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Showing posts with label children's books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children's books. Show all posts

Thursday 14 January 2016

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!'





Thursday 7 January 2016

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

Tuesday 1 December 2015

Johnny Danger - Lie Another Day

Forget your Spectre nonsense! Here's my cover illustration for Peter Millet's second Johnny Danger book, 'Lie Another Day'
It features 'death-defying bungee bogeys, Big Andy the killer anaconda, despicable G.R.O.S.S. agents, and a gassy evil villain known as The Blank Space.' - out in 2016

Monday 23 November 2015

Doctor Menace!

As it's Doctor Who's 52nd birthday today. I sometimes like to sneak the odd extraneous detail into book illustrations for the eagle eyed... (& slightly geeky) This is from The Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage

Thursday 17 September 2015

The Diary Of Dennis The Menace: The Great Escape! - cover!

Pssst! Here's a sneak preview of the cover for the new Diary of Dennis the Menace - The Great Escape - written by Steven Butler with illustrations by me - afraid you're going to have to wait for 4th February 2016 until you can get your grubby paws on it!

Wednesday 16 September 2015

Felix Frost Time Detective: Roman Riddle

Felix Frost - Time Detective - Roman Riddle by Eleanor Hawken which I illustrated recently has just been published by Quercus books.

"Join Felix Frost, secret boy genius, his chameleon Einstein and his classmate Missy as they travel back in time to Ancient Rome, where terrifying danger and embarrassing togas await."
(as well as chameleons & embarassing togas I also get to draw a toy Yoda, a smattering of chickens & indulge my 'inner Asterix' by drawing some Roman soldiers too! I'm also responsible for all hair styling in the book)
You can get hold of a copy here or better still get off the internet & support your local bookshop & buy it there




Wednesday 15 July 2015

The Fine British Art of Queuing.

Dennis & friends demonstrating the fine British art of queuing.

From the latest Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage written by Steven Butler & published by Puffin

(see also 'passive aggressive tutting' & Britishness)

©DC Thomson and Co. Ltd

Thursday 2 July 2015

Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage

The new Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage written by Steven Butler & illustrated by my good self is published today!

Mighty menaces, disaster has struck! Gnasher's got himself into REAL trouble this time.
If he's not careful, DENNIS AND THE DINMAKERS are going to be kicked out of THE FAME FACTOR competition. And with our rockin' tunes, we're guaranteed winners!
I have to do something to help Gnasher out - before he ends up in the doghouse for good!

So who's the 'Greatest rockstar on the planet' huh?

(I had a lot of fun with this one - hope you enjoy it)



Friday 22 May 2015

The Haunted Lunchbox

The Haunted Lunchbox or... when good foodstuffs go BAD!
With a little nod to Wagon Wheels (which even as a kid I thought were foul) & Um Bongo, which according to legend they drink in the DRC - except this doesn't rhyme / scan in quite the way it did in the slightly naive / racist  '80s commercials!

I'm thinking this would be a great book title, I just haven't come up with the story yet, so here's the cover while you wait...

Thursday 21 May 2015

Johnny Danger - DIY Spy

Having thoroughly enjoyed worked with author (& all round good egg) Peter Millet on his Boy Zero series for Faber & Faber a few years back I recently illustrated the cover for his latest book 'Johnny Danger - DIY Spy' published by Penguin.

 It's billed as 'A hilarious, action-packed tale featuring a pair of evil number twos, a madman, exploding bogey bombs, discount ninjas and a man-eating piranha called Bob.' - what's NOT to like?

It's only available in Australia at the moment but hopefully a UK deal will follow - otherwise you'll just have to buy this edition & read it upside down in the UK.

Here's a couple of the original preliminary character sketches (we lost the Blofeld cat & the water pistol & gained a banana in the process!)


Thursday 7 May 2015

May Festival!

No, not the (Steve) May festival, but lovely to see my Dennis the Menace illustrations on the posters for the Shrewsbury Bookfest !

Friday 17 April 2015

Diary of Dennis the Menace - Canine Carnage cover

Sneak preview of the cover for 'Canine Carnage' the fifth in the very funny Diary of Dennis the Menace series written by Steven Butler & illustrated by me.
Publication date 2nd July 2015

(Wondering if I can swing a free Flying V or Explorer guitar from Gibson for my product placement...hmmm...)

Wednesday 4 March 2015

World Menace (Book) Day 2015


I've been pleased to illustrate a special edition of Diary of Dennis the Menace written by the very funny Steven Butler especially for World Book Day (or World Menace Day as Dennis has decided to rebrand it!) 
A few weeks ago I also took part in a Puffin Virtually Live event where the audience got two Stevens for the price of one, (myself & Mr Butler!) tips on dressing up as Dennis for school on World Book Day itself & I explain how to draw your very own Gnasher! Lots of fun! 

Here's a sneak preview of Dennis' Blobzilla costume I drew for World Book (I mean Menace) Day...
(design by Mandy Norman)

Thursday 5 February 2015

Bash Street Bandits - Puffin Virtually Live



Had great fun this afternoon drawing for the Puffin Virtually Live event for the publication of the new Diary of Dennis the Menace book at Sadlers Wells with charming Dennis the Menace author Steven Butler & former Blur Peter presenter the lovely Helen Skelton. (ok, it's very childish of me but that's BLUE PETER! So cool!)

I got to demonstrate to the audience the fine art of drawing Dennis' best friend, the one and only Gnasher with some great audience results too! (might be out of a job if I'm not careful!) Here's a couple I managed to get photos of.


Dennis the Menace - Bash Street Bandit!


Somebody out there is OUT-MENACING THE PRANKMASTER GENERAL! Dennis the Menace has to use all his super secret agent detective skills to find this Bash Street Bandit & prove to everybody that he's the most menacing menace of all Beanotown!

The 4th book in the Diary of Dennis the Menace series 'Bash Street Bandit!' written by Steven Butler & illustrated by me is out today (Thursday 5th February)
There's some detective work...
...& a healthy dose of burping & farting


Tuesday 7 October 2014

Bash Street Bandits!

I'm currently in the middle of drawing the inside illustrations for this for this but here's a sneak peek at the cover for the next Diary of Dennis the Menace book 'Bash Street Bandit!' written by Steven Butler & published by Puffin Books & will be in the shops in February 2015!

Thursday 7 August 2014

Dennis the Menace - Rollercoaster Riot!

 Diary of Dennis the Menace 3 - Rollercoaster Riot written by Steven Butler & scribbled all over by me is published today by Puffin books!

All aboard THE VOMIT COMET! Guess what fellow menaces - The World's Biggest Rollercoaster is opening in Beanoland this summer! I just need to win an easy-peasy competition to be the first Bash Street School student to ride it - and I might have to trick a few Softies as well . . .

As usual this has been a riot to draw (see what I did there?) & am looking forward to the next book immensely - KEEP MENACING KIDS!




Silly Name for a Monster - publication day!


 'Silly Name for a Monster' written by Timothy Knapman & illustrated by me is out today published by Scholastic.

'Once upon a time if you wanted to be a hero, you had to have a proper, hero-sounding name. And if you wanted to be a big scary monster, it was no good unless your name was big and scary too. But when all the proper-sounding heroes can't defeat the most menacing monster in the kingdom, the king offers his whole kingdom to whoever can beat it. Could Stinkpot succeed? Even with such a silly name?'

It's got scary monsters, heroes, donkeys, knights in pink frilly knickers & INCREDIBLY SILLY NAMES! I think you should go out & buy it!

You can order it from here or preferably get your best pair of pink frilly knickers on pop into your local bookshop & get it there!