The Christmas Jumper!

Yes I know it's still too early but you'll have to forgive me as this one is in aid of Save the Children! I was recently commissioned by Costa to illustrate a lovely festive story written by the fabulously talented Rachel Bright. The resulting book 'The Christmas Jumper' is now on sale in Costa stores throughout the UK with the proceeds going to the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Campaign. Here's a little write-up from The Drum.

Happy Hippo!

Racing to meet deadlines over here before Christmas kicks in!

Work in progress...

Sample Characters

Drawn last week for a possible project. After months of sketching animals it was quite nice to be drawing people again!

New commissions from Tesco Food

I like the challenge of working on these as they require a totally different approach to my children's publishing artwork. I find them strangely therapeutic!

Ideas, ideas, ideas...

After a manic few months I'm finally able to sit back and start concentrating on developing my own projects once more. I've started working on story ideas for this hard-working little fella!

Noisy Funfair!

Here's a little preview of a Noisy book that I've just finished colouring up for Usborne, it should be really lovely and features my latest brush style. I had some fun adding nice details with this one and look forward to seeing and hearing the finished thing - the sound elements are always so well done!

A little look at something Top Secret that I'm currently working on...

Chiens!

I'm busy over here in the run up to Frankfurt Book Fair but I like to do a quick scribble of my own every now and then to keep the synapses in shape. Here's today's bit of fun.

Fabulous Foxes

I always love a good fox drawing, it's hard to go wrong when they're such a wonderful colour and have such distinguishing features.

Here's a monkey...

Hopefully that will distract from the fact that I've not been on here recently and am not likely to be until Frankfurt Book Fair is over. Even when I close my eyes I see deadlines...

Silly Sausage!

Working on sketches of one of my own characters this week...

Kid's Zone

This recent commission was for the Tesco Living website's Kid's Zone section - where they have a selection of themed downloadable 'printables' to keep the little ones busy. 

Culzean Castle Sticker Book

Copies of the sticker book that I illustrated last year for National Trust Scotland for the Culzean Estate arrived yesterday. They are pretty darn cute and I'm hoping they will prove popular with the younger guests.

Doggy doodles...

Having space in my schedule means getting a chance to work on some of my own stories and characters. I don't mention it much but I write words as well as drawing pictures and I'm getting ever closer to the day that I get to do both in the one book (there's the dream!). Anyhoo, I'd tell you this little guy's name but it would give too much of the plot away - so you'll have to wait and see...

More doodling...

Something fishy going on...

There isn't really, I just liked the title. Today I'm having my first break from commissioned work for months as I wait for feedback on a few things. I'm not good at being idle so I thought I'd crack on with a few design ideas that have been sitting in my sketchbook for ages stewing until I had the chance to draw them up.

Tesco Food

Two entries in one day from me? A sure way to tell that I've just finished up a big project and I'm having a day catching up with my paperwork and updating social media! Thought I'd share the above with you, a recent editorial illo commissioned by Cedar Communications for the Tesco Food twitter and instagram accounts to celebrate Beatles Day.

Work in Progress

I'm currently in the final stages of an incredibly cute book for the lovely team at Egmont. This one is of a festive nature and features some very sweet woodland animals and a secret surprise visitor!

Moving house and other dramas

We've finally moved in and unpacked and I'm writing this from my new studio in West Sussex. It's sunny, I ate lunch in the garden and the dogs are currently snoozing happily at strategic points on the studio floor. Somehow I've managed to balance the upheaval with work commitments and finished up some lovely new commissions from Egmont and Usborne from my temporary studio. Here are a few sketches from a current project that I'm working on. Sadly the raccoon hasn't made the final cut so I'll be finding him something else to do when I get the time!

And the Cow Said...

The jacket for my first book with Templar Publishing is up on Amazon. It'll be released in October 2014 and follows a slightly fraught farmer as he tries to find somewhere quiet to sleep on a wet and windy night. Best of all - it has sound effects!

Circus Fun!

The jacket of the book I've just finished illustrating for the Banana Books team at Egmont is up on Amazon. It'll be published in July this year and features three full-colour illustrated stories about Coco the dog and his adventures at the circus!

Hurry up and arrive soon Springtime...

My morning dog walks have become steadily more colourful over the last few days as flowers pop up everywhere (one of my little beasties has an odd habit of sniffing and savouring every flower on our journey, so walks are getting longer too!). If only the weather would catch up and quit with the cold spells!

Website Refresh!

Finally had time to update my website! One of the new projects that I've popped up is a preview of the sticker book that I finished just before Christmas for National Trust Scotland. It features the gorgeous Culzean Estate, it's not out in shops yet and you can take a look here.

Everything is Overdue!

I'm overdue a website update, a post on this blog and a mail-out. I've had a heavy workload recently (a good thing), combined with being ill (not good) and buying our first home (yes, you guessed it - this is a good thing!).

Until I get around to the 'to do' list above I'll have to make do with this snapshot taken by the lovely folks at Barrington Stoke of my latest book for Templar Publishing up on a big screen at Bologna Children's Book Fair this week. Thanks for taking it guys!

Welcome to 2014!

I know, it's a little late - but in my defence it's been a busy year so far! I've got a couple of lovely books on the go and we're attempting to buy a house in the time between drawing things - so it's been a bit manic over here.

On another note, this new Blogger template makes all of my images darker when I upload them. Don't know why (anybody else know?), when I get the time I'll switch the whole thing to another host and sort it out.

*update* - problem solved, for anyone else having the same issues it's all to do with your Google+ account automatically 'enhancing' your images. Very annoying. You need to switch it off in the 'settings' section of your 'home' page in Google+.