A peek at a new project

Been hunkering down on some new ideas recently.  

Here's a peek at part of a lift-the-flap book project I've written.

Have just sent off one 'finished' spread, a full roughs and a text across the ocean. 

It dawned on my during a brief whip around the London Book Fair last week that I am much better at promoting other illustrators than I am at pushing myself.  So fingers crossed that my plucky agent Erzsi, of Henandink Literary Studio will find the right publisher for it!  

I sketched out the whole book in colour but I decided that I better get all the detail I want in there as clearly as possible.  So I got my Pilot fineliner pen out. I got so used to drawing with this line I thought I might well keep it for the finals.

A couple of spreads on my work wall...

The idea started with a photo - framed below - of my lovely daughter.  When she was little she loved hiding and surprising us from unlikely hide-y-holes. I treasure this photo of her in the kitchen cupboard which ended up being a repository for recycled plastic boxes, yoghurt pots and ice cube trays - some of her favourite toys.  

Here I am - let's play!

Back to work now on a very different project - a picture book illustration commission for Bayard's Belles Histoires all about a shy young prince and a child-guzzling monster.