It's Beardageddon!

As it's #NationalPetDay I thought I'd share a preview of the second Pet Defenders book Beards from Outer Space by Gareth P Jones & illustrated by me 

'There's a new mayor of Nothington-on-Sea and the bearded, sunglass-wearing politician has attracted a whole load of fans.

Soon everyone in the town is sporting a beard - even the women!

But these are not just any beards - the Beard King is in town and he's planning to conquer the world.'

It's out on Star Wars day (May the fourth be with you! Ouch!)

(Here is a picture of me with a rather feeble excuse for a beard but I rock the sunglasses ok!)

Superdad's Day Off (sneak preview)

Shhhhh! Here's a sneak preview of Superdad's Day Off by the very funny Phil Earle with lots of nice colour pictures by me. It's published by Barrington Stoke on the 15th April & you can pre-order it here.
I'll write & post more once it's published. I've got previous form with superheroes so was BIG fun to illustrate!

Pet Defenders published TODAY!

Pet Defenders - Attack of the Alien Dung written by the very funny Gareth P Jones with illustrations by me is published today (9th February) by Stripes. It's the first in a brand new series in which an unlikely pairing of pets Mitzy & Biskit protect Earth from an assortment of invading aliens. 

'The planet is under attack and it’s up to Pet Defenders, Mitzy the cat and Biskit the dog, to save the world but first they are going to have to stop fighting like cat and dog long enough to do it! Secret agent Biskit is really not happy that his new partner Mitzy is a cat – everyone knows that the two don’t mix. But saving the Earth must come first when the planet is being invaded.' 


In the words of the author "It's basically Men in Black meets Dogs & Cats meets Dempsey & Makepeace with a giant space beetle made out of cowpats." which was obviously music to my ears when it came to illustrating it, giving me the chance to draw lots animals & aliens which are some of my favourite things (& drawing poo is ALWAYS fun, right kids?)

You can buy it here or if you're lucky enough to have a good local book shop go & say hello to them & buy one there. There's also a theme tune performed by the great Mr Jones which you can listen to here!

Pet Defenders - Attack of the Alien Dung!

I just received my copy of the first in the series of the Pet Defenders books - 'Attack of the Alien Dung' written by the very funny Gareth P Jones & published by Stripes. It's out on the 9th February so will share more info & pictures then. It's been a lot of fun to illustrate & I've just finished working on book 2 so plenty more to come, I also get a PROPER credit which is very welcome! 

Aidan Abet - Teacher's Pet

The very funny 'Aidan Abet Teacher's Pet' by award winning author Guy Bass & illustrated by me is published today by Barrington Stoke.

I enjoyed working on this immensely & always great to get to grips with a really nasty villain, the sinister Miss Vowel (& I always love a bear in glasses!)

You can get your grubby mitts on it here or even better, get off the interweb & go to your local independent bookshop & buy it there (that's ALWAYS more fun!)

'Aidan Abet loves to help the teacher. It makes him popular with the teachers but very unpopular with everyone else. But when substitute Miss Vowel strides into school with a rather unusual mini-zoo, Aidan has a choice to make – he can listen to the animals, or he can become the Ultimate Teacher’s Pet.'

Happy drummer for World Smile Day!

Intergalactic Rock Star Monster!

I drew this intergalactic rock star monster (with a bit of a Bowie penchant) especially for the lovely folk at the Discover Children's Story Centre to hang on the wall as part of a collection of portraits by different illustrators to coincide with their recent refurbishment & relaunch.
I was first  involved with Discover back in 2012, designing their Superheroes exhibition & am always so impressed by the place & with the dedication & love the whole team put into it. It's a brilliant place to visit!

‎National Book Lovers Day‬!

Celebrate #‎NationalBookLoversDay‬! by treating yourself to an extra pair of eyes for even MORE book-y goodness! 

August, dinosaurs & ice cream

Dinosaurs AND ice cream!?!? What a combo! The August 2016 page for my agents Arena Illustration 

Tigers in lipstick

Well, when National Lipstick Day collides with International Tiger Day what's a guy going to do?
(many thanks to my lovely friend Alicia for suggesting this!)

Pigs in hot weather

I was rather delighted by a story in the paper about pigs being given ice lollies & having sun block rubbed into their ears during the recent hot weather.

Johnny Danger - Spyborg

I recently completed the cover for the 3rd Johnny Danger book 'Spy Borg' written by Peter Millett published by Penguin Books. (Any excuse to draw big robots is a 'very good thing' in my book!)
It's available for pre-order in Australia here 

Dragon eating sandwich in bath

I was alerted to the fact it was British Sandwich Week (it's true, look here!) this week & this fella popped into my head & onto my paper.

NB As a cautionary tale, sandwiches & hot soapy water don't go together very well from bitter (& soapy) personal experience. Due to the ongoing horror of '70s school dinners, the 6 year old me begged my long suffering mum to allow me to take sandwiches to school instead. One day, whilst washing my hands I  somehow managed to drop them into the sink, whereupon one of the more peculiarly sadistic dinner ladies insisted I eat them, thinking it was a ploy to avoid eating my dinner. Mmmm hot wet soapy corned beef! (not sure it'll ever catch on!)

One that got away...

Rejected cover for a recent project (boo!) Some things are never meant to happen, often one party has a very specific idea of what they want but can't always articulate it which makes an illustrator's job harder. Equally, sometimes it's the wrong illustrator for the job which I think was the case for this one. Pity, I LOVE a dinosaur!

Year of the monkey!

Here's a monkey triangle ensemble to celebrate Chinese New Year - year of the monkey!

Diary of Dennis The Menace - The Great Escape published TODAY!

It's publication day for the 6th Diary of Dennis the Menace book - The Great Escape written by Steven Butler with illustrations by me.

In this story, Dennis the Menace - Prankmaster General and feared enemy of softies everywhere - has been sent to Posh Street, an elite boarding school run by the terrifying Mrs Snoot. Help! Dennis is surrounded by bookish boffins, can't hang out with the Bash Street Kids and is nearly starving as the school dining room only serves super-healthy food. What he needs is a plan. With a little help from his menacing buddies on the outside, some fart pellets and Gran on a Charley Davison bike, it's time for Dennis to make his great escape . . .

Very sadly I recently found out that this is going to be the last Dennis the Menace book I'll be drawing. It's been a huge amount of fun & I've absolutely loved the chance to be able to reinterpret a childhood hero of mine in the books. I've also thoroughly enjoyed working with the lovely Steven Butler (any author who can make me laugh out loud with the manuscript is ALWAYS a good sign!) & lots of thanks to all the people at Puffin & The Beano.

Startled dog in mid-fart.

More farting animals? Yes siree! Just click here

Felix Frost - Time Detective - Ghost Plane - published today!

Ghost Plane, the second in the series of Eleanor Hawken's Felix Frost books I've illustrated is published today (14th January)

While illustrating the interiors & cover I got to become familiar with the details of several WW II planes (in particular the Mustang P51 he says knowledgeably!), some '40s hairstyles & managed a few pictures of Winston Churchill in the meantime.
(Because of another job I actually ended up drawing likenesses of Winston Churchill & MC Hammer on the same day! Not many illustrators can claim that but that's a story for another day...)

It's published by Quercus books & you can buy it online but I'd urge you to seek out your nearest independent book shop & give them the trade if you can - you never know what else you'll find or what people you might meet!*

(*ok, Winston Churchill's out, but there's an outside chance of MC Hammer...)

'As every respectable scientist knows, messing with the space-time continuum is more trouble than it's worth.

That's why Felix Frost, secret child genius, has locked up his time machine for good. Yes, sir.

But, when your best friend is an adventure-loving bossy pants and you've got a history project to do. Well, that changes things.

When Missy and Felix visit Bill Hudson, Missy's great grandfather, to ask him about his years as a pilot in WW2, he tells them the story of the ghost plane: a fighter jet that went out on a routine mission, and when it came back, its pilot had vanished.

Join Felix, Missy and Einstein as they dust off the time machine to travel back to England, 1943. Can they solve the mystery of the ghost plane without getting caught out as time travellers? Or worse, spies!'

A glimpse of summer...

Well, with January shaping up to be pretty horrible all round here's a glimpse of summer from some newly arrived run ons from my agents Arena Illustration's 2016 calendar where I get to be Mr August! There's dinosaurs & ice cream in it- what's not to like?

Here's the original from way back when...

Happy (belated) New Year

First post of 2016! Here's my newly arrived copy of Felix Frost - Time Detective - Ghost Plane, written by Eleanor Hawken & illustrated by me. I'll post some more when it's published on January 14th. It's published by Quercus books