illustration

Picturehooks Playing with Watercolours Workshop

This was fab – only an hour, but so relaxing, creative and playful… David Melling is one of the wittiest, most accomplished British illustrators around, and he works a lot in watercolour – so I immediately signed up when this workshop was announced by Picture Hooks, an organisation specialising in promoting children’s book illustration. TheContinue reading “Picturehooks Playing with Watercolours Workshop”

Collaged Birthday Card

It seems to be birthday season in my family! I’m a huge fan of Manon Gauthier, a Canadian illustrator who makes the most exquisite, but kind of rough and wonky illustrations in painted card collage, so this image is inspired by her work.

“Shoe People”

I’ve joined Orange Beak Studio’s Picture Book Club 🙂 There are different options that you can subscribe to (it’s a Patreon-thing) so for about £5 per month I get these great prompts for making illustrations. Last month we were given lots of different types of shoes and asked to develop characters from their footwear. ThereContinue reading ““Shoe People””

Fantastical Forests Art Workshop

Some beautiful, magical artworks were made at the “Fantastical Forests” workshop I ran at half term. So good to see all the children so busy and engaged, imagining and creating their own fantastical forest worlds.

Image-making with stencils

I’ve been experimenting with stencils to create lines and textures in my work recently – the image above is one outcome, and it was all done using torn paper edges and charcoal (see below). I was fascinated during the process how you can create exciting marks and textures with such a simple technique. The processContinue reading “Image-making with stencils”

Live Drawing Online Tonight!

I can’t believe I’m doing this, but it is so exciting!! I’m going to be live illustrating today on Instagram 3pm EST – 8pm GMT with the Community Bookstore in Brooklyn, NYC!!! Their children’s books specialist Philipp Goedicke reads classic children’s stories live on Insta every day and invites an illustrator to draw along. IfContinue reading “Live Drawing Online Tonight!”

Viviane Schwarz – Create a Character Video

I love author-illustrator Viviane Schwarz’s work. She’s brilliant at inventing crazy, engaging characters and in this video from the British Library website, she shows you one way of doing this! It’s a wonderfully accessible technique and great for anyone trying to create characters for their book, comic or animation. Have a go! 🙂

Quentin Blake Free E-Cards

There are lots of ways to keep in touch with special people at the moment, but this one from Quentin Blake’s website is one of my favourites. Choose from a selection of free e-cards to send to loved ones – there are rainbow designs specially created for the coronavirus lockdown, and also birthday, get wellContinue reading “Quentin Blake Free E-Cards”