[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-early-fan-art-2002":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I'm sitting here getting some images together for \u003Ca href=\"http://www.ukla.org/site/conferences/event/the_45th_ukla_international_conference/\">a presentation\u003C/a> I'm doing on the 18th at Greenwich University with one of my favourite illustrators working right now, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.booksforkeeps.co.uk/issues/165/26590\">David Roberts\u003C/a> \u003Ci>(how cool is that!)\u003C/i>, and the hugely talented \u003Ca href=\"http://www.petrhoracek.co.uk/\">Petr Horacek\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\nThe coordinator asked me to send her some images showing my early work and influences, and I dug up this fan letter I sent to \u003Ca href=\"http://www.satoshiland.com\">Satoshi Kitamura\u003C/a> about seven years ago, which still makes me smile. Satoshi was awesome; after I'd pestered him, he and his wife Motoko (who edits the \u003Ci>Maisy\u003C/i> books in Japan) met up with me and he brought along two of his editors and we sat in the Barbican fountain cafe and talked shop. Later, he included an envelope I sent him in his \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/39137.html\">Efuto exhibition\u003C/a> at the Tokyo Post Office Museum. He's a huge fan (and close friend) of David McKee, which was why I was so excited \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/180013.html\">to interview David\u003C/a> awhile ago.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/satoshi1-5bc4829b78.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more More fan letter under the cut-->\\r\nI haven't included the letter itself because it makes me blush a little too much with its fan-girl earnestness, but here are the pictures. I think I was entertaining the rather infantile notion that if I visited his studio, I'd get to meet all his characters. (Don't tell me you don't wish that sometimes!)\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/satoshi2-45b4a32911.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/satoshi3-8e4b12bb10.jpg\">\\r\n \\r\n\\r\nCool link of the day: \u003Ca href=\"http://oddee.com/item_96527.aspx\">20 of the world's most beautiful libraries\u003C/a>","2009-06-21T20:09:00.000Z","early-fan-art-2002",[],"early fan art... 2002?",1776628732804]