Tim Hopgood, author and illustrator shares his love of Louis Armstrong’s world-famous song What a Wonderful World and takes us behind the scenes of making it into a picture book and getting it published. One Father’s Day about five, six years ago my daughter gave me an old vinyl copy of Louis Armstrong’s rendition of What A […]
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I love the comparison that’s often made between picture books and theatre. I’ve always felt shy about being on stage, but in illustrating picture books, I discovered I could be director, stage designer and a whole cast of actors, all from behind the scenes. For my latest book, this analogy even helped me discover a […]
Read moreKaren George shares her journey to becoming a published illustrator, with a little help from Waterstones and Julia Donaldson… In 2009, I won the Waterstones/Macmillan ‘Picture This’ competition, beating 900 hopeful unpublished illustrators to the top prize of illustrating Freddie and the Fairy for Julia Donaldson . The timing of the competition was perfect for me, my […]
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Author and illustrator Charlotte Middleton introduces the wonderful Christopher Nibble’s latest eco-adventure! Coming up with an idea for the next Christopher Nibble story was a bit of a challenge. We’ve already established that Christopher is a plucky, forward thinking and considerate guinea pig. In his adventures so far he’s prevented the whole town of Dandeville from running […]
Read morePicture book author Ann Bonwill on the key to tackling preschool social issues in picture books (without need of a soapbox) When my editor, Helen, expressed interest in a sequel to I Don’t Want to be a Pea! , I was thrilled. I had come to love my characters, Hugo and Bella, and the chance to write about them again was exciting. […]
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