POP

PROFESSOR ASTRO CAT'S FRONTIERS OF SPACE

I bought this little beauty over the Christmas break - it was a small treat from me to me that I'd been wanting to buy for a while. I am, quite reliably, a little overwhelmed each time I hold a beautiful book in my hands. Overwhelmed by just how beautiful books can be. And, good grief, those folks over at Flying Eye Books sure do know how to make beautiful books. I'm always impressed by their high production values - I mean, their books are made to be sold in traditional bookshops, aren't they? They need to be held. 

Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space is a glorious hardback, with a wiblin cover complete with spot uv AND foil highlights. Talk about all the special finishes! Inside, the pages are luxuriously thick, with bite-sized portions of easy-to-understand facts written by Dominic Walliman. Awesomely illustrated by Ben Newman, whose characters, colours and shapes feel perfectly-paired for the subject of space and the feelings of discovery and excitement that come along with it, the information-illustration balance for a non-fiction book aimed at young children feels just right.

Perfect for children with a thirst for knowledge, a curiosity for facts or a love of bright, bold illustrations - and just as perfect for adults - I highly recommend this book. My rating? A whopping five stars.

 

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How to Draw: Emma Yarlett's Robin

Futurebook 2014

HOW TO DRAW: EMMA YARLETT'S ROBIN

Season's greetings, friends!

I am super-excited to share with you the first How To Draw feature I've had here on POP - and by no other than the lovely Emma Yarlett, too. Yep, that's right - these few simple steps are all that lie between you and a perfectly-drawn, festively fabulous robin. So, are you ready to get drawing? Yeah you are!

 

So there you have it! And isn't he just the best Christmas robin ever? Now, if you draw a robin of your very own then be sure to show us a pic of it. And, hey, a pic of your concentration face and festive hat wouldn't go amiss either.

Thank you for sprinkling some of your Christmas magic on this little blog, Emma, you're ace! 

 

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Futurebook 2014

Children's Books: Shall I Compare Thee?

HATS OFF TO STEVE ANTONY

This week, I'm very happy to welcome Steve Antony to POP!

Earlier this year, Steve's debut picture book, The Queen's Hat, was published amid a flurry of wonderful reviews. Betty Goes Bananas followed hot on its heals, and 2015 will see the publication of Steve's third picture book, Please, Mr Panda. With all these books, it's a wonder he had the time to be interviewed (but luckily for me he did)!

 

Thanks so much for letting me interview you, Steve! Your debut picture book, The Queen’s Hat, was a great success and also nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal. How did it feel for your first book to be so well received?

When I saw my book for the first time in a shop, Foyles, I didn't have that fuzzy, dreamy, out-of-this-world feeling I thought I'd have. I think I was too tired to jump up and down, and a bit self-conscious, too. My friends were probably expecting me to fly around the store or explode into stars or cry or something. Later that day I returned to the shop on my own and just looked at my book on the shelf. I felt proud. All the hard work was worth it.

Then came the reviews. My brother called me at 8am the morning after the book's publication date. Without saying hello or anything, he said "You're in the Sun!" A week or so later I had a text from my publisher on a Sunday that said, "Go and buy the Times x." It seemed that almost every other day for about three weeks the book was getting good reviews.

It is very cool to see my Big Ben illustration and The Queen's Hat bunting in shop windows. Every now and then I get a tweet or a text with a Queen's Hat window display. I've put a few of them on my website.

When I heard the news of the Kate Greenaway nomination, I jumped up and down like a kid on Christmas. What an absolute honour!

 

You were signed up by a publisher very soon after graduating from Anglia Ruskin University. Can you tell us a bit about your journey to become a children’s author-illustrator?

In a nutshell, I graduated with a HND in Illustration from Swindon College, worked in a call centre for nine years, got made redundant, applied for a place on the Anglia Ruskin MA Children's Book Illustration course in Cambridge, used my redundancy package to pay the course costs, signed to my agent while on the course, graduated in 2013 from Anglia, and then I was contacted by several publishers that had seen my work in my class's graduation show at Foyles in London. I signed with Hodder Children's for The Queen's Hat, Please, Mr Panda and several more books, and I signed with Oxford University Press for Betty Goes Bananas. More recently, I left a part-time support role at Swindon College in order to work full-time as an author-illustrator.

Applying for the MA course was a big leap of faith. I had no Plan B. For years and years I had tried and failed time and time again. I've had countless rejections and several false starts, too.

I’ve always wanted to be an author-illustrator. It's that simple. Even if I hadn't been made redundan,, I'd still be drawing, writing and sending submissions to publishers, while holding down a day job.

 

You’re represented by Elizabeth Roy. What drew you to working with her in particular?

I was introduced to Elizabeth by my MA tutor, Pam Smy, while at the Bologna Book Fair in 2012. Pam's also represented by Elizabeth. I'm a huge fan of Pam's work and I really like the work of the other authors Elizabeth represents. I showed her The Queen's Hat and a few of my other picture book dummies in Bologna. There was a good vibe to our conversations. I later arranged to meet her in Cambridge, and things naturally progressed from there.

 

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Conversations. Yesterday I heard a guy say something to another guy. It gave me this amazing idea for a story. But I didn't write it down and totally forgot it.

Newspaper articles. The Queen's Hat was inspired by a newspaper article about the Queen holding on to her hat on a windy day.

Not thinking too much. When I'm totally relaxed and not stressed or tweeting, an idea can just pop into my head.

Talking with arty friends. I get inspiration from talking with my arty friends about life and stuff. I sometimes get inspiration from talking to my non-arty friends, too.

 

Do you find it easy to retain your distinctive style in the world of children’s books?

I've found a medium and a process that I'm confident with, and I've found my voice through many trials and errors. The best way I can describe how I've developed my style is by explaining the three most important parts to my creative process.

Drawing things. I have to really know what I'm drawing. I have to watch it move and sit still and move again. My final illustrations may not look like observational drawings, but that's how most of them start. It's like knowing how to bake a cake. You can't just chunk a bunch of random ingredients in a bowl. Once you know how to do something with confidence, like bake a cake, or ride a skateboard, or draw a panda, you then have the confidence to bake a different kind of cake, try new skateboard tricks, or turn a panda into an extra-ordinary picture book character.

Then there's the colour. The dreaded colour. I'm red-green colourblind, so colour used to be my greatest enemy. But not anymore.  I use grey soft pencils and graphite sticks for every illustration, and I use Photoshop to convert my drawings into colour. The process is simple, but sometimes laborious. I draw a picture several times until I'm happy with it. I decide upon the colours. I'm very picky about colours. The colours have to be right and purposeful just like everything else in the book. I then deconstruct my drawing so I can convert it into coloured layers by using the mask tool in Photoshop. It's a bit like screen printing but without the mess.

And finally, there's the character or concept. Who is this character? What kinds of marks will bring this character to life. Bold, black lines? Slightly softer edges? What's the purpose of this story? How can I emphasise the point with my illustrations?

Its a completely organic process. I just go with the flow and hope for the best. I don’t just think, "Hmmm. What style shall I use?" and then think of a style.

 

Which part of the book-making process is your favourite?

Brainstorming ideas and suddenly having that moment. That lightbulb moment when an idea strikes like a bolt of lightening. I wish I could bottle it. It happens once every few months. It happened with The Queen's Hat, Please Mr Panda and Betty Goes Bananas and the other books I've got lined up for publication over the next two years. It can be triggered by something I've seen or heard. Sometimes it comes from nowhere.

 

What are your views on the picture book market right now?

There is not enough diversity in picture books. Yes, there are lots out there, and some brilliant ones too. But I think there’s still not enough.

 

What advice would you give to illustrators looking to crack into the children’s book industry?

Find your voice. Find your market. Get prepared. Get a website. But don't leave your day job. Things will happen if you put yourself in situations where things happen, so long as you're prepared and not afraid to talk to strangers. Prepare for success, and let failures fuel your fire. Write a best seller, and only leave your day job if you can afford to.

 

And, lastly, please describe yourself in five words

Imaginative. Adventurous. Hardworking. Loyal. OK.

 

 

 

ELLA OKSTAD: DEFINITELY NOT ALLERGIC TO IMAGINARY CATS (PHEW!)

Today on POP we're talking cats. Or, rather, imaginary cats, because I'm interviewing Ella Okstad, the extremely talented illustrator of the Squishy McFluff series.

 

 

Thank you for letting me interview you, Ella, and welcome to POP! First off, could you tell us a bit about how you got into illustration?

Thank you so much for having me!

I have always had a pencil at hand, for as long as I can remember. I knew from an early age that I would have a creative occupation. After college, I studied 2 years of graphic design in Norway. My work was always very illustrative, so I decided to go abroad to do further studies. I came to the UK in 1996 and took a foundation year and a BA in illustration at the Kent Institute of Art and Design, in Maidstone. I haven’t regretted it!

 

You’re represented by the Organisation. What drew you to that particular illustration agency?

The lovely people at the Org approached me at my degree show in London when I graduated from the Kent Institute in 2000. I have been with them since then. Wow, it`s actually been 14 years now! They really do have tons of experience and a lot of contacts in the market.

 

Where do you get your inspiration from?

As I draw a lot of kids in different settings, a great source of inspiration is observing my three boys and their friends. They are now 6, 8 and 13. These days I also draw a lot of cats (invisible and visible ones). As we don’t actually have one living in our house (I’m slightly allergic), I love watching the neighborhood cats (from a small distance). Cats are great!

Then there are of course books! When I need to go into town to do the occasional shopping, I always end up in the bookshops with my nose in a picture book. I almost forget the socks, and the groceries I went out to buy. I sometimes buy a new book or two for my already over-packed bookshelf. My kids love them too! There are so many great ones out there!

You have worked on books for a range of ages. Is there a type of book you enjoy illustrating the most?

I like working with all ranges of children’s books, but I do enjoy working with picture books. I love the fact that I can play around with the lines and the colors across the pages. The text and the images are allowed to interact with each other in a special way.

 

Which part of the book-making process is your favourite?

There are several parts of the process that I like. I enjoy reading through the text. Images start to appear in my head from the first sentence. Then there is the process of finding the characters with my pencil on a blank piece of paper. I often need to erase or start over, and when I feel frustration creeping along, I take a coffee break. When I get back it is easier to find them. I love it when they suddenly pop out. The last, finishing touch is also really satisfying. And of course having the finished book in my hands. Lastly, I love having feedback from kids reading it and enjoying the illustrations!

 

If you could meet any authors or illustrators, alive or dead, who would they be?

There are quite a few I would love to have a chat and a cup of coffee with. Here’s a selection: I enjoy the shapes and colors in the work of Czech illustrator Kvĕta Pacovská. I once had the pleasure of attending one of her lectures. I adore the work of Tove Jansson, I love reading the stories of Roald Dahl with the hilarious work of Quentin Blake, it’s fantastic to watch the universe of Hayao Myasaki and Studio Ghibli, be enchanted with the figures of Marc Boutavant, enjoy the landscapes and peculiarity of Shaun Tan’s work.

What are your views on the picture book market right now?

I think its fantastic! I went to the Bologna Book Fair last year for the first time and was overwhelmed. There are so many brilliant authors and illustrators with a wide range of different styles around the globe. The picture book market is a really exiting place to be at the moment.

 

What advice would you give to illustrators looking to crack into the children’s book industry?

It is a jungle out there, but don’t be afraid! Take a deep breath. Go in there and hold on to your personal style and be true to what you love. Find an agent. They are good guides. Make stories, make illustrations. Wave your flag and be visible! Show work through your website, blog and social media. Create a network of fellow illustrators and people in publishing. Twitter is a good place to be. I’ve just joined by the way! Lastly, have patience, because things may take some time.

 

And, for my last question, please describe yourself in five words

Curiously creative with kind spirit.

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Victoria Turnbull: Making Waves

VICTORIA TURNBULL: MAKING WAVES

I may be in Germany right now, but it's business as usual here on POP and today I'm more than a little bit pleased to share an interview with the lovely Victoria Turnbull, author-illustrator of The Sea Tiger.

 

Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for me, Victoria! First off, I wanted to ask you about winning the Association of Illustrators New Talent Award for Picture Books in 2013 – was this key to raising your profile?

I think it certainly helped generate some interest in my work. To be honest, it was just lovely to win something! I’d only recently finished my MA, so I was talking to publishers for the first time and dealing with the inevitable rejection that this entails. It gave me hope!

 

Your road to publication is unique - is it true that you wrote and illustrated The Sea Tiger as part of your MA? It must have felt amazing when Templar commissioned it?

Yes, The Sea Tiger was the final project of my MA. The course was a brilliantly creative environment, and one I feel very lucky to have been a part of.

It was at my graduation show that Mike Jolley from Templar approached me. It took a few months from then, but I was over the moon when Templar commissioned it. They produce such beautiful books, I was delighted to work with them.

 

Your artwork is beautifully atmospheric. Which techniques do you use to achieve this look?

Thank you. I really want my artwork to capture the imaginary worlds my characters inhabit. And to begin with, I found it very frustrating because my painting skills, watercolour and so on, were not really up to the job! Searching for a suitable technique made me experiment much more and opened me up to different possibilities.

In the end, I developed my own way of working for The Sea Tiger - whereby I printed my pencil drawings out onto watercolour paper and coloured them with a combination of pastel, coloured pencil and linseed oil.

 

 

What do you enjoy most about the book-making process?

I think it’s the opportunity to tell a story that I find so fascinating, stories that are important and personal to me. Trying to convey emotion and meaning with every word and every image is an incredibly difficult process. And by the end of that process, you wonder if you should have done things differently. But it’s wonderful when people understand and relate to the story I’m trying to tell.

 

If you could meet any authors or illustrators, alive or dead, who would they be?

Maurice Sendak. He was such an influential figure and he really pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in picture books. Sadly I won’t get to meet him now but happily I have lots of his books.

 

What are your views on the picture book market right now?

I think there are some really exciting artists working in picture books at the moment, both here and in other countries. But I worry not enough of these books get into the hands of your average consumer. The UK market is dominated by a small number of well-established authors and titles.

 

If you could change one thing in the world of picture books, what would it be?

I’d love to see some of the assumptions about what is suitable for children being challenged, both in terms of the illustration and the subject matter. I think publishers at the moment are too risk averse.

 

Describe yourself in five words

Quiet

Curious

Clumsy

Determined

Quirky

 

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Rob Biddulph: From Harper Lee to Harpercollins

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ROB BIDDULPH: FROM HARPER LEE TO HARPERCOLLINS

I am so pleased to welcome Rob Biddulph, author-illustrator of Blown Away, to POP this afternoon! Rob's beautiful illustrations are endearingly wonderful, and his first picture book, published by HarperCollins, is surely a bestseller in the making. Rob spared a few minutes to answer my questions, which is some feat considering how busy he is! Thank you, Rob!

 

 

First off, I have to ask what it was like to work for Just Seventeen! (Do you get asked this question by most women?!)

Ha! Yes, it does come up occasionally! Well, I absolutely loved my time there. It was my first job after college and I couldn't have started my career at a better place. It actually turned out to be a real hotbed of editorial talent. Lots of Just Seventeen staffers have gone on to have stellar careers across all facets of the media and I still have lots of friends from those days.  

Just Seventeen readers were great too. They were so into it. For them it was almost a tribal thing - either you were a Just Seventeen girl or you weren't. There was no middle ground. My friend Marc and I used to write the letters page (not to be confused with the problem page!) and so had a lot of direct communication with them. They were really clever, sparky and, above all, funny. We even used to get a bit of fan mail, so they obviously had great taste too! 

Personal Just Seventeen highlights include sitting awkwardly opposite a pre-fame Westlife while they loudly serenaded us in the office, and playing as a one-man football team against nineties boy-band 5ive. They were so terrible I actually beat them on my own! 

Another highlight was meeting my wife (she was the editor). Actually, I should probably have mentioned that one first.  

 

Ha! Let's assume you saved the best for last! You've actually worked for so many well-known magazines. How has this mixture of experience contributed to your unique artwork style?

The magazine and newspaper world is a very creative environment. Every day you are surrounded by talented, clever people who have all risen to the top in their chosen field. You can't help but be inspired by them. Also, the fact that I'm in charge of the art desk means that sometimes I can commission myself! I've illustrated for every mag I've ever worked on and as such have had to learn how to tailor my style to suit an audience. I guess being adaptable has come in pretty handy during the development of my children's book stuff. 

Having said that, there's no short-cut to finding your own style. It's only really through lots of drawing and redrawing that you can ever get close to something that you're happy with. Even then I never quite seem to get there. And I'm not sure I ever will because my tastes are constantly shifting. If I'm lucky enough to still be making picture books in ten years time I bet they'll look quite different to the ones I'm making now. 

You currently work for the Observer, and have a family of three. How do you manage to be an author-illustrator as well?

It's tricky. I'm at the Observer five days a week, so any book work has to happen either in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed or at the weekend. It's fair to say that there have been a few late nights! I do think you have to be quite driven to stick with it. I was lucky enough to get lots of encouragement from agents and publishers fairly early on, so I've always believed that getting a book published was something that was achievable. Still, there were times when it was harder to keep the faith. It can be a very slow process.

The sheer workload involved can be hard on the family, but I have to say that my wife Ally has been amazing. She's always been so supportive and encouraging. There's definitely no way that I could have done it without her. The kids have been brilliant too. They don't hold back with any criticism - a very useful part of the development process, if a touch painful at times!

Similarly, my editor at the Observer Magazine has been great. He's a published author himself and has experience of 'the journey'. So he's totally fine with it when I have to disappear off to HarperCollins HQ at a moment's notice. It would have been much harder had he not been so understanding.

 

Blown Away, your first picture book, was published at the end of August. How does it feel to be a children’s book author-illustrator?

Well it's all still very new, but so far it's been amazing! The first time I held a finished copy of the book in my hands was almost like an out-of-body experience, as was the first time I saw it in a shop window. When you've been working towards something for so long and then it finally happens you can't quite believe that it's real. 

I had to sign 550 copies at HarperCollins HQ a few weeks ago. Now that was odd! About halfway through I totally forgot how to write my name. I also got one of those exam lumps on my middle finger.

The very nicest thing about this whole experience, however, is getting feedback from children. It's so nice when they ask me questions about the story. It means they've really engaged with it.

  

What do you enjoy most about the book-making process?

I genuinely enjoy all aspects, but if I had to choose one it would be the final artworking. I love being in my studio, music turned up loud, fresh coffee brewing, the rest of the world shut outside while I just sit there and draw. It's lovely. By that point any creases in the story have been ironed out and all I have to do is execute the final illustrations. To some extent the pressure is off. It sounds a bit odd, but I enter an almost zen-like state. I lose myself in the artwork and then suddenly, before I know it, there's a finished illustration on the desk in front of me. 

Writing and storyboarding are great fun too. The fact that all three elements of the process use different parts of the brain means that it's not something I think I'll get bored with anytime soon. 

Oh, and the team at HarperCollins are brilliant. I feel very lucky to have the people who have worked on the Oliver Jeffers, Richard Scarry and David Walliams books in my corner. They're such a lovely bunch and they all bring so much to the table. I really feel that I'm in very safe hands with them. 

If you could meet any authors or illustrators, alive or dead, who would they be?

Hmmm. Well, my favourite book is To Kill A Mockingbird so I'd love to meet Harper Lee. Unfortunately, I doubt she'd want to talk about the book considering she's refused to discuss it with anybody for the last fifty years! 

The late Richard Scarry was my favourite author/illustrator as a kid, so it would have been great to shadow him as he went about his work. Same with Maurice Sendak. Where The Wild Things Are is a work of total genius - a genuine literary classic.

Who else? Well, I'd love to do a life-drawing class with Stanley Spencer or sit in a field painting trees with Vincent Van Gogh. Actually that would be great cos I could tell him not to worry too much about not selling any paintings. He'd get the recognition he deserved eventually!

 

What are your views on the picture book market right now?

Well, from a creative point of view I think that the market is in rude health. In fact I'd go as far as to say we are in something of a golden age. People like Jon Klassen, Oliver Jeffers, Peter Brown, Marta Altés and Emma Yarlett are producing astonishing work. Just so beautiful. Then, of course, there's Eric Carle, Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler, Lauren Child and Judith Kerr all still delivering brilliant picture books on a regular basis. I spend at least one lunch-hour a week browsing the picture book section in my local bookshop. I really love it.  

 

If you could change one thing in the world of picture books, what would it be?

It would be nice to be able to print text in a colour other than black! For those that don't know, the main story text in a picture book can (usually) only be printed using black ink so that when any foreign editions are printed the printer can simply replace the English language black plate with the foreign language black plate. I think it saves a lot of money. Sometimes it would be great to have some lovely 72 point red type though. Y'know, just for a change.  

Describe yourself in five words

I can always do better.

 

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Rilla Alexander: Like a Rolling Snowball

RILLA ALEXANDER: LIKE A ROLLING SNOWBALL

Last week, I spotted a special book. What was it? you ask. Well, dear friends, it was The Best Book in the World by Rilla Alexander. Published in June by Flying Eye Books, this glorious book is a celebration of colour, energy and beautiful illustrations - truly. I'll be writing a review very soon, but before that I'm really pleased to share an interview with Rilla.

 

Thank you so much for letting me interview you – you are my very first overseas interviewee! First off, please can you tell POP readers a little bit about yourself?

Thank you for inviting me! I am Australian, though haven’t lived at home for many years. I spent the last eight years in Berlin and have recently arrived in Portland, Oregon. Moving from country to country is challenging when you are a book lover with a much loved and gigantic bookshelf! Leaving books behind is akin to saying goodbye to friends – and as many as possible have joined me on this adventure.

My favourite thing to do is dream up characters, let them tell me their stories and see them come to life as books and toys, sculptures and prints – but also on plates, fabrics and other things that last and can be loved.

 

Your work is multi-faceted – encompassing picture books, workshops and ceramics, to name just a few. How do you find the time to be so enterprising?!

I come from a family who never stop making things and aren’t very good at relaxing. Coming up with ideas is so much fun but I have to constantly remind myself actually doing them is much slower. In fact, sometimes it’s a lot like work!

Doing workshops means I get to share my enthusiasm for making things and see many more ideas developed and rapidly finished. I love that!

 

How did you get into illustrating children’s books?

From as early as I can remember, I would dictate stories to my mother who would type them directly onto my drawings and bind the pages into books complete with an author’s bio. My family gave these books for Christmas and birthday presents and they were loved and treasured. As a teenager I made my first book about books for a subject called Library Studies. It was an elaborate picture book with stuffed arms and legs and contained an audio tape that my entire family contributed to. You would think it would be hard for me to stop – and yet, as time went on, I procrastinated about finishing any books because I knew how good I wanted them to be. Eventually I came to realise that getting any book done is better than none.

(As an aside, when I tell this to a class I’ve learnt I need to explain what a typewriter and an audio tape are.)

 

What do you enjoy most about the book-making process?

When you are first working on an idea absolutely everything you see, hear or read seems to relate to it somehow. Like a rolling snowball, the idea gets bigger and better and the momentum is so strong that you get swept away with it.

 

You chose to self-publish one of your books (Jorinde & Joringel) – how did your experience of this differ from working with a publisher?

The huge difference is in the collaboration, feedback and support – having somebody there who cares about what you are working on is invaluable in those moments where self-doubt gets the better of you. And then, of course, when the book is finally finished somebody else will put it into boxes and carry it up and down the stairs all over the world! (Obviously this is a highly simplified version of what the publisher does but I’m sure you understand what I am saying.)

But not everybody has a publisher to work with – and that is why I am such a strong proponent of simply making books. I suggest people forget all the rules that may be holding them back. Don’t try and make something you think a publisher will like – just make something. And when you are finished, have it printed in a limited edition, give it to friends, put on an exhibition, send it to people who might be interested and be very proud of yourself for finishing a book. Once you have made one, you can make another one and you’ll get better and better and probably won’t stop.

 

If you could meet any authors or illustrators, alive or dead, who would they be?

Can I please go back in time and play with Tove Jansson (and Tuulikki Pietilä and Pentti Eistola) building the Moominhouse?

 

What are your views on the picture book market right now?

I am completely overwhelmed when I walk into the Bologna or Frankfurt Book Fair by the sheer quantity of books and the true understanding of the word “industry”.

But I feel lucky to know a lot of people making beautiful books – among them Chris Haughton, Kitty Crowther, Vivian Schwarz, Ben Newman, Oliver Jeffers, Jim Stoten, Benji Davies and Kevin Waldron – and the simple fact that they are making the work they are making, and that it is being published and loved, says a lot.

 

Describe yourself in five words

Very likely red. Nothing more!

 

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BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN'S BOOKS ILLUSTRATED WINDOWS

Last week, Yasmeen Ismail was the latest illustrator to create a vision behind glass as part of Bloomsbury Children's Books Illustrated Windows project. And, boy oh boy, what a corker it was!

These windows are gorgeously creative, with Bloomsbury illustrators being given free rein to do whatever they darn well please. Each person brings something slightly different and truly special to the project, and I love how the illustrations look when they're blown up to enormous proportions!As you can see from the photos, the end results are spectacular.

The Illustrated Windows project was thought up by Emma Bradshaw, the wonderful Senior Publicity Manager at Bloomsbury. See below for a mini Q&A with Emma and more photos of the brilliant windows.

 

For anyone who doesn’t know already, tell us a bit about the Illustrated Windows project

The Illustrated Windows project is something I came up with to try and showcase both the emerging and established talent on Bloomsbury’s picture book list, and to support the many amazing booksellers and bookshops across the UK. The project is running throughout 2014 with at least one Bloomsbury illustrator creating a window display for a high street or independent bookshop each month.

 

Where did the idea come from? 

It started with an idea I had for Independent Booksellers Week 2013; across the week I placed a number of illustrators in different shops doing all sort of things from school events to craft workshops and live drawing, and a couple of them created bespoke window displays. The results were so stunning I decided it was something we should do more of in 2014.

 

Which illustrators and book shops have taken part?

So far we’ve had:

Tom McLaughlin at The Falmouth Bookseller

Catalina Echeverri at Under the Greenwood Tree (which has sadly closed since)

Sophie Tilley at Booka Bookshop & Café

Suzanne Barton at Mostly Books

Tom Percival at Jaffe & Neale

Paula Bowles at Hunting Raven Books

Debi Gliori at Storytellers Inc

Debi Gliori at News From Nowhere

Yasmeen Ismail at Pickled Pepper Books

You can also see the locations of all of the shops, and their stunning windows, by checking out the rather awesome Pintrest map our digital team put together:

http://www.pinterest.com/bloomsburybooks/bloomsbury-illustrated-windows/

 

Who else is in your line-up?

There will be more from Debi Gliori to celebrate the publication of her next book, Alfie in the Garden, with windows for The New Bookshop and Ebb & Flo Bookshop. And I’m in the process of arranging some others at the moment, but I’m afraid they are top secret for now!

 

Can book shops still get involved?

Absolutely! I’m so pleased with how everything has gone so far this year I’m pretty sure we’ll do it again in 2015. Anyone who’d like to take part should email me at [email protected] or talk to their Bloomsbury Area Manager  

 

Thanks so much for answering my questions, Emma, I can't wait to see more!

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BIG SUMMER READ

Earlier today, I whizzed down to Brighton's Churchill Square Shopping Centre to watch Sue Hendra take part in the Big Summer Read. Now, have you heard about this already? Because, I'm telling you, the Big Summer Read is brilliant - there's so much going on and so many wonderful people getting involved. Also, it's all absolutely free! FREE, I tell you!

Sue's Spider Sandwiches reading and squiggly spider make-and-do session went down a treat, as did the Spider Sandwiches activity packs (BIG thank you to the Bloomsbury Marketing team!). I witnessed the creation of many a wondrous spider! I'd like to give special thanks to the (as named by me) Tremendous Trio who were always on hand to help, always smiling and always simply marvellous. Thanks for having us, ladies!

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ILLUSTRATOUR 2014: A UNIQUE AND REWARDING EXPERIENCE

Last weekend I was really pleased to fly out to Valladolid, Spain to spend a couple of days at IlustraTour, the illustration festival. If you've not heard of IlustraTour before, then you are exactly who I wanted to write this post for, because while the festival has already been running since 2008 and is growing in size each year, it feels to me like it's also on the cusp of becoming something even more significant and exciting. People say the most effective way to raise awareness is by word of mouth. So here goes . . .

I was in Valladolid for two reasons. The first was that Mark Mills, founder of illustration agency Plum Pudding, invited me along to help him judge the third Plum Pudding Illustration Prize. This was one of the highlights for me, and allowed me to get a first look at all of the artwork, which was a real treat. With The Wizard of Oz as the theme, and each entry being vastly different from the next, it was a joy to go through all of the submissions. When Mark and I sat in a crowded lecture theatre on the morning of Saturday 5th, I was struck by how much enthusiasm was in the room with us. That was my first taste of the illustrators' untapped potential, bubbling away under the surface.

The results of the competition were:

First place Clara Gosálves Silva 

Second place Brenda Figueroa 

Third place Esther Burgueño

Later on that day, I saw the first half of my IlustraTour Network appointments. The Network event is a brilliant way for illustrators to showcase their work to people within the publishing industry. There was a mix of professionals giving advice and comments - those working both in Spain and internationally, encompassing books, magazines, and digital - almost 60 of us in all, which I found really impressive. Each of my meetings felt positive and exciting. It was a great chance for me to meet illustrators I wouldn't normally have the chance to meet, and they were all very talented and passionate. Here's a little taster of what I saw on both Saturday and Sunday:

Whenever I look at artwork, I find that my mind flits between my personal taste, which area of publishing I can imagine a particular artwork style working for and which publisher I can imagine wanting to commision that style. I think that's something illustrators don't often realise at first - that each publisher has its own identity which leads them to commission particular types of books. That's why it's so, so important for illustrators to research publishers and look closely at the books they're publishing right now, to see if they show signs of responding positively to a certain style of illustration or type of book. (Of course, I would also be the first to tell someone to take a chance and just send your artwork to a publisher even if you're not sure. Everyone loves a wildcard!)

As well as the illustrators I met at IlustraTour, I was amazed by the people who were working hard behind the scenes. The team at IlustraTour did a brilliant, brilliant job and were always in control, always on-hand with help or advice (or directions, in my case, for when I got lost!) and above all were always simply lovely people. I felt honored to be involved in the event alongside them, and I hope that I can continue to help IlustraTour grow and flourish in the future.

Before I sign off, here's even more of what I saw during the weekend.

 

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