I like working on a light box on grey days. I can sort of hunker down over the cosy glow. Here's a peek at an illustration for Oliver and the Seawigs, my story with Philip Reeve (due to come out with Oxford University Press next autumn). Oh, have you seen Philip's response to being shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize? It's a cracker. And back to Seawigs, here's Iris the mermaid:



If I look up across the light boxes, there's Gary Northfield. And look, his colour proofs for his new book TEENYTINYSAURS have arrived! The book's coming out this spring with Walker Books, and people will be able to get it in several different languages. It's going to be awesome.



I wasn't going to type anything in this blog post and just have this bit of handwriting. But half the time I do a blog entry, I change tack half-way through posting it and write something totally different to what I set out to blog about.



Another peek:



I've done an interview with Jeremy Craddock over on Bookengine, which you can read here. And here's a lovely sight from this morning, when I went to get coffee in Greenwich. Very Seawiggish.




I have to be careful that I actually still get out while I'm doing inking. I've had days when all I've done is sit at my desk for ten hours or at the computer, answer e-mails, and only stand up to boil the kettle. It's totally unhealthy and I get a bit depressed, even though I love inking. So I'm going to try to get out more in the mornings, mostly to Greenwich Park. Last year I was doing daily tree drawings there, but I still wasn't getting enough exercise because it mostly involved standing or sitting for nearly an hour, while I drew. So I tried to solve this problem by taking up running, which I loathe. But gallumphing around my own neighbourhood doesn't require a membership fee, I can try to kid myself that I like it by pretending that I'm out there surveying my territory, and I don't have to sweat away next to some smug-faced whippet in a sports bra. At a gym, I feel like a hamster, especially that part when the hamster loses its footing and goes all the way around. This is pretty much what I look like on gym equipment. I don't really get it.


Video thanks to a tip from Natasha Footman

Running didn't really work either; I was always putting off the running, which meant I wasn't running OR drawing. Boo! So I'm going to attempt to do one morning of running (boo) and one morning of drawing (yay!). (Ha ha... because you really need to know this, reader.)

ANYWAY. Hey, check this out. This guy at La-Mian & Dim Sum in Greenwich Market today was doing this amazing dough ballet.



And these super-disturbing cat cushions at the market were made by Sam Morris of Wonderfully Weird.



I was surprised the people in charge of taking down the Olympics site in Greenwich Park hadn't made more progress. It still looks pretty much like it did during the Paralympics, and that entrance to the park is still closed off. (Come on, get with it, people!) I spent ten minutes sitting in the colonnade at the Queen's House, drinking my coffee, and supervising the operations.



Right. Back to inking.

Note: If one more person sees my ramblings around the park, photos of bananas and random silly things on the blog and tells me, 'You obviously don't have enough to do', I will throttle that person. Just saying. (Yes, I'm looking at you, John Dougherty.)