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+.

Merry Christmas everybody!

For those of you finishing up for Christmas today - hooray! For those of you, like me, who'll be at your desks until Christmas Eve - not long to go now!

Circus Fun!

Currently finishing up roughs for the lovely team at Egmont's Banana Books.

Festive fun!

Working on my Christmas mail out today...

From my sketchbook...

Here's something a little different from me, this is a direct scan from my sketchbook coloured up.

It's Friday!

The end of the working week (well mostly, I do sometimes carry on into the weekend when there's a lot to be done!) and I'm reaching the final stages of my latest project for National Trust Scotland. These happy kids are from the sticker pages that go with the Culzean Sticker Book that will be published next year.

What I've been up to...

I've just finished the rough artwork for a new sticker book for National Trust Scotland. Starting on the colour stage, hooray!

Pachyderm Parade

I've been thinking about repeat pattern designs today...

Oh Deer

Today I was sketching some deer for a book I'm working on for a client, when I accidentally got carried away and coloured them in. Occupational hazard that one, I'm now behind schedule!

Wintery Weather

I'm not a huge fan of Winter, I much prefer warmth and sunshine. Having said that, the strong appeal of mugs of hot beverages, awesome knitwear and new boots does make up for having to wear two cardigans and a scarf in the studio.

New Usborne releases, although you'll have to wait a while to see them!

I've got a couple of new releases for the lovely folks at Usborne due in the next few months. They're all up on Amazon now, which is always exciting to see!

The first one up is Fairground, followed by my first Noisy book - Noisy Circus and then the Market Sticker Book. 

Today's doodle...

Okay, so this one is a doodle from my sketchbook all coloured up. I've not been feeling well today and haven't been able to focus on my actual client work, so I thought I'd do a bit of colouring in instead!

Busy, busy, busy!

Phew, another book delivered and just on time! Having a quick break today to work on some other lovely projects before starting a new book tomorrow.

New Usborne titles

I'm currently working on some lovely new books for Usborne, so I'm going to be posting infrequently again! Here's a little preview of one of the characters...

Barnyard in progress...

This one is still under development, but I thought I'd share it with you here. It's a scene from one of my own stories where the main character discovers just how messy a farm can be!