John Shelley's Blog, page 25

Bologna - The Book Fair

The four days of the Book Fair were the usual roller-coaster of ups and downs, hopes, lessons, delights, disappointments, inspirations, resolutions and finally, exhausted satisfaction. Here are my personal highlights, if readers are on Facebook a lot more photos have been uploaded by various people.


Successes for friends and associates were apparent from the first day. David Almond has won the Hans Andersen Award. Fantastic news, well done David! Equally amazing was seeing Holly Thompson's boo...

Bologna 2010 - SCBWI Conference

Back from the delights and inspirations of Bologna. The books, the events, the meetings, the socialising, the food... where to begin?

Yes, Bologna was good this year, skedaddling away to Italy was a tonic to my work and outlook, a week of frenetic activity in a city and Book Fair that never ceases to inspire and encourage. Publishers seemed quietly optimistic, compared to the gloom of last year I sensed a real tone of confidence in the air from all around. For me, Bologna was good before it ev...

Bologna 2010

Book LoverI'll be at Bologna for the Book Fair again this year throughout the week of 22nd-26th March, first helping out with the SCBWI Biennial Symposium on the 22nd, then at the Bologna Book Fair.

If any readers are planning on attending please do let me know, I'll be there until midday Friday 26th. SCBWI will once more have a Showcase stand at the Book Fair (Hall 26 A66) which I'll be closely associated with in a variety of activities.

Bologna is the premier showcase event for children's l...

Little Princess

Often a doodle can achieve a relaxed spontaneity that can't be planned or forced. Drawings just grow at their own pace, the mind is mesmerised by the process, it's a form of meditation. Drawings appear that, were I to attempt as a professional job, I'd be gnashing my teeth to get right, fussing, worrying about deadline and otherwise stressing myself out.
That's why it's so important for illustrators to sketch and doodle, to loosen the creative juices, let drawings flow, purely for our own ple...

Castles in the Hair

I've not posted any sketches for a while, partly because since moving to London I've yet to establish a routine that gives me regular "doodle-time". On the whole I find it hard to sketch freely at home, I'm always in a hurry to get on with something else. Deadlines, parenting, household things, or electronic screens of one form or another fill the day. Work is work, but when it comes to just drawing for it's own sake, for my own pleasure, I need to be in a more contemplative state of mind.

Doo...

"Family Reminders" honoured

A recent book for Charlesbridge publishers in the US, Family Reminders written by Julie Danneberg, has been chosen by the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children's Book Council (CBC) as a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People.

Lili at Charlesbridge tells me "This is a really great honor, and the book will be exhibited at the 2010 NCSS convention in Denver".

Recent work

Here are two recent pieces completed for the British Medical Journal. The first, "Aging Tsunami" accompanied a feature about pressures on the health service as the population lives longer.




The second illustrated an article on the decision of some hospitals to ban bedside flowers as a risk to health.

Dissatisfaction

Illustrators owe it to themselves to be dissastisfied, to be unhappy with their work, their situation, their direction. It's the constant burden all artists must face if they want to push forward their creativity. Never be complacent, always have something to gripe about. Creativity is galvanized by being unhappy with the way things are, for discomfort leads to change.

This line of thought was prompted by a recent Campaign blog post by Steve Henry "Safe isn't Safe" which emphasises that produ...

Snowed in and snowed under

Last week's recent heavy snow across the UK caused transport systems and schools to close, forcing working parents to take time off. My daughter was off school virtually the whole of last week, but as I scribble away at home now it's been business as usual for me. I was illustrating to a soundtrack of children's TV, punctuated with a steady stream of demands beginning with a full throated yell "DADDY!" and ending with "can I watch a DVD?" or "sweeties ...... please?". I'd much rather daughter...

Today's Weather

London was spared the heavy snowstorms that have swept the rest of the country..... until now!

Here's the view as I write across Queen's Park.

School is cancelled for my daughter. No amount of urging on my part can persuade her to brave the elements outside, though if you look carefully some intrepid souls in the park are hard at work building snowmen.