A Room of One's Own.

Typical, no blog entries for ages then two come along atthe same time...

Anyhoo, I've recently (and cheaply), with a lick of paint, a tidy-up and a few choice items - namely my vintage children's book collection, a set of 1960s 'lotto' cards, the Puffin postcards set and a few other bits and bobs I already had ... updated my log cabin studio from this;

to this...

New prints shop!

I've gone all Etsy! Here's some of the prints I'm selling, and please pop along and check out the shop any time HERE.  Feel free to browse, snoop around, handle the merchandise but be warned, if you break it you buy it.

Mr Poopy Pants

Have just signed a contract for my next book - Mr Poopy Pants. An act which underlined the strange juxta-position in my profession twixt the dull business end of things and the infinitely more exciting puerile and ridiculous end.

It's a book about my new baby boy Benjy and what his older brother Toby thinks about him and his frequent and varied pooping habits.

Here's a sneak preview of the proposed cover... 

Jungle Mumble

Happy World Book Day everyone!

In celebration of this, here's a sneak preview of some illustrations from my new book 'Jungle Mumble'.

Romulus Candea - vintage children's book

Found this little gem the other day in a local antiques and general old crap shop - 'The Painters', published in 1963 and illustrated by German illustrator, caricaturist and artist Romulus Candea.

Whilst I haven't read the story itself yet (it's really long!) it seems to be entirely mental, surreal yet strangely charming in a way that only European children's books from the 1960s can be. 

Love the colours, love the expressions, love the use of white space, love the little rabbit on the spread with the bus.

Retro card designs

Been working on a set of retro-inspired animal designs with a kind of mid-century modern meets fuzzy-felt vibe to them. Let me know what you think.

Vedel and Bojesen classics...

I've recently been lucky enough to acquire a couple of long admired mid-century toy design classics... The cute pot-bellied monkey was designed in 1951 by Kay Bojesen and is made out of limba and teak wood.

The two cheeky birds were originally designed by architect Kristian Vedel in 1959 and each one is still handmade by a wood turner in a small village in Denmark. I love that their heads are unconnected to their bodies so you can make them look up down, scared, inquisitive etc. and you can even turn their bodies upside down to make 'male' or 'female' versions!

Classic toys are always great inspiration for new characters and illustrations so here you go... be inspired...