Einstein's Underpants!

'Einstein's Underpants- And How They Saved the World' written by Anthony McGowan is published today by Corgi Yearling. This was a book cover I worked on in September last year. I read the manuscript first and thought it was hilarious. It's just the sort of book I'd have loved reading as a kid. It's very very silly.

Alexander is given a pair of old stained Y-fronts, by his bonkers Uncle Otto. Reputedly worn by Albert Einstein himself, the pants bestow magical powers of cleverness on Alexander. And that's just what he needs to foil an imminent alien invasion and an impending meteor strike that could destroy all mankind.

He recruits a bunch of misfit kids from his school with this advert in the 'Items Wanted' section of the school message board:

"Any persons with special powers, such as super strength, telekinetic ability (i.e. moving stuff with just your brain), anti-gravity skills (e.g. flying), controlling magnetism, etc. etc., to join an elite team of heroes to save the world. Come to room 111 at 12.30 on Wednesday. No time-wasters. No loonies. Refreshments not supllied."

Although I liked the previous advert more.

"Girlfriend. Must be gorgeous and like snogging. She must not mind clammy hands, acne, BO or bad breath."

If only I'd thought of this, I might have met my wife much sooner....

Anyway, here's the final art:


There were a few fiddles with deciding where Alexander should go, and at one point his friend Melvyn featured on the back cover. I might post some roughs if I can dig them out....

Invisible Fiends: Mr.Mumbles! EeeK!

I was out and about yesterday and I spotted another book cover I'd done on the shelves of W.H.Smith! 'Invisible Fiends: Mr. Mumbles' by Barry Hutchison was published by Harper Collins in February.

This was something a little bit different for me, at least as far as children's publishing is concerned, because it's HoRRoR!!! EeeEK!!

I painted this cover last summer, after reading Barry's manuscript. It gave me the heebie-jeebies, and scared the life out of me. I thought 'The Pirate Cruncher' was scary until I read 'Mr.Mumbles'.

The 'Invisible Fiends' series is about a boy named Kyle who has forgotten the imaginary friends he had as a small child... But they've not forgotten him....

So Mr.Mumbles is the first to return, and it was all a bit scary for a big wuss like me, particularly the climax in a disused swimming pool which further reinforced my fear of dark, murky water.

I love the graphic look of the finished covers with the slit and torn edges. I went through a few different ideas with the designer, Nina Tara. Here's the first rough:

And a second version, where we tried to include the whole figure, but it lost impact and Mr.Mumbles was too small on the page to get a good look at his stitched up mouth and other details:


So we kept with the full figure on the back of the book, and ended up with a cool, creepy close-up on the front. Here's a close up of the final art, with the temporary paper edge from me, before Nina added the torn white edging and the type:


Next up is Raggie Maggie. I've not read the book, but I painted the cover from Barry's description of the character. I wasn't going to show this one, because I'd not seen the final design, but I just found this on Amazon:



I'll post some WiP, sketches and roughs for 'Raggie Maggie' when the book is published in August!

'The Badness of Ballydog'

I received a new book in the post last week. Somehow I missed publication, but 'The Badness of Ballydog' by Garrett Carr was published on 4th February.

This job was done at quite short notice, and I didn't get to read the manuscript, but I really like how it turned out. I was happy with the artwork, and I think Simon and Schuster have done a great job with the design. The book sounds fun, and it's next on my list once I've read a couple of manuscripts (for illustrations I'm currently working on). Here's the blurb from the back of the book:

"Something is coming ...something big. May knows it, but no one will listen to her. She is an outcast due to her odd ways and freakish ability with animals. Andrew knows it, but he has his position as gang leader to maintain. Ewan knows it, but what can he do? The sea creature is the biggest living thing on the face of the earth. And it won't stop until it has destroyed Ballydog. Can three teenagers save the baddest town in the world from its fate? Is it even worth saving?"

Here's the rough I submitted, and the final wraparound artwork. I had fun with the stylization of the buildings and the waves, but not much changed between rough and the finished painting. As usual, the colouring-in was all done in Photoshop CS3 and Corel Painter 11.