Comic Illustration - Pundo and Binky at the Seaside

Here's another comic I made on my Comics Class with Jane Porter. This week, we were looking at framing and playing with layouts. It look a long time but I couldn't resist trying it fully coloured. Pundo and Binky are characters I wrote a children's story about earlier this year. They started reappearing when drawing comics and I've enjoyed getting to know them more this way.

Comic Illustration

 Lately I’ve been learning about comics with Jane Porter and having so much fun!

This is kind of inspired by a combination of memories and exaggerated for dramatic purposes, I swear...

...and here's a colour version I tried:

Drawing Dogs in my Sketchbook

There's been lots of dogs appearing in my sketchbook lately!

I decided to to draw something in my sketchbook every day and give it a theme - animals. It think it’s my longest running streak (even though I’m an illustrator, not every day is an art day), even if sometimes it’s only been a super quick drawing at bedtime.

Dogs became the most common theme, I do absolutely love dogs after all and have spent more time with them this year through joining Borrow My Doggy.

I’ve always liked drawing poodles! I found out that this flamboyant shaved style originates from days when they were water hunters. The shaped balls of fur were to protect their joints (and the fur balls on their hips were to protect the kidneys!) from the cold water. Fancy that!

Illustrations for BBC Tiny Happy People and Child Bereavement UK

Earlier this month, I was asked to create this set of illustrations for @bbctinyhappypeople in collaboration with @childbereavementuk

It was quite a challenge at first, I lost a loved one myself last year and I was working on this around the one year anniversary. It meant so much to me to get the feel of this right, and as us illustrators have to tune into our own feelings as we work, it was impossible to switch off from my own grief and memories while making the drawings.

The style I usually work in for these briefs is so bold, bright and cheerful looking, I also felt I needed to alter my style to make it work better for the topic. I tried out some different techniques to usual and was really happy with the results, I’ve discovered a style I’m looking forward to trying more of which is a lovely thing.

I am so glad BBC Tiny Happy People came to me with this brief. I really hope it offered support and helpful ideas for anyone grieving this Christmas ❤️

PUBLISHING DAY for Be Confident Be You - The Teenage Guide

Last week was publishing day for Be Confident Be You! I absolutely loved illustrating this book for Becky Goddard Hill, published by Harper Collins. 

The book is a sequel to Be Happy Be You, a book I also illustrated the spot illustrations for. It means a lot to me to work on wellbeing topics for children and young adults - the memorable tools and exercises in these books can make such a big difference and their effects can last a lifetime.

PUBLISHING DAY for Step Up: My Anti-Bullying Activity Book

It is 🎉PUBLISHING DAY🎉 for Step Up: My Anti-Bullying Activity Book!

This is the fourth in the series that I illustrated, by Upside Down Books at @welbeckpublish and on a topic that’s very close to my heart.

I was bullied in secondary school and I ended up moving schools because of it. Nowadays, children are learning from a younger age about things like feelings, kindness and friendships, leading to better awareness of mental health. I hope this means that they are less likely to bully or be bullied, but of course, it still happens and at any age - from young kids learning about how to treat others, to adults in workplaces or relationships. 

I hope books like this will plant little seeds for healthy friendships, communication and confidence, while being a lovely activity book that’s packed with fun things to do!

You can buy signed copies here on my Etsy shop now.

PUBLISHING DAY for Get Outdoors: My Nature Activity Book

Hooray! Today is the day that Get Outdoors: My Nature Activity Book gets published!

I'm delighted that following the success of the first two books on the theme of feelings and mindfulness, this wellbeing series has continued with a third title. Published by Welbeck Children's Books and aimed at children aged 5-8 years, the book is packed with puzzles, games and creative activities to encourage children to get outside and engage with the great outdoors.

Learning to appreciate and enjoy nature as a child can be so beneficial for mental well-being later in life. It’s been a delight to capture some of the wonder and fun to be found in nature, that brightened the days of so many who spent more time outdoors over the last year or so.

I will be selling signed copies on my Etsy shop soon, please keep an eye on my Instagram and sign up to my mailing list for updates!

COVER REVEAL for Get Outdoors: My Nature Activity Book

I’m SO EXCITED to share my next book that’s coming out SOON! 

Get Outdoors - My Nature Activity Book will be published on September 2nd. Published by Welbeck Kids and jam packed full of activities to encourage children to step outside and engage with the great outdoors.

I’ll be selling signed copies when they arrive at JDHQ so keep your eyes peeled for updates, can’t wait to share more! 🤩

IT'S PUBLISHING DAY! For Chill Out: My Mindfulness Activity Book & It'll Be OK: My Feelings Activity Book

 It’s 🎉 PUBLICATION DAY! 🎉

I’m so happy and proud today to be sharing these brilliant activity books, published by Upside Down Books at Trigger Publishing and all about feelings and mindfulness. I had so much fun illustrating the many puzzles, games and crafts, all to help kids learn about these worthy wellbeing topics.

They are available to buy in all the usual places, plus I have signed copies that come with some lovely free postcards - available on my Etsy shop.

Each book features 64 illustrated pages of thoughtful and fun activities. There are puzzles, games, drawing and colouring activities combined with helpful information to help kids learn about the themes of feelings and mindfulness.

Graphic Novel Page for Lilla Rogers MATS Assignment Bootcamp

Hello, happy weekend! It’s a few weeks now since my Lilla Rogers MATS Assignment Bootcamp course came to an end. Our last assignment was to create a graphic novel page - it was my favourite!

Lilla provided props and advice to help us come up with our own little snippet of a story. I was inspired by the history of an island resort which appeared on a postcard amongst the props - and decided that Jen’s ‘boring’ Aunt Penelope would turn out to have a mysterious and flamboyant past, from her days as a flapper dancer on this far flung island! 

Under the Sea Search and Find

Last year I worked on this lovely under the sea scene. It was a sample piece for a children's non-fiction publisher and in the end, they decided to use a more computer-generated look. It was shame it didn't go ahead, but I'm so glad I worked on it! I really enjoyed working with the photographic background and I'm so happy to be able to share it now.

...and here are some close ups of some of the fish!

Children's Wellbeing Activity Books

I'm delighted to announce one of the projects that were keeping me oh so quiet last year... two beautiful and brilliantly written activity books, published by Upside Down Books - the new children’s imprint of wellbeing publisher, Trigger Publishing.

It'll Be OK: My Feelings Activity Book

Each book features 64 illustrated pages of thoughtful and fun activities to help kids learn about the themes of feelings and mindfulness. It was such a joy to be given a major role in bringing all these practical exercises to life. 

Chill Out: My Mindfulness Activity Book

It makes me happy to see mental health being talked about in books, at home and in schools from a young age nowadays, and I can't wait to share more about these fabulous books. I will leave it there for now however, as there’s still a few months to go before the books are published. You can pre-order the books here (it was an exciting day when I found I was Amazon-able ☺️)!

Sketchbook Diary 2019 #4

Sketchbook Diary 2019 #4
Click on the images for a closer look

Hello there!

What a mad few weeks it has been... it has felt like Christmas levels of busy lately, but I'm very grateful! I've been working on a really fun mix of projects and not a lot of them I can share yet... but one big project is near completion and I'll be very excited to share that. It is a mural... and it's big! I'll explain the rest when it is out in the world soon...

So here's my latest installment of my sketchbook diary. I'm sorry I actually completed it a couple of weeks ago and am only just putting it here. Some of the things in this spread (the 18th March to 24th April) feel like ages ago now. I got a three month guest stockist spot in the lovely Sheffield Makers Winter Gardens shop - woo hoo! It has been going really well and it's such a good feeling to have my products in a great city centre spot, where people can easily buy them, while I'm working away in my studio.

But, even more importantly... something pretty major happened on the 25th of March. Some birds were eating a WAFFLE in my garden! It was a truly entertaining watch, as they worked their way through the whole thing. I couldn't work out from my viewpoint whether it was Belgian or potato though... and it will remain a mystery to me forever.

Back to work things, The Mummy Lessons got published! You can read all about it on the last blog post. My samples arrived and they look gorgeous, with lovely shiny spot UV finish on my hand lettering and icons. Lee and I went to see the amazing Phlegm exhibition - a little land of giants, asleep in a warehouse in Sheffield.

The spread finishes with that crazy hot weather we had, so a barbecue and paddling in a stream! I'm looking forward to more fun sun times ahead.

Not a bad few weeks really... 'till next time!

Thanks for reading!

Sketchbook Diary 2019 #3

My sketchbook diary - see below for a closer view!

Pancake Day - one of my most favourite days of the year!

Hello there!

Here's a new instalment of my sketchbook diary. It's been an exciting month! It was my birthday right in the middle of London Book Fair, so in between my days of meetings, we went to see the Lion King at The Lyceum. It was amazing! I continued to spread out the birthday vibes after coming home, with a quiet relaxing weekend and a big roast dinner.

I really enjoyed the book fair. It was great to chat to lots of publishers about my work as well as have my illustrations on display in the gallery. Unfortunately, my visit did confirm that I am doomed to get headaches at conference centre events, but that I can keep them at bay if I constantly snack! I had this nailed by day three - so that is my number one tip for anyone visiting the fair. I went along to some of the talks and panel discussions too. It was a delight to listen to David McKee talk about his career as an illustrator/storyteller and it was lovely to meet Ren Renwick and Lou Bones from the Association of Illustrators, having been a member for a few years now.

Me with my book illustrations in the Illustrator's Gallery at London Book Fair

I've also been drawing some fun patterns in my sketchbook lately, which I will share soon - I'm looking forward to sitting and colouring them all. So as for the rest of the diary, it was some nice food, cosy times with netflix and the sofa, a little trip to Oxford and some rather elegant looking yoga moves (they totally looked this good in person. I swear).

Click to enlarge!