I hope you like it! Illustrating this book turned out to be a bit of a departure for me; I tried out a bunch of new ways of working, including using inks instead of watercolours, which gives the book very vivid, jewel-like tones. And it has this great interplay between the real and the imaginary, so I experimented with alternating warm and cool coloured palettes to reflect that. And there are loads of little foreshadowing clues... I hope you find the book a great romp. I think Titus is my favourite human character I've drawn so far, the little guy totally rocks. He's based slightly on my friend Woodrow Phoenix, who told me how he used to wear a cowboy hat all the time when he was little. He and my first two studio mates - Gary Northfield and Viviane Schwarz - were hugely supportive in getting this book off the ground, so that's why I've dedicated it to the three of them.
One other very cool thing! I've had a huge admiration for The Greenwich Phantom for ages, and he/she just featured me on the blog! Thank you so much, Phantom! Read it here. It was the tree drawings that made the Phantom take note this time, and it's Philip Reeve who set me off on those. Everything's linked. (Read Philip's review of Vern and Lettuce.)