! The first is a watercolour by Harold Knight...

This one is a watercolour by Harold's wife Laura, and it's a piece influenced by art nouveau (which I always have a real weakness for!)

This is by Walter Langley

This is by Stanhope A. Forbes

Here are also three wonderful old photos of Newlyn from the 'Newlyn Trail Guidebook' (published by Golowan Community Arts,) followed by a photo I took to show the harbour-side as it is now.

From my collection: 'Kerstmis' by Dick Bruna (first published 1963)

2010-06-25T12:40:00.002+01:00

I rediscovered Dick Bruna's Christmas book a couple of years ago. Looking for examples of his illustration work online I came across the cover image, and had one of those moments of overwhelming nostalgia when I realised that it was a book I'd had as a small child and loved... but had then forgotten all about. My flatmate was at the time making regular business trips to Utrecht, Bruna's hometown in the Netherlands, so she hunted around for a copy of Kerstmis for me. My edition comes with a dvd featuring Bruna himself reading the story in Dutch, which is a lovely extra feature!

I've chosen my favourite images from the book to show... I think his use of colour and space is absolutely wonderful, and his shapes are somehow incredibly pleasing. For children reading his books, I think there's something quite reassuring about the simplicity of his images. I can remember as a child being influenced by the way he painted the hair on this angel... I remember often drawing children with little wisps or curls like this! There's a wonderful article on Tiarne Van Dyk's blog here about Bruna's working methods, and it's really interesting to see how much effort he put into creating these deceptively simple illustrations. I also love the unusual long format of this book.

This last one is my favourite illustration from the whole book. The use of empty space is great, and I also love how childlike the gesture and expression of the character is.

As a child I was a bit obsessed with Christmas... I wasn't brought up in a religious family, but I loved lots of the rituals associated with it, like the decorations, the advent calendar, and (my favourite thing of all) the stocking at the end of the bed. I have many many drawings that I did as a child on the subject of Christmas, so I thought I'd finish off this post by showing three of them here. The first is this very athletic-looking Father Christmas... who's quite slim and even seems to be wearing some kind of tracksuit with a stripe along the leg. My favourite thing about this image is that I initially didn't make the sleigh long enough to carry all the presents, so I extended it at the back. I also like the nails in the wooden part of the sleigh!

Here's a very geeky snowman...

...and a couple of angels with harps. At this point I was using lots of collage elements in my drawings, and I've made their halos out of tin foil.

My contribution to Colonel Windpipe's Musical Brigade

2010-06-17T17:34:00.001+01:00

As soon as I heard about this collaborative illustration project dreamed up by illustrators Uberkraft and Lesley Barnes, I knew I wanted to join in. Their idea was to create an illustrated marching band, comprising characters designed by them and other illustrators who could apply to take part. It's a really fun task to create a new character for the band... interesting to create something in your own style but that also fits in with the overall series. My character is called Sergeant Solomon Skink and he plays the sousaphone. (After painting a sousaphone in my Mexican street scene illustration, I thought it would be fun to incorporate that instrument again.) Colonel Windpipe's blog can be seen at http://www.colonelwindpipe.blogspot.com and there's a group on Flickr where you can see all the band members that have been contributed so far: http://www.flickr.com/groups/colonelwindpipe/pool/

Marketing and promoting a book

2010-06-14T13:53:00.009+01:00

At its most basic level, book marketing consists of the following:

1) Identifying and reaching the target audience
2) Telling them that your book is available
3) Persuading them to read it

As this article is following on from my earlier article about self-publishing, it’s aimed mainly at people marketing books they’ve published independently. However, I hear time and time again how important it is even for authors/illustrators who’ve published through traditional routes to market and promote their book. Even if you’re lucky enough to have a publisher who’s dedicated to promoting your book… there’s still plenty you can do yourself as the author or illustrator to make the book as successful as possible.

The three most common venues in which most self-published authors sell their books are through local book retailers, online booksellers, and independent booksellers.

There’s a really great article here about submitting your book to wholesalers, and getting it stocked by Waterstones, Amazon etc.

It’s fairly easy to get your book sold through Amazon. Amazon is massive… it gets a huge amount of traffic and your book may crop up alongside those published by big publishing houses in their ‘similar books’ lists or in readers’ lists. Amazon also allow readers to rate books so you might get some audience feedback, and they have a bestseller list that is updated every hour. There’s a good article here on getting your book onto Amazon specifically.

Web marketing can be really effective… a good website which discusses online promotion is http://www.redlemonclub.com/
You should also create a site specifically for your book and include any news, reviews, information about personal appearances that you might be making etc. If your book is for young children, write a section aimed at parents to explain why children love your book and how it benefits them.

You can even go on a virtual ‘blog tour’ promoting your book… try to get featured on as many children’s book blogs and websites as possible. Elizabeth Craig (writing on this website) has some good tips for keeping your online promotion fresh and interesting: “Try a variety of different approaches on your blog tour: interview your character, throw a contest, post on the writing craft, and do a straight-forward interview. Try to mix it up online if you’re going to lots of different sites.”

Sue Collier has written a great article here about how to maximise the effectiveness of your online book marketing. She makes the important point that you should begin promoting your book well before the publication or launch date… creating a buzz around the book before it’s out can make the launch a lot more exciting and perhaps capture the interest of reviewers.

She has another really great piece here about how important it is to get your book reviewed… some bookshops won’t consider stocking your book unless they know there’s a review coming. It’s incredibly difficult to get a review of your book in the national media, (especially if it’s a self-published book,) but local papers and local radio are open to new writers, especially if you can emphasize the local link or if your book has some topical relevance. Approaching newspapers or magazines is also a good idea… submit press releases to editors but also look out for sub-editors who might have a particular interest in your subject-matter. (There are some tips here for writing a press release.)

In fact in general emphasizing a ‘local’ angle can be useful, especially if your local area has arty or literary associations. As an example… I know a lovely shop/cafe in my area that has a section supporting local author/illustrators. I haven’t tried stocking any of my books there, and I wouldn’t expect to sell a lot of copies that way… but then again I know I’ve bought other people’s books there because I’ve been interested in the ‘local illustrator’ angle!

Having an official book launch can be a very good idea. It can kick-start your sales, and give you the opportunity to make your book available to reviewers ahead of the official launch date. Reviewers want to review books that are coming out soon, not books that have been out for a while.

Getting into libraries: I recommend this blog post by Abigail Goben about how you can get your book taken up by libraries.

If the book you’re promoting is a children’s book, it can be a good idea to get involved with school visits or talks in libraries. You can consider doing talks on writing or illustrating in general which might feature readings from your book. Or organising workshops with children based on themes from your book, leading drawing workshops, or readings with activities and games thrown in. Here’s a friend of mine (the lovely illustrator El Ashfield) taking part in a reading for children at the launch of the book 'Ralph is Not a Superhero' in Waterstones. (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=513930030652)

I also once wrote up a Brighton Illustrators Group talk I attended with Tony de Saulles, illustrator of Scholastic's fantastic Horrible Science series, where he talked about how much he enjoyed these kind of school visits. He talked about teaching children how to do some of the cartooning techniques that he uses in his Horrible Science books.

You can see Tony's website here: http://www.tonydesaulles.co.uk/ and El's here: http://www.ralphisnotasuperhero.co.uk/ ...both really good examples of how to promote your books well online as well as in person!

Barbara Cohen (writing on the wonderful ‘Purple Crayon’ website) notes that bookshops also sometimes have children’s story hours where they may welcome an author/illustrator doing readings and signing books… although she suggests that these events are less common than they used to be. She also makes the point that big city bookshops which are used to hosting ‘big names’ are unlikely to be interested in a new or unknown author/illustrator.

If you think you can generate enough interest, you can also consider book-signings. Bookshops love to have promotional events and signings are an easy way for them to create excitement in the shop. You can ask if your book signing can be promoted through their internal mailing list, or if the bookshop is a small one, you could even offer to create the publicity material for them in exchange for them paying for postage. They’re likely to be more interested in you if you make it clear that you’re going to be promoting the event well yourself.

Book fairs are ideal situations for promoting your book, although they can be expensive to take part in. If you have a publisher, they may be willing to pay the fee… if not you may be able to share a stand with other authors/illustrators to lower the cost. Fairs are great for selling copies of your book, making contacts, meeting other authors/illustrators, and possibly making future bookings with teachers or bookshop people for promotional events for your book. Appearances in person will often lead to more opportunities to do similar appearances elsewhere.

You can also enter book awards or competitions… if you win something it’s a great selling point you can add to your marketing blurb, and you’re likely to be given a sticker you can add to the cover of your book which will really make it stand out.

So these are the main points that I’ve gathered… I’ll be embarking on promoting my own handmade book project very soon now, so look out for updates here!

Two miniature paintings for Kelly Light's brilliant 'Ripple' project

2010-06-11T11:52:00.001+01:00

This morning I did two little paintings to contribute to Kelly Light's project to raise money to help the animals affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. She has asked artists and illustrators to donate sketchcards (2.5 x 3.5 inches) which she sells for $10 each. All proceeds go to the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies and the International Bird Rescue Research Centre. You can see and buy the work here: http://ripplesketches.blogspot.com/ ...but it's worth checking the site regularly as the cards tend to sell very fast! One of my favourite illustrations so far has been by Kelly's 10 year-old daughter Maggie, who drew this amazing manatee.

New Bird Illustration

2010-06-02T22:41:00.001+01:00

Here is the penultimate illustration from my bird series. Don't forget you can see most of the other illustrations from this project at my website here: http://katrionachapman.squarespace.com/the-bird-series/the-bird-series/
Just one illustration to go and I'll be ready to make handmade copies of this book. Watch this space for more developments... bookbinding is a new area for me!

Self-Publishing

2010-05-25T09:08:00.016+01:00

I decided that I’d like to write an article here about self-publishing, as I’d started to hear more and more stories of people looking for (and making a success of) alternative approaches to getting their work to an audience. When I first became interested in book illustration, I was very aware that it was becoming a very hard business to get into, and to make a living out of. I don’t really have time or space here to attempt to cover the question of why this is so, or to address the issue of the future of traditional publishing… but it does seem that illustrators are less able these days to make a full-time living by following traditional routes. Even very well-established children’s book illustrators have told me that they don’t get the same volume of work as they used to anymore. It has become necessary for them to adapt, branch out, and find other ways of supplementing their income. For the same reason I think it has also become appealing to some of them to follow new independent paths to publishing their work. I’ve been commissioned as an illustrator on two self-published book projects… both were good experiences, competitively paid and with a sense of real care being taken over the projects. I’ve also occasionally worked on personal illustrated projects of my own that I’ve thought have been too unconventional to attempt to sell to publishers, but that I’ve felt still might have a market somewhere… so that’s the point of view from which I come to the idea of self-publishing.

Definitions/terminology

First of all I thought I should address what self-publishing actually means. President and CEO of www.selfpublishingresources.com Sue Collier takes issue with the “lumping together of all options that aren’t traditionally published as ‘self-published.’” She makes the case for ‘truly’ self-published books (i.e. those where the author has started up their own publishing company imprint, obtained their own ISBN prefix, and overseen that all aspects of editing and design are done professionally) to be thought of as ‘independently published’… to distinguish them from vanity publishing. You can read more of her argument here.

She feels that writers/illustrators who do a professional job of independently publishing their own books, can get into traditional distribution channels and make a go of their book projects.

Vanity publishing is where you pay to have your book published. You pay for the production, you are offered ‘packages’ of services including manuscript editing, marketing, interior or cover design, press release mailings, listings in industry directories etc. But companies which offer these services are not in the business of selling books like a publishing house, they’re manufacturing a product for you, and they have no interest in promoting the product.

‘Print on Demand’ is another term that comes up, and there are numerous companies offering this kind of service. They will print and ship a book for you each time one is ordered, and often claim that they will deal with distribution as well, but as Joel Friedlander notes in his really useful break-down of self-publishing methods (http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2009/10/four-ways-to-publish-your-book/), “distribution usually amounts to a listing in a database and nothing more (unless, of course, you purchase an additional ‘package’.)”

A good article on these (and more) distinctions between various types of non-traditional publishing can be found on the excellent Purple Crayon website: http://www.underdown.org/publishing-options.htm

Stigma

There is a huge stigma attached to the idea of self-publishing. I find it very interesting that in the fields of music or fine art there isn't the same attitude to people taking business into their own hands... in fact artists who do what they do without courting big business deals with record companies or galleries, tend to command more respect than those who do. And in the world of comics/graphic novels, historically it has been quite a normal route to get on board with a big publisher after having published work under your own steam for a while first. Perhaps it has something to do with how each type of art-form is ‘consumed’ by its audience... you can listen to a few seconds of a song on the internet and decide immediately whether you like it or not, but with a book you have to invest a bit more time to find out whether it's any good. The main concern for people who are very anti-self publishing is one of quality control… publishers act as filters, selecting the work that has real potential so that as a consumer you can be fairly sure that the thing you’re buying won’t be total rubbish. There is also an issue of print quality, especially when it comes to picture books where the illustrations are crucial.

After I began to work on this article, the question ‘Is self-publishing viable for kid’s books’ came up as a discussion topic on Kidlitchat… a Twitter-based discussion group focussing specifically on children’s book industry topics (http://www.thehappyaccident.net/kidlitchat-transcripts/.) It’s hosted by Bonnie Adamson and Greg Pincus every Tuesday on Twitter. In that discussion, the issue of quality was the primary concern, with lots of people making the point that print-on-demand companies tend to print colour badly. People were also very keen to point out the advantages of publishing through a traditional publishing house… in terms of the huge amount of professional input that your book gets in order to ensure that it’s as good as it can be. Having complete control over every aspect of the book is quite an appealing prospect, but is your book good enough to do without the input of an experienced editor or art director?

Some conclusions…

What I’ve discovered is that self-publishing is certainly not an easier route into publishing than the traditional one… in fact in many ways it’s much, much harder, at least if you want to get your book to a wide audience. It would seem to be most suitable for niche or unusual projects, comics, non-fiction subjects and also for people who are good at marketing and/or already have an established platform/readership. It basically boils down to how well you think you can do it on your own. Can you set up enough channels through which to sell your book to make it worthwhile… have you considered how much time you’ll need to put into marketing your book? How will you overcome the stigma attached to self-published books when you do your marketing? It doesn’t really apply to children’s books or books that you’ve illustrated yourself, but it’s worth remembering that there may be legal issues you need to be aware of. You have to be careful you don’t violate copyright laws or intellectual property rights (something a traditional publisher would be very aware of.) If you’ve designed your own cover… images, fonts etc that you find online might not be as free-for-use as you thought they were. And for illustrated books, can you afford to get them printed at a good enough quality?

Joel Friedlander who runs the website www.thebookdesigner.com and who writes numerous great articles on this subject, describes a real self-publisher as someone who takes full responsibility for acting as the publisher of his/her own book. Here is his description of what this might entail:

“As such, the author will form a publishing company of his own. He will obtain his own ISBN range, so book databases will recognize his company as the publisher of the book. The author now becomes responsible for all the functions usually provided by the publisher.

The author will need to provide—or contract for—editorial, interior and cover design, proofreading, illustration, indexing, proofing and manufacturing, warehousing if books are produced by offset printing, order fulfilment and shipping, accounting, marketing, publicity and sales. The author has gone from a lone worker in front of a screen, to a replacement for a multi-function, complex business designed to acquire, create, produce, and sell a product.

To address this daunting challenge the self-published author will need to educate herself about all the areas mentioned above, and will need to become familiar with the practices of the publishing industry and the bookselling trade. She will need to learn where to place her advertising dollars, how best to launch a new book into the headwind of the non-stop news cycle, and every other function that bears on the publishing of her book.

The self-publisher who is serious about making the transition to profitability will usually use free-lance contractors to accomplish these myriad goals. She will hire a professional editor, a book designer, and a public relations or marketing professional. She will contract for the proofing and printing of her book, and will run her own book review campaign and author tour. She will recreate the infrastructure of a publishing company, but devote it all to one book. Recommendation: For niche non-fiction authors, authors with a strong existing “platform” from which to sell books directly to buyers, and for those who are energized by the prospect of marketing themselves and their ideas 24/7, self-publishing can be a rewarding path.”

There’s another great article on the subject of what you’re taking on if you decide to self-publish to this high standard, at purplecrayon.com: http://www.underdown.org/publisher-expertise.htm

Self-published author Phil Simon has created a good list of the pros and cons of taking a self-publishing approach over a traditional publishing approach here: http://smartdatacollective.com/Home/26186

The average self-published book apparently sells about 250 copies. It might not be a huge money-earner, but it might be a way to generate interest in your work. Some people occasionally do end up managing to sell the rights to their books to big publishing houses after ‘proving themselves’ independently. Obviously a strong sales record would be crucial to achieving this (in real terms over 5000 copies would be a minimum to impress a publisher, according to Peter Mayer of Overlook Press http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2010/03/11/how-self-publishing-can-lead-to-a-real-book-deal/)

There’s also a good article here on getting a self-published book taken up by a publishing house: http://www.go-publish-yourself.com/articles/book-marketing/rossm2.php

A real-life example:

Gillian McClure’s Story

Gillian McClure’s career as an illustrator and author of children’s books has spanned thirty-six years. You can see some of her beautiful illustrations at her website www.gillianmcclure.com, and she also has a blog with lots of great sketches and other content at http://gillianmcclure.blogspot.com/. She’s recently embarked on an exciting new project, starting up her own independent publishing house Plaister Press. She kindly agreed to write about the project for this article, so thank you Gillian!

"In February 2007, when I was a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Kent University, I met Sirish Rao, who had come on a fellowship from India. He told me about his publishing company Tara Books. It was started by a collective of Indian authors and artists who wanted to produce very fine children’s books on quality, handmade paper. This was at a time when the large Indian publishers were mainly mass producing educational books. Tara Books did well and is now with Frances Lincoln.

In the UK there are some established authors who have their own small publishing houses; among others, Susan Hill’s Long Barn Books and Jill Paton Walsh and John Rowe-Townsend’s Green Bay Publications. And then, of course, there was Virginia and Leonard Wolfe’s Hogarth Press. Yet despite these author publishing companies producing quality books for niche markets, there’s a stigma attached to self-publishing today and many authors are wary of going that way.

I created Plaister Press this year when a benefactor gave me £5,000 to proceed on a book independently. Despite having had twenty published picture books to my name, some having won awards, I’d been finding it increasingly difficult in the last few years to find a big publisher prepared to risk taking on my sort of book. As a result, I ended up with a dozen or so picture book stories in dummy form languishing in limbo that I was unable to complete. Plaister Press has offered me the opportunity to get round this problem. I started by bringing back into print a highly acclaimed book that had always sold well, Selkie, in order to fund work on the first of my unpublished picture books. I couldn’t have done this without a good typographer and designer and was lucky to find one who lived nearby, Lisa Kirkham, who is not only very interested in quality picture books but has also created her own typeface. Here was a chance to create a unique brand.

Our work is two-fold: working on the production of the new book – integrating not just word and image but typeface too – something I was never able to do when working with big publishers; and at the same time marketing and selling Selkie.

As our aim is to keep an autonomous and pioneering spirit, we are primarily selling through the independent bookshops and the UK distributor, Gardners. I also sell through school visits, talks, conferences and festivals.

Separating myself from the conventional publishing houses is both interesting and liberating. I hope it proves to be a commercial success too. In this digital age, with the print on demand of quality picture books about to become cost effective in the not-too-distant future, there do seem to be new and exciting opportunities for author publishers who believe in original and beautiful books for children."

Resources

The best of the online resources that I came across:

http://www.selfpublishingresources.com/

http://www.underdown.org/self-publishing.htm

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/

Organisations that might be of interest:

http://www.ibpa-online.org/index.aspx

http://www.jacketflap.com/

Coming soon: Marketing and promoting your book!

Bright Agency charity art auction

2010-05-24T08:29:00.009+01:00

On Thursday I attended an auction of original illustration artwork, organised by my agency Bright (www.thebrightagency.com) to raise money for the charity Kids Company (www.kidsco.com)
It was a lovely summer evening, and it was great to see originals by Oliver Jeffers (who'd created a piece specially for the auction) and a childhood favourite of mine Anthony Browne. I also met the lovely illustrators Mark A Chambers (www.markillustr8s.blogspot.com) and Heather Heyworth (whose work can be seen here.) I donated these two pencil illustrations from the children's version of The Odyssey that I illustrated for Floris books... it was great to see them sell & I hope their new owners enjoy having them!

Sixth new piece for the 12-week-challenge.

2010-05-21T16:14:00.006+01:00

Here is the sixth and final new portfolio piece for the 12-week challenge (click on the image to see it at full size.) I wanted to do some character development work and wanted to do something quite fantastical so chose to work on an alien and his alien pet...

Fox cubs in my garden!

2010-05-19T09:17:00.012+01:00

This is slightly off the topic of illustration, but it's so lovely I couldn't resist posting about it! We currently have a family of 6 fox cubs living at the bottom of our garden... several years ago we had a couple of new broods each year and then we had some tree surgery done and the foxes moved away. This spring they returned with 6 babies, and they're an absolute delight to watch. They don't seem to mind me creeping down until I'm only a metre or so away from them with my camera. I edited a little 3-minute film of the cubs which you can see here, and also thought I'd include a couple of my favourite photos of them.

In fact the foxes do make their way into my illustrations sometimes... such as in these sketches for one of my own picture book ideas, a story called 'Outside.'

Fifth illustration...

2010-05-16T12:47:00.004+01:00

Here's the coloured-up version of the gesture sketches I posted below on the 30th of april, focussing on character interaction. Click on the image to see it at full-size...

Fourth illustration...

2010-05-15T22:05:00.005+01:00

Here is illustration number four for the 12 week challenge. This is a double-page spread from one of my own picture book ideas... the girl's grandpa is knitting her a jumper made from the wool of her magical llama friend Henry.

Third illustration for the 12-week challenge

2010-05-15T22:01:00.005+01:00

Here is my third illustration for the 12 week challenge project... I want to do a whole series of illustrations featuring this little girl character and her animal friends.

New Illustration

2010-05-07T08:44:00.004+01:00

Here's another new piece for the 12-week challenge... a Mexican street party scene!

Illustrations for the 12-Week-Challenge

2010-04-30T15:12:00.009+01:00

Here is my first new illustration for the 12-Week-Challenge (click on the image to see a larger version.)

The second image shows thumbnails for the second piece... a page of character development drawings for my portfolio. For now this is as far as I've got, and they're very rough, but I will post a follow-up when I've done colour versions. With these I wanted to focus on character interaction, and I also wanted the little scenes to tell a story over the course of the page.

They Draw and Cook

2010-04-22T16:02:00.009+01:00

I decided to do an illustrated recipe for www.theydrawandcook.com - a really fun project for people to illustrate their favourite recipes. Sometimes it's hard to take time out from other projects to do things like this... but it can be a good way to try new things! Click on the image to see it at full size.

From my collection: Folk Tales from Many Lands (1929)

2010-04-18T18:32:00.036+01:00

This beautiful book was given to me by a friend on my last birthday. It's illustrated by Willy Pogany, a Hungarian illustrator best known for working in an Art Nouveau style (I've always had a real fondness for Art Nouveau, and I want to write more about it here soon.) You can read more about Willy Pogany here. The illustrations vary from a few colour plates to full-page to small illustrations to tiny illuminated letters. By far my favourites are the small ones that appear through the text, and measure about 4cm x 5.5cm... they're simpler and more spare than the full-page ones. They're great examples of classic Art Nouveau composition, and show a masterful use of varied line thickness and a balancing of detail with empty space. I've selected some to show here.

I thought I would also include one example of the full-page illustrations, because I particularly like this one. The composition with the calf coming in straight across the middle of the page reminds me of one of my favourite Golden Age illustrations by Dulac, 'Everything about her was white' from The Dreamer of Dreams (1915.)

This book also reminds me of a collection of folk tales that I had as a child, and that I only remember very vaguely. I remember being fascinated by the fact that the stories were hugely atmospheric, and differed dramatically in feel depending on what part of the world they were from. The one I remember was I think from Scandinavia, and had something to do with a creature in a cave, and a man taking pity on it and in spite of his fear throwing smoked fish into the cave for it to eat. If anyone can identify the book from that tiny snippet of memory I'd love to know what it was! :o)

Another new Illustration for the Bird Series

2010-04-15T11:46:00.012+01:00

I've just finished the ninth illustration for my bird project. This is the first spread... the only one with no birds in it at all. Only two to go - the end is in sight!

New Bird Illustration

2010-04-07T16:54:00.011+01:00

This week I finished another illustration in my bird series. Even though the project is unfinished, I decided to upload all the work so far to my website http://katrionachapman.squarespace.com/the-bird-series/ so that it can be seen all in one place.

Portraits Follow-up Post

2010-04-07T15:49:00.020+01:00

In my post about portraits a couple of weeks ago, I said I would post a follow-up with some examples of portraits from my sketchbooks. I kept a sketchbook regularly between the ages of 13 and 17, then after that only sketched occasionally, mainly when I was travelling or on holiday. (My travel sketches can be seen on my website here.) I don't have all of my sketchbooks to hand, but I've selected a few portraits from the ones I do have... and I'm going to post them in chronological order so they act as a sort of illustration of how my drawing has developed over the years. They also act as (an occasionally embarrassing) reminder of my interests and obsessions throughout my teens and 20s!

Chuck Berry, April 1994

Simon and Garfunkel, May 1994

Mick Jagger, July 1994

Duff McKagan (Guns n' Roses), July 1994

Led Zeppelin, October 1994

Lauren Bacall, March 2001

Jimmy Stewart, March 2001

Anny Ondra in 'Blackmail', June 2001

Lee Van Cleef, December 2003

Ibrahim Ferrer, February 2005

New work!

2010-03-29T14:19:00.003+01:00

Here's a new drawing that I finished today. It's number 7 in a series of 11 based on a short story written by a friend. We're still unsure what to do with the project once the illustrations are finished, as it's quite an odd, surreal story with an odd number of pages! It's not really aimed at children, though I think children might quite like the pictures. One recent idea has been to produce a limited run of hand-bound copies of the book ourselves. Watch this space...

Portraits

2010-03-27T10:11:00.005Z

I've always loved doing portraits of people. When I was at school I loved drawing bands and musicians... I can remember doing portraits of the Beatles for kids at my school for £3 a piece! I also liked drawing film stars of the golden age of Hollywood. I always found drawing eyes and mouths a fascinating process... and also how hair falls around a face. I became more & more interested in drawing clothing as part of a portrait as well. So here are a selection of my portraits... some that were commissioned and some which I did for fun. They're all in pencil or coloured pencil. The portrait above is of my all-time drawing hero Robert Crumb... and below there are two of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford that my flatmate commissioned as presents for her friends. They were especially fun because of the beautifully styled hair.

I might do a follow-up post soon of portraits from my sketchbooks...

Jonathan Woodward's 12-week Illustration challenge!

2010-03-23T08:23:00.001Z

Jon Woodward is a friendly and dynamic illustrator who I met on Twitter... and he has recently announced his '12-week challenge' initiative to help illustrators move their careers forwards. I can't wait to take part, and to see what's on the agenda... look out for more developments here over the next twelve weeks!

To find out more about the challenge, check out Jon's blog at http://zero2illo.com/

Book Cover for Floris Books

2010-03-17T11:27:00.000Z

Here is my most recent commission... a cover illustration for a book called 'Norse Hero Tales - The King and the Green Angelica & Other Stories.' The vikings believed that throwing the herb angelica into the sea would slow down ships in pursuit, and I was asked to incorporate this herb into the border of the scene.
When sketching thumbnails, I initially drew two rough ship outlines, and couldn't decide between them. I threw the question open on Twitter and got six replies... four votes for the ship on the right and two for the one on the left, with one person voting for the right-hand design but with the sail from the left-hand ship (a suggestion I tried to incorporate to a degree in the end). I also sent both thumbnails to the client at Floris who also preferred the ship on the right. Personally I kind of preferred the left-hand ship because of the drama of the ship leaning on the stormy waves, but I was happy with the composition in the end. I particularly like the way that the flag at the top of the mast echoes the curly shapes of the waves.

From my collection: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strips

2010-03-08T16:14:00.000Z

I have the first three volumes of the Tove Jansson comic strips... it's probably just as well that I don't have the fourth because I already have too much to say about them! I've always loved the Moomin books, but only recently discovered the comic strips. These editions published by Drawn & Quarterly are very beautiful... with canvas covers and lovely heavyweight, creamy pages.

What I particularly like about the Moomins are that Jansson is very good at capturing a wide range of human characteristics and interactions. Her characters represent every human frailty imaginable, but also the best of human instinct (kindness, courage, imagination, and the ability to find joy in everyday things.) The Snork Maiden is vain and capricious... Moomin Papa has a weakness for whiskey and thinks he knows far more than he does.
In 'Moomin and the Sea' he's convinced that he's destined to write an epic novel about the sea, but cannot write more than the first page. But in spite of all these character flaws the Moomins also display an indomitable spirit, and an ability to adapt in the face of any problem or disaster that comes their way. Moomin Mama is the embodiment of this strength and adaptability... she greets every unexpected occurrance (such as when her kitchen becomes overrun by a jungle) with a wonderful calmness, and she's always able to see the positive in any situation.

Even when her entire life is turned upside down on the whim of her husband, (as it frequently is,) she adapts with remarkable forbearance and grace...
In 'Moomin's Desert Island ' though, Jansson does make fun of Moomin Mama's relentless good nature with the addition of this book at the bottom of the frame...
And in 'Moomin Mama's Maid ' she is allowed a bit of bad behaviour when their neighbour Fillyjonk's snobbery about the Moomins' relaxed style of living gets too much for her...
Moomin Valley is frequently beset by natural distasters, and in these situations the Moomins often display their ability to make the best of a bad situation. When the Moomins' house is flooded and they have to drill through the floor to get access to the flooded kitchen, instead of fretting they enjoy the novelty of it.My favourite character has always been Little My... not because I relate to her but because I would love to be like her.
In spite of being tiny she's fierce and fearless and doesn't just cope with the disasters that come to Moomin Valley... she embraces them. Here are her reactions to a storm approaching and to a heatwave...Little My often provides a sarcastic and rude commentary on the action, (especially in stories which feature her sister The Mymble and The Snork Maiden who are always embarking on ill-advised quests for romance - something Little My has no patience for). Her comments ensure that the Moomin comics never become sentimental.
Even Little My is capable of kindness though... in 'Moomin Builds a House', despite teasing Moomintroll mercilessly she also saves his house-building project when it's threatened by a planning-permission officer.
Jansson's world has always fascinated me because it is both cosy and full of dangers.
She has quite an existentialist take on things... depicting a huge, wild and absurd natural world in which her creatures must forge their own values and meanings. Some, like Little My and Moomin Mama are very capable whereas others (like Moomintroll) struggle more to make sense of things. My favourite moment from the Moomin novels is at the end of 'Finn Family Moomintroll' where the Hobgoblin is granting wishes. The Snork Maiden asks for "a machine for finding things out… a machine that tells you whether things are right or wrong, good or bad," to which he replies "That’s too difficult… I can’t manage that." Jansson is very good at showing how different characters have different value systems which frequently clash... and also how individuals run up against social expectations. In 'Moomin Mama's Maid' two sisters who haven't seen each other for a long time are shown to each be frightened of the other, because each thinks the other has achieved more success in their life.Often characters also have to struggle with their own expectations, and realise that things they thought would be wonderful sometimes aren't... as in 'Moomin Begins a New Life' where Moomin Papa finds that living in a tree isn't all that he'd hoped...
Jansson's characters often find solutions in each other... there is always comfort in company, and there is a strong sense of family and friendship being very important.
The Moomin family's sense of hospitality extends in the comic strips to even include aliens and wild animals... according to their creed anyone or anything that ends up in your house should be treated with respect and generosity. Yet even this central belief of theirs is questioned on many occasions... most of the characters in the stories need their solitude, and there seems to be nothing more wonderful than to be left alone with a book (even for policemen on duty).In the story 'Moomin and the Brigands,' Moomintroll struggles with his social duties when there are just too many guests in his house...
But Jansson also shows in these stories that there can be a positive side to one's expectations being challenged... often the characters learn to overcome their fears once they look more closely at the things that scare them.
I could write so much more about these amazing stories, (in fact I do have more scans that I had been intending to use) but I think I should really wind it up here. Maybe I'll do another Moomin post sometime in the future!

New work!

2010-03-08T09:02:00.002Z

Just thought I'd show some work that I recently completed... 15 miniature pencil illustrations for the 'Little Devil' book that I featured in my very first blog post. I've selected some of my favourites here...

My Illustration Process

2010-02-25T12:15:00.001Z

Having just finished 22 illustrations for a book of bible stories for Miles Kelly Publishing, I thought I'd use a few of them to illustrate my working methods, and how I approach illustration. I always begin with thumbnails at a very small size to get the main elements of the composition worked out. I then scan the thumbnail and often make adjustments in Photoshop, then print it at the size that I will draw the rough. Once I've drawn the rough (tracing over the very rough lines of the thumbnail as a guide) I sometimes tweak it again in Photoshop, as the following examples show. The first illustration depicts a paralysed old man hoping to be healed, being lowered through a roof by his friends who couldn't get him through the crowds. The second shows the healing of a blind man. Things that I find often need to be tweaked are proportions, head angles and things that generally improve composition. I'll often also make adjustments at the stage of tracing the drawing onto watercolour paper... so that before I put any colour down I've usually re-drawn & adjusted the image at least two or three times.

The next example is my illustration of Moses being found by the Egyptian princess, with his big sister watching from her hiding place. Here you can see the thumbnail, rough, watercolour stage, and then the final illustration (which I make by drawing over the watercolour underpainting with coloured pencils). One change I made in this one was to improve the servant's left hand, to give more of a sense of the baby being uncovered. In the rough I'd drawn the hand quickly and it looked more like she was just resting her hand on the baby, instead of pulling back the cloth that it's wrapped in. I was also asked by the client to make sure I emphasised the princess' jewellery and make-up, which help her look wealthy and also gives more of a sense of the Egyptian setting.

The next two examples are from a book of Buddhist fables that I illustrated for Floris Books. These show how I often use models for figure reference, especially if the illustrations are in a slightly more realistic figurative style. With the image of the prince and the flooded river, I decided to add the rain on a separate layer so that I could adjust the angle and the contrast independently of the rest of the image. It was the only time I've ever used layers in my final artwork so far! I find Photoshop indispensable, but 99% of the time I use it only at the rough stage for working out compositions. The example at the end shows another kind of model... plastic farmyard toys turned out to be very useful when I couldn't find much photo reference online for aerial views of animals!

Childhood Drawings

2010-02-23T15:59:00.001Z

My mum has always been very good at keeping drawings that I did when I was a child. I recently asked her to send me a selection so that I could choose a few to show on here. I find them valuable in terms of reminding myself what interested me as a child... something that's important when I'm thinking about picture book ideas. Sometimes they bring back memories, but more often than not I'm just completely bemused! Maybe it makes sense to start with some of the earliest examples - I'm very fond of these really basic animal drawings from some of my first school workbooks.

This drawing confuses me because I never had high heeled shoes - especially not at this age! Maybe it was a case of wishful thinking. I like the house giving a sense of scale to how high these imaginary heels were...
I'm not sure what this creature is, but it inspires me a bit because these days I find it hard to imagine really wacky characters.

I seemed to like to add a lot of colours as a child & I still do today. I'm sure my brother never wore striped purple & yellow leggings... but in the same way as I often do now, I obviously decided to use clothing as an opportunity to throw in some colour. The other drawing seems to come from a story about a snail who has a beautiful house inside a carrot.

I used to make little books a lot, although I found it hard to sustain my efforts throughout the length of a book, and often the illustrations would change from colour to scrappy pencil after a couple of pages, or even tail off altogether. The example on the left is a very early story called 'Sally Spider and Porky Porcupine'. There are some really great spellings in it ('pokypin' being a good example). The one on the right was my attempt at creating a Choose Your Own Adventure book. I didn't quite get the hang of coming up with a dilemma to end each page on... every decision that the reader has to make involves either taking an action (like shouting for help) or doing nothing at all! Each page ends with something like "If you decide to go back down the hill, turn to page 17. If you decide to just sit down, turn to page 19".

This drawing of a clock shop caught my eye because of the 'super' watch in the top left hand corner of the display case. I like how I added 'hours' 'seconds' and 'minutes' on the list of special features that the watch has. The drawing on the right was from a story about a rebellious princess who refused to marry the husband that her father has lined up for her, Prince Fizzlebottom. In this scene the king has had to go to bed from shock at her display of disobedience.

Here are a few other odds and ends that I liked... and at the bottom an illustration I did from my favourite book at the time: 'The Phantom Tolbooth' by Norton Juster (illustrated by Jules Feiffer). I did my own illustration of the climax of the story where the characters are chased out of the mountains by an array of hideous creatures.

From my Collection: The Golden Book of Comics (1952)

2010-02-23T14:38:00.000Z

The Golden Book of Comics was passed on to me by my dad, along with a few Eagle annuals, when I was quite young. It’s a 320-page collection of comics, short stories, jokes, games and suggestions of things to do and make. There’s no date in the book, but from doing a bit of research online I think was probably published in 1952. I was always quite fascinated by it because the style of the comics and stories was so different to what I was used to… the whole thing had a bit of an alien quality. I found it so odd that words which would now almost always be abbreviated with an apostrophe in a comic book (it’s, I’m) were often left as two separate words.

There were lots of references which were pretty outdated, as in the joke “How do you make trousers last? Make the coat and waistcoat first!” There was also a story that mystified me because it was all about digging up a road that was made from tar and wooden blocks. I found it strange that the comic strips always had text under each panel, basically repeating what was said in the panel but in slightly more detail. Also many of the pages had a box with a page-heading that again repeated what was happening in the strip.

Even though I found lots of it quite twee, there were plenty of things I genuinely enjoyed (although I was never tempted to play the party-game where you select smelly items from your kitchen and blindfold each other in an identify-the-smell competition). The things you could make just with a newspaper and a pair of scissors I did do, though... more than once.

One of the first things you notice when you look through it is that there are numerous racial and cultural characterisations that would be completely unacceptable today. Every possible racial stereotype crops up from Mexican bandits to South Sea Islanders to Native Americans to gipsies to Arabs. In the panel here, the conclusion shows the captain of a whaling ship finally accepting his son’s eskimo friend, and deciding rather abruptly to take him with them. There’s no suggestion that he has any kind of life that he might miss by leaving so suddenly.

There are also very few exciting roles for girls in the stories. The short stories encompass every classic 50s convention that you can think of: adventurers, pilots, smugglers, cowboys, stow-aways, pirates and people being rescued by dogs. A surprising number of the comic strips follow exactly the same format which revolves around the notion of luck… the characters have a mishap that looks pretty bad, until it’s revealed that they’ve inadvertently managed to achieve something good. A schoolboy detective incurs the wrath of his headmaster while trying to solve the mystery of the school thefts… and then escaping from the teacher by climbing a tree he finds a magpie’s nest and inside are the missing items! Even more improbably, in another strip two circus clowns manage to knock the roof off someone’s house… but everything turns out alright when the lost family treasure is found inside the ruins.

Many of the illustrations in the book are quite lovely, and I’ve selected some examples to feature here.