Lionel has gone...

...to London.

I've finally done it...i've sent my dummy book,character sheets, scrap book and Lionel teddy to my friend in London...The Walker team will soon be looking at my work soon...this excites and terrifies me...All I need is someone to give me a chance. It would be the best thing ever to become a published illustrator...i'd probably go a bit batty and dance with joy!

I'm thinking of making some copies of my dummy book and character sheets so I can send them off to other publishers...as Walker are the only publishers that i've sent real material pieces of my work too. That was a year ago...wow!

Anyway, wish me luck! It'll be a while before I hear anything but i'll be posting about it whether it's good or bad news.( I shan't get my hopes up...just going to try and keep busy until I hear back.)

I'm going to London...

...YEY!
I'm so excited! I'll be staying there from the 12th-16th July! Plans so far whilst in London:


Arrive in London at 6pm on the 12th:
get something to eat and early night.

Friday 13th:
Probably going to the Hummingbird Bakery
and the Natural History Museum and some some galleries...
might go to South Bank and go on the London Eye and nosey about the galleries.

Saturday 14th:
Not 100% sure what's happening during early morning/evening but late evening we will be seeing Bruce Springsteen in Hyde Park.

Sunday 15th:
Seeing the Lion King musical at the theater where I will cry like a litte girl.
Then to the Tate to see the Damien Hirst exhibition. Hope I can take photographs as I want a picture in front of the shark...(I won't be able to get the JAWS theme tune out of my head!)

Monday 16th:
We leave at 9pm so we may go to Camden or to Soho and get a caricature done of me with the boyfriend...or we may go to the zoo...we shall see how much money we have left.


I will also be meeting my friend Viviane who you will know has been an inspiration to me...hope I don't terrify her with my hyperness...when i'm happy I get hyper and I waffle...like in most of these blog posts.

Here are some of my hi-lights from my London trip last year:














I'm hoping to come away from London feeling happy,relaxed and inspired! If you have any recommendations of things to do whilst in London then please don't hold back! I'd love to hear what your MUSTS are for a London holiday.

Some more Character Sheets.

It's been a while since my last post and I do apologise for that. Been a busy and sleepy lady...but here's what i've been up to: ...more character sheets. Need to add a few more things for Mike the Monkey to do and I need to get my Holly hippo sorted. But once these are sorted I can get them sent off!yey!...though I need to finish my scrap book too (though reading the Woman in Black and playing pokemon has gotten in the way a little bit) which will be done by next week...i've decided. I'm sick of dilly dallying...I want/need to send it all off and then to wait for the dreadded feedback...*crosses fingers*...

Recently.

Recent work. I like his happy face.

Sneaky.

The other night I went drinking with friends and whilst collecting my bedding from the car I noticed a little black and white cat on the corner of the street, watching me. I just had to draw him. I want to redraw this but quite like it as starting point.

Laika.

I completely forgot to post this! This picture has been painted up for a while now. I know it's not perfect, but I do like her sweet/cheeky face. This is an illustration of Laika the space dog...I am currently working on a story about Laika in space. This isn't necessarily an illustration that will appear in my book/dummy book but the image was stuck in my head.

Character Sheet...

...in progress. Got more to add to the sheet (it won't be cluttered once properly organised). Feeling quite happy with it at the moment. I'm really enjoying showing Lionel's character. He hates getting wet, he loves fruit and running about and playing. More to come of each character from my book!

Lovely Stuff.

I recently did an art swap (of sorts) with the talented Miss Ladybird Likes aka Zoe Bateman. I drew her beautiful pup in exchange for one of her fantastic necklaces! I love love love my camera necklace and wore it straight away! She also sent along an adorable cherry brooch and (very kindly) a 10% discount code! and she packages everything so beautifully! She really made my day! I hope she loves her Pup illustration as much as I loved this package of goodies! I shall post a picture of the illustration once it has been recieved!

Ride Like the Wind.

This is my entry for the Ooh Deer Tee Party Competition.

I love books.

I love books. I love buying books...old or new. It doesn't matter. I love the feel, the look and the smell. Here are some I aquired recently:

I want my Hat Back by Jon Klassen and No by Marta Altes are two of my recent favourites. I want my Hat Back is so funny! I love it! My boyfriend even found it funny too (and usually he's not a big fan of children's books). No is just adorable and also very funny. I love dogs so this won me over straight away.

Here are two books I bought from a charity shop. The line work and colour in Mr Big is excellent and Raymond Briggs' When the Wing Blows is amusing and quite sad. The colours inspired/and still inspires my Lionel work.

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes is really fantastic and Laura Carlin's work makes it even better!!!

This is one of my favourite spreads by Wolf Erlbruch. I love the use of mixed media. Adorable characters.

I won things!

At easter I guessed the easter egg and won! I won the easter egg and a copy of Wrap Magazine which is really beautiful. I can't wait to use the innards to wrap a present...though i'll only use it for special people.

Also, a while ago I guessed the characters that Becka Moorillustrated and I won the illustration and some other amazing goodies: the little mirror that I really wanted and some uber cute kitty cat magnets!(Yes I know the illustration is upside down...i'm a silly goose).

Waffle.

Images of a little dummy book I made with neat spreads.

I have been busy with my job and busy with worrying and procrastinating.
To get my book published would be a dream come true...I think the thought scares me a little bit too...I also keep worrying about my page layouts and whatnot...I think once i've figured it out I can get my dummy book made and sent off!

I think i'm starting to learn that it's ok to redraw stuff and try new things...though I have been procrastinating...most annoying...but I put this down to feeling uninspired as of late and in a bit of a creative rut...going to get plenty of drawing done on my two days off and i'm planning on making a Lionel teddy.

Samsung

I was recently commisioned (alongside another 99 up and coming artists) by Samsung GALAXY Love Note to create an image/or use an already created image of love: be that of love for your friends, family, partner, pet etc. I chose to use my image of the bear and fox having a hot drink together! My image can be chosen by anyone to create a postcard and send it for free to their loved one! So if you fancy using my image(or anyone else's) or just having a nosey, have a looksee here on the Samsung Galaxy LoveNote website!

We're going to the Zoo, zoo, zoo...

...How about you,you,you? I got that song stuck in my head every time we discussed going to the zoo!

Here are some of my favourite photos from Chester Zoo. I love animals!!!

The Gathering...

I have two days off work...

First day off: ate A LOT and painted this double page spread for my Lionel story.
Hoping to do a few more spreads tomorrow. I'm almost at an idea/personal project...feeling inspired by B Movie songs and zombies...and Ryan Gosling.

I recently watched Drive, which was awesome. I now have the need to watch every film with Ryan Gosling in! and a lovely friend of mine pointed out that he's in a band called Dead Man's Bones -he is a very talented fellow indeed! This is one of my favourites: Name In Stone.

Lionel in Colour.

I finally started painting some spreads for my Lionel story. Here are two of them, both have been edited slightly...may have to ask the public which they think looks best as i'm rather indecisive!







I'm feeling really good about this project, now that it's getting somewhere. My lovely friend is giving me tips on how to improve and i'm keeping at it. Hoping to get it printed a few times when done; either by myself or a proper printers. Then i'm going to send it off to some publishers... really nervous but excited. Hope they like Lionel as much as I (and the public) do!

Lionel felt terrible.

This is Lionel at his saddest, most vulnerable moment...and I LOVE him!
I am so proud of myself for creating this character. I'll probably hate him in a week/day/hour/5 minutes! But i'm enjoying every second of loving him! So excited to get my other characters and spreads done!

Smaug.

Yesterday I decided to draw and paint Smaug (from the Hobbit). I'm rather pleased with this, though it's a bit dark and even though i've tried to edit it, it just stays dark! So i'm going to give it another go. I may even try and attempt a front cover for the Hobbit. I can't wait for the film to come out! I remember going to see Lord of the Rings at the cinema! Good times! Still working on my Lionel story...more to come soon!