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Meet An Illustrator 14 – David Litchfield

April 17, 2021 By achuka 1 Comment

self-portrait © David Litchfield

ACHUKA is thrilled to have David Litchfield as the 14th guest on Meet An Illustrator, an informal weekend feature introduced this year.. Do visit the backpages  to read the responses from previous guests.

The Bear And The Piano, David’s debut picture book, was published just 5 years ago, but he is already established as one of the UK’s leading illustrators and picture book creators. That debut title won Waterstones Illustrated Book Prize in 2016. Much more recently he has come to attention as the cover illustrator for David Almond’s Bone Music:

The Bear And The Piano became a trilogy with publication in 2019 of
The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle
and, this year, with the third title The Bear, The Piano And The Little Bear’s Concert.

A particular favourite of ACHUKA’s is Lights On Cotton Rock:

His 2021 publishing year kicked off with illustrations for A Shelter for Sadness by Anne Booth

and the paperback edition of Rainbow Before Rainbows by Smriti Halls is published this coming week:

Next month (May 2021) we can look forward to Pip And Egg written by Alex Latimer:

and, as we hear below, there is lot lots more to come.


As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

 I think that it was a drawing of a panda. It was in primary school and we all had to draw one. We then put them all on the wall and I remember feeling a bit arrogant and quietly smug that my panda was definitely one of the best ones on that wall.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

Again at primary school our teacher sat us all down and read us Where The Wild Things Are. I remember being absolutely blown away by Maurice Sendak‘s drawings and characters and totally felt transported away from the reading mat in that classroom to that dreamy monster island. Mr Sendak and Albert Uderzo were absolutely the two biggest influences on making me want to draw every day.

Who inspires you today?

Still mainly Sendak and Uderzo. But I love finding out about new illustrators. There are an infinite amount of styles and techniques and approaches to drawing and I love being surprised by how different people create a spread or tell their stories. My current 2 favourites are Sydney Smith and Frances Ives. They both have such a free and natural style. They are amazing.

Did you study art/illustration?

I actually studied Graphic Design at Camberwell College of Art. Graphic Design felt like the most sensible career choice in the art world. I loved the course and I met some great people there. But I was really shocked at how little drawing was involved. I think more than anything that course showed me how much I really loved to draw and that I just wasn’t a Graphic Designer.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

 It sounds obvious but a pencil and a sketchbook. My absolute favourite part of a project is when it’s just me, a pencil and a sketchbook and I am just letting the idea develop by scribbling and experimenting and making a mess.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

 I have two favourite shops here in Bedford. One is called the Arc which sells all kinds of incredible arts supplies and exotic paints and brushes etc. I also like Coleman’s which is obviously more of a standard stationary shop. But I don’t know, I like their pens. I spend far too much money on pens.

What software/apps do you use?

I only really use Photoshop. I tried to get my head around Illustrator but I’m just not that technically minded to be honest. I have had a play with Pro Create but my kids keep stealing my iPad so I have not had enough time to learn it yet.

What was your first commission?

My first commission happened when I was 13 years old and I drew a poster for a local comic shop. They paid me in comics. My first proper paid commission was with The Beano comic. I think that it was in  2013 or so when the editor Michael Stirling found my drawings online. For a few weeks I drew the illustrations that accompanied a poetry section in the comic. It was amazing to be drawing for a comic I had been in love with for most of my life. I will forever be grateful to that team for giving me that opportunity.

What are you working on at the moment?

 I am just finishing drawing a pretty epic book written by Gregory Maguire. After that I’m so happy to be working on another ‘Earth’ book with Stacy McAnulty. I love drawing these books, and I learn so much about our planet too. After that I’m starting a beautiful book with the writer Nell Cross Beckerman which is going to be a total stunner. Towards the end of the year I’m creating artwork for my next author/illustrator book too.

Which is all very exciting. I always feel like I’m being very vague when I don’t give too much info but I’m never sure how much I’m actually allowed to say. What I can tell you is that my author/illustrator book is going to be a Christmas story set in Victorian times.

Twitter or Instagram? Instagram I think. I love Twitter but Instagram just feels a lot friendlier. Also as an illustrator it is a great, visual medium to share work on. I have also found so many new great artists from this site.

Coffee or tea?  I love coffee. But I have had to cut back a lot. I was getting the jitters because I drank it so much. Now I just have two cups a day. And only in the mornings.

Cat or dog?  Oh my goodness Dog. Dog every time. I always had dogs growing up. They were my best friends. We got a dog last summer. I was adamant that my two boys should have a dog growing up. My wife wasn’t that convinced I don’t think but now that we have one she loves her as much as we do.

Grape or grain? Hmmm, both good, but I would have to say grape.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset. I don’t know if it’s a getting older thing but I love sitting in my garden as the sun starts to go down. It’s like a magic time of the day where everything is winding down and becoming peaceful.

What do you listen to when you are working?  Mainly loud rock music.  But I’ve also started to listen to a fair few podcasts. My favourite ones at the moment are ‘Pod Save America‘- helps me get my head around American politics, which I can sometimes find quite baffling from time to time- and The Force Center – which is a massively geeky Star Wars podcast which has none of the snark and negativity of other fandom type discussions. I recommend it if you are a Star Wars nerd like me.

Where can we follow you on social media?
I’m on twitter: @dc_litchfield
Instagram: @david_c_litchfield

I also have a blog at: tinkerd.tumblr.com and a Facebook page at facebook.com/davidlitchfieldillustration -but to be honest I do keep forgetting to update that one.
This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Meet Tagged With: illustration, illustrator, Q&A

Meet An Illustrator 13 – Kate Milner

April 10, 2021 By achuka Leave a Comment

self-portrait © Kate Milner

After taking a week’s break at Easter, Meet An Illustrator is back with Kate Milner, our 13th guest in the weekend feature. Do visit the backpages  to read the responses from the first dozen guests.

Kate Milner was winner of the 2016 V&A student illustration award for her book My Name Is Not Refugee, which went on to win the Klaus Flugge Prize in 2018. She had previously studied illustration at St Martin’s College and illustrated magazines on Commercial and Housing Law for a while but spent most of her working life as a librarian, developing a passion for children’s books in the process. When cuts to the library service resulted in her losing her job, she applied to do an MA in children’s book illustration at Anglia Ruskin University, which turned out to be life-changing.

She is currently shortlisted for the 2021 Kate Greenaway Medal for her picture book It’s A No-Money Day

and is also represented on the 2021 Carnegie Medal shotlist as the illustrator for Joseph Coelho’s The Girl Who Became A Tree.

She has a new picture book out in June with Tiny Owl — Sorry Mrs Cake

— and is currently working on a new book for Barrington Stoke.


As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

When I was about eleven I saw a competition on an ice cream wrapper. It asked for a word to be drawn in a way that illustrated its meaning. I drew “US” with the U as a portly chap down on his knees proposing to a curvy S. I won a couple of albums which surprised me, as I had nothing to play them on.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

Dr. Suess made a huge impression on me when I was a small child. His images frightened and delighted me—they wormed their way so deep into my brain that I find myself unconsciously reproducing them even fifty years later.

Who inspires you today?

Shaun Tan, Levi Pinfold, Chris Haughton, Bethan Woollvin, Charles Keeping, Laura Carlin, Ronald Searle and Dave McKean.

Did you study art/illustration?

I studied art many many years ago but it was the Masters in Children’s Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin that really changed my life.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

I use a mechanical pencil with B leads for nearly everything.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

For me this is an issue. Over the last ten years we have lost so many good art shops as everything goes online but its not the same. You can’t browse and discover new products online, you can’t test a brush or a pencil against your finger tip. For me making images is a very sensual business combining colour, texture and surface. I want to look and feel and touch and smell what I’m buying.

What software/apps do you use?

I am a great fan of Photoshop Elements. It’s a cut down version of professional Photoshop designed originally for amateur photographers. It is an excellent piece of software.

What was your first commission?

I can not honestly remember. I am extremely old.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on another book for Barrington Stoke about a child’s experience of homelessness.

Twitter or Instagram? Twitter

Coffee or tea?  Tea

Cat or dog?  Both—can’t possibly manage without either

Grape or grain? Grape please—red—preferably a Merlot

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise—now that I’m old definitely sunrise

What do you listen to when you are working?  I expect I’m not the only illustrator who consumes a huge variety of podcasts and audio books while they are working. Current favourites include Lincoln in the Bardo from Audible which is beautifully read, the Pre-History podcast and The Bunker daily podcast. To be able to draw while listening to an amazing new book or a riveting discussion is just about as good as it gets, especially if you throw in a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of red wine. .

Where can we follow you on social media?

@ABagForKatie on Twitter.

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Meet

Meet An Illustrator 12 – Tom Knight

March 27, 2021 By achuka Leave a Comment

self-portrait © Tom Knight

ACHUKA is delighted to bring you Tom Knight as the 12th guest in our weekly (every Saturday) Meet An Illustrator feature. Do visit the backpages of this feature to discover who the first eleven guests were.

When choosing the chapter book Good Knight, Bad Knight And The Flying Machine as her Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week in May 2020, Nicolette Jones wrote, “Tom Knight deserves to be better known than he is.” We agree!

There is also a Good Knight, Bad Knight picture book:

On his YouTube channel during lockdown he posted several Good Knight, Bad Knight ‘Crafty Time’ videos, as well as proving himself to be as good a guitarist and singer as he is an illustrator – a couple of examples follow the Q&A.

Books coming later this year:

Shadow Chaser (Decide Your Destiny) by Simon Tudhope ill. Tom Knight,  Usborne – July 2021

When Cucumber Lost His Cool by Michelle Robinson ill. Tom Knight, Scholastic – August 2021
(companion title to When Jelly Had A Wobble and The Day The Banana Went Bad)

First Names: Greta by Tracey Turner ill. Tom Knight, DFB – Aug 2021

The Book of Rules by Brian Gehrlein ill. Tom Knight, Macmillan US  October 2021

 

 

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

When I was around 7 I drew a picture of some chickens doing the cancan. My teacher laughed so hard that she gave me a gold star and made me walk around the school and show it to all her teacher friends.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

Hergé was my first illustration love, but I also conducted heated affairs with Ronald Searle, EH Shepard and Raymond Briggs. I had an intense relationship with Tolkien’s illustrations in The Hobbit too.

Who inspires you today?

Too many to be concise, but Sara Ogilvie, Eric Ravillious, Alex T Smith, Chris Riddell, James Dodds, Edward Bawden and Carson Ellis are a few. I really can’t get enough of the natural world though – trees, fields, hedgerows and the ocean are endless sources of wonder.

Did you study art/illustration?

No, I did a degree in graphic design at Colchester Institute. I thought I’d sneak into illustration round the back.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

I love my cheap Noodlers Ahab flex pen, despite it’s incessant leaking.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

 Usually Ken Bromley or Jackson’s art supplies online, but I like going to Tindalls in Colchester on a rainy Tuesday morning if deadlines permit.

What software/apps do you use?

Photoshop.

What was your first commission?

The Mermaid Mysteries for Boxer Books.

What are you working on at the moment?

A  book about Greta Thunberg, two picture books and a board book about pirates. I’m a juggler!

Twitter or Instagram? Instagram

Coffee or tea?  Coffee, thank you

Cat or dog?  How DARE you ask me that

Grape or grain? Grape

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise—I’m fairly useless by the evening these days

What do you listen to when you are working?  Music when I’m drawing, podcasts and audiobooks when I’m artworking.

Where can we follow you on social media?
@tomknightillustration on Instagram
@tombabylon on Twitter.

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Meet

Meet An Illustrator 11 – Marie Voigt

March 20, 2021 By achuka 1 Comment

Marie Voigt is the 11th guest in our weekly (every Saturday) Meet An Illustrator feature. Do visit the backpages of this feature to discover who the first ten guests were.

Let’s begin by allowing Marie to introduce herself. In this short video she explains what inspired her—despite already having a successful career in TV, branding and graphic design—to become a full-time illustrator and picture book creator.

Her first book, Red And The City [2018], was shortlisted for the 2019 Klaus Flugge Prize and nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal.

signing copies at the shortlisting event

That debut picture book has been followed by The Light In The Night [2019], Jazz Dog [2019]—shortlisted for the FCBG Children’s Book Award—and The Golden Treasure [2020].

 


paperback publishing May 2021

She is currently busy finishing work on The Smile, her third book with OUP, and also  illustrating the Guardian Angels series by Lucinda Riley and Riley’s son Harry Whittaker, currently only available in German, Italian, Dutch and Norwegian.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

When I was 6, I wrote and illustrated a fairly satirical story book based on our daily family life as a present for my dad’s birthday.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

Nature, paintings, books and some vinyl records of children’s stories that my sister and I used to act out over and over and over again.

Who inspires you today?

My partner, friends and family, other artists, my editors and art directors and definitely all cheeky cute animals!

Did you study art/illustration?

At high school in New Zealand, at City Lit in London and at the excellent online Society of Visual Storytelling.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

Nowadays Procreate on the iPad Pro. But it used to be Acrylic paints, soft pastels and coloured pencils.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

It varies, but the last time was at London Graphic Centre in Covent Garden, London.

What software/apps do you use?

Mainly Procreate and Photoshop.

What was your first commission?

A multiple picture book deal I got with Simon & Schuster and Oxford University Press.

What are you working on at the moment?

My third book with Oxford University Press as well as illustrating the other two books in the “Guardian Angels” series by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker.

Twitter or Instagram? Twitter

Coffee or tea?  Lots of herbal tea

Cat or dog?  Dog (but I like cats too)

Grape or grain? Neither

Sunrise or sunset? Both

What do you listen to when you are working?  Often the non-format internet radio station Popstop.eu as they play all genres across all decades and have some interesting things to say about the music they play (in German)

Where can we follow you on social media?  On Twitter at @marievoigt on Instagram at marie.voigt and on Facebook at marievoigtart

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Meet

Meet An Illustrator 10 – Ian Beck

March 13, 2021 By achuka Leave a Comment

self-portrait © Ian Beck

We are already at the 10th guest in our weekly (every Saturday) Meet An Illustrator and we’re very pleased to welcome Ian Beck. [Visit the backpages of this feature.]

Ian is now in his seventies and still hard at work creating. His best-known work is probably the album cover for Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Here is a fascinating interview about how the album cover evolved.

Ian had moved into album cover design from doing illustrations for magazines. He started publishing books in the 1980s, beginning as the illustrator of rhyme collections. His first original, self-illustrated book was The Teddy Robber [1989], since when he has published work in many formats, including several full-length novels.

Please watch this excellent short film to learn more about Ian’s life and work, in which he talks about currently working on a series of interlocking cards or ‘myriorama’ referred to in the Q&A.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

 The original small scale Thomas the Tank Engine books read to me around 1951. The drawings by Diana Stanley [1909-1975] in the first Borrowers book circa 1953 and the Buck Ryan comic strip in the Daily Mirror.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

Any drawings by Ronald Searle, especially those in the Molesworth books.

Who inspires you today?

Mostly things from the past I’m afraid. The more I dig deeper and further back the more it keeps me going forward….

Did you study art/illustration?

 I did, I studied Graphic Design with an option for illustration at Brighton College of Art, as it was then. There was a glittering roster of illustration tutors: John Vernon Lord, Raymond Briggs, John Lawrence, Ferelith Eccles Williams, and more…

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

 The velvety black of the Faber Castell Polychromos pencil.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

 At the moment online from various such as Jacksons Art Supplies or even Amazon for basics

What software/apps do you use?

 None, strictly pencil, pen, watercolour and paper.

What was your first commission?

 To illustrate The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler for Heron Books circa 1968. Work done, book never published…

What are you working on at the moment?

 An elaborate Myriorama (a set of continuous landscape cards connected with The Dark Materials) in collaboration with Philip Pullman.

Twitter or Instagram? Both

Coffee or tea?  Coffee

Cat or dog?  Very much dog

Grape or grain? Grape

Sunrise or sunset? Both

What do you listen to when you are working?  A mixture of music, mainly orchestral and mainly French, plus healthy British lumps of Vaughan Williams, Delius, Malcolm Arnold, Arthur Bliss, Arnold Bax etc.

Where can we follow you on social media?  On Twitter at @ianarchiebeck and Instagram at ianarchiebeck

Ian tells ACHUKA that later this year we can look forward to:

  • The Light in Suburbia, a collection of paintings he has been making during the year of lockdown
  • A reissue of Philip Pullman’s Puss in Boots all fresh minted

For those who are not so aware of Ian Beck’s novel-length works, here are three suggestions:

The Carmody Casebooks

The Disappearance of Tom Pile

Pastworld

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Meet

Meet An Illustrator 9 – Mini Grey

March 6, 2021 By achuka Leave a Comment

ACHUKA’s 9th guest in our weekly (every Saturday) Meet An Illustrator slot is Mini Grey.
All previous features in this series are being archived week by week on this page:
https://www.achuka.co.uk/blog/meet-an-illustrator/

Mini Grey won the 2007 Kate Greenaway Medal for The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon (2006) having won the Horn Book Award (in America) in 2005 for Traction Man Is Here.

Mini is a nickname given to her because of her having been born in a Mini. She is a keen environmentalist with clear ideas for policy change—see this post from summer 2020, on her Sketching Weakly blog. I recommend browsing the richly and wittily illustrated content in the blog’s archives.

Her most recent work as an illustrator has been for The World of Astrid Lindgren titles, such as Emil And The Sneaky Rat, an ACHUKA Book Of The Day for 11 Aug 2020:

She was also the illustrator for Roger McGough’s 2020  picture book Money-Go-Round:

In this video from CLPE‘s excellent Power of Pictures resource, Mini illustrates a character from Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog and explains why she loves the qualities of Quink ink:

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

 When I was about 5 I went to visit the local primary school. Prospective young students were asked to draw a house. I remember being a bit proud of how my house’s roof was a trapezium not a triangle, and my windows were in the walls not in the corners, and my chimney went straight up.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

When I was young I spent an enormous amount of time watching TV. I loved the world  of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin – especially the Clangers and Bagpuss.

Who inspires you today?

It’s a place – the Oxford Museum of Natural History. The book I’m making at the moment was inspired by it, and I really miss its magical atmosphere. I am desperate to get back there with my sketchbook when it opens again.

Did you study art or illustration? 

 I did a degree in English, and tried out theatre design and primary teaching. Then I did an MA at Brighton University in sequential illustration and that’s where making picture books began. But I’ve always felt the lack of doing an art degree—some sort of imposter syndrome and I’d like to go back to school and properly learn to draw.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

 I have a Dr PH Martin’s radiant watercolour habit I can’t shift – they’re just so zingy, but they fade really badly. For sketching out and about I just love Tombow pens – water-based felt tips that come in loads of colours – brilliant for layering transparent colours. But they don’t last for ever and are really expensive.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

 Usually from my local Oxford art shop which is Broad Canvas, or online from TN Lawrence in Hove.

What software/apps do you use?

 Er…Photoshop is my virtual scissors and glue. That’s about as clever as it gets.

What was your first commission?

 For money? Just after university I used to do illustrations for my friend Sharon who was writing articles for a health and fitness magazine, I think I used to get £200 for a big one.

What are you working on at the moment?

 I am making a book where a troupe of insects act out the 4.6 billion year story of Life on Earth in a Shoebox Theatre. I think it’s the first time I’ve made something non-fictional. If you can call it non-fictional….

Twitter or Instagram? Twitter. One day, Instagram, when I have conquered my fear of the Square.

Coffee or tea? Coffee first thing, tea thereafter. (But it has to be M&S Empress Grey Tea.)

Cat or dog? Cat, forever cat. Here is Pepper, who likes to stare at things, as if she’s just dropped in out of another universe.

Grape or grain? The answer is usually a gin and tonic.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset, so the gin can go with it.

What do you listen to when you are working? Usually too much Radio 4. But THANK YOU Radio 4 for all your wonders—especially your science programmes. If I am making pictures and they’re all planned out, I have a big mental hole that has to be filled with something interesting to keep me on task—but luckily talks about everything in the universe are to be found online.

Where can we follow you on social media? On Twitter at @Bonzetta1

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

Filed Under: Meet

Meet An Illustrator 8 – Armin Greder

February 27, 2021 By achuka Leave a Comment

self-portrait © Armin Greder

ACHUKA’s 8th guest in our weekly (every Saturday) Meet An Illustrator slot is Armin Greder.
All previous features in this series are being archived week by week on this page:
https://www.achuka.co.uk/blog/meet-an-illustrator/

Born in Switzerland, but living and working in Australia after 1970 and for the last ten years in Peru, Greder is an uncompromising picture book artist and illustrator. He won the Bologna Ragazzi Award for his illustrations in The Great Bear, written by  Libby Gleeson, with whom he has worked several times. The book was described by KIRKUS as “spectacular and deeply moving”.

In Australia he has won many book awards and been named as nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Prize.

His most recent book in the UK was Diamonds, a parable showing how the thirst for riches produces inequality and corruption.

His best-known book is probably The Island (2007), a book that has gained in resonance because of the way it focuses on how refugees are treated.

He tells ACHUKA that his next book with Allen & Unwin will be entitled The Inheritance.

After reading these  responses to our informal feature prompts, let me point you to this in-depth 2016 interview with him on Playing By The Book.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

 The last one. Until I had done the next one.

 

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

The books on expeditions from the local library with which my mother kept me supplied

 

Who inspires you today?

Käthe Kollwitz, Daumier, Goya.

 

Did you study art or illustration? 

No.

 

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

Compressed charcoal & pastel / brush & ink (both on paper).

 

Where do you buy your art supplies?

Wherever I find them.

 

What software/apps do you use?

Photoshop, to scan and scale my drawings.

 

What was your first commission?

A poster for a fashion shop.

 

What are you working on at the moment?

Nothing.

 

Twitter or Instagram? Neither

Coffee or tea? Tea (green)

Cat or dog? Neither

Grape or grain? Grape (white, dry)

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise

 

What do you listen to when you are working? Nothing.

 

Where can we follow you on social media? Nowhere.

Now go to this in-depth 2016 interview with him on Playing By The Book.

 

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Meet Tagged With: artist, illustration, illustrator

Meet An Illustrator 7 – Jenny Løvlie

February 20, 2021 By achuka Leave a Comment

self-portrait © Jenny Løvlie

We welcome our seventh guest to ACHUKA’s Meet An Illustrator slot—Jenny Løvlie.
All previous features in this series are being archived week by week on this page:
https://www.achuka.co.uk/blog/meet-an-illustrator/

Now based in Cardiff, Jenny grew up in northern Norway, in Ekkerøy, a tiny village with a population of under 50 and where she was the first child to be born in 12 years. She spent most of her summers outdoors under the endless sun, climbing rocks, watching the seagull-chicks hatching, rock-pooling and sketching.

 

Jenny won the Waterstones Children’s book prize for Best Illustrated Book for The Girls, written by Lauren Ace in 2019.

A companion title, The Boys, is coming this April (see below). Meanwhile, she has been busy as the illustrator for the ‘Kitty’ books by Paula Harrison.

New books on the horizon:

  • March: Agnes’s Place written by Marit Larsen, Amazon Publishing
  • April: The Boys, written by Lauren Ace, Little Tiger
  • May: Kitty and the Kidnap Trap, written by Paula Harrison, Oxford University Press
  • July: The Wide, Wide Sea, written by Anna Wilson, Nosy Crow
  • September TBC: A Dress With Pockets, Written by Lily Murray, Macmillan
  • September: Time to Move South for Winter, Written by Clare Helen Walsh, Nosy Crow

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

I can’t think of a specific drawing, but I loved drawing all kinds of animals. I loved playing on the page, making up stories as I went along.

 

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

I was inspired by nature, animals and books. My dad would read aloud to me for hours while I drew!

 

Who inspires you today?

I’m inspired by the people around me, other creatives, the Arctic landscape, Scandinavian design, nature, animals, vintage toys, music, films and books and so much more.
I love the research part of a project!

 

Did you study art or illustration? If so, where?

Yes! I studied Illustration and Animation at Kingston University, London

 

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

My Wacom Cintiq paired with Photoshop

 

Where do you buy your art supplies?

The Pen and Paper here in Cardiff

 

What software/apps do you use?

Photoshop and Procreate

 

What was your first commission?

I was commissioned to create chapter headings for Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea by Random House, Vintage Classics when I was in my second year of uni.
This project sent me on my way down the children’s publishing route!

 

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on three picture books coming out later this year, the ongoing Kitty series with Oxford University Press and I’ve started doing some writing of my own!

 

Twitter or Instagram? Instagram.

Coffee or tea? Coffee.

Cat or dog? Both! Though my current pet is a rather reserved Russian Dwarf hamster called Norman.

Grape or grain? Grape in the winter, grain in the summer!

Sunrise or sunset? Midnight sun!

 

What do you listen to when you are working? It depends where I am in the process, for planning and thinking I listen to instrumental music, rain or waves. When I’m colouring I listen to audiobooks and podcasts.

 

Where can we follow you on social media?

On Instagram @Lovlieillustration 
On Twitter @Jenny Løvlie 

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Meet

Meet An Illustrator 6 – Emily Gravett

February 13, 2021 By achuka Leave a Comment

self-portrait © Emily Gravett

The sixth guest in ACHUKA’s new Meet An Illustrator feature is Emily Gravett.
If you missed the earlier ones, don’t worry, they are being archived week by week on this page:
https://www.achuka.co.uk/blog/meet-an-illustrator/

Emily Gravett was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal for her debut picture book, Wolves, and ACHUKA has been a fan ever since. She left school at the age of 16 and spent several years on the road travelling in a big green bus. In her mid-twenties she returned to her home town, Brighton, and began to study for an art degree. Some of the many books that have followed Wolves include such picture book classics as Orange Pear Apple Bear, Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears, Again!, Tidy and Too Much Stuff!

The paperback edition of Too Much Stuff! is out this April.

Emily has also illustrated A Song Of Gladness by Michael Morpurgo, also coming this April, and available for pre-order.

 

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

I was about five, drawing my mum sitting on the sofa in the kitchen. She was reading the paper and smoking a cigarette. I remember having the feeling that something had clicked and it was right even though it wasn’t perfect.

 

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

I loved John Vernon Lord’s illustrations in The Giant Jam Sandwich, and Raymond Briggs. Both my parents drew as well. They were both inspirational and encouraging. Art was never a second rate subject in our house.

 

Who inspires you today?

At the moment not a lot. I’m stuck in an ‘in between’ books hard place, which is quite normal for me. I’m not one of those authors with a big list of ideas. Each idea is hard won. Lockdown (three) isn’t helping either.

 

Did you study art or illustration? If so, where?

I did an art foundation year in Pembrokeshire (Wales) in my late twenties, then moved to Brighton to do an illustration BA. My daughter started primary school when I started my degree.

 

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

My most used tool is a pencil, but I also have a thin paint brush that I bought in China. It’s just right, and I worry about ruining it. I ran over it with my office chair last year and it snapped in half, but I’ve managed to mend it with a bit of bamboo, and alot of tape.

 

Where do you buy your art supplies?

I don’t have one place I go to, apart from for sketchbooks, which I buy in Seawhite at their factory shop in Sussex.

 

What software/apps do you use?

Photoshop. Although most of my work is hand-drawn on paper, I scan all of my work into Photoshop, where I treat it like a collage and colouring tool. I’m self taught, so I’m sure I’m not doing things in the most efficient way, and often have to google how to do something. In recent years I’ve started illustrating black and white fiction for other authors alongside my picture books, and I’m doing some of this work entirely digitally. I think digital brushes have improved massively in the last few years, although I mostly still prefer the chaos and mess of paper, paint etc.

 

What was your first commission?

When I lived in a bus, one of my fellow travellers paid me to draw their truck and caravan. A4 paper, with a black biro I think.

 

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on a black and white fiction title. Locked Out Lily by Nick Lake. It’s a fantastic book [due to be published Autumn 20121].

 

Twitter or Instagram? Instagram. I’m okay with posting a few pictures now and then, but Twitter terrifies me.

Coffee or tea? Tea. I love the smell of coffee, but it reduces me to a jabbering shaking insomniac.

Cat or dog? Dog EVERY time. I am deeply, ridiculously in love with my dog.

Grape or grain? If you’d asked me this ten years ago I’d have said grape, but migraines have put paid to that, so I now have to be content with the occasional Gin and Tonic, and try to be grateful that I no longer have to suffer hangovers.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise. My happiest moments are walking Dilys on a winter morning in deep frost early enough to see the sun rise.

 

What do you listen to when you are working? If I’m writing or thinking, then I need silence. Otherwise I alternate between Radio Four, Radio Cymru (I’m learning Welsh) Chinese radio (I’m failing at learning Mandarin) or something folksy and gentle on afternoons when it gets too much (or Round Britain quiz is on).

 

Where can we follow you on social media?

I’m on Instagram and Facebook.

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Meet

Meet An Illustrator 5 – Keith Robinson

February 6, 2021 By achuka Leave a Comment

self-portrait © Keith Robinson

The fifth guest in ACHUKA’s new Meet An Illustrator feature is Keith Robinson.
If you missed the earlier ones, don’t worry, they are collected week by week on this page:
https://www.achuka.co.uk/blog/meet-an-illustrator/

Keith is based near Lyme Regis and has been a freelance illustrator since 2001.  After graduating in graphics and illustration in 1992, he worked as a digital animator and joined the BBC in 1995 as part of the team that developed the Corporation’s first website. He later founded  an award winning media production company called Codename and still creates motion graphics for clients alongside his work as an illustrator.

This year his artwork has already been seen inside Lore by Alexandra Bracken. Still to come:

  • The Supreme Lie by Geraldine McCaughrean (interiors), published by Usborne – April ‘21
  • Storm Horse by Jane Elson (Cover), published by Hodder – Aug ’21
  • The Bewitching of Aveline Jones by Phil Hickes (Cover and interiors), published by Usborne – Sept ‘21

 

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

 I loved writing and illustrating stories as a kid. I remember at primary school there was a class story competition. I spent ages on the pictures and was pretty pleased with them. Me and my best friend Chris were both desperate to win and in the end he came first and I came second. I was disappointed and more than a little jealous, mostly because he was better at drawing than me! We’re still best mates though, so that’s OK.

 

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

 I loved watching Tony Hart’s programmes as a kid. He showed viewers how to make pictures using simple materials and techniques. The main pleasure was watching him work. You’d wonder where it was going then, as if by magic, it would suddenly all come together at the end.

As a teenager I was really into fantasy art by people like Roger Dean, Rodney Matthews and Alan Lee. I’ve always had a thing for losing myself in imagined worlds – I suppose that’s why I love illustrating books.
I think my biggest influence and inspiration was my drawing tutor at Art college, George Glenny. He opened my mind to a much wider world of art and image-making. He taught me to see and think in a completely different way. He was a wonderful man and became a good friend.

 

Who inspires you today?

 So many artists and illustrators, past and present – it would take a whole blog! If I had to name a few that are on my mind at present; Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Hokusai, Samuel Palmer, E.H. Shepard, Norman Ackroyd, Evyind Earle – I could go on!

A constant is Dave McKean. I’ve followed his work since the start of his career in the late 80s. He’s one of the most original and innovate image-makers I know and his output is constantly surprising and inspiring. (He was also taught by George Glenny, funnily enough.) For daily inspiration, there’s a wonderful community on Twitter. There are so many talented artists sharing work, encouraging and supporting each other. In fact there’s a sort of Venn diagram of illustrators, writers, readers, teachers, publishers and bloggers, that all intersect with a love of children’s books.

 

Did you study art or illustration? If so, where?

I studied at Berkshire College of Art and Design and Middlesex (formerly Hornsey College of Art).

 

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

I recently invested in a Wacom Cintiq which I love. It’s really freed up the way I paint digitally. I also love traditional drawing media, especially charcoal and pen and ink – I’m a big fan of Japanese products such as the Bimoji Fude pens and Sumi ink made by Kuretake. I also adore Arches paper – I find their hot pressed paper is a great all-rounder for both drawing and wet media. The 90lb weight is light enough to use on a light-box while still being sturdy enough to take a lot of punishment on the easel.

 

Where do you buy your art supplies?

There are a couple of local art shops that I try and support whenever possible. For more specialist materials I use online suppliers such as Ken Bromley, Rosemary & Co Brushes and Cult Pens.

 

What software/apps do you use?

 I do almost everything in Photoshop these days. I usually scan in hand-drawn elements and textures and then combine them with digital painting, using Kyle’s Brushes – I particularly like his gouache brush sets. I think it’s probably time I got to grips with Procreate though! I also use After Effects for animation and Premiere for editing.

 

What was your first commission?

A friend in sixth-form wanted a portrait of her dog, so her parents commissioned me. It was great getting paid for a drawing, but my main motivation was trying to impress my friend – I had a huge crush on her!

 

What are you working on at the moment?

I’ve got a couple of Middle Grade book covers on the go and I’m looking forward to starting on interiors for the next book in the Aveline Jones series by Phil Hickes. I’m also due to start a big non-fiction project about Vikings and there’s a couple of personal projects I’d really like to make progress on.

 

Twitter or Instagram? Twitter, but only the nice polite corner, where the arty-bookish people hang out.

Coffee or tea? Tea, but I do need my one huge coffee of the day when I start work.

Cat or dog? Dog – and one dog in particular, our new collie puppy, Tess.

Grape or grain? Grain

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise, but I’m rarely up in time.

 

What do you listen to when you are working? It depends on what mood I’m in and the kind of thing I’m drawing. I find a project often takes on its own ‘soundtrack’ in that way. Lately I’m listening to a lot of Max Richter’s music. Its very beautiful and often quite hypnotic. I find it really helps me get in the right frame of mind for drawing.

 

Where can we follow you on social media?

@RobinsonKH on Twitter

@keithrobinson_illustration on Instagram

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Meet

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