Story Time

In my job I do a lot of different things. I have lots of hats and I seem to be wearing them all in equal measure. And sometimes all at once. 

People should wear more hats.

This year so far, in addition to the drawing (more book covers, colouring books, activity books and even a wee picture book coming soon...) I have also been working with students of all ages helping them with their own illustration projects. And witnessing their extraordinary talent. Taking a time out from my studio and from the art college last month I hit the road with the wonder that is author Vivian French. We visited schools and libraries across Aberdeenshire in an epic 5-day stint of bookmaking and storytelling as part of Portsoy Book Festival. 

Our trip was inspiring, hilarious, and though-provoking. I came away feeling lucky to have met so many talented and enthusiastic young people and also full of ideas and inspiration as a result of seeing their artwork and hearing their stories. But these events also reminded me that when we are young we have a fearlessness in our approach to telling stories and making marks on paper that seems to diminish as we get older.

Next stop for me (after some much needed studio time) is more schools visits as part of Boswell Book Festival next month. I hope I can keep wearing all my hats, including the one that signifies we still have enough funding to ensure that creative activities are available to all children and in all schools. 

Summer Scribbles

So, illustrating colouring books has featured heavily in my recent activities - but I've also been busy with workshops, book covers, residencies and other doodling shenanigans.

Back in May, before the festival descended (and also just before I became a married lady) I escaped to the West of Scotland for a wonderful week combining a drawing residency at Dumfries House with creative workshops at primary schools in the surrounding area. During these workshops I was sidekick to the incredible Vivian French (author and all round wonder woman). We visiting three local schools, where we worked with pupils to make murals and write stories inspired by Beatrix Potter stories, and incorporating a 'Four Elements' theme. 

The results were on display at the amazing Boswell Book Festival's 'Bozzy Book Bang'. The residency part of my time here was in connection to the Royal Drawing School and allowed me the time, resources and inspiration to create a series of drawings and prints in response to the beautiful Dumfries House.

The two months following my Dumfries adventure whizzed by in a whirlwind of exciting new work projects, a pretty white dress, a fluffy new puppy and a (far too short) backpacking adventure. Before I knew it August had arrived along with Edinburgh's various festivals. 

This year I held an event titled:   'Tea, Cake and Colouring In' at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2016. Those three ingredients make for a pretty good afternoon in my opinion, but throw in a very eager and talented audience and some giant colouring in images we had ourselves a really fantastic event.

So, what's next? According to my diary (without which I would not have a clue where to begin answering that question) it is now September and I will be returning shortly to Edinburgh College of Art to work with the Illustration students. I also have a some new colouring book titles to be announcing and promoting soon as well as one or two other exciting illustration projects to keep me busy. Best get started!

Never Bite a Tiger!

This morning I was very excited to hear the post pop through the letterbox (and not just because I was staring blankly at a very confusing and out of date spreadsheet and desperate for a distraction) because today I was expecting something special.

The preview copies of 'Never Bite a Tiger on the Nose', to be precise. This is the picture book I alluded to working on a few months back and I'm very chuffed to have my hands on the final printed and bound book...

A snap of the front covers

The book was written by the brilliant Lynne Rickards and has been published by Scottish Book Trust. The plan is to distribute it for free to children across Scotland in March as part of the BookBug toddler packs. Not only was it a joy to work on this book (I think I could happily draw that monkey all day), but I was honoured to be involved in a project which encourages reading as a family and healthy eating. And also, nothing beats getting a free book! Here are some of the interior pages:

 Oh, and it's also in Gaelic! Which is very cool.

Sketchy memory

My hall cupboard is one of those open-at-your-own-risk cupboards, so full (of terribly important unthrowoutable stuff I never use) that my catching reflexes and pain threshold are put to test every time I open it. So, as is the custom when I am very busy with work and look for any excuse not to sit down and get on with it, I decided this week I should give it a good clear out. In doing so I found a pile of sketchbooks from the first year of my Masters:

Teapots seem to feature heavily throughout the books...

...as do cakes. Hmmm.

These finds got me thinking about projects I had begun two years ago and then seemed to let fizzle out, and I have decided to get back to some of them. Keeping a sketchbook is one of the most rewarding things I think an illustrator or designer can do. I once filled a book with weekly illustrations inspired by the one word briefs on the 'Illustration Friday' blog (well worth looking at if you aren't familiar with it). And I know many an illustrator pal (Kasia Matyjaszek, Astrid Jaekel) whose sketchbooks are stunning works of art in themselves.

If I needed extra motivation, it has come in the form of The Big Draw - a UK wide drawing festival that kicks off tomorrow with events all over the country. There are a few in Edinburgh that I plan to check out.

So, tomorrow I will buy a new sketchbook (any excuse for stationary shopping), get researching for some new projects and revive some old ones. Look! I procrastinated and it paid off. Nice.

Le immagini della fantasia

A few months ago I was asked to contribute an illustration to be featured in Le Immagini Della Fantastia, an annual Italian publication and exhibition. Immagini is now in it's 32nd year (having been founded in 1982 by Stepan Zavrel) and features illustrators from all over the world. I am lucky enough to have collaborated with such talented illustrators as Jonathan Gibbs, Cate James and Kate McLelland.

Here is my submission. My brief was to create an image to accompany the 'April' section of a piece written by the amazing Viv French which celebrates Scotland throughout the 12 months of the year. The exhibition will be held in Italy this October. What's that you say? I should go to Italy? I SHOULD go to Italy...

Go bananas!

Good news...(okay, so this might not be news to everyone - and to many people this may be very old news, but)...I am illustrating a picture book! 

I am over the moon to have been asked to work on Never Bite a Tiger on the Nose (sound advice) by the brilliant Lynne Rickards. The book is all about healthy eating and features some very hungry children and their cheeky animal friends. 

Today my desk looked a bit like this:

And at times like this:

Things have started to get colourful:

Lynne has written a lovely rhyming story, hopefully I can do it justice and help bring her characters to life. The finished book will be distributed to 3 year olds across Scotland as part of Scottish Book Trust's Bookbug scheme in March 2015. So it's back to work for me - tonight I think I'll work on some monkeys and bananas. Mmmm bananas. This book is making me hungry.

London Calling

Today I'm taking a day off. This should be very easy. I am on the sofa, it is raining and I have plenty of snacks. However, it turns out that I can't stop thinking about the two books I am working on this month. Which is probably a good thing. So here I am, blogging again (at last) because if I am not drawing tigers or elephants or bumble bees I will write about drawing tigers, elephants and bumblebees.

Recently I went to London and it was brilliant. I went to Carlton Kids HQ and spent a day working in house on the colouring book they have commissioned me to illustrate. By 'working' I mean 'reading children's books and chatting to lovely people' (see above photos for examples of books and lovely people - the latter of these is Editor Anna Brett). The office was like a treasure trove of goodies, and as much as I love freelancing I did have the odd pang of envy as I was given the tour and a fancy desk to work at and went out for yummy lunch in bustling sunny London. Day two of my trip took me to Tate Modern to meet with the incredibly talented and lovely Paula Burgess, the Art Director I am working with on a picture book for Scottish Book Trust. A picture book I am very excited about. So all in all, my first trip to London 'on business' was very grown up and important and I felt like I was playing at being someone who is grown up and important. (I think I might even have almost pulled it off!)

Board for Archerfield Walled Garden (frame made by my wee brother)

Menu board for The Pleasance Dome Cafe

To avoid becoming a complete recluse and to get my brain thinking about other things than picture books and colouring in pages I have been decorating chalkboards. Typography is fast becoming something I am very interested in and as I am aware this is a very  complex and precise craft I fully intend to start learning how this sort of thing is done properly...in the meantime I have been having a go at my own hand lettering for clients in the run up to the Edinburgh Festival. Which is now under way and I love it. So as much as London was sparkly and enticing I came home to beautiful vibrant Edinburgh in full festival swing...good choice.

Slow and steady wins the race! (It's not a race. But if it was we won.)

So, February, still hanging around eh? Get a shift on, I want (my birthday and then) some sunshine and flowers. In the meantime, here are some pictures of a workshop I held at ECA yesterday!

(preparation involved some very serious tortoise illustrating)

In collaboration with the Centre for the History of the Book for Innovative Learning Week, we had a group of students from across a number of disciplines come for a day of looking at the amazing collection of Aesops' fables before heading to ECA to print and fold their own books. The prep was fun - it was a pleasure to meet the very clever Masters students. I also love an excuse to hide away in the studio and cut out pretty little stamps for an afternoon. A large group had signed up so with Lucy (teaching fellow), Anine (studio assistant) and Phil (my fellow AiR)on hand we were ready to go. Focussing on the story of the tortoise and the hare (a personal favourite...I don't advocate moving anywhere too quickly so I approve of the moral of this tale) students made folded books, cut out lino images and hand printed their work onto the books. The results were impressive, considering only one of group had ever relief printed before.

Students cutting their lino and rubber stamps (and Phil lending some expert advice in the background)

An awesome example of the work - this student embraced the race theme and made a lovely little sequence of images

Queueing up at the printing bay (Yes it got a bit messy. And yes I loved this.)

So all in all a fun day. I think I could get used to playing around with ink and stamps and calling it 'work'. 

Public Service Announcement: 2014 is cold. Stay indoors and make pretty things.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and isn't this weather awful?

Now we have got that out the way I'd like to show you what I have been up to lately. I came back from Christmas in New York (yup, that happened) with a ring on my finger and a wedding to plan (that happened too) and full of good illustration-y intentions. Aside from a lot of house fronts and logo designs I have been busy sketchbooking and making patterns. I'm working on a self-initiated project about my home and things I associate with home:

And today? Well today was pretty good. I was part of the Scottish Book Trust Illustration Lab - chaired by Viv French and with guest speakers Val Braithwaite (Creative Director at Bloomsbury) and illustrators Catherine Rayner and Nick Sharratt. Here is a sneaky snap I took while looking at Catherine's sketchbooks and dummy books:

I manage to seriously geek out whenever I meet Nick Sharratt and today was no exception. I mumbled something about copying his illustrations from the front covers of my Jacqueline Wilson books when I was about 8, then I got all flustered and ran off. Smooth! That aside, the day was really great. Now I have a brief to get working on to present at our next session in two weeks. Busy busy!