Foiled! HapPEA Publication Day.

At last here it is! I'm so proud to show off the lovely, sparkly, pink and funny new book The Princess and the Peas from  Caryl Hart and myself, published by the gorgeous people at Nosy Crow.

I love this book and especially the cover as it was really easy    to think of the idea and it was even better that everyone liked it too! Then, the icing on the cake was the decision to use a gorgeous shiny green foil on the leafy details. Fellow Nosy Crow illustrator Steve Lenton recently mentioned that it reminds him of Mint Aero.....Yum!

Finding a character - The Princess and the Peas.

This week I finished tweeking a new book for the wonderful Nosy Crow and the cover image went on the website (below). Hurray! Have a look for more info on the book here http://nosycrow.com/books/the-princess-and-the-peas

This book has been a great joy to do. I thought I might share with you some initial sketch ideas I had for the book. Mainly the slightly manic process of 'finding' the character. This starts with a chat with everyone involved, what age the character should be? What kind of personality? Clothes?

Below you'll find sketches for different character ideas before settling on a girl who I believe was mainly inspired by the amazing Karen from the BBC sitcom 'Outnumbered'!

I've also included initial colour palette ideas and first scribblings - some of which have ended up directly in the final book. So make sure you get a copy in September to cross reference them!

Karen from Outnumbered

too 'cross' and slightly violent I think!

The idea for the cover came fairly quickly. It's always really exciting to try and bring many elements of the story together in the boldest image you can think of. This is by far the most enjoyable cover I've ever done.