John Shelley's Blog, page 27

Illustration Friday - Tango

another image from the vaults that fits this week's Illustration Friday Brief "Tango". This was for an exhibition held in Ginza a while ago.....

Summer of Love

Best wishes to everyone for a heart-warming summer!

Illustration Friday: Hollow

Old exhibition piece illustrating the saying Fairy Folks are in Old Oaks. Seems to fit this week's "Hollow" theme. Can you spot the hidden figure in the shadows? (I didn't know it was there until after I'd completed the artwork).

Outside-In

I've just finished an unusual (for me) book for British publisher Frances Lincoln Ltd, a non-fiction lift-the-flap for young children on the human body. Outside-in was written by Clare Smallman and first released in the mid 1980's with illustrations by Edwina Riddell, but for this new edition I was asked to completely overhaul the book to appeal to a modern readership.

The text and layout were pretty fixed, but it was an interesting project to approach. Many spreads consist of pictures of childr

Cover to Cover Conference

Looking towards the end of the year, I'll be giving a talk at the British SCBWI 2nd Conference for Writers and Illustrators Cover to Cover, and all the magic in between - the making of a children's book which will run on 21st and 22nd November this year at the West Downs Campus in Winchester.

There are a lot of good speakers and it promises to be an interesting weekend for faculty and attendees alike. My break-out session will be "Power Portfolio's - Learn the secrets of building a better portfo

Early Summer in Staffordshire

A bit quiet on the blog lately, due chiefly to a pressing book deadline. I'm indoors sweating over a drawing board rather than under the summer sun, but almost done now, I'll post images when it's all handed in.

Nevertheless, much as I yearn for London, there's much around here to count blessings for .

"Nasty" Interior art

Some of the full page interior cuts from the new edition of Michael Rosen's "Nasty".

The Book consists of a series of comic horror tall tales related by a woman first met by the narrator in a London pub. Among other things a giant flea infesting the Underground, belligerent wasps in the middle of winter, poisonous burgers, mouse hypnotising, and a runaway grizzy bear, lots of fun to illustrate.

The book is released on 6th August and can be pre-ordered from Amazon.



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New Children's Laureate

Anthony Browne has been elected the new Children's Laureate in UK, as reported by the Guardian here.

"Browne said that he would use his two-year stint as laureate to focus on the appreciation of picture books, and the reading of both pictures and words. 'Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older'..."

This is wonderful news, not only is Browne a fantastic illustrator he's a great spokesman for children's books. Picture books have been in the doldrums

Illustration Friday - Craving

Apologies for the laxity in text posts recently, it's largely due to approaching deadlines, however here's something for this week's Illustration Friday topic "craving".

It's a spread from the picture book １２の月たち (12 Tsuki-tachi, or "The Twelve months" in English), first published back in 1991 in Japan. It's a classic Slovakian fairytale of evil stepmother gets rid of kind girl Marushka whose beauty surpasses that of her own ugly daughter by sending her out into the depths of winter snow to fetch

Cracked

Another children's book illustration that fits this weeks Illustration Friday theme "cracked". This was from Hoppy no Atarashii Uchi (Hoppy's New House), one of my own stories published by Fukuinkan Shoten in Japan.

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