The 'Read it Again!' Award goes to....

....Amy Husband! For her wonderful book, 'Dear Miss...'


I had a great day out last week at Cambridgeshire Libraries' 'Read it Again!' award ceremony. I was shortlisted, along with eight other debut author-illustrators, most of whom were at the event in Buckden. Here's some info:
As a virtual hermit, shackled to my desk in the hills of Wales, it was lovely to get out into the daylight and meet all the other illustrators, chat about colouring-in and be swamped by excited kids. We signed lots of pieces of paper, a few books and the odd poster. We stood on stage and babbled on about our books for a few minutes (I showed a few photos of when I was a pirate), and then we all escaped to a nearby pub, where I enjoyed a couple of pints of Guinness. All in all, a super day out.

It was a four hour train journey to Cambridgeshire, and a four hour train journey home. On the way there, I managed to scribble a few sketchy layouts for a possible new picture book, but on the way back I was lured into a deep snooze by the aforementioned Guinness. I woke up with a start as the train pulled into Crewe station, pulled my sandals on, stuffed my things into my bag and dashed off the train in a panic, as people were trying to get on. I breathed a sigh of relief on the platform until I suddenly remembered my train went direct to Chester, and I didn't need to change at Crewe at all. I just got back on as the buzzer was sounding and the doors slammed shut behind me. I felt such a buffoon, I went to sit in a different carriage. And fell asleep again. Zzzzzzzzzz.

So, a big 'Congratulations!' to Amy, whose book about a boy writing more and more fantastical letters in an attempt to avoid a return to school, is hilarious! If she had a website, I'd link to it. But she hasn't. So I told her to make one. Or start a blog. She said she would. So maybe she will. And then I'll link to it. Hooray!

Aliens!
Daisy had a sleep when she got home from school yesterday, so when it came to bedtime she just wasn't tired. So we decided to draw aliens in the garden. I had a big glass of red wine, and Daisy had milk with a chocolate straw. We stayed up until 9pm, until we both got tired and a little bit moody.

I did a sketch of Rex, the King of Space...

And Daisy copied one of my aliens. Or maybe I copied one of hers.... Hmmmmm.

The Thingies!
I was packing up my office in March, because we were moving house, and I found this old drawing. I'd scanned it and sent it to 'Imagine FX' a while back, for an article on inspiration. I think the drawing dates from about 1982 when I was 11 years old. I've got a photo somewhere of me lying on a blanket on our back lawn drawing this.

The 'Thingies' were an alien race, and over the next few years, my Friend Daniel (who I generously made Vice President of the RSPCT) and I, created a whole universe for the Thingies to live in. I liked drawing the bad guys, called the Morons (a lot of thought went into the names!!), who had German infantry helmets and big tanks.

The funny thing about this, is that it's not so far removed from the work I do as a concept artist now. A rough-ish doodle, a few notes and a bit of silliness.

I'll try and scan some other stuff if I can find it.....

My Life as a Pirate...
I've had quite a few emails since 'The Pirate Cruncher' was published, asking me where I get my ideas, and how I find reference.

My ideas come from all the things I experience in life. Just like everyone, the inside of my head is a mish-mash of all the places I've been, the people I've met, books I've read, films I've watched, animals I've seen, museums I've visited, conversations I've had, and dreams I can still remember when I wake up. They all get jumbled up in my head. Sometimes they emerge as daft conversations, sometimes as doodles in my sketchbook and sometimes they trickle out as ideas for a story. Everyone's head has a different jumble of ingredients, but we can all have daft conversations, draw doodles and make up stories. I'm just very lucky that I can do it for a living.

With 'The Pirate Cruncher' it was slightly different. I didn't have to make much up, because I used to be a pirate. I may not have been the usual marauding, ship-attacking, rum-guzzling, salty sea dog you might expect, but I did live and work aboard a square-rig ship for almost a year. I dressed up in old-fashioned clothes, climbed the rigging and sailed the seas. We took kids on board to educate them in the ways of the waves, drank some rum (but not too much), waved our swords occasionally, fired the cannons at nothing in particular, clambered aloft for film crews making movies and beer adverts, and lazed about on deck in the sun. So it was almost like being a real pirate, minus the looting, prosthetic limbs and gibbets.

Eventually I jumped ship in Dublin, because the ship's cook didn't like my vegetarian ways, and Dublin was quite close to my Mum and Dad's house in North Wales. but I still fondly remember my days at sea. And just to prove I'm no fibbing landlubber, here are some photos....

The 'Santa Maria' moored in Charlestown, Cornwall. The ship was actually called the Phoenix, but was rebuilt to look like Columbus' Santa Maria for the movie '1492: Conquest of Paradise'. I lived on a small bunk below decks for a few months, as we sailed between Bristol, Cornwall, London, Chatham and Brighton.

The Captain even let me steer the ship! This was sailing from Cornwall to London in March 1995. I'm using a compass to navigate which you can see in front of me, alongside the very distracting bar of chocolate. Everybody knows that pirates love chocolate. That's why they hung about in Central America, had bad teeth, big pot bellies and suffered from scurvy. Fortunately I don't have scurvy yet, and have never been to Central America.

This is me dangling aloft on the Santa Maria, rubbing tallow on the chains and tackle. Tallow is congealed lamb fat which is used to make sure all the ropes and chains and moving bits run smoothly and don't rust, and I was usually asked to do this job because I was a vegetarian and it got right up my nose. Grrr.

In the summer of 1995 we set sail for Ireland aboard the Kaskelot, and met up with another ship, the Earl of Pembroke. We made a couple of films; 'Kidnapped' (a TV movie with Armand Assante), and 'Moll Flanders' with Morgan Freeman. It was a lovely hot summer and I drank a lot of Guinness.

I got dressed up a lot and scurried about the rigging for the cameras. This is me on the bowsprit (the long bit that sticks out the front), doing nothing in particular, but if you ever see 'Kidnapped' I actually got to coil a rope on camera too. They should probably have asked a more experienced sea dog than me...

Here's what it looks like 'aloft' whilst 'furling' sails. Before I worked on the ships I wasn't too keen on heights, but after a few weeks I loved climbing the rigging, and often took my camera up with me to take snaps. "Look, no hands!" I'd say and all the proper pirates would 'tut' and tell me to get on with some furling, to stop colouring in and eat some meat. 'Eat Yer Greens!' I'd say, because pirates would've been much healthier and less prone to scurvy if they'd eaten more fruit, eaten less goat's heads, drank less rum and visited their dentist once in a while.

There be Pirates Abroad!

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I've been without the magical world-wide interweb for several weeks, since moving to the Welsh hills. That was fixed a couple of days ago, and once again I will need to show some restraint if I'm going to get any work done.

But one big thing happened while I was cut off from the world, 'The Pirate Cruncher' was published in the United States of America!! Hoorah! Or should I say "Ooooo-ArRR!"

I was sent a copy of the book a little while back, and on first glance there was something peculiar about it. Hmmmm.

Spot the Difference
(apart from the jaunty angle!)

Here's the US cover (above), and the UK cover (below)

I'm afraid there are no prizes. I just wanted to point out to the US book buying public that they're actually getting a little bit more for their money. Amazon.com has quite a few pages in it's preview, if anyone would like to 'Look Inside'.... Look here!

There are also a couple of lovely reviews. For now at least, it's got half a star more than the UK version with a full five stars, but then a couple of snippets in the book have been changed and they rhyme better. That may well be it, a quarter of a star per rhyming couplet. Or maybe it's just the extra bit of tentacle on the cover. Ooops...

And on a related note, my publisher told me that there are only a couple of hundred copies of the UK hardback left in their stock cupboard. So that's good. But if they manage to flog the lot, a paperback version will be published in the UK on the 1st June, I think.

Homeward Bound...

It's been a while, but we've been moving house! We've got a new life in Wales! We've only gone and bought the house I grew up in...

My Mum's moved down the lane, my daughter Daisy is at the same tiny village school I attended as a child, and I've got a new studio in my sister's old bedroom... It's kinda weird, but I'm so happy. I just wish my dad could be here with us.

And my excuse for not blogging..? We've not had an internet connection since April!

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....