Frances McKay Illustration

The Great Big Sleep

‘The Great Big Sleep’, like most of the stories I write, is semi-autobiographical and inspired by true-ish events.

It is a tale of two friends, Squirrel and Bear who are preparing to settle down for their long winter nap. But even after they’ve both had their supper, drank their milk and had one last mess about in the snow, Squirrel is still not tired.

As Squirrel tries his best to make himself sleepy in a number of ever increasingly noisy ways, he begins to test the patience of his friend, Bear. Not wanting to keep his friend awake any longer, Squirrel leaves the den and heads out into the snow.

With the night growing colder and the snow beginning to fall harder it’s up to Bear to find Squirrel and bring him home to the warmth of the fire.

‘Meanwhile, the den was so quiet that Bear couldn’t sleep because he was worried. Where was Squirrel? Bear lit his lantern and headed out into the snow to search for him.’

Although I have illustrated many picture books over the years, ‘The Great Big Sleep’ is the first I have both written and illustrated. It feels like it was a long time in the making but now it’s here I’m really proud of all the hard work that both myself and the publishing team have put into it. The book is published in the UK on 7^th January 2016 by Penguin Random House.

I hope you enjoy reading it with your family and have a Great Big Sleep of your own.

http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/the-great-big-sleep/9781849419888

 

Sean Julian

 

Bear Can't Sleep

My latest picture has arrived - ‘Bear Can’t Sleep’ written by Marni McGee and published by Little Tiger Press is out on 10^th September 2015.

It’s a bit of a departure for me as the illustration style in which it is painted is not my usual one. Known predominantly for my opaque acrylic painterlyness, I was encouraged by the Little Tigers to apply the acrylic paint in a looser way to take advantage of the line work produced at the design stage. 

I had to learn a whole new set of skills, buy an A3 printer from Argos and spend several happy months illustrating by the seat of my pants.

The plot of the book involves a scooter, a grumpy bear, a thermos flask, some blueberry and onion sandwiches (there was some snails in the sandwiches too, but they were reprieved at the last minute), some needlecraft, lots of jam, underwear and an accident prone hare.

 

Sean Julian

 

A Scribble of Illustrators: Visiting the Event

Hello everyone,

As some of you may know, 3 of the illustration horses out of the Frances McKay stable, Henning Lohlein, Donough O’Malley and Sean Julian (that’s me!) Recently took part in an illustration exhibition at the Centrespace Gallery in Bristol. The show was called ‘A Scribble of Illustrators‘ and along with 8 other top West Country based scribblers we showed off our wares to the general public.

The Scribblers were:

Joe Berger

 

Paula Bowles

 

Jo Empson

 

Yasmeen Ismail

 

Sean Julian

 

Steve Lenton

 

Henning Lohlein

 

Gwen Millward

 

Donough O'Malley

 

Lauren Tobia

 

Sarah Warburton

Workshops were also a big part of the event with lots of families coming through the door eager for a story or two and wanting a quick lesson in how to draw a gorilla (or at least I hope that’s what they wanted). 

Paula reads the kids a woolly story.

 

Steve Lenton is looking a bit shifty (and Mc Gifty).

 

Sean Julian and The Gorilla Gang.

 

Hopefully in the future we can put on more exhibitions and workshops to spread the word of illustration and show the world what we do. A huge thanks to all those people that helped us put on a great show.

 

Sean Julian

 

 

 

A Scribble of Illustrators

A Scribble of Illustrators,2nd - 6th May 2015

Centrespace Gallery, 6 Leonard Lane, Bristol BS1 1EA

 

The children’s book illustrator - a species seldom seen out and about during daylight, and almost never in a group of it’s own kind, or ‘scribble’. What could possibly tempt these shy, retiring (some might even say anti-social) creatures to gather in one of Bristol’s finest gallery spaces for a week-long fiesta of original artwork, prints, books for sale and family events? 

 

In an unprecedented display of team-spirit (an ‘agreement’ of illustrators, perhaps? seems unlikely), eleven of the west-country’s finest children’s authors and illustrators will be sharing this brilliant space to show off their diverse range of techniques and skills, as well as hosting a variety of family events, readings and workshops over the bank holiday weekend.

 

In addition to exhibiting work from past, present and future publishing triumphs, each of the illustrators will be creating a new artwork for the show, illustrating one of their favourite collective nouns. A tishoo of sneezes? A charm of finches? Who knows, there might even be a beautification of spatulas. Come along in May and find out.

 

Details of workshops and events to be announced on the exhibition Facebook page. 

 

Exhibitors include:

 

Joe Berger

Joe is the author/illustrator of Bridget Fidget, and Bridget Fidget Hold on Tight, published by Puffin, and recently illustrated three new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang books for Pan Macmillan, written by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Joe is currently drawing the Hubble Bubble picture book and young fiction series by Tracey Corderoy, and Superhero Dad by Timothy Knapman, both series published by Nosy Crow. Joe was World Book Day Illustrator 2010, and one of the BookTrust Best New Illustrators in 2011, which is odd because he’s not very new.

 

Paula Bowles

Paula writes and illustrates children’s books for a number of publishers including Bloomsbury, Random House and Templar. Her books include Little Lou and the Wolly Mammoth, Scary Mary, What Goes Up,  and Messy Jesse.

Paula illustrated The National Trust Family Organiser 2015, and is currently working on the 2016 edition. In 2013 Paula was an chosen artist to paint Gromit as part of the ‘Gromit Unleashed’ trail.

 

Jo Empson

Jo Empson graduated from Cambridge School of Art with an MA in Children’s Book Illustration. During the course she created her first picture book Rabbityness which was published the following year in 2012 by Child’s play International, and has been nominated for 8 awards, including Kate Greenaway Medal and shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and UKLA award.

Her second picture book published by Child’s Play, Never Ever, was awarded a Kirkus Star, won Moonbeam US Children’s Book Award - Gold for Preschool Picture Books and also nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal. 

 

Yasmin Ismael

Yasmin recently moved to Bristol; she is writing her fourth book for Bloomsbury, her first for Walker Books, and is also working on picture books for Nosy Crow and Pan Macmillan. She has just completed two books for publishers in the US and has more exciting projects lined up for 2015.

Her book Time for Bed was selected by the New York Times for the Best Illustrated Books list 2014. She has a love of watercolours, inks and paints and her illustrations are bright, fluid and full of energy and movement.

 

Sean Julian

Sean was born in Derbyshire and studied at the Mansfield College of Art before moving to Bristol to study Illustration. Sean being himself big and hairy has always been happiest drawing Bears, Gorillas and other big hairy creatures. Since 2001 he has been illustrating children’s books for an array of publishers and book packagers. Recent books include: My Dad written by Steve Smallman and published by the Little Tiger Press, and Brave little Owl written by Penny Little, published by Random House. The latter was recently read out by Maggie Aderin-Pocock on the Cbeebies programme ‘Storytime’.

 

Steve Lenton

Steven is the illustrator of the best selling Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam which was both Waterstones picture book of the month and The Times children's book of the week. Since this successful debut Steven has written his first picture book Princess Daisy and the Dragon and the Nincompoop Knights with publisher Nosy Crow and is also illustrating the latest fiction title by Frank Cottrell Boyce The Astounding Broccoli Boy.

 

Henning Lohlein

Originally from Germany, Henning has lived in Bristol for 25 years, during which he has illustrated over 30 children's books, published in more than 15 languages. His latest pop-up book Fish Food, published by Templar, won the Sheffield Children's Book Prize 2014 in the baby book category. He was selected as one of the artists to paint Shaun the sheep for Bristol’s "Shaun in the City" trail this year.

 

Gwen Millward

Gwen is particularly fond of drawing bugs. Her books for children are full of them; most famously 'The Bog Baby' written by Jeanne Willis which won the Book Trust Early Years Award. She has illustrated for Puffin, Simon and Schuster, Andersen Press, Egmont, Candlewick, Random House and is currently working with Bloomsbury. All of these books contain Bugs.

 

Donough O’Malley

Donough is an Illustrator and author from Monaghan in Ireland. Since completion of his degree in illustration at UWE and an MA in Brighton, his first picture book Monkey See Monkey Do (Frances Lincoln UK) was shortlisted for the Cambridge picture book award in 2007. Recent picture books for Irish publishers Futa Fata have been selected for the White Ravens catalogue and inclusion to the permanent collection of the International Youth Library in Munich. Donough is also the illustrator of the successful book series, The World of Norm, which won the Scottish Book Trust Award 2013 and has been printed in over 14 countries.

 

Lauren Tobia

Lauren has illustrated Anna Hibiscus and Song and Splash, Anna Hibiscus!, both written by Atinuke (Walker Books). Anna Hibiscus was included in Time Out New York's Top 50 Best Books for Kids; "a book that deserves to become a classic". It was also a 2011 Boston Globe Honour Book for Excellence in Children's Literature.

Lauren is a founder member of the Bristol based illustration group Brillustration, taking part in collaborative drawings in galleries to bookshop windows. 

 

Sarah Warburton

Sarah Warburton hails from North Wales but has lived and worked in Bristol as an illustrator for 20 years. She uses a combination of pencil sketches, digital colour and collage. Sarah has produced a bestselling trio of Princess books with a difference with Caryl Hart  and Nosy Crow - winning the Oldham Brilliant Book award in 2013. Dinosaurs in the Supermarket, with Timothy Knapman, was shortlisted for The Coventry Book Award 2013 and Oscars First Book Prize in 2014. Sarah’s first book with author Mark Sperring Mable and Me - Best of Friends was longlisted for a UKLA book prize in 2014.    

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.

 

A monkey, fishing and elephant poo!‏

I’ve recently trotted over the bridge of illustration to feed on the grass of young fiction. And to celebrate I thought I’d pass on some of the wisdom my work has given me.

No matter what your occupation work can get stressful, and sometimes it feels as if you could work every hour of the week and you’d still not achieve everything you want.  At times like this, it’s important to have a little down time with your friends and family. There is nothing more efficient than a clear calm head.

Some tasks can seem daunting and unappealing from the outset, but if you really muck in and get your hands dirty you will soon be smelling the roses of your success!

 

Sean Julian

 

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.