Frances McKay Illustration

Tropical Bristol

This funny-looking fellow comes from the meeting of sunshine and a piece of old wrapping paper…

A few days ago I was working from my studio in Bristol when suddenly the sun came out from behind the clouds and filled up the room with so much light that for a moment I fantasized I was somewhere far away, in an exotic land blessed with summer.

In that I happened to set my eyes on an old piece of wrapping paper and I noticed a tropical bird, which, although still eyeless, was clearly staring at me from the wrapping! I had no choice but take a break from what I was doing and set it free. With scissors and glue at hand, in a matter of minutes our funny fellow was flying across the page, through ferns and palm trees. 

Valentina Cavallini 

PS. In case you’re wondering what I was doing before the sun came out, I was story boarding a new book for the Secret Seed Society. This time it’s all about carrots! But this is another story for another day….

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Bird Fishes and Mung Beans

Outside my window everything is covered by a blanket of snow. So I thought I’d dig through my boxes of paper to find some warm colours… I’ve then glued together a little sunny garden where my characters can find shelter from this f r e e z i n g weather! The first one to find out about my garden is a bird-fish (ever heard of such an animal?). It has just popped out of a clumsy magician’s hat and, together with other funny and very magical characters, it will be featuring in a pilot animation I’m doing the illustrations for. So watch this space, you might see the fish-bird (or was it a bird-fish?!) flying through your screen soon!

The second picture looks more like what is outside my window. (Why, don’t you have beans wrapped up in their winter coats strolling outside yours…?) It is a spread I’ve recently done for The Mighty Messenger, published by Secret Seed Society. The book comes in a cute little package including a packet of seeds and it is the second of a series aiming to get children to grow and eat their own! Mingo is a mung bean who needs to get a job in order to buy some lights for his bike…

To find out the whole story visit www.secretseedsociety.com.

Valentina Cavallini