[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-london-and-brighton-all-in-a-day":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Yesterday morning, I put on my best Business Face and went to hear all about the money-making side of creating and selling books at The Bookseller Children's Conference, hosted by the British Library. (What a cool venue, right?) I drew \u003Cb>Caroline Horn\u003C/b> from The Bookseller magazine because she was presenting all the panels, and \u003Cb>Mike Richards\u003C/b> from Egmont just because I couldn't \u003Ci>not\u003C/i>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kidsconf11_2-692bfee3bd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe heard a lot about apps and digital formats for books, but I spoke about the more basic, affordable side of the digital world, mostly blogging and fun ways to tackle it. My talk wasn't until 3:30, so I had a good while to get nervous, and I thought I babbled a bit, but everyone seemed very enthusiastic afterward, so, whew, relief. (You can read people's comments over on the \u003Ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23kidsconf11\">Twitter #kidsconf11 hashtag here\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kidsconf11_1-b7f03d6f79.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nMy favourite talk was by a German publisher named \u003Cb>Ralph Mollers\u003C/b>, who broke every rule I know about public speaking but somehow, maybe just by being very German, managed to have us all weeping with laughter. My main conclusions I took from the day were 1,) that quality of storytelling is more important than any digital format - whatever you do and however much money you spend, you have to have a good story for it to work; 2.) for the future of digital stories, we need to have high-quality images or people are going to turn away from it all, and 3.) most British publishers can't afford all this whizzy app and virtual world building stuff anyway, and even the well-financed Americans who are doing it haven't made any money on it yet, but; 4.) we can't afford to ignore new digital advances either.\\r\n\\r\nSo after drinks, I got on the train to \u003Cb>Brighton\u003C/b> and went to the Grand Central Pub, just near the station. I missed the kitchen being open but still had a fine plate of chips for dinner. And I gave another talk to the \u003Ca href=\"http://brightonillustrators.co.uk/\">Brighton Illustrators Group\u003C/a>, about blogging! Then we had a panel discussion, which included (from the left): moderator \u003Ca href=\"http://brightonillustrators.co.uk/portfolios/illustrator/Jo_Moore_portfolio\">Jo Moore\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.josephwilkins.co.uk/\">Joseph Wilkins\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.the-parish.com/\">Tom Sanderson\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://rossbreadmore.com/\">Ross Breadmore\u003C/a> from \u003Ca href=\"http://www.nixonmcinnes.co.uk/\">Nixon McInnes\u003C/a> and \u003Cb>Carl Rush\u003C/b> from \u003Ca href=\"http://www.crushed.co.uk/\">Crush Design\u003C/a>. (You can see a couple more pics on \u003Ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/fredpipes/6197700360/lightbox/\">Fred Pipes' Flickr page\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/big_panel-9822fb1072.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for loads more photos and write-up!-->\\r\nWe talked quite a lot about Twitter, and if you're interested in Brighton illustrators, I've picked up a bunch of new people to follow from the \u003Ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23bigillustrators\">#bigillustrators hashtag\u003C/a>, which was rolling on the screen above us while we talked. Fortunately people in the audience only discovered toward the end of the talk that they could poke fun at the speakers by tweeting things and having them appear in huge letters, uncensored, in the screen behind us, ha ha...\\r\n\\r\nHere's Ross giving his talk, and our fab techie guy \u003Ca href=\"http://www.peter-mac.com/\">Peter Mac\u003C/a> with organiser \u003Ca href=\"http://brightonillustrators.co.uk/portfolios/illustrator/Penny_Dann_portfolio\">Penny Dann\u003C/a>. Thanks for your hard work!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/brighton_illustrators-cac45e76dc.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSmall world! Here are two illustrators will close links to my work: \u003Ca href=\"http://guyparkerrees.com/\">Guy Parker-Rees\u003C/a> has illustrated for Giles Andreae (who wrote \u003Ci>Morris the Mankiest Monster\u003C/i>, which I illustrated); you may know Guy's book with Giles, \u003Ca href=\"http://youtu.be/kVzblgpqQnk\">\u003Ci>Giraffes Can't Dance\u003C/i>\u003C/a>. And \u003Ca href=\"http://www.lesleywhite.co.uk\">Lesley White\u003C/a> is a new writer-illustrator working on a picture book with David Fickling Books. Since David only publishes about two picture books a year, that makes her, like, my DFB sister or something. Cool.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/guy_lesley_brighton-a283ce6d57.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIn my presentation, I mentioned a few projects I've done, including Monsterville, \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/87927.html\">Draw-Yourself-as-a-Teenager\u003C/a> (full list of all 500 people who did it \u003Ca href=\"http://davario.livejournal.com/30861.html\">here\u003C/a>), \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/75201.html\">Hourly Comics Day\u003C/a> (official website \u003Ca href=\"http://hourlycomic.com/hourlycomicday.html\">here\u003C/a>), my \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/airship.php\">Airship Comics Jam\u003C/a> with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.scribblehound.co.uk\">David O'Connell\u003C/a>, my \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidficklingbooks.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/07/29/sarah-mcintyres-china-travel-comic/\">China travel comic\u003C/a> on the DFB blog, my \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/books.php\">downloadable activity sheets\u003C/a>, and doing landscape drawings with \u003Cb>Philip Reeve\u003C/b> and \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/400671.html\">creating a travel comic and video\u003C/a>. So it was rather fitting that I got to meet two of Philip's earliest friends (Philip's originally from Brighton), \u003Cb>Justin Hill\u003C/b> (about whom \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com/2011/09/justin-hill-his-part-in-my-rise-to-fame.html\">Philip blogged very recently\u003C/a>) and \u003Cb>Jo Moore\u003C/b>, his flatmate from art school days (who also has a \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-i-did-on-my-summer-holidays.html\">mention on his blog\u003C/a>). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_justin_jo-2b64040f31.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd Jo proved to be a most excellent friend-of-a-friend, and put me up for the night! And then took me out for breakfast on the beach! Here we are, drawing at \u003Ca href=\"http://www.viewbrighton.co.uk/restaurants/the-meeting-place-cafe-gallery-32827.html\">The Meeting Place Cafe\u003C/a> on Brighton seafront.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/drawing_brighton-34fa852480.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's what we drew!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jo_brighton1-e6fb3dd76a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe weather couldn't have been finer, as noted in today's discarded train paper:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/metro_brighton-7e6b7cafa9.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's the old ruin of Brighton Pier, sizzling in the sun.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/brighton_pier-ab7709e2dc.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nYummy baps! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/scoffing-7144dc5e4d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nYou might recognise that building just over my shoulder as \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_Court\">Embassy Court\u003C/a>, which appeared in the Dave McKean-Neil Gaiman film \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MirrorMask\">MirrorMask\u003C/a>. It's been fixed up a lot since the filming.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"1190\"/>\\r\n\\r\nThe other fun part of the morning was getting to see Jo's studio! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jomo_studio3-18f534ffc6.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Jo's portfolio on the \u003Ca href=\"http://brightonillustrators.co.uk/portfolios/illustrator/Jo_Moore_portfolio\">Brighton Illustrators Group website\u003C/a>, and you might recognise her Usborne \u003Ci>\u003Cb>Sticker Dolly Dressing\u003C/i>\u003C/b> books. (My favourite is the \u003Ci>Around the World\u003C/i> one, with all its amazing ornate ethnic outfits.) Interestingly, at The Bookseller conference, they were saying that these kinds of sticker books are selling tops in children's books right now. I can imagine why, I loved them as a kid. Here are \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/163171.html\">some paper dolls I drew when I was a teenager\u003C/a> and thought I wanted to be a fashion designer, or maybe a window designer, or the person who drew the pictures on sewing pattern envelopes.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l27/jabberworks/Events/jomo_studio3.jpg\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jo_books-3346ddf487.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nI love seeing where people work. Jo has loads of cool stuff stashed everywhere and I took some snaps. (We briefly popped in to see \u003Ca href=\"http://nicksharratt.com/\">Nick Sharratt\u003C/a> and John, and noticed they had the same mobile hanging in their stairwell.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jomo_studio1-2f1a1886c5.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jomo_studio2-327a456d03.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI hope the event organiser \u003Ca href=\"http://www.pennydann.co.uk/\">Penny Dann\u003C/a> doesn't mind me showing work from her college days, but Jo had this beautiful little book she made for her degree project. So lovely!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/penny_dan-6e59e31deb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/penny_dann2-a44335edbc.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks so much to all The Bookseller people and Brighton Illustrators Group people who made these events all happen! And to Jo, who hopefully has gone from being a friend-of-a-friend to an \u003Ci>actual\u003C/i> friend. \\r\n\\r\nOkay, one more video from \u003Ci>MirrorMask\u003C/i>, just because it's so wonderfully creepy. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"1191\"/>","2011-09-30T18:37:00.000Z","london-and-brighton-all-in-a-day",[],"london and brighton, all in a day",1776628720748]