St Austell Festival of Childrens Literature.

I had a wonderful couple of days down in Cornwall at the St Austell Festival of Childrens Literature. 

On Friday I visited Newquay Junior Academy where the kids & staff gave me a lovely welcome (& I also met their lovely school dog Nelly!)

(my drawing of Nelly the dog, a talking cat, a seagull with its bag of chips & a dog eating a sausage)

During the event I talked to the kids about how I became an illustrator (via roadying for bands among other things!)  & introduced our graphic novel Poo Crew Adventures: Journey to Poo-topia, a fast-paced adventure, which brings together clever, funny storytelling with lots of amazing facts and taps into kids’ fascination with all things poo-related & I PROVED that poo is THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT IN THE WORLD!

We also had a game of ‘Poo or True?’

A draw-a-long of the book’s protagonist Ploppy with some great drawings from the kids!

I also gave a behind the scenes look at what goes into illustrating a narrative non-fiction graphic novel, answered some great questions from the children & signed LOTS of books.

On Saturday I took part in The Big Draw Off - A Graphic Novel Showdown Like No Other! with author illustrator Steve Webb which was brilliantly compered by JoJo Silva from Capital Xtra.

We both talked about our work & then were set various drawing challenges getting prompts from audience members & also creating characters based on audience members with hilarious results - a really fun interactive event (& not often you get to shout 'poo!' in a church!)

Big thanks to everyone involved to make it such a brilliant festival! I hope I'll get invited back!

If you'd like me to visit your school or your festival please contact me on info@stevemay,biz

 (in training for The Big Draw Off)

(A pictorial Steve (May) & Steve (Webb) in the beautiful Holy Trinity Church, St Austell)

(The two Steves & JoJo our compère)

Goldrush - Steve May creates comedy gold in a collaboration with Tom Mitchell

I had great fun visiting the Wild West in my recent collaboration with author Tom Mitchell Goldrush which is published by Big Cat Publishing. 

There's lots of humour in the text which was a delight to bring to life as I imagined what the characters would look like. I also got to draw donkeys, horses, rattlesnakes & bears (which is very nearly a quote from the Wizard of Oz! ; )

'Illustrated fiction, especially that with a comedic twist has reached increasingly elevated heights in terms of both popularity and visibility due to its benefits in encouraging reluctant readers to explore storytelling.

The insight and expertise of publishing houses such as Big Cat Publishing and Barrington Stoke have been trailblazers in terms of developing the perfect balance of text and illustration. So grab your lasso and buckle up because we thrilled to celebrate the publication of Gold Rush, written by Tom Mitchell and illustrated by illustrator, animator, and master of pen and ink, Steve May.

Gold Rush features a bright, engaging cover illustration as well as a host of entertaining internal illustrations, starring feisty and brilliantly entertaining Lily O’Connor and her gnarly gold prospector father. We know emerging readers are going to be drawn to Steve’s illustrations as the story unfolds and there are lots of fun details to spot along the way.'

More on my agent Arena's website

 

World Goth Day 2025

 Goth regretting feline colour choice on World Goth Day

Plastic Skeletons in a Car

 “I couldn’t safely get a pic but this morning I passed a car so full the driver couldn’t see out the rearview mirror of (plastic?) skeletons and I’m sad it would be weird to follow and befriend her”

(I read this on BlueSky from https://bsky.app/profile/katyrex.meatjacker.social & loved it so much I thought 

"I must draw this!"

I did.

Chocolate Tuesday

We've had Easter Sunday, Easter Monday & today's 'Chocolate Tuesday' - when Jesus & the disciples scoured all the supermarkets for discounted eggs!

#Easter #ChocolateTuesday

Arena Illustration 2025 Showcase

Proud to be among a stellar cast of top notch illustrators on my agent Arena's 2025 Showcase!

“From sci-fi to science we couldn’t help but chuckle our way through the Poo Crew Adventures, expertly illustrated by comic genius and talented animator Steve May. Featuring panel illustrations throughout, this hilarious dive into the world of poo brilliantly showcases Steve’s exceptional talent for visual storytelling, perfectly tailored to the project’s target audience. His work is endlessly engaging and full of fun, we can’t wait to see what comes next.”

Bookmark Project 2025

I'm always happy to contribute to Sharon Hattersley's Bookmark Project For this year I've contributed an original pen & ink drawing, one of many bookmarks produced by a variety of authors, illustrators & celebrities which will be auctioned in May to support Katiyo Primary School in Zimbabwe. Do have a look & bid generously!

Keir Starmer's Meat Waistcoat

 Keir Starmer's waistcoat was completely made of meat.

And every time he ventured out, dogs chased him down the street.

He tried to run, he tried to hide but poor Keir was mistaken.

There's no escaping hungry hounds whilst wearing that much bacon.

(Poem by my friend Dylan Cole)

Get Yer Big Boy Pants On!

Some celebratory spring time motivational postcards - because I love you all!*

(& it's rather therapeutic, work is extremely scarce at the moment at the moment so I just keep going!)

 

The Bathtub Of The Devil

Even Beelzebub himself likes a good soak!
 

This is available as a signed print (or treat yourself to the original artwork!) in my Ko-Fi shop

World Book Day 2025 at Dallington School

Had a lovely day talking about books, drawing, reading with the kids from Dallington Primary School in Clerkenwell for World Book Day this year! I kicked things off with a whole-school assembly, sharing insights into the world of illustration while the kids challenged me to draw various animals & foodstuffs including a cat eating fishfingers & a capybara eating chocolate (never drawn one before, I was fairly pleased!)

I then conducted draw-alongs with all the classes who drew some great pics from our graphic novel Journey to Pootopia (one pupil also drew a rather brilliant portrait of me too!)

I always love the energy from primary school visits, if you'd like me to come & visit your school please get in touch info@stevemay.biz

A capybara eating chocolate

Some of the pupils' drawings

(a rather wonderful portrait of me drawn by one of the children! : )

 

PUBLICATION DAY - Sammy & the Stolen Paintings

I just received my copy of Sammy & the Stolen Paintings - the second book in the series of the warm and brilliantly funny family comedy told from the perspective of Sammy the sniffer dog – perfect for younger readers aged 7 and up by Charlie P Brooks which was published yesterday January 2nd by Harper Collins Childrens.

'When Sammy uncovers a FAKE forged painting and is dognapped by villain Monsieur de Noir, she needs Best Human Friend, Beanie, Robin the sheepdog and Mogpuss the cat to help her out.

Together the friends must launch a rescue mission to find Sammy in Paris, and recover the REAL painting before it’s too late.'

I had a lot of fun drawing the adventures of Sammy & her friends in these books including some cat / bonnet action*, fiendish villains* & some fun with sheep dip* into the bargain!

*(fun with sheep dip)

 

*'Cat / bonnet action'

*(fiendish villains)