[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-jampires-character-development":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Jamtastic! Today's the official publication day of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jampires.com\">\u003Ci>JAMPIRES\u003C/i>\u003C/a>, my picture book with my fab friend \u003Ca href=\"http://www.scribblehound.com\">David O'Connell\u003C/a> and our Oxford-based publisher, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidficklingbooks.com/NewsStory.php?item=199\">David Fickling Books\u003C/a>! We're quite shocked, this book has been so long in coming - at least four years - that we sometimes thought it might never happen. But it HAS! :D\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jampires_photo_zps201b11eb-e270f3420c.jpg\" />\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo by Dave Warren\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nSo much development went into the making of this book that I'm going to run a small \u003Cb>series here on the blog about how we made it\u003C/b>. First, how did we design the Jampires characters? You can see them here, in some of the finished artwork:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jampires_art3_zpsdd0cf9e6-201e6f3a08.jpg\" />\\r\n\\r\nDigging through old files, I quite like these ink sketches with their accompanying notes:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jampires_sketch4_zpsf7b6fb26-98413302b3.jpg\" />\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nAnd here are some of Dave's sketches!\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jampire_sketches3_zps2870f8d4-5be516d25a.jpg\" />\\r\n\\r\nWe both wanted the Jampires to have a slight vampiric quality to them, since they suck jam out of doughnuts, but I think I saw them as slightly more cuddly, whereas Dave's started out a bit more monster-like.\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jampire_sketches1_zps8a56f421-fc3dd8acef.jpg\" />\\r\n\\r\nI think some of the monster stuff that didn't go into Jampires may have ended up in his \u003Ca href=\"http://davidoconnell.uk/my-books/monster-chips/\">\u003Ci>Monster and Chips\u003C/i>\u003C/a> books.\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jampire_sketches2_zps11a23b82-77446758b6.jpg\" />\\r\n\\r\nGosh, I'd forgotten this drawing until now. This was when we were still planning \u003Ci>Jampires\u003C/i> as a comic, and I think I was envisioning them a bit like \u003Ca href=\"http://www.shelsilverstein.com/\">Shel Silverstein\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidshrigley.com/\">David Shrigley\u003C/a> or \u003Ca href=\"http://www.explodingdog.com/\">Exploding Dog\u003C/a> drawings.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jampires_sketch10_zps0e0bf0a9-c4c7661f10.jpg\" />\\r\n\\r\nAnd I wanted the colour palette and feel of the book to be very different to books I'd done before, but I hadn't quite hit on my new Jampires way of working in pencil. Here are some studies in tea, ink and gouache.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jampires_sketch6_zps221ae912-d8f31782b6.jpg\" />\\r\n\\r\nThis was before both Jampires had hats; one of them was very bald.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jampires_sketch7_zps610967a5-7c4d37a429.jpg\" />\\r\n\\r\nI'll post more about our drawing technique soon, but I'll leave you with a Jampires mask, in case you think jam is so wonderful that you suspect you might just BE a Jampire. You can download it from our \u003Cfont size=\"4\">\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jampires.com\">jampires.com\u003C/a>\u003C/font> website \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jampires.com/activities/\">here\u003C/a>!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jampires.com/activities/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jampires_mask_zpscb2b31c8-4df1c8bc27.jpg\" />\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nCongratulations, Dave and TEAM JAMPIRES! Big thanks to our publisher \u003Cb>David Fickling\u003C/b> (who was very active in the story's creation - in fact, all the Ficklings, who took part in some way, including \u003Cb>Rosie, Caro, Will\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Tom\u003C/b>), our editors, \u003Cb>Hannah Featherstone\u003C/b> in the early days and then \u003Cb>Alice Corrie\u003C/b>, designer \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/wood_ness\">Ness Wood\u003C/a>, publicity team \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LoisNina\">Philippa Perry\u003C/a>, Manchester-based \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LizScottPR\">Liz Scott\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/philearle\">Phil Earle\u003C/a> and \u003Cb>Anthony Hinton\u003C/b>, to our lovely agent, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/JodieHodges31\">Jodie Hodges\u003C/a>, and to our partners and all our friends who gave us help and encouragement along the way!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/feastival_jampires_masks_zps5ae0975f-5740993c25.jpg\" />\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo by James Petrie\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nOo, and \u003Ci>Jampires\u003C/i> is definitely in the shops! Here's a photo tweeted in by bookseller \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ExLibrisNora\">Nora Goldberg\u003C/a> at Foyles Southbank:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/20463_original-3fcce58093.jpg\" alt=\"jamp_bookshop\" title=\"jamp_bookshop\">","2014-09-04T07:14:00.000Z","jampires-character-development",[],"jampires character development",1776628726796]