“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
We've had Easter Sunday, Easter Monday & today's 'Chocolate Tuesday' - when Jesus & the disciples scoured all the supermarkets for discounted eggs!#Easter#ChocolateTuesday
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.”
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!
Had a lovely day talking about books, drawing, reading with the kids from Dallington Primary School in Clerkenwell for World Book Day this year! Ikicked 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! : )
As an exercise I’ve been drawing automatic 'breakfast comic strips' this week - no preplanning, just seeing what comes out.
I usually have extremely vivid dreams & have been suffering from awful anxiety & dread when I wake up in the mornings so this has just been a way to distract myself & to force myself out of it. No rules, but none of them been allowed to have taken more than about 30 minutes to draw (because I have lots of PROPER work to do!)
They're extremely variable in quality but I thought some people would be interested to see them. They probably say a lot about my subconscious & obsessions but I'll leave that for you to work out!
(Illustration from 'Supernan's Day Out' by Phil Earle pub Barrington Stoke)
Is this is the BEST HEADLINE EVER?!?! : )
Thanks so much to LoveReading4Kids for featuring me in their Illustrators Spotlight this month where I describe what '4 year old me' might think of 'fifty something year old me's' life choices, influences & the essential mischief of being an illustrator, including drawing poo for a living for my new graphic novel with James Turner Poo Crew Adventures - Journey to Pootopia
Very excited to receive my first copies of Poo Crew Adventures by James Turner & me! Mixing the educational, the anarchic & the downright disgusting this is a really funny fast paced graphic novel for kids published by HarperCollins Children's Books UK - if you’ve EVER had a poo this book’s for you!
‘Fart-out-loud hilarious … I loved every disgusting second of it!’ – Jamie Smart, creator ofBunny Vs Monkey
In an ordinary toilet, on an ordinary day, a small poo called Ploppy lands with a splash. Just an ordinary poo about to be flushed …
But Ploppy is anything but ordinary. He’s a TALKING POO! And he’s about to go on the mission of a lifetime …
Join Ploppy and his fearless guide, Professor Poo, as they boldly venture into the Secret Intestines of the Universe to discover answers to the most important Digestion Questions … Why do we chew? Why do we fart? Why do cows have so many stomachs? And … what will happen to Ploppy AFTER he’s been flushed?!
If you’ve ever used the toilet, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!
This came out a couple of months back & was a rather nice job to illustrate & I was given a great amount of freedom to draw some weird & wonderful stuff for a non-fiction book!
Caterpillar Soup and Flying FrogsbyJD SavagefromOxford University Press, shows 7-8-year-olds some of the weird and wonderful changes animals go through and the utterly odd things they have to do first - from dwelling underground for 17 years sucking tree roots, to partially turning into living soup with a memory.
'The Readerful imprint is designed to motivate children to read more, choose a book to read by themselves, boost their vocabulary and develop their knowledge of the world around them - including, I hope, a sense of wonder and curiosity about the nature marvels all around them.'
As you might have noticed, Batman has become rather a theme in my work of late, but I think he's always been a recurring motif in my drawing since I was a kid. He's always there lurking under the surface somewhere!
I can't explain how much poorer my life would have been without the presence of James Osterberg - otherwise known as Iggy Pop. If you haven't witnessed him live you're missing one of the most joyful things in life! I must have seen him about 7 or 8 times over the last 35 years or so (I first saw him in 1988 for the first time & was worried he might be a bit 'past it' but he just gets better & better!)
If you’ve ever used the toilet, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!
After my initial ‘you want me to draw a book about WHAT!?!?’ reaction I thoroughly enjoyed bringing the anarchic& educational together in this absolute romp of a book.
James’ text has been a laugh out loud joy to illustrate & I now know more about various digestion systems - humans to wombats & beyond - than I ever thought possible!
"Join small poo Ploppy and his fearless guide, Professor Poo, on a bold venture into the Secret Intestines of the Universe to discover answers to the most important Digestion Questions in Poo Crew Adventures: Journey to Poo-topia .
From creative POO-werhouse James Turner & Steve May, this brand-new graphic novel is FLUSH with facts about the human body and digestion."