The Big Green is a contemporary African story. I often encourage creators to infuse their experiences into their stories, and this was my chance follow my own advice. But Finding the balance between what I know as an African and what I know as a book maker was not straightforward.
Looking back, moving forward
Astro Girl (US) (UK), Eco Girl (US) (UK)and Aqua Boy are available at all cool bookstores. My thanks to the UK Publishers, Otter Barry Books, US publishers Candlewick, two amazing teams of people.
Why Eco Girl?
Eco Girl is the second in a set of books that deal with sustainability and equality and try to encourage children to see themselves and their friends as equals.
Eco Girl is here!
I created a portfolio page for Eco Girl, which was published in October 2022. It contains an outline of the book project, some sketches and some finished art. It was a really intense and enjoyable project to work on. Lets hope it is a successful book too!
Stars With Flaming Tales
The first poetry book I’ve had a the good fortune to be involved with is on the #CLiPPA2022 shortlist. So pleased! Wonderful poems by Valerie Bloom and a mountain of belief from Otter Barry Books. It’s also one of the few older children’s books I’ve illustrated, in black and white, all finished digitally on a…… Continue reading Stars With Flaming Tales
Astro Girl: Helen Sharman
Helen Sharman is a British chemist and astronaut who became the first British person, first Western European woman and first privately funded woman travel to space, as well as the first woman to visit the Mir space station in 1991. She travelled on a Soyuz spacecraft and spend eight days orbiting the Earth, living and…… Continue reading Astro Girl: Helen Sharman
Astro Girl: Judith Resnik
Judith Resnik was born in Akron, Ohio in 1949. Both her parents were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. She joined the North African space Agency (NASA) in 1978 and sh made it to space in 1984 on the Space Shuttle Discovery as a mission specialist. On a space craft, a mission specialist is the astronaut with a…… Continue reading Astro Girl: Judith Resnik
A Year in Video
The pandemic drove us all online more than ever for work, leisure and learning. The downside was needing stronger glasses to cope with the extra screen time, but the upside was meeting more people from around the world than ever before. in short we all had to take the best with what we had. I…… Continue reading A Year in Video
Live Events Online
The pandemic lockdowns made us rethink how we work, play, and learn. Authors and illustrators had to adjust, just like the schools and libraries which relied on them visiting in person. In the end, we learned what we like or don’t like about being more in charge of our work days. This change to hybrid…… Continue reading Live Events Online
Always something to learn
Childrens book illustration trends are cyclical. Every four or five years methods from the past resurface. But digital work is on the increase. Each year the are better skilled illustrators producing wonderful work without using paint and paper. Some of us ‘old-schoolers’ find it hard to keep up. We are used to taking our time…… Continue reading Always something to learn
Astro Girls: Nancy Curry Greg
Nancy Currie-Gregg is an engineer, United States Army officer and a NASA astronaut. Her Twitter account (@Astro_Buckeye) introduction reads; @NASA Astronaut, @TAMU professor, engineer, wife, grandmother, reining horse enthusiast. She has been on four space shuttle missions and spent 1,000 hours in space. She flew as mission specialist – flight engineer, in 1993, 1995, 1998 for the first International Space…… Continue reading Astro Girls: Nancy Curry Greg
Astro Girl in San Francisco
There were many children online for the event, which was followed by a discussion about the book Astro Girl. Many more will watch the recording of the event on the San Francisco Public Library YouTube page. All in all, it’s been a good few months for the book. It was also featured in the South African Festival…… Continue reading Astro Girl in San Francisco
The Illustrationist Newsletter
I’ve started a newsletter which offers insights into creating books and publishing for children. This is after receiving many questions about becoming an author over the years and realising there is no way to answer everyone in a satisfying enough way. Take a look. Sign up
Update: Stars With Flaming Tails Won the CLiPPA Award!
Stars With Flaming Tales won the CLiPPA award for poetry! The CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award) is solely presented for published poetry for children in the UK. Established in 2003, the Poetry Award encourages and celebrates outstanding poetry published for children.- CLPE Here are some poems from the collection. I enjoyed working with…… Continue reading Update: Stars With Flaming Tails Won the CLiPPA Award!
Astro Girls: Svetlana Yevgenyevna
Indian born Sunita L. Williams was involved in two space missions, Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33. She has spent a total of 322 days in space on two missions.
Scoop Magazine
Early in 2020, Scoop Magazine asked if was interested in illustrating a couple of stories in a comic strip style. I’ve secretly wanted to do something like this for some time so jumped at the chance. Furthermore, the strips were to be activist or historical, which is an approach that I like. My books are inspired by…… Continue reading Scoop Magazine
Scoop Magazine
Early in 2020, Scoop Magazine asked if was interested in illustrating some stories in a comic strip style. I have secretly wanted to do something like this for quite some time so jumped at the chance. Furthermore, the strips were to be activist or historical, which is a space that I follow regularly. In fact, many…… Continue reading Scoop Magazine
Astro Girls: Sunita Williams
Indian born Sunita L. Williams was involved in two space missions, Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33. She has spent a total of 322 days in space on two missions.
Astro Girls: Margaret Rhea Seddon
After being selected as part of the first group of astronauts to include women, Rhea Seddon flew on three Space Shuttle flights.
Astro Girls: Susan Helms
Susan Jane Helms was born on February 26, 1958. Besides being the commander, of the 14th Air Force and the Joint Functional Component Command for Space at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Susan Helms was a crew member on five Space Shuttle missions. She lived on the International Space Station (ISS) for over five…… Continue reading Astro Girls: Susan Helms
Astro Girls in Space: Chiaki Mukai
Chiaki Mukai was the first Japanese woman in space. She was also the first person from Japan to fly to space twice.
Astro Girls: Yi Soyeon
Astro Girl Yi Soyeon was the first South Korean citizen in space in 2008.
Astro Girl’s Women in Space
Since its release Astro Girl has been winning fans and praise around the world. The book would be less inspiring without the mention of the women astronauts. We could only fit a handful of names in in the finished book, even though I planned to make many more illustrations. I found more than 40 women…… Continue reading Astro Girl’s Women in Space
And Now, Something Different…
I’ve been illustrating a story for the last few issues of Scoop Magazine, a publication for children in the UK. These short stories are told Graphic/comic strip style, something I’ve been itching to try for quite some time now. Here’s the latest, the story of John Blanke, an African in the court of Henry VIII.…… Continue reading And Now, Something Different…
She’s a Winner
Astro Girl has just won an award- The STEAM Children’s Book Prize- a science award. While I have been fairly consistent through the years I haven’t won many awards. That isn’t my aim, so perhaps that’s why. It always seemed way too obscure, and hard work, to come up with an award-winning idea. Just seeing…… Continue reading She’s a Winner
Empathy beats Racism
Recent events have got everyone thinking, talking, shouting, but no longer avoiding the issue of racism. Learning to empathise is certainly going to help.
Lenny Books
Some empathy is necessary, for sure, but it’s usually a combination what you observe from the young children in your environment combined with your own memories that make a good story…
Lenny Books
Where’s Lenny and Lenny and Wilbur are two new books coming out this August. They will be available at all cool bookstores in the UK. They are already in US bookstores.
Experiments in lockdown
I’ve been getting to grips with digital painting over the last few months. It’s nothing like good old fashioned paint and canvas, but it has some advantages worth making the effort for. The only comment I can offer which might be of any use is that illustrating digitally requires a different approach. Think of constructing…… Continue reading Experiments in lockdown
The age of the Afronaut
Afronaut is a new publishing project from company Alanna Max, featuring books about and for African children, the Afronauts. Many have yet to see themselves in a book, despite the millions of folktales and stories from each culture on the continent. It’s been a dream of mine to play back all the wonderful ‘nganos’, or stories from my…… Continue reading The age of the Afronaut
From Idea to Book #5
Sometimes writers and illustrators question their ability. That’s normal and keeps us pushing for excellence. However, they shouldn’t question their saleability. That is for someone else to do, so let it go. There are people who know as much about selling as you do about creating, so you are in safe hands… Teamwork is what…… Continue reading From Idea to Book #5
From Idea to Book #4: Step Away
A slow burning idea can sometimes work very effectively. Are you a prolific ideas generator? See what happens when you slow yourself down. Put your idea onto paper/a device and then leave it to bubble away… Notice how much more focused you are when you get back to it, or when it starts to call…… Continue reading From Idea to Book #4: Step Away
I Can Do It too!
Astro Girl is in bookshops and making its way to libraries across the UK as part of the Summer Reading Challenge, so I thought it might be an idea to remind you about the other books with strong female characters I have worked on over the years. First up, I Can Do It Too, written…… Continue reading I Can Do It too!
Pathways to… your dream
I am taking part in Pathways, which is a fantastic new programme for young and emerging children’s books and comics talent in the UK. The Pathways into children’s publishing programme is a groundbreaking new two-year illustration programme for diverse, talented and ambitious artists taught by world-class illustrators and writers, university tutors, children’s editors and art directors. Pop Up Projects has partnered with House of Illustration in the UK…… Continue reading Pathways to… your dream
Some inspiration…
Here’s a short film that sums up why we should follow our dreams. Norman Gilbert refused to follow the artistic style of the time, forging his own path; https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00032ph
From Idea to Book 3
#3 Less is more In books for the very young say as much as possible with a few words. Illustrations have a high literary value. They really speak to the reader. If you develop your stories with text, write freely first, then each time you revisit your story craft the maximum meaning into fewer and…… Continue reading From Idea to Book 3
From Idea to Book 2
I first wrote a post with this title about a year ago. I was intending to take you through the lifetime of a book project ‘in real time.’ Each project is different though, and the project I chose is still in its early stages so there isn’t much to report. So while that’s taking shape,…… Continue reading From Idea to Book 2
The language of West African Icons
Here’s a free download for you to enjoy! Sometimes you can come up with an idea that doesn’t quite fit its intended audience. What to do? This idea isn’t necessarily new to the world but it might be timely, with Valentine’s Day coming… Adinkra symbols are used in fabrics and pottery by the peoples of…… Continue reading The language of West African Icons
Be a voter!
There’s a real need for people to take their social and political responsibilities seriously. Here’s an illustration that helps remind us.
What it is, what it was, what it will be.
I grew up hearing stories from elders, something which sticks with me more than the history books I have read. Keep African oral history alive.
From idea to book
Everyone has a story… Everyone has a story inside them. Some of us tell it in a book or a play or on the stage, football pitch or boardroom. But most of us live our story, telling it to our loved ones, every day, year by year… the point is each story gets told and…… Continue reading From idea to book
Recent work: Chicken Newspaper’s Food issue
Endangered animals: The Black Footed Ferret
The black-footed ferret was Once thought to be globally extinct, but it is making a comeback. It is found in North America and for the last thirty years, people have worked hard to give black-footed ferrets a second chance for survival. There are now nearly 1,000 animals across North America and of course there is…… Continue reading Endangered animals: The Black Footed Ferret
Terrible Horses
The book we created was a surprise, for me who was making the art. It toook about two years to make. I was encouraged to come up with something different.
Better Representation
There is change happening in the way people are portrayed in children’s books as publishers realise better representation is good for business. Books are products, after all, and fortunately businesses are realising that representation in children’s books makes good business sense. The inclusive representation of all voices will hopefully continue becoming ‘normal’, but no one…… Continue reading Better Representation
Where ideas come from
This short post discusses the inspiration behind my recent children’s books, the 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and the importance of transforming complex concepts into engaging stories for children. I highlight how global issues like climate change and understanding the world can drive creativity.
More Than Half the World Voted in 2024
More than half the world voted in 2024. That is approximately 4.2 billion citizens in 65 countries. Eight of the world’s 10 most populous nations (Bangladesh, Brazil, India, United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Mexico) voted. While elections are no guarantee of democracy, it is true that democracy does not exist without elections. There is a saying…… Continue reading More Than Half the World Voted in 2024
Introducing Aqua Boy!
After 30 years of creating books, the author reflects on the significance of dreams and introduces the latest addition to a series about global topics for young children, “Aqua Boy”.
The Illustrationist 