Frances McKay Illustration

Daisy Doodles

I am delighted to announce the publication of my second picture book, Daisy Doodles (OUP) which has been a truly collaborative project.

 

Take one original idea from Pete Marley at OUP; add story and words by award winning author Michelle Robinson; have a day on location with photographer Tom Weller; mix together with my illustrations and digital wizardry to make a lovely little picture book!

 

 

The story centres on a real little girl, 'Daisy', who just loves to draw, finding herself stuck inside on a rainy day inventing a little friend in the shape of a very creative mouse, Pipsqueak. When magically comes to life, they embark in whirl of creativity which spills over into a fantasy world where they join their creations as illustrations themselves for an adventure, before they arrive home again to a bit of an untidy room and an understanding mum!

 

 

It was decided from the start that we would use photography for the 'real' world where we see Daisy drawing and playing, employing soft muted tones to reflect the rainy day mood, then switching to illustration in vivid colour when we enter little girl's imaginary play.

 

This was a very different type of book for me to work on as it involved not only the story boarding and and illustration, but for the photographic scenes, props were made, scenes planned, and photoshop skills employed alongside traditional drawing techniques to make the final spreads. Not to mention working with Kate and Pete at OUP, and the incredibly talented Phoebe who was perfect taking on the role of Daisy!

 

 

It was a real team effort which was a lot of fun, and has come together as 'Daisy Doodles', a lovely story which celebrates creative play and a child's imagination, whilst encouraging creative activities for young readers too.

 

 

Irene Dickson

 

Blocks

At last! Finally… Drumroll please…. We present… ‘BLOCKS’  

My picture book 'Blocks' has been published by Nosy Crow. Hurray!

This story of toddler rivalry and reconciliation is now ready to be shared with pre-schoolers everywhere, but reaching this day was a story in itself, taking a little over four years.

I thought I would share how it came about.

2011 MA illustration project: Devise a sequential narrative. That’s what I was working on, so when I awoke with this in my head I just scribbled it down. Job done. Or so I thought.

I planned it to be wordless, tweaked it a tiny bit, and drew it up for hand-in. I even trying out screen printing along the way, enjoyed creating my first ever dummy book, and didn’t think too much about it - other than noting my tutor had an aversion to the boggly eyes on the children! 

2012. I had heard about the Macmillan Prize but never thought about entering, but with only a few days to the deadline I decided to ditch the boggly eyes and redraw the entire 32 page book with coloured crayon, and enter. 

Weeks later, I got the call from Macmillan. Blocks had won first prize. Which was very nice indeed.

They really liked it, but to publish it, the team at Macmillan had to sign up co-editions. Somehow the whole wordless thing just didn’t work. So I popped it back in the drawer and I went on with my course, developing   my practice as they say, a very different style emerging along the way.

2013. The end of the MA course was approaching, and having spent all my time on the final project, I had almost forgotten about the little wordless book, but at the eleventh hour I had dug it out, dusted it off, had a rethink and drew it all over again, but with soft pastels, and included it in my show. 

Being concept driven, the style changed, but the sequence, basic composition and use of limited colour, which are essential to the story, stayed exactly the same.

2014. It was on the suggestion of Kate Wilson at Nosy Crow that a re-working of Blocks in my newer style, with the addition of some very limited text, might just be what was needed. 

So, always one to take heed of good advice, I did just that. And this is the one which is now a proper book.

The published version is the fourth time I have drawn these characters, each time very differently, but now they have names (Ruby, Benji and Guy)  and the book has words, and just the right amount. I am quite attached to them all now!

So just as some author/illustrator projects are snapped up and published with little or no no editing (you talented lot know who you are) so others, like mine, take a more meandering path to get to the finishing line. 

The editorial input from the team at Nosy Crow to guide and direct me to the finished product has been invaluable, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank both Frances and Kate for spotting something worth nurturing in my student work.

I am sure that my next books will be a little more straightforward, and speedier in getting to the finishing line!

 

Irene Dickson

 

 

 

Happy Easter

Irene Dickson

 

Jane Eccles

 

Jill Latter

 

 

Algy Craig Hall

 

The Christmas Rabbit, a story about the Easter Rabbit who helps Father Christmas out, and becomes the Christmas Rabbit for a day. Published by Cadeau, Germany.

 

 

Henning Löhlein 

 

 

 

Elisabeth, Elspeth, Betty and Bess, All went together to seek a bird's nest. They found a bird's nest with five eggs in. They all took one and left four in. 

 

Alan Marks

 

 

 

Bee Willey

 

Rachel Boulton

 

 

 

Once upon a time the Easter Bunny stubbed his big toe on a chair (very painful) and was unable to deliver all the Easter eggs. He was in a real tizz about it until his family (rather a large one) gathered around to help him out. But with out the Easter Bunnies magical abilities how would they be able to deliver all the Easter Eggs? - their solution was to create the first Rabbit Air Force ( the R.A.F. for short). 
 
So this Easter if you see choccy eggs falling from the sky you know why - and you know that the Easter Bunny has stubbed his big toe again.

 

Sean Julian

 

 

Click here to enlarge the image and click again to zoom in on the fun.

 

Elys Dolan

 

 

Happy Easter from everyone at Frances McKay Illustration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Season's Greetings and Festive Cheer

 

Rachel Boulton 

Jill Latter 

 

Festive jollity to everyone from Jane and her cat, Celeste.

Jane Eccles 

 

 

Have a jolly Festive Season, and a fabulous happy New Year!!! 

Henning Löhlein 

 

The two characters that have made it onto my Christmas card this year are from a picture book story I am currently developing about possessive friendships.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

Algy Craig Hall 

 

 

 

Tom Morgan-Jones 

 

Donough O'Malley 

 

  

 

Belinda Worsley 

"That looks painful!" said Penguin.

Sean Julian 

 

A piece of concept art for a picture book about the magic of Christmas.

Neil Price 

 

http://www.fidgetandco.com/ Latest poster to download for free, in time for the holidays... The Adventures of Dr Fillie Fidget and Hamish the Dog. 

Happy Christmas all!

Bee Willey 

 

The north wind doth blow, And we shall have snow, And what will the robin do then? Poor thing!

He’ll sit in a barn, And keep himself warm, And hide his head under his wing, Poor thing!

Alan Marks 

 

This is a little booklet I made in the style of a medieval woodcut chap book, illustrating the Christmas story of Babushka, for those not familiar with it....

I recall this story being read on Jackanory one December long long ago on the TV, and it had such an impact on me a child, and it has stayed with me ever since.

Often mistakenly thought of as a traditional Russian tale, this is really an Italian tradition, alive and well, with the children there receiving gifts and sweets down the chimney on January 5th from La Befana - a kindly old woman with a broomstick - they are threatened with getting lumps of coal if they misbehave.

After much digging around researching the origins of the 'Russian' tale, I read that it was actually an English woman visiting Russia in the early 1900s,  who coming across a published version of the story and was not aware it was a translation from the Italian to Russian, as she subsequently translated it to English thereby becoming responsible for creating the myth in the west of the Russian Babushka story! The basic story was not however lost in translation!

  

I hope you enjoy the little tale as much as I did all those years ago: along with the notion that a kindly hardworking woman is responsible for the mysterious gifts in your stocking on Christmas morning and not an old man with a big beard and muddy boots!!

Irene Dickson 

 

 

Season's Greetings, Happy Christmas and all good wishes for the New Year from everyone at Frances McKay Illustration.

 

In the Spirit of Halloween

Bee Willey’s illustration for Macbeth opens our celebration of all things All Hallows’ Eve.

 

Check out my Pumpkin fairy and others, part of a growing family!

May your Halloween bee full of wintry sparkles!

Bee Willey  

  

Monsters are hiding everywhere, as the little hamsters Mini, Paul and Max find out in their adventure "Hamster Monster", just published by North/South in Zürich, Switzerland. Three little hamsters are tired of being called cute and sweet - so they decide to be scary, but they get a reaction, which they don't expect...

"The Conference of Scary Ghosts" a cover for a Young Fiction title, published by Arena, Würzburg, Germany, written by Amina Paul. A child is sent to spend the holidays at his uncle's house, a castle, where not everything is what it seems.

Henning Löhlein 

Here's a raven I drew for the RSPB's 'Wingbeat' Magazine, which illustrated an article concerning why we associate certain human characteristics with particular animals and birds.

 

And here are two spooky characters I drew for a book pitch a few years ago, or is it three characters I can spot?

Tom Morgan-Jones  

This is an illustration of The Black Skull from a young fiction story I am currently developing - 'The Mysteries of the Magic Map'. 

Algy Craig Hall  

A while ago I had an idea for a story about a group of witches that gather together every fortnight to exchange spells and broth recipes, learn new witch-crafts and have topical conversations about all things related to being a witch. The group was going to be called the Witch's Institute or W.I. for short. 

One of the Witch's laws was going to be that if you did too much dark magic, bits would start to drop off. So if you ever see a witch with a carrot for a nose - be wary!

Sean Julian  

This is literally hot off the drawing board, work in progress for Little Tiger Press, an extension to the Gift Book range that I illustrated for them a few years ago, this will be book number 7 in the range, "Thank You Teacher."

Jill Latter  

I love drawing kids all dressed up for any occasion, especially Halloween, and no matter witch sort of Halloween you have I hope it's FANGTASTIC! 

Rachel Boulton 

Here in Germany Halloween has become more and more popular. I drew these pictures for myself and my son, Anton. When Anton was small the pictures had to be mostly funny because he was afraid if they were too dark and mean.

I did the last illustration a few weeks ago; I read quite a scary story but I kept in mind that although the children were afraid they were also fascinated by what they would see when they walked further on. 

Christina Bretschneider  

The next night came: Hallowe'en. Most people stayed safe inside their houses with their doors tightly locked. But not Janna.

When all her household was fast asleep, out she crept again, into the darkness. She followed the path the cold moon showed her, a silver path that led straight back into the enchanted forest.

From 'The Enchanted Forest' by Rosalind Kerven

Alan Marks

Lemony Snicket’s ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ is about three orphans who are placed in the custody of their distant cousin, Count Olaf, who will stop at nothing to steal their inheritance. This was a personal project.

The Milo Adventure cover is about an Angry Druid who rises from the grave! This cover was commissioned by O’Brien Press.

Neil Price  

 

Hansel and Gretel at Halloween! 

This is one of two images I made to accompany the chapter entitled 'Abandoned Children', in 'The Golden Age of Fairy Tales', by Jack Zipes published in 2013. The numerous old stories on this theme are truly gruesome but at least in this one the children triumph! Although the other image was published, I think Gretel despatching the witch to cook in her own oven has more of a Halloween feel to it!

Irene Dickson 

 

Illustrator James de la Rue has a friend who wants to join in the fun!  

 

And Jane Eccles is, well...  a bit batty!

 

Jane Eccles 

 

Wishing you a fun and spooky Halloween, and more than a few treats, from everyone at Frances McKay Illustration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!"