"Hey Reeve, what are we doing in Llandudno?"



Taking part in a terrific arts festival, is what! I've just been to Wales for Take pART 2019, which writer and performer Kjartan Poskitt assured us would be absolutely unmissable. I started out with a Dinosaur Firefighters picture book event. You can see here a list of jobs that I've had the kids help me come up with, and we paired the jobs with various dinosaurs to make pictures that might spark off other fun dinosaur stories.



It all went very well until one of the kids asked me to draw a Batman Diplodocus, and I have to say, my picture was pretty bad. So on the train ride home, I tried to do a slightly better version:



The kids' drawings were brilliant! I love this T-Rex card one little boy handed me at the end of the session:



( Click here for lots more under the cut!Collapse )

Thanks to Lakes District bookshop Sam Reed and their 2019 preview article, the secret about my spring picture book is now officially OUT! Introducing... GRUMPYCORN. A horrible grump or a loveable diva? You decide, from May 2nd! I owe the look of the title and front cover entirely to designer Strawberrie Donnelly, editor Pauliina Malinen and the Scholastic sales team:



And here's a little peek at our explosive unicorn inside:



The picture book market is SUCH a difficult one to crack, and it's so easy for picture books to sink to the ocean floor, never to be seen again! Fingers crossed for this one, I really pushed myself on the painting technique and I hope people will want to get copies for themselves.

This is a bit more severe than I usually draw myself, but I rather like it. One of those things you send in when people ask for a 'serious author picture'.



This started when I was going through my StudioTeaBreak #PortraitChallenge drawings from the year and picked out one of my favourites, and wondered how I'd look drawn the same way.



This is really just how I make myself laugh.

Happy New Year, everyone! Well done for getting through 2018, award yourselves one gold star.