Spot the Difference

Further work on the image below. I've added lamposts, a few more people, a bar in the Tabac- well I'll let you find them!

En France

Salut! This is the first image in a series I'm planning showing street scenes from all over the world. This one is, as I hope you can see, France. This is also the product of my entire weekend as the weather is apalling so I've sat at my desk colouring away. Please note- this is an A3 piece! It is officially the largest piece of work I've ever done!

The Lion & The Unicorn

While I'm here, this is another piece I've just finished. It is a modern illustration for the children's nursery rhyme 'The Lion & The Unicorn'. Many nursery rhymes have their roots in politics or historical events and this one is no different. It refers to the joining of Scotland and England by King James and his decision to create a new heraldic crest representing both countries. The unicorn stands for Scotland (and is chained by the crown around its neck!) and the lion for England. In the rhyme the lion 'beats' the unicorn all around town, referring to the not-quite-so-happy union. I've updated this scene with a drawing of the new Scottish Parliament building, relating it to current events and progress.

StoryLab

This is one of the images I produced for the Scottish Storytelling Centre. They went with a white version of this in the end. At the moment I'm working on my Crocodile Fence story and writing my dissertation. The two go side by side as I'm writing about hand lettering in children's books and I've just reached the point where I need to think about what I'm doing text-wise with the book. I've researched how children learn to read and have come to the conclusion that hand lettering is a valuable resource when used in the right circumstances. There needs to be a high level of legibility and consideration for the expected audience but overall children seem to be very capable of transferring reading skills to any font or letterform (once confident in their reading skills that is).