[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-dinosaur-police-getting-ready":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"It's so exciting having a picture book launching right now, but getting the word out about it is a real team effort! Here's my friend, the sculptor \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/EddieSmith3D\">Eddie Smith\u003C/a>, turning his hand to millinery to make my hat for my event at the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.hayfestival.com/p-9404-sarah-mcintyre.aspx\">Hay Festival\u003C/a> this Thursday. I \u003Ci>think\u003C/i> it will just about fit in my enormous suitcase. Maybe! We'll see.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/eddie_dinohat_zpsjuvid5v5-e608e5068b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd wonderful Ghanaian tailor \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/EstherBlessedUK\">Esther Marfo\u003C/a> has been sewing my dress, from some wonderful African material I found in a shop near my studio. I love walking into her tailor shop: so much colour and amazing patterns everywhere. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/marfo_dress_zpsqq2fbab8-4128c08452.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSo, see you at my first \u003Ci>Dinosaur Police\u003C/i> event, if you're at the festival in Wales. A brand-new event for a book is always slightly nerve-wracking, but my fab publicist \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/davesanger09\">Dave Sanger\u003C/a> is going to help me when we sing the new Dinosaur Police song, and I got help with that, too: \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> wrote the lyrics and \u003Ca href=\"http://instagram.com/moorland\">Sarah Reeve\u003C/a> wrote the music and found some ukulele chords I could manage to play. I need help, I just make books, but there's so much more to telling people ABOUT those books!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"https://www.hayfestival.com/p-9404-sarah-mcintyre.aspx\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/Hay_zpsi85vsjya-1180d8fe6c.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nIn the meantime, it's great seeing what other people are getting up to. Check out these wonderful pictures tweeted by Mercedez Ortiz (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Literati101\">@Literati101\u003C/a>)!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/merc_ortiz_sarah_mcintyre_zpsjpfcb0jk-de6c0cb26b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nMercedez has set herself a great project. Here's what she \u003Ca href=\"http://literati101.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/day-114-sarahthon-day-3-drawing-astra.html?m=0\">writes on her blog\u003C/a>: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>There are no illustration courses in my city, and I couldn’t decide on what books to pick or which online classes could offer me the training I need. Not knowing where to start, I was sketching everything I saw, picking tips and tidbits of information here and there, drawing like a headless cucaracha. No matter how hard I tried, I knew all that wasn’t taking me anywhere.\\r\n\\r\nFortunately, on January I found \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/series/how-to-draw\">The Guardian’s How to Draw… series\u003C/a>, with piles of easy to follow step-by-step guides, prepared by some of the most amazing children's book illustrators in the world, and that treasure-trove inspired me to come up with this project!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>The Project: Every day for a year, from February 1, 2015 to January 31, 2016, I will make an illustration inspired on what I’ll learn from each of these guides, doing some crazy experiments based on such lessons, and post the resulting illustration on this blog.\u003C/b>\\r\n\\r\nI’ll try to find my style throughout the whole project, which means that I’ll be trying to add my own flavor to the illustrations, besides exploring and experimenting with different materials and techniques. \u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/merc_ortiz_zpspx8beb1b-a8504b7191.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIsn't that terrific? Here's her drawing based on my \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/708609.html\">Trevor the T-Rex doing the Charleston\u003C/a>, and Astra, from my \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/i/notifications\">'How to Draw Astra' sheet\u003C/a> on the \u003Ci>Cakes in Space\u003C/i> webpage. \\r\n\\r\nI love it when people don't wait to be assigned art projects and actually go looking for them. That's pretty much what it was like when I studied for my Master's Degree at Camberwell art college; the people who waited around to be told to do things didn't get very far, and the people who excelled were the ones who grabbed every opportunity. They weren't so worried about good marks: they were looking for holes in their experience and skills, and how they could find ways to plug those holes with training and practice, wherever they could find it. Mercedez looks like one of those people, setting herself projects and going for it.\\r\n\\r\nAnd here are two more plugs for my \u003Cb>BIG OFFICIAL DINOSAUR POLICE launch day! Saturday, 6 June, mark your diaries!\u003C/b> \\r\n\\r\n* Storytime and drawing fun at \u003Cb>Dulwich Books at 11am\u003C/b> (\u003Ca href=\"http://www.bookeventsforchildren.co.uk/events/event/free-childrens-storytelling-with-sarah-mcintyre-at-dulwich-books-london/\">see their website for details\u003C/a>). \\r\n\\r\n* A big party with snacks (and a bit of bubbly for the grownups), story, drawing and music at \u003Cb>Tales on Moon Lane at 2pm\u003C/b>! (\u003Ca href=\"http://talesonmoonlane.co.uk/events-2/\">Here's their events website\u003C/a>). \\r\n\\r\nBe sure to pre-book, and hope you can come along! Here are the two different event posters:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.bookeventsforchildren.co.uk/events/event/free-childrens-storytelling-with-sarah-mcintyre-at-dulwich-books-london/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/DinoPolice_DulwichBks_web_zps98kx95mi-e20ada729c.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://talesonmoonlane.co.uk/events-2/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/DinoPolice_launch_web2_zpsoprjhzal-5e916e12e6.jpg\">\u003C/a>","2015-05-26T10:26:00.000Z","dinosaur-police-getting-ready",[],"dinosaur police: getting ready",1776628727662]