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Here's another little peek into the weird and wonderful work-in-process world of Oliver and the Seawigs.



For this illustration, I couldn't manage it all on one piece of paper; I thought I'd treat it more like a screen print, on different layers, even though I'm feeding it all into Photoshop.



And the finished version. I needed to send this lickety-split so it could go into the pack that Oxford University Press are taking along to the Frankfurt Book Fair. (I think the Twitter hash tag will be #fbm12.) Book designers all around the world are going absolutely nuts getting ready today, so send them lots of virtual hugs and real chocolate.



Other news: Congratulations to my friend David Lasky and Frank M. Young for the launch of their long-awaited graphic novel The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song I visited David at his studio and saw him working on this last time I was in Seattle and could hardly wait to see it all printed up. It's a real labour of love.



Here's a little peek inside:



And I haven't got my hands on a copy yet, but this is an official blurb. And you can find out loads more on Carter Family: Don't Forget this Blog.

The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song is a rich and compelling original graphic novel that tells the story of the Carter Family — the first superstar group of country music—who made hundreds of recordings and sold millions of records. Many of their hit songs, such as “Wildwood Flower” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” have influenced countless musicians and remain timeless country standards.

The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song is not only a unique illustrated biography, but a moving account that reveals the family’s rise to success, their struggles along the way, and their impact on contemporary music. Illustrated with exacting detail and written in the Southern dialect of the time, its dynamic narrative is pure Americana. It is also a story of success and failure, of poverty and wealth, of racism and tolerance, of creativity and business, and of the power of music and love.

The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song is published by Harry N. Abrams and comes with a CD of Carter Family music. Hopefully you can buy it at all good book shops and comics shops (and also on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk).

Getting things made by David Lasky through the post is always a complete thrill. Here's a parcel from him which arrived last week, with some older comics he made, a piece of artwork which I bought from his recent exhibition, and a lovely collaged envelope. Thank you, David! (He's dlasky on LiveJournal.)



The first time you see a book you've spent months, or possibly years, working on, is always wonderfully exciting, and a little scary, too. Here are David and Frank, the first time they saw their new book.

My first copy of When Titus Took the Train arrived!

Isn't it pretty? :D I've been carrying around the proofs for ages, but it's so amazing to see it as an actual book. I've posted a bunch of free download activity stuff over on on Titus's website.


And more! I gave a copy of my Dear Diary mini comic to the amazing illustrator Chris Riddell at the Carnegie Greenaway awards, and he was so chuffed with it that he promised to send me a copy of his own mini, Hairstyles of American Civil War Generals:





He wrote, This mini comic thing is addictive! Yay! He's going to call his next one The Book of Colours in Black and White.

And the post made miracles again! Here's a packet from the fabulous David Lasky, who makes comics in Seattle. He's been working on a graphic novel about the Carter Family. David included some of his early mini comics (Dear Ella features an awkward relationship with an attractive life model and My Flying Dream is, as the title suggests, about a dream he once had. I love that he wrote on Salmon Bay Cafe paper. My sister took me for brunch there on a visit several years ago and it made me a tiny bit homesick.



Here's a closeup of his comic strip:


Thanks so much, guys! And thanks, Bridget, for the diary you sent! :D Gonna be doing a lot more diary writing this year.

And fresh in, Alex T. Smith just sent this photo via Twitter of our books nestled together in the shop tent at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Vern and Lettuce a whole month early! (See you in Edinburgh tomorrow, Alex!)

Last night Stuart and I had a much-needed cosy evening in, where he sat on the sofa and read David Copperfield and I pottered about nearby and painted this little picture of him. It's very simple, but it really looks like Stuart to me. Unlike me, he's definitely a morning person and he has a very strict routine he cheerfully follows every morning, involving a two-course breakfast (porridge and a banana for the first course, tea and toast for the second, the only variation being whether he has marmalade or honey on his toast). It's very comforting and endearing, unless we're late for something, because nothing short of nuclear war would rush him in it. (I made a couple comics about it ages ago, but I still like them: my mole comic and the hourly comic.)

And another lovely thing, this book of poetry by dlasky fought it's way valiantly through the postal strike, The Catalog of Exceptionally Rare Comic Books. It's a collection of verses about completely obscure comics that might have been made, beautifully imaginative and such a cosy read. Thank you, David Lasky!! I love books and exhibitions about stories that might have been, like the 'well of lost plots' in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, which I found hugely entertaining.



It's Comica season again! Last year's festival in London was brilliant (you can see my posts about it here). Matt Badham interviews organiser Paul Gravett about it on the FPI blog here. Which tickets are you going to book? If you have kids aged between 4-11, book them in to draw to music with me for the Little Pencil event at the Institute of Contemporary Arts on Friday, 6 Nov from 4:30-6:30.

Oo, and can you guess the number of pens in Dave Shelton's house?