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Remember I showed you the Bears on the Stairs promotional postcards that the folks at Anderson Press printed for me? Well, the lovely Clare, who's in charge of all the marketing stuff, has also designed me some scrummy A3 posters:
Great aren't they? These are the generic ones, but she has also created some specifically for the schools taking part in my Hairy Scary Illustration Competition, which she has been vigilantly posting out for me all last week. Thanks Clare - you're a star!
I'm so looking forward to seeing the children's entries for the competition. I've had some come in already:
These are a selection from the drawings sent in last week by Y1 and Y2 children at St John's C of E Primary School in Shildon.
These ones, by Lewis Hall and Rera Whitfield are especially fierce and scary!!
I will of course post up the winners next month, for you to see.
Not quite in the shops yet, but getting very close now!
Last week, my lovely postman brought me a big box, and inside were my advance copies of Bears on the Stairs. This is my first picture book with Anderson Press and I am absolutely delighted by the quality of the print - the colours are so true and really zingy.
And, as you can see, the paperback will have snazzy, red text on the front, to match Little Bear's trousers:
Publication date is August 5th. Can't wait!
As usual, if you are in the UK and would like a signed copy, with a little picture drawn inside, do email me. Hardbacks are £10.99 (& postage). I also have a handful of advance paperbacks at £5.99 if you're quick!
You can read about how Bears on the Stairs was created, and see my earliest sketches and pastel illustrations in progress on my blog posts from last August & September.
Today I emailed my finished drawings for Bears on the Stairs to the Editor at Anderson Press. Hurray!!
This was the last one left to draw (although confusingly for you guys, it's from the middle of the story):
Once the spreads were all designed, I went back through them, redrawing, tidying them up and tweaking details. For instance, here are 'before and after' versions of spread 5 (that I initially talked about a while ago):
The team at Anderson will also forward everything to Julia Jarman, the author. Feedback can take anything from a week to 3 weeks. Sometimes there are only tweakings to be done, sometimes radical changes. I'll let you know what they say. Cross fingers...
I will have a think about ideas for the front cover of the book while I wait to hear.
The hero of Bears on the Stairs is a small child, who is of course the one who's dreamt up the bears.
I've been unsure whether to do a boy or girl, as Julia doesn't specify. My first thought was a little girl, as they are so cute to draw.
However, there is an interesting issue to bear in mind: whilst girls will read books with boys or girls as heroes, boys can be reluctant to read stories about girls. It's not a problem I've had to consider much before, because animals are usefully unisex!
In the end, to maximise appeal in these difficult times, I am going with a boy and I'm please that he is still coming out pretty cute.
My wonderful (sometimes!) hubby has just given me a great idea - why not try one of the bears as a koala or a panda? Off to try it out on the fat one in the t-shirt...
Since I last spoke about my newest project, I have been negotiating the terms of the contract, but it is now all set, signed and posted. So we are ready to go!
The first thing I always ask, is for a set of full-size layouts to be set with type and printed out for me:
This way I know what text I have to work with on each page, and exactly how much space it is going to require. Of course, the position in not set at this stage - I will move the text around to fit the images I create. Nobody, including me, knows what they will look like yet!There is an artwork deadline of Oct 2nd and, allowing for my various school commitments, this leaves me just enough time: no spare for illness (or rubbish drawing), so I am felling slightly anxious.
I'm sure I'll feel better though, once I've got my teeth into it.
Isn't it funny how everything always happens at once? Anderson Press have just asked if I would like to illustrate a new text. Hurrah!
It should be good fun as there's lots of drama in the story. It's quite dark and scary in places, which appeals to me, but there's also plenty of potential for humour and wonderful characterisation.
The author is Julia Jarman, who I've illustrated for several times, on projects with Orchard and Hodder, most recently for Class Three All At Sea. I've never worked with Anderson Press before, but they obviously like what Julia and I have done in the past, and that's why they will have thought of me - thanks Julia!
Julia and I make a good team, as we think alike. We are both really into promotional work too, which means we're always bumping into one another at festivals (believe it or not, there are some authors you never get to meet). Sometimes we even perform together, and will be presenting Class Three All At Sea together at Edinburgh this summer (more details later).
This new book is an ASAP project: Anderson Press want me to get it all finished in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair in October (see Dragon-Proof!), which means I'll be getting going on the roughs almost straight away. So, for the time being, everything else is on the back burner.
My publisher, Anderson Press are kindly donating the prizes: hardback copies of Bears on the Stairs for both the winning schools and the winning children, inside which, I will of course be signing my congratulations and drawing some pictures.
Julia's story is called Bear on the Stairs (about being scared to go to bed). I started getting my head into gear by thinking about the main characters, and filling a sketchbook page with research images, drawn from the Internet.
As you can see, I have decided to accessorize them, to diffuse matters further. At the moment, the little one wears stripy trousers, the fat one is squeezed into a too-tight t-shirt, and the big one wears a baseball cap (ignore the text - it's because I'm drawing directly onto those 
I expect our furry friends will continue to evolve, but I am feeling much better about them now. What do you think? 
Some lovely artwork by the kids there Lynne - and great posters too.
Children's drawings always leave us poor adults way behind when it comes to imagination and freedom. Never any contest.
The kids' drawings are lovely!How ever are you going to choose a winner?
And they got me thinking - what was it like for you when you first started out in illustration? Could you please do a post sometime about your experience working on your first book? Thank you.
Interesting idea Alice. I'll have a think about it, although it was such a long time ago, I can't remember much about how it felt at the time.
You inspired some wonderful drawings! - I love the green monster, middle row, second on the left.
Yes - he has a great face, doesn't he!
yes !! wonderfull monsters!
Some are really incredible!!!
Thanks for your comment on Coralie's blog... I hope your guess is right!!
(I am the author of Hiku,I enjoyed writting in english...)