Shifty and Sam in Crouch End...

I just had a great morning talking to the owners of The Haberdashery cafe in Crouch End about the Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam exhibition and book launch.

It was nice to finally be able to show them the spreads in the book in which their cafe is featured - here is a snippet of one of the spreads;

The Haberdashery recently won best cafe in London in the London Lifestyle Awards and has won numerous other accolades so its wonderful that Shifty and Sam will be launched there in a couple of months.

Here are some pictures of the interior of the cafe and some gratuitous yummy cake shots!

 


 


The exhibition will feature framed original concept art along with final artwork.  There will be a range of Shifty and Sam items available to purchase including copies of the book signed by both myself and the author Tracey Corderoy.

More news and info on the exhibition coming soon...

Fashion in Children's Picture Books...

I was milling about the clothing emporiums of London town this week and spotted that, most fortunately, black and white burglar-stripes are rather in fashion this spring/summer - Shifty and Sam are VERY pleased about this.

Here are a few snaps of 'what I like to call' Shifty and Sam inspired articles of clobber - robber-clobber if you will;

Robber-dog Scarves

Robber-dog dresses, blousons, and blazers - Mary Berry would

rock one of these.

Robber dog 'SWAG' bag inspired sweatshirt.

Robber-dog 'vintage' T shirt - I was tempted by this but noted the rather plunging neck line - not for me.

What I would really like to see is a robber-dog Onesie - I shall keep my peepers peeled!

This made me ponder more about the influence of fashion on Children's book character design so my next post might have a little bit on that - I'd love to delve into it now but I'm a tad too busy this week.

Shifty and Sam - Not just for Christmas...

Well I missed out on doing a 'Yule Blog' before Christmas as I had that awful fluey thing over the seasonal holiday so it's taken me a while to get back on track!

The best thing that happened over the hols (apart from the Miranda special - such fun!) was a lovely present from my parents - Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam soft toys to take with me to events and workshops!

There are four altogether - two large toys and two smaller ones - aren't they cute!

I am making new stripy tops for them as these ones have a few too many stripes!  I might make little SWAG bags for them too in time for the book launch on May 2nd...

The book is now available for download on Amazon in both hardback and paperback form HERE.

There will be lots of up-coming events involving myself, Tracey and our two robber dogs over the coming year so I will be posting all the details here as well as my Facebook and Twitter feeds.

In other news I am just putting the finishing touches to my Nursery Rhyme book with Little Tiger and am now full throttle on my first author/illustrator Picture Book with Nosy Crow - it's going to be very funny, silly and really good fun to design!

Helen Holmes - designer at Little Tiger Press...

A month or so ago I did a little blog about head designer at Nosy Crow, Stephanie Amster.

I asked my designer at Little Tiger, Helen Holmes to say a few words too as she is also super talented and a joy to work with.

Here is what Helen said about her love of working on children's books;

I've been very lucky to work with many wonderful illustrators over the years, from established artists to gifted newbies. Each one equally lovely, displaying their own unique talent, along with a shared passion for books that reveals great dedication. And Steven is no exception! He has a fabulous sense of humour and such enthusiasm that makes my role all the more enjoyable – thank you!

Like Hippo, I love wearing hats! Throughout the week I can be seen wearing a collection of hats to suit the variety of roles a book designer may play, such as: biscuit baker, technical advisor, motivator, juggler, counsellor, talent scout and the list goes on! The trick is not to wear too many at once, as it's very confusing and makes you're neck ache! And then, of course, there's the party hat – there's nothing better than a spot of fancy dress to relieve that deadline stress, yee-haw!!

Helen and I are now working on our third book together which is a lovely collection of Nursery Rhymes which will be out in 2013.

Les Pingouins en francais...

Bonjour!  I had a very pleasant surprise this morning when my first co-edition of 'Five Christmas Penguins' arrived in the post.

This co-ed is in French and I think the French publisher 'Hemma' (no nor have I) has done a lovely job of translating the original text - and they have added some fun rhythmical touches such as ZIP! Oh! Oh! and Flon! Flon!

Here are some pictures of said co-ed, which is available in France, Belgium and even HERE on Amazon;

Good luck to my two little hounds in Frankfurt!

I had a lovely surprise yesterday when Nosy Crow called to let me know I could pop in a grab a copy of the proof of 'Shifty McGifty'.

I was very nervous as, even though you have a pretty good idea how things are going to look, until you actually have it in your hands you don't know for certain - what are the colours like?  Is everything cropped to perfection?  Is there a spider on each page (very important!)

Well what can I say - Steph has done a wonderful job at creating a spangly, shiny and sleek cover with foil moon, stars, text and even the spiders silk - tricky to capture on a photograph as it looks so different under different light sources;

I'm not going to put photos up of all the spread but here is a sneaky peek at one of the spreads from the new Nosy Crow Frankfurt Book Fair (Fayre?) catalogue.

In this scene Shifty and Sam are attempting to make the best buns in town - and are getting very messy in the process!

I hope that the two little dogs go down well at Frankfurt - good luck woofers!

*BOOK GIVEAWAY KLAXON*

My first book with Little Tiger Press is released in the UK on Monday (1st October)...

Here is said book;

It is incredibly shiny and festive - the perfect stocking filler for your little loved ones!

To celebrate I am giving away a copy of 'Five Christmas Penguins' and 10 runners up prizes of a Penguin pom-pom;

Now, this year the book is a Sainsbury's exclusive, which means while it is available in lots of other countries on AMAZON and book shops in the US for example, here in the UK you will only find it in these supermarkets.

Now, I don't venture into Sainsbury's very often, so what I would like you to do to be in with a chance of winning a copy is to take a picture of you and the book in said supermarket.

The first person to post their photo with the book (preferably looking happy!) onto my FACEBOOK page will win the book, and the next 10 people to do so will win a festive penguin pom!

Happy snapping!