Frances McKay Illustration

A Paris Affair

 

Jay Birks writes about a story of his own and incudes samples of work-in-progress; text yet to be added to the pictures. Great characterisation, Jay.

The story is called "A Paris Affair" Its set roughly around 100 years ago, a similar backdrop to George Orwell's "Down and out in Paris and London" but with no specific date set. It features "Raj" the main character, a journalist from South India. Raj has moved to Paris in set to become a better writer and starts his trip staying in a run down Hotel, the "Hotel De Nice" where his neighbour's are painters yet to be discovered, musicians, crooks, all walks of life from the globe. 

Raj gets his first Job shadowing a local private detective for the crime section of the paper, there investigations lead to a String of Murders and suspicious events and huge culture shock for Raj. 

I start by writing the script. then I play around with page Ideas and composition, always aiming to get a direction and feeling of movement in the page. I then draw the page up on A3, when I'm happy with it I then ink in good old Biro, Scan and apply colour on Photoshop! 

Jiggy McCue and the toilet of doom

How unlucky can a young lad get? By having a toilet of doom and some evil underpants! FMI illustrator Donough O' Malley shows us some of his artwork for the re-editions of the hugely popular and funny Jiggy McCue series by Michael Lawrence.

Every young lad can get the notion that the world is against him, and sometimes they can be right. Especially if you are Jiggy and his friends who have all sorts of mishaps fall upon them. From body swapping shenanigans to evil y-fronts with a mind of their own, Jiggy has a lot on his plate.

The Toilet of Doom and The Killer Underpants were re-released last month by Orchard books, and they were great fun to illustrate. Getting to use a loose and scratchy ink line, the scenarios were wide and varied with the only stipulation that the reader never gets to see Jiggy's face.

The series of books, created by Michael Lawrence, has been phenomenally successful with these two just the latest version in reprints. I had previously worked on a book for Michael with Barrington Stoke, so I knew his style of writing, which I love. Imaginative and just a little bit bonkers. Just what I like.

I'm hoping to see more of Jiggy in the future, not just because they are great stories(check out the reviews) but are really fun to work on!

World of Norm's first TV advert

 

World of Norm has it's first TV advert! Illustrated by FMI's Donough O' Malley, Norm makes his TV debut this week in the very first World of Norm advert in conjunction with Asda. The advert, which is narrated by the author Jonathan Meres, will run across the Disney channel and Cartoon Network running from the 17 to 31 July. This campaign is estimated to reach 14.9% of all children that's 1,300,000 across the UK and Ireland!

Orchard books have also secured a giveaway of 20,000 copies of the first World of Norm title: May Contain Nuts with the Guardian on Saturday 19 July. The book will be given away with all copies of the Guardian sold in Tesco and Tesco Metro stores. The full World of Norm series will be advertised in the back of the special A format giveaway book. So don't forget to get a copy of the Guardian this Saturday!!!

Introducing Irene Dickson

FMI has another great new talent joining the books this week. Irene Dickson introduces herself with some fabulous samples of her work. "I am so excited to be joining Frances’ group of wonderful illustrators, and doing what I have always wanted to do!"

Introducing Neil Price

FMI is proud to introduce a new illustrator to the agency, Neil Price. Here, Neil tells us a little bit about himself and his work.