The Two Terrible Vikings invade Wimbledon Bookfest!

I had great fun today bringing the exploits of Hack & Wack the Two Terrible Vikings to life at Wimbledon Bookfest today at the lovely New Wimbledon Theatre with Horrid Henry author Francesca Simon.

We entertained about 500 London school children with stories & live drawing with characters & stories from the Two Terrible Vikings series by Francesca & me. 

They learned about Vikings, stinky trolls & terrible babysitting tips when the twins have to babysit Dirty Ulf's brother Fire Hazard (whose name explains a LOT!) from the new book Feast With The King

 

Publication Day for Two Terrible Vikings - Feast With The King

It's publication day for the THIRD in the Two Terrible Vikings series 'Feast With The King'  

As ever I loved working with the brilliant 'Queen of Comedy' Francesca Simon who imbues these books with so much energy & humour!

Published by Faber Childrens

Three fantastic new stories!

Hack and Whack babysit a toddler – Fire Hazard – and discover to their horror that they might not be the worst vikings in the village after all . . .

Then they manage to secure an exciting invite to feast with the visiting king, but discover that it’s three days of having to be on their best behaviour . . . Until the new teenaged king turns out to be a lout – food fights ensue, and he loves them.

Unfortunately, that’s when the snotty, privileged, wealthy winter guests turn up – distant cousins who can’t be turned away. They make everyone’s life a misery – can Hack and Whack find a way to get rid of them?

Packed full of humour that children will love and illustrated with anarchy by the fabulous Steve May.

 

Grunt The Beserker - behind the scenes...

 I was just searching through some old files & found some of my preliminary sketches for Two Terrible Vikings & Grunt The Beserker my second collaboration with the brilliant Francesca Simon which I thought some of you might be interested in seeing the process around creating the cover

This was my very first version which I cleaned up a bit...

...to this which went over to the people at Faber - we all thought it looked a bit too scary so I gave it another go & rejigged the format to make it a bit clearer

I decided it would be less cluttered if Hack & Wack were separate from the terrible Grunt Ironskull so I doodled this in the back of my sketchbook...

...which turned into this...

It was thought that this version was too similar in colour to the first book so I decided to create a more brooding sky which I think works much better on the final book cover (see above)

For the back cover we'd decided to show Hack & Wack's pet wolf Bitey Bitey being menaced by Grunt's hound Muddy Butt - I drew a couple of versions - I rather liked the front on version but the final version works better with the text

Here's the final version...

Draw Along 'Dirty Ulf' from Two Terrible Vikings

Here's me showing you how to draw Dirty Ulf, the grubbiest Viking in the village from the second Two Terrible Vikings book Grunt the Beserker by Francesca Simon & me published by Faber & Faber you can order a copy here!

More draw-alongs here

Publication Day For 'Two Terrible Vikings' - 'Grunt The Beserker'

 "The world’s very worst Vikings are back to dash our hopes and fail our expectations!"

I'm extremely pleased to say that Hack & Wack, the WORST Vikings in the village are back in the second of the Two Terrible Vikings series Grunt The Beserker which is published TODAY - 3rd February by Faber Childrens!

In the new book the twins are forced to attend school & EVEN WORSE a fierce & stinky beserker warrior moves in NEXT DOOR!

How will the twins & their friends outwit Grunt & his vicious dog Muddy Butt?!?!

This is my second collaboration with the brilliantly funny Francesca Simon & was an absolute riot to return to draw the terrible Viking twins Hack & Wack along with their friends Dirty Ulf, Twisty Pants, Elsa Gold-Hair & of course Bitey Bitey their pet baby wolf!
In this new book I also got to draw the terrible (& rather stinky) Grunt The Beserker, his huge vicious dog Muddy Butt, Pecky Pecky the fiercest chicken in the Viking world & a plethora of angry puffins too! 

I frequently found myself laughing out loud when realising Francesca's hilarious text which is always a VERY GOOD THING!

Pop into your nearest independent bookshop & say hello or you can order a copy from here

Grunt The Beserker - cover reveal!

 Me pulling my BEST beserker face after receiving my copies of the new Two Terrible Vikings book 'Grunt The Beserker' by Francesca Simon & me! There's NOTHING quite as exciting as seeing an ACTUAL PRINTED COPY!

It's a very funny book, Francesca has such a brilliant imagination & turn of phrase  - I found myself laughing out loud at various things I was drawing which is always a good sign (even if my studio mates think I'm going mad occasionally!

All the old gang are back, Hack & Wack the terrible viking twins, their baby wolf Bitey Bitey, Dirty Ulf, Twisty Pants, Elsa Goldhair & some brilliant new characters! I'll reveal more soon, watch this space...

You can preorder a copy here

Grunt the Beserker...sneak preview

 Psst...here's a glimpse of the brilliant bookmarks to go with the publication of the SECOND Two Terrible Vikings books - 'Grunt the Beserker' written by the brilliant Francesca Simon & illustrated by me. 

(If you look closer you can get a sneak peak of the cover of the book which is published on Thursday 3rd February by Faber Childrens)

Drawalong-a-Viking!

 If you're feeling particularly Viking-esque here's a video of me drawing Hack & Wack the Viking twins from my new collaboration with author Francesca Simon 'Two Terrible Vikings' which is available now!

You can also get some more draw-along action from the Book Trust where I'm showing you how to draw Bitey Bitey, the twins' pet baby wolf! Click here

You can even get a SIGNED copy from Daunts bookshop here

Two Terrible Vikings - PUBLICATION DAY!

I'm very excited to announce that my first collaboration with the brilliant Francesca Simon (bestselling author of Horrid Henry among many other things!) Two Terrible Vikings is published today 4th February 2021 by Faber.

It follows the exploits of the terrible twins, Hack and Whack, who are PROUD to be the best worst vikings. Along with the wonderfully named Bitey Bitey the baby wolf nothing stops the marauding pair as they steal boats, loot a birthday party, track a troll and sail off to raid Bad Island with their friends Twisty Pants and Dirty Ulf.

Well, almost nothing... 

I've always had a soft spot for all things Viking & a spot of Norse mythology so this felt right up my street (fjord maybe?) you *might* just spot Hugin & Munin, Odin's ravens lurking throughout the book & I found myself looking at Runic script to see how a Viking might have written 'No Spitting' - nothing like doing your research eh?

I found myself regularly laughing out loud as I drew this which is testament to the brilliance of Francesca's prose. The book just romps along & especially as a formerly rather timid kid I immediately wanted to be in Hack & Wack's gang! Particular favourites were Bitey Bitey the twins' pet wolf & their friend Dirty Ulf - I had a ball drawing this book & hope it shows.

 
The majority of the book was drawn on my kitchen table during the first lockdown in Spring 2020 which was mainly a horrible, difficult time for me but I felt like I could live vicariously through the twins' joyous anarchic spirit which was a wonderful tonic.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed drawing it.

Anyway don't take MY word for it, here's a couple of nice reviews

“As joyously anarchic as Horrid Henry himself, these two little boy and girl Vikings will have your children laughing out loud.”

- CRESSIDA COWELL

“Viking twins Hack and Whack make me thank Thor and Odin and the whole Norse pantheon that I don't have to play with them in real life! A treat for kids who wonder what could happen if they broke every possible rule, but so ridiculous that they'll forget to try because they're laughing too hard. Steve May's illustrations burst with wild energy; I genuinely guffawed at his drawing of a pin-the-tail-on-the-ogre game. A wonderfully absurd, anarchic romp.”

- SARAH MCINTYRE

 

Two Terrible Vikings by Francesca Simon - first peak at the cover!

Here's a peak at the final cover for Two Terrible Vikings written by the brilliant best selling author Francesca Simon & illustrated by me. I'm extremely excited about this series, this book was great fun to illustrate & I fell in love with a lot of the brilliant characters. If I catch myself laughing out loud when I'm working it's ALWAYS a good sign & Francesca's text is so funny & warm (despite all the snow inside) I think readers will really fall in love with Hack & Wack & their friends!

Two Terrible Vikings is published by Faber & you can pre-order it here

You can see the earlier cover here

Two Terrible Vikings!

It was rather exciting to receive the proof of 'Two Terrible Vikings' my collaboration with the brilliant Francesca Simon which is due to be published in February 2021 by Faber Children's.

I'm extremely excited about these books, they were a real joy to draw & prompted many laugh out loud moments while I was working which is always a great sign.
I've become rather fond of the terrible Viking twins Hack & Wack, along with Bitey Bitey their pet wolf cub & their other friends & can't wait to be able to share more with you all!

(& yes, I'm afraid aesthetics won over historic accuracy in regard to the horns on the helmets - my fault! ; )

Beserker Cats of the Fjords!

Sparked off from a tweet from the QI Elves about Vikings taking their cats on raids & having just drawn a rather lovely book about Vikings by bestselling Horrid Henry author Francesca Simon for Faber (no cats in there, but a rather lovely baby wolf!) I seem to have embarked on a whole series of pictures featuring 'Beserker Cats of the Fjords'.

I figured I'd put them all together in one place for your perusal.

I like Vikings AND cats so it's a bit of a win win

(Of course, the innate difficulties planning anything involving feline input led to the Old Norse phrase describing any difficult task which literally translates as "blöody hëll, this is like raiding with cats!")

New Viking series with Francesca Simon!

I'm very excited to announce that I'll be teaming up with best-selling 'Horrid Henry' author Francesca Simon for a new series for Faber & Faber which "features a marauding band of terrible Vikings, led by terror twins Hack and Whack, who are adored by their parents for being the worst Vikings in the village" 

I'm very excited to be working with Francesca, I've already caught myself laughing out loud at the text which is ALWAYS the best sign and I'm relishing the chance of bringing Hack and Whack's terrible exploits to life. (Getting to draw a baby wolf called Bitey Bitey is also a magnificent bonus too!)

Here's a link the the article at The Bookseller

Tidal beard.

Vikings!

Have been drawing Vikings today, well aware that horned helmets were almost certainly a historical fabrication (see also 'Raquel Welch & pterodactyls' & 'Margaret Thatcher & compassionate nature' etc.) but they're such fun to draw! To blazes with historical accuracy I say!