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...

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

How to draw Bitey Bitey the baby wolf!

Here's a video I did for the Booktrust where you can see how I draw Bitey Bitey the baby wolf who belongs to Hack & Wack the 'Two Terrible Vikings' from the new book by best selling author Francesca Simon & me! Hope you enjoy it & no biting! 

You can order SIGNED copies for the nice people at Daunts here