SketchCrawl at the Sheffield Fayre

Sunday's SketchCrawl turned out a rather more intimate affair: instead of the usual band of about 25, only 3 of us showed up! Maybe people were away for the bank holiday weekend. 

Undeterred, we decided to draw all the more, to make up for the others.

The theme of the day was 'living history' with a focus on battle re-enactments. I was fascinated by the people in various period costumes. 

As you can see, there were loads of soldiers from the American Civil War. When we first arrived, I wandered through the Confederate camp, where they were preparing for battle with the Unionists:

Once they got going and moved onto the battlefield it was harder, as they were much further away, but I did my best for a bit:

Members of the public often hung around behind us, watching what we were up to at a slight distance. Some were brave and said hello.

We decided to have a go at the women folk next. While the battle was raging (it made a right old row!) wives sat in the encampments, cooking and sewing etc, but all accurate to the period. These were spinning:

Everyone was so incredibly friendly: very interested in what we were up to and keen to share their obvious passion for the history. In the end, I spent at least as much time chatting to the re-enactment folks as I did putting pencil to paper! 

But I love all that - the way sketching in public draws me into conversation with everyone and anyone is a big part of the joy of the thing for me. 

I chatted for ages with the lady below (we've skipped to the medieval period now) and her lovely son, who was doing A levels prior to art college. I used my line over colour technique again:

The medieval folk were archers:

They were a nightmare to draw, as you only stay in position for a milli-second, so I had to wait and keep coming back to the same sketch over several arrows. Great costumes though (the lady with the laced-up back is the same one I painted above):

There were also Romans strutting their stuff, demonstrating battle technique:

They were really hard though, as they didn't even stay still for a milli-second!

Around lunchtime, we had a bit of a wander about and discovered a tent full of the usual prize-winning carrots and marrows. There were flowers too. I'm not much good at painting flowers, so I concentrate on this man and his wife, who grew fuchsias. The man was also a judge (as in flowers, not black gown and wig).

It's a shame more people didn't get to enjoy it with us, but you can see other folk's sketches here. 

One reason we may have had a low turn-out, is that we are off again tommorow - that's Thursday 1st Sept - for a Tour de Sketch. If you want to join in, come to Parsley Hay Cycle Hire near Buxton in Derbyshire, post code: SK17 ODG. Be there by 10.30am. 

We will also be doing another regular SketchCrawl on Sept 10th. Busy period: those pencils are smoking!

Children Book Illustration: Going Great Guns!

I have been pastelling away like a fiend all last week on Baby Can Bounce and it's been going very well.

The artwork I did for Baby Goes Baaaaa! arrived back from Egmont safely (phew), so I've been able to use that as colour reference for the various animals, rather than just going on the print-outs they did in the office.

It's made a huge difference: I feel much more confident that I'm getting it right now, so things are going much faster. 

I have to do approx one page per day, which would be a nightmare if it was a book with backgrounds - they take 1.5 - 2 days each to pastel - but as these are vignettes, a day is about right. Here was my desk on Friday morning:

You can see how I tack the Baby Goes Baaaaa! artwork above what I'm working on, as well as the line drawings for the current pieces alongside. I'm working on two at a time, so I can swap between pieces if I find myself slowing down on one (I seem to get slower as I go along).

I started to fill up my usual wall above the lightbox, tacking them up as I finished them:

...but John's been helping out again, cutting all the mounting card and overlays, so from next week I can mount them up ready as I finish each one.

I finished the squirrel and panda last week so today I am working on dancing hedgehogs in fancy dress (it's a crazy world...)

28th August: SketchCrawl at Sheffield Fayre

It's SketchCrawl time again - hurrah! This Sunday, we are going to spend the day at the Sheffield Fayre in Norfolk Park. There are all the usual marrow-growing competition-type things, but there are also a series of historical re-enactments going on throughout the day, which could be interesting to draw. 

There's no set schedule this time - we'll work it out as we go along, but we'll still follow the same formula of moving as a group and spending an hour or so at each location.

If you want to join us, just turn up with your sketchbook at the park's main entrance on Granville Road at 10.30am. It is free to take part and also free to get into the fayre. Note: there is no car parking.

If you've never been to a Sheffield SketchCrawl before, it's a very relaxed, fun event, open to all abilities and ages. There's no tuition: the idea is simply to share something we enjoy, supporting and inspiring each other. You can come for the whole day and join in with the sketchbook-sharing session at the end of the afternoon, or you can come and go as you like.

Email me if you want to go on my mailing list for future SketchCrawl events. It's an exciting time, as we have 2 more days coming up really soon, trying to squeeze as much in as we can before the weather turns: there's a Tour de Sketch on Sept 1st and a day in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Sept 10th.

Edinburgh Festival - Bears on the Stairs

I like the 'yurt' at the Edinburgh Festival. It's there for performers to hang out. It's such a beautiful construction and is a great place to chill, before and after your event, and to meet both old and new friends. We get complimentary food and drink in there too, and it even has a fire, for those chilly, Scottish evenings: 

I took these early in the morning, before anyone famous was around to complain about being in shot...

My storytelling was last Thursday afternoon. The festival put me up the night before, so I got the earliest train I could bear on Wednesday morning, to allow me as much time as possible at to cavort at the festival.

I was on Sheffield station at 6.30am (ugg) but it was worth it, as I got to Edinburgh around lunchtime, ready to get stuck in!

It was really sunny and there wasn't a seat to be had outside in the garden area, so I decided to do a quick sketch of the inside of the Spiegeltent: a big cafe & performance space. Even in there, I had to share a table occupied by two elderly ladies. Unfortunately, they got very interested in what I was doing and we started to chat so I not only didn't finish it, but nearly missed the start of my 1st event - Maggie O'Farrell:

She was great - funny, really easy to listen to and very honest about how she writes.

It was still sunny when I came out, and I at last managed to grab a chair in the garden: 

It was very relaxing: people-watching and sketching in the sunshine. But it didn't last long - the forecast for 2 days of hot, dry weather was wrong.

It started to get very overcast and windy, and then... it started to rain. Naturally.

Never mind - I had more tickets: this time for TV presenter, scientist and adventurer Steve Backshall. He had been on an expedition to the wilds of Papua New Guinea, to try and discover new species of animals in the rain forest (and he did too!). 

It was a quite astonishing talk, which made me desperate to be official artist on a similar trip (apart from the big spiders - not sure about them...).

In the queue I met illustrator Geoff Waring. He had just finished his storytelling event, promoting his new picture book Just One Bite. It sounded fun - he had a bit of string he got the children to roll out across the theatre, to show how big a sperm whale was. He was so sweet: he gave me a signed copy - thanks Geoff and lovely to meet you!

My publisher wasn't with me this time, so I hooked up with the (frankly quite hunky) author Cliff McNish for dinner. It was still pouring so we leapt into a cab, but had a fun time getting to the restaurant, as the road was closed for the Edinburgh Tattoo. We got the shock of our lives half way through our Green Curry, when it sounded like a missile had dropped right outside, but it turned out just to be exploding fireworks: all part of the Tattoo show.

Next morning I went to see fellow author / illustrator Steve Smallman in action. We so rarely get the chance to watch each other. He was totally brilliant. Really funny. 

He was so good with the kids too, especially the tiny ones, who kept mobbing him! His book The Lamb Who Came to Dinner is one of my all time faves.

I also squeezed in an event by author Jasper Fforde before lunch - I confess, I haven't read his books, but they must be very funny as he was just nuts. Every time he was asked a question, he would go off on a wild flight of surreal imagination, all of which was hilarious.

Then it was time for my event.  

I was actually invited to do Bears on the Stairs at last year's festival, but the book had literally just come out and I didn't want to do such an important event until I'd had a chance to warm up, by reading it at a few other places first, so we put them off until this year. 

It went very well indeed. As with Steve Smallman, it was a much younger audience than usual - the Edinburgh schools had already gone back, so the children were all pre-school age (yikes!). But they turned out to be really well behaved and stayed with me, listening and taking part for the entire hour. 

I had meant to stop for a drawing break half way, but the time flew by. Pippa, my festival 'minder', suddenly realised we had about 2 minutes to go - we had all been having such fun, we hadn't noticed the time (gotta be a good sign I reckon!).

My very last ticket before I had to head back, was for legendary John Byrne: Scottish author, playwright, painter and all-round creative genius: 

Astonishingly, he is in his 70s - you would never guess. Unfortunately, my view of him was largely blocked by a man with a tree-trunk neck, who kept sitting forwards, then sitting back, then forwards again... so I was dancing back and forth in my seat, gritting my teeth as I was sketching the above. 

Another snag was that they started 10 minutes late. I was so tight for time: 10 minutes at the other end was enough for me to miss my train home. So I had to try and sneak out. I was sitting with illustrator and new friend Layn Marlow in the middle of a row, near the front (so not the most obvious 'sneaking-out' seat). I did the whispered 'excuse me' thing and people stood up to let me out, but Layn crunched the foot of the woman next to her. I didn't hear the scream as I left the fall-out behind and ran... 

I only just made it - thank goodness, as it was over 4 hours to get home. I passed the time in the usual fashion, as you can see. There are more sketches of my journey, and of the festival too, in the gallery, if you are not bored with me by now (sorry about these looooonnnnnnggggg posts - there is just too much I want to say!).

Live Music - SketchJamming in the Park

I spent last Sunday afternoon sitting in front of the beautifully restored bandstand in Sheffield's Weston Park, listening to a great rock / blues band called Fade 2 Black. Well, actually, I had only half my brain listening, the other half was frantically sketching.

I warmed up by painting the view above, while the band was setting up. I'd got there really early to ensure a space right at the front, with a good, close-up view.
 

It was then that I realised: if I sat on the grass with everyone else, I wouldn't see much worth drawing, as the bottom metre of the raised bandstand was boxed in! So I did my usual attention-seeking, and sat myself on the bandstand's front steps, peering into the front for the entire afternoon's set.

It played havoc with my bum, knees and back, as the steps were concrete, and I had to twist round a bit awkwardly (which my physio would have loved, I'm sure) but it was worth it. 

I started off by drawing in graphite stick, which gives a nice, loose line.

Then I got brave and whipped the watercolours out. 

I have been dying to try and see what happened when I tried to paint the 'moving target' of a live band, and this was my 1st practical opportunity. 

It was great fun. I love working with the music: the full-on experience of marrying the 2 creative elements at the same time feels rather special. 

I can't wait for the chance to do it again.

The band asked if they could have the sketches to put on their website. I really like that idea, linking the music and painting together further.

If you're interested, the band are playing again soon, at the Art in the Gardens event on Sat 3rd September. It's an excellent day out anyway - all that art packed into the lovely Botanical Gardens. Well worth a visit.

'Llamas in Pyjamas' Workshops

Yesterday I went back to my 'Llamas in Pyjamas' exhibition in Salford. I was commissioned to do a day of illustration workshops, to tie in with the show.

Unfortunately, I have no idea how it went, as I'm having to write this before the event, because as soon as I got home from Salford last night, I will have had to get all my stuff together for Edinburgh, pack and then have an early night. I decided to get the 7am train up there this morning, so I would arrive in time to see some events in the afternoon.

If all has gone well, I will have just checked in at my hotel, and will be having the swiftest possible wash and brush up, before walking back to the festival site to grab some lunch, ready to see Maggie O'Farrell at 1.30 and then at 3pm, wait for it... Niel Gaiman!! Yahoo!

Anyway, let's hope shed-loads of children turned up for my workshop in Salford and do the same again on Thursday afternoon for my Edinburgh event. Last time I was there, they had internet access in the author's yurt, so I might get the chance to say a quick hello, 'live' as it were, and let you know. Wish me luck!

By the way, there are now photos from the Salford show on Flickr, (viewable whether you are into Flickr and have an account or not).

Changes to My Cover Artwork

Despite Friday's promises to myself to get my head down today and get on with my Baby Can Bounce artwork, I have been headed off at the pass. Egmont need me to make some changes to the cover artwork for Baby Goes Baaaaa! 

There have already been a few minor alterations to the original 'final' design, mostly to the back cover, like adding blocks of colour, to allow us to use some good quotes. I think it looks better for it:

But I first got wind of a new problem last week, when Egmont phoned to tell me the buyer at Waterstones had an issue with the yellow background colour. I'm not sure I really understand the problem, but Waterstones are sufficiently important that they can't be ignored. They want something softer, so Sarah, my designer, has been frantically trying to find another colour that works under my illustration. 

She put this duck-egg blue to Waterstones, and they have agreed it. I don't like it as much as the yellow, but hey-ho: there are times when it's wiser to go with the flow. 

Unfortunately, my illustration was designed to work on yellow, so has subtle yellow reflections in lots of the colours that now don't make sense, as well as a slight yellow 'furring' around the edges, that helped it 'sit' on the original colour and not float above it. Not to mention the yellow shadows... 

Which is why I have had my head in Photoshop most of today. Thanks goodness for digital technology.

You might spot a couple of other changes: 

The slug is now yellow - that's to match the original slug colour on the inside. I only changed it to orange so it would show up better on the yellow cover. 

We have also taken out the butterfly, then put it back on the other side, and we've removed the frog completely. Waterstones preferred things simpler. I have less problems with that: they may well be right. The frog re-appears, with the monkey, on the inside back cover (the lilac square is just standing in for the Baby Can Bounce cover).

I can't imagine why they didn't like the 'speedy' strap-line on the original though. As you can see from the top images, they made us move it underneath, to a more conventional position.

I'm guessing that those readers who don't work in book publishing will be shocked at how much creative control is in the hands of others; I'm sure the 'old hands' are not!

Unfortunately, there will be no opportunity for pastelling tomorrow either: I am doing a day of illustration workshops in Salford, to tie in with my exhibition. I'll let you know how it goes.