Kimono Dragon (slight return)

A return to the  'kimono dragon' from an original pun by a friend & drawn as a birthday present for another.

Pinch, punch, white rabbits!

Happy first of February!

Demonic Kittys

Some demon cat hybrids I've been sketching recently

The creative process (or caffeine solves everything)

Flappy ghost

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!'

Smoking Bowie cat

Just found this crittur & thought I'd post it in lieu of yesterday's sad, sad news. RIP David Bowie

NB This blog does NOT condone cats smoking cigarettes

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

Winter Solstice...

I trust you all have your winter solstice / Xmas costumes ready? I know I have!

Happy monster!

Thee Lobotomised Sh*tlarks

Culled from a rather wonderful insult in a Tweet by @anandamide - I want to be in this band!

Festive animated greetings!

A festive animated non-denominational animated greeting (nb may contain unicorns)
You can see it BIGGER here -

Dejected unicorn

Even mythical beasties get the blues...

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

Make mine a "99"

Nope, I have no idea why the '99' flake was called thus. Anyway, we all love cats & ice cream don't we...?

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

Whales, wine, spacehoppers & unicorns...

Some images I produced for an animation pitch recently - I rather liked them...

...they didn't call back.

(am guessing they didn't like them)

This is very often the way.

Reinventing the Deal - Economist 24th October

Some new illustrations for The Economist magazine issue dated 24th October where I'm attempting to illustrate how newer companies are outpacing older more traditional ones with new business approaches

You can read the article here

More postcards

Oh my!

Postcard from the Oz...

Snow bound

More sketchbook bits & pieces.

(insert your own subtext)

Daemon with a balloon.

Sketchbook things.

Facing my Daemons...

Guardian Childrens Books published a lovely article based on the daemons from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy with various illustrators drawing theirs.
Here's my quick sketch, my daemon being an alarmingly permed yeti armed with a carrot & stick & a book marked 'Good Intentions'.

(psst! I have plenty more daemons I feel! Watch this space...)

Zoldar - 'devourer of worlds' takes a rare day off.

Then there were six!

I've illustrated six Diary of Dennis the Menace so far - nice to see them all lined up together!

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!

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

#nameourstorms

There's been a recent idea from the Met Office who are suggesting 'Members of the public are to be given the opportunity to name storms affecting the UK and Ireland.' with the Twitter hashtag #nameourstorms

Surely being British deserves something more...well, underwhelming? A squally shower called Derek? "Nigel' the disappointingly grey August bank holiday?

Cigarette dreams

This blog's been rather quiet while I've been working on the 6th Dennis the Menace book so I thought I'd enlighten you with an extract from a recent rather 'colourful' series of dreams over the last few nights. Among other things I dreamed of 'human finger pepperami' & last night a woman who was in the middle of attempting to smoke as many cigarettes as possible(!)

Over & out.

Monster facts #15

Monster fact: Most nocturnal chocolate eating is down to monsters - but fret not, they NEVER touch the orange creams*

*insert any other flavour you despise - somehow they KNOW!

More monster facts? Go here

cats & laptops

Some recent character designs

More cats?

Pool Party

No running, no diving, no petting, no spitting etc.

Unicorn tantrum!

(who doesn't?)

*I realise that if there was any justice Unicorn Tantrum really ought to be the name a '70s prog rock / psych group

Doomed Franchises #1 Wilbur the Friendly Toast Boy™

Wilbur's exciting adventures were slightly limited by his lack of discernible limbs & tendency to get cold & soggy rather quickly!