[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-oliver-and-the-seawigs-launches-in-the-usa":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"The Sea Monkeys are loose in America!!! My book with \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a>, \u003Cb>\u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i> launches with Random House TODAY!!\u003C/b> \u003Ci>Seawigs\u003C/i> is being published in 20 countries now, but how will it fare in the place where I grew up? ...I am \u003Cfont size=\"3\">SO CURIOUS\u003C/font>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/american_seawigs_zpsd2f90975-cad7929344.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Sea Monkey knitting pattern by Deadly Knitshade... Know anyone who knits? You can \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/seawigs/stitchedseamonkey.pdf\">download yours free here!\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.randomhousekids.com/books/detail/236795-oliver-and-the-seawigs?isbn=9780385387880#.U84RWaggkiY\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/rhkids_zps7b8bf87c-542ee59943.png\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nI'm originally from Seattle, and growing up near beaches, tidepools and the San Juan islands did play a major part in the creation of our story.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/childhood_sea_zpsaf4331bf-62a56e530e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's a drawing I made as a kid of the rocks near \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannon_Beach\">Cannon Beach\u003C/a>, in Oregon, where our family used to go on vacation almost every year. (You might also recognise it as the setting from the 1985 film \u003Ci>The Goonies\u003C/i>.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarahkid_beach_zpsdb4f6132-0efca2f4fa.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI drew some of the inspiration for the setting of \u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i> from my family visits to the fishing village of \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/215412.html\">Seldovia\u003C/a>, in Alaska. Here you can see the Crisp family house, supported on stilts and wooden pilings. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/seawigs_alaskainfl_1_zps83616e4a-0584fd63a0.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here are some of my drawings from Alaska. I showed Philip these drawings when we were still coming up with the story idea, and we both thought it looked like the perfect place for our tale.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcintyre_seldovia2_zps14c80b34-347412ed4b.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nMy Japanese-Hawaiian uncle's family owns one of the stilted cottages in Seldovia and I love watching otters swim by, and bald eagles swoop down and steal fish from the seagulls. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcintyre_seldovia1_zps86d39ce9-cf2e47469d.jpg\">\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/alaskacomic_A5_17_zps94125b01-72a7d60eb7.gif\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/alaskacomic_A5_15b_zpsb94801a5-8c6c81d948.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nAnother American influence comes from my dad's love of mountaineering. (Mr Crisp looks a little bit like my dad - mostly the nose and ears - and little Oliver is already an exploration pro by the age of ten.) When my sister and I each turned 16, climbing \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt_Rainier\">Mt Rainier\u003C/a> - the huge snowy peak overlooking Seattle - was very much our coming-of-age activity. We were well-trained in using climbing harnesses and practiced hanging from trees in prusik slings to simulate what might happen if we fell down an icy crevasse. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/seawigs_ch1_2c_zps8e83dce1-554979467b.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nHa ha, see that little mountain goat? My sister and I used to laugh at them because they would follow us around, trying to lick up our pee. (For the salt, apparently, but... yuck!)\\r\n\\r\nSo what is a Seawig, you might rightly ask? Well, when you see an island, keep in mind that not all of them stay in the same place all the time. Some of them are Rambling Isles, which hunker under the water with only the tops of their heads showing, and look a bit like giants when they stand up! And they love collecting stuff on their heads, and take great pride in all the flotsam and jetsam that washes up on their shores. (Shipwrecks are particularly fashionable.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/seawigs_watermole_zpsd8aa2553-4b96c96a48.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nYou can find out a bit more about \u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i> in this video with Philip Reeve and me, filmed in my London studio. For part of it, I'm wearing a Marie-Antoinette-style Seawig I made our of saran wrap/cling film, but you can see a \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/575735.html\">MUCH LARGER version here\u003C/a>, heh heh.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"2769\"/> \u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/70775007\">Oliver and the Seawigs - Meet the creators\u003C/a> from \u003Ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/mbfilmsuk\">MB Films\u003C/a> on \u003Ca href=\"https://vimeo.com\">Vimeo\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\\r\n\\r\nAnd learn how to draw a Sea Monkey! (You can also download a printable step-by-step guide \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/oliver-and-the-seawigs/\">from my website\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"2770\"/> \u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/78904609\">Oliver and the Seawigs - How to draw a Sea Monkey\u003C/a> from \u003Ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/mbfilmsuk\">MB Films\u003C/a> on \u003Ca href=\"https://vimeo.com\">Vimeo\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\\r\nYou can also watch \u003Ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/70775006\">the \u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i> trailer\u003C/a> and a little \u003Ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/78904489\">puppet show with Oliver and Iris the mermaid\u003C/a>! \\r\n\\r\nIf you or a friend get a chance to \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/seawigs/stitchedseamonkey.pdf\">knit a Sea Monkey\u003C/a>, I'd love to see it. Tweet a picture to Philip (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/philipreeve1\">@philipreeve1\u003C/a>) and me (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jabberworks\">@jabberworks\u003C/a>), using the hash tag \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23seawigs&src=typd\">#Seawigs\u003C/a>, and we'll go EEP! EEP! with excitement. :D You can also find me \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/illustratrix\">on Facebook here\u003C/a>, and Philip \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Philip-Reeve/104518809593653?fref=ts\">right here\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\nWe hope you like the book! If you'd like to see my earlier Seawigs blog posts, and peek at some awesome things other people have made, you can \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/tag/seawigs\">click here\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/seawigs/stitchedseamonkey.pdf\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stitched_seamonkey_zpsb9419f00-14b32e62de.jpg\">\u003C/a>","2014-07-22T08:22:00.000Z","oliver-and-the-seawigs-launches-in-the-usa",[],"oliver and the seawigs launches in the usa!",1776628726653]