It really feels like Autumn here in the UK as I walk down my garden path, gossamer spider’s webs finding my hair to stick to at every step! Well, at least it’s inspired some new black and white spidery pictures…
The first one up is called “Ballooning Spiders”, inspired by E B White’s story “Charlotte’s Web”
I’m excited to receive Excited to receive proofs of “Molly on the Moon” today! Written by Mary Robinette Kowal and publishing in April 2022 by Roaring Brook Press at MacMillan Kids.
Original story by Hans Christian Andersen
I’m really happy to share the cover of a new picture book, “Molly on the Moon”, written by space expert Mary Robinette Kowal. It’s going to be published by the fabulous Macmillan Publishing (USA) in April 2022.
That’s quite a long time, but then it takes a while to get to the moon!
“The End is Just the Beginning”, written by Mike Bender,, illustrated by me and published by Crown Books, RandomHousePenguin is out today!
“A timely message of hope and comfort, this stunning picture book is the perfect treasure to share with anyone trying to navigate these uncertain times—or any life transition!
Starting a book at the end may seem confusing. But the end of one thing is just the beginning of something new in this innovative and heartfelt book from #1 New York Times bestselling author Mike Bender. Accompanied by beautiful and inspiring illustrations by Diana Mayo, this story is ideal for helping kids understand how to meet life’s challenges with optimism and hope. A wonderful gift for all ages. “
Available via my shop in the menu
Spring has sprung here in the UK, although there’s still a biting wind and frost. Nevertheless, we’ve been busy building a shed in our garden and then I’ve spent equally long trying to hide it so we can not notice it focus on the plants!
I love gardening, so I thought I’d paint my space working in the sort of way I do outside - sort of letting it evolve as I go, rather than with a master plan. It’s meant there’s more white space in the picture, somehow. Maybe it’s a little too tentative, but I like bits. Rather like my garden…
As part of #MarchMeettheMaker over on Instagram, the eleventh challenge was to share a portrait.
Not my best self-portrait (but current), it includes relevant things for this on-going lockdown: Comfy clothes, no makeup, home-cut fringe, one of the cats, plants, ceramic pots, my painful tennis elbow, view to the garden…
I’m hoping the next one I paint I’ll be outside, having done other stuff!
This hand-coiled, stoneware pot is the largest I’ve made to date, so still a learning curve for me.
I’m wishing I could visit the Makerspace in Colchester to actually throw some pots, but whilst we’re still in lockdown here in the UK, I’m making do on my kitchen table.
I’ve almost finished illustrating it with underglaze; it includes both personal family and generic “lockdown’ images, all over-laying the continually growing plant background, that is nature continuing on regardless!
I’m looking forward to firing it and then retiring with transparent glaze to really bring our the colours.
Just painted a book mark for the #BookMarkProject over on Twitter organised by @slhattersley.
It’s the Snow Ghost, written by Tony Mitton and published by Bloomsbury Publishing.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!
A study from Snow Ghost, written by Tony Mitten, published by Bloomsbury Publishing.
Thanking my wonderful agent Christine at Artist Partners for supporting and working so hard on my behalf this year. And thanks for making my “Snow Ghost” snow!
Published by Bloomsbury, written by Tony Mitton.
“The shoes That Were Danced to Pieces” for ‘Dance’, the very last day of Folktale week 2020 on Instagram!
For this final story prompt, I visited my trusty old Grimms Fairy Tale book, and was inspired by this tale, otherwise known as “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”
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Each night, 12 princesses wear their shoes out with dancing, even though they are locked in their room. The king seeks someone to find what his daughters are doing each night. A wounded soldier accepts the challenge and discovers the secret passageway the girls follow to meet their suitors to dance the night away. As a reward for his work, the soldier is given the oldest princess as his wife and is promised he will be king after the current king passes away.
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A sad tale, as I believe the shoe covers the foot and so represents their stance, or viewpoint. The 12 do escape the king’s power by dancing night after night, thereby wearing out their shoes, but are sadly overpowered in the end...
Keeping it simple this time, I’ve thrown and decorated a wonky, “folky” porcelain pot and shown the worn out dancing shoes, to me the focal, poignant point in the story.
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I hope you’ve enjoyed some of my illustration play over Folktale week - I’ve loved being involved! Thanks organisers at @folktaleweek and @storycamp_disco 🙏😀
“The Peasant and the Devil” for ‘Harvest’ on day 6 of Folktale Week on Instagram.
This tells the tale of a wily peasant who tricks the devil. The peasant agrees to give him half of his field’s harvest, but only everything below ground. The peasant plants turnips, so leaving the devil with the wilted leaves above. The next year the devil wishes for everything underground instead, but the peasant sows wheat, leaving the devil with the stubby roots and so reaping a good harvest again...
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I had a play around with some new colours for this image. I’m not sure I like the end results, but i enjoyed the repetitive mark-making and looseness of the textures!
“Fitcher’s Bird” for ‘Death’ on this, the fifth day, of Folktale Week on Instagram.
This is another gruesome tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm concerning the capturing, imprisonment and death of young girls by an evil wizard.
It is not until the youngest, and wisest, of three sisters outwits him by not doing as he wishes (carrying an egg wherever she goes!), and disguises herself with feathers as a bird, that she saves her sisters and escapes death herself.
It’s one of the few Grimm’s stories that the woman rebels and chooses to leave her ‘husband’, choosing to be free and single instead.
Sharing my Snow Ghost book endpapers for today’s prompt, Solstice for Folktale Week over on Instagram.
Rapidly approaching the Winter Solstice, gives me a good excuse to share the mistletoe, berries and wintery colours included in this image.
I love the Norse tale of Frigga making mistletoe a symbol of love, promising to kiss whoever passes under during the Winter solstice...
#SnowGhost is published by Bloomsbury Publishing and written byTony Mitton, it is a timeless tale of hope and belonging. ❄️
“The True Bride” for Courtship, the third prompt for #folktaleweek.
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I’m following my journey for folk tale week by revisiting old Brother’s Grimm tales I used to enjoy, I remembered this story about a man who ‘forgot’ the woman he said he loved!
So many of these tales sit very uncomfortably in the present, like this one where the woman waited and waited for her ‘true love’, whilst he planned to marry another.
But, by disguising herself in increasingly beautiful gowns of moons, suns and stars, the other bride is discarded and the prince recognises his true bride. Shocking!
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However, when I was little, all that counted were the magical dresses she wore...
“Sweet Porridge” (or “The Magic Porridge Pot”) for Ritual, the second prompt for #folktaleweek.
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This Grimms’ folk tale shares the story of a family being given a magic pot, from which endless porridge will come forth, upon the ritual of saying magic words.
However, you need to know the magic phrase to make it stop, too....
I used to love the ritual of listening to this story when I was little, as well as eating porridge! One of my favourites - I even named my teddy bear Porridge!
Over on Instagram, it’s #folktaleweek. A forum for illustrators, artists and other creatives to respond to a different title for each of the six days, inspiring images based on all things ‘folk tale’.
This the image I created for ‘Birth’, the first prompt.
In my childhood, I was gifted a copy of “Grimms Fairy Tales” when my late Uncle died.
Always fascinated by the macabre (out-dated story-themes even then) I revisited the book as inspiration.
Long before science allowed more understanding of the dramas of childbirth, women must have been so frightened of what their offspring may be born as. Imaginations and fears must have run riot, conjuring thoughts of animals or tiny people being born. And so Thumbelina (or Thumbling), and the life she may lead thereafter, was born....
Snow Ghost is highlighted on the Brightness Magazine Library this week - check it out here!
Snow ghost, written by Tony Mitton and published by Bloomsbury, is now out on the book shelves and online, so to celebrate I thought you’d like to see some of the process!
You may or may not know that a picture book can take a long time to create; working out the characters; each individual spread; making sure the balance of imagery is right throughout. I’m going to share some of the various stages of the first double-page spread of Snow Ghost, just to give you an idea of how involved it can be.
The first roughs I drew were very small, thumbnail scribbles of a simple layout. I worked out where the main image elements would go, and where I wanted to place the text.
I then drew the roughs at the size of the actual book, refining and redrawing numerous times. I drew quite tight roughs so that I had everything in it’s place and so that I had the composition as I wished. I used reference during this time to get the imagery feeling believable. At this stage, the Snow Ghost character was going to be quite an abstract non-human being, floating across the sky.
Before moving onto the rest of the book, I started exploring the process I would use for the artwork, so created these two initial paintings using acrylic washes, pencils colours, graphite and collage. But I found I was creating pieces that felt too tight and refined, and there wasn’t enough life in the scenes.
After much discussion and some time later, we decided to take a different approach and the Snow Ghost character evolved in a more anthropomorphic way.
Reworked roughs and a slightly different layout, led to these following drawings…
…and from this, looser and more expressive sketch followed the final painted artwork. Here are a few details of the artwork in progress.
Many layers of paint, pencil mark-making, pastel and collage were used to create the image…
…which was then scanned in to have a little extra digital magic added in Photoshop, before the text was laid over the image by the designer.
And there it is - the first of many spreads making up the Snow Ghost book!
(You can purchase a copy of Snow Ghost, written by Tony Mitton, published by Bloomsbury, in my online Book Shop in the Menu above).