[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-the-vern-derek-show-goes-to-ireland":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Thank you, Tom Donegan and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.childrensbooksireland.ie/\">Children's Books Ireland\u003C/a>, for setting us up with such fabulous festival gigs over the past few days! The only times I've ever been on telly were at protest rallies (with over-designed placards), but my studio mate \u003Ca href=\"http://www.garynorthfield.co.uk\">Gary Northfield\u003C/a> (creator of The Beano's \u003Ci>Derek the Sheep\u003C/i>) and I got to appear as guests on Ireland's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1082697\">RTE live kids show Elev8\u003C/a> and talk about making comics! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Z7iuVYypQ\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/rte_14oct10_1-5d037a2a46.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003Ci>Click on the pic to watch the show\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nWe felt like real stars! I didn't feel nervous, but my mouth did run away with me a couple times, so I think I was, a bit. Thanks so much to presenters Diana and Ivan, they made the whole thing a lot of fun.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/garysarah_drawing-a0c64bf739.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nThe funniest bit was watching Gary get pancake makeup. The lady even put makeup on his hands! Oh, and the other funny bit was hearing Gary say 'bum' on live telly, and cracking up in the elevator just before they let us out. (I realised in watching it that you can catch a glimpse of us moving about... yeah, we're actually dancing like crazy.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/rte_studio-821cec2b56.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Lots more write-up and pics under the cut!-->\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1082697\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/rte_14oct10_2-7de3762976.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nAnother cool thing was Tom setting us up for dinner in Dublin with illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.niamhsharkey.com\">Niamh Sharkey\u003C/a>. Her work really influenced mine when I was first starting out to become an illustrator. Niamh's \u003Ci>The Giant Turnip\u003C/i> was the first book Stuart ever bought for me, having seen it in a shop window and thinking I might like it. (His taste was spot on!) I think Niamh's work made the penny drop for me, that it could be just as important for human and animal body shapes to have a rhythm to them than to look realistic. Anyway, our restaurant, Shebeen Chic, had a photobox and we all squeezed in: Niamh, Gary, Tom, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.ztoical.com\">Cliodhna Lyons\u003C/a> and me. (Here's \u003Ca href=\"http://niamhsharkey.blogspot.com/2010/10/authors-authors-everywhere.html\">Niamh's blog post about it.\u003C/a>)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/shebeen_squoosh-b740fa8a6f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nCBI had a highly organised team of librarians driving Gary and me (not to mention the other 48 other illustrators, writers, puppeteers and storytellers) to our 18 different workshops (9 each) in Leixlip, Celbridge, Maynooth, Naas, Newbridge, Athy, Trim, Dunshaughlin, Ashbourne and Dunboyne. We had fun making quick reccies around town in the evenings. Here's an old shopfront that caught our attention on Naas high street. We peeked through the windows and it looked like something from that film \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/84_Charing_Cross_Road\">\u003Ci>84 Charing Cross Road\u003C/i>\u003C/a>. Cool!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/naas_shop-9d7b519085.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd we did a bit of sketching. Here are some drawings Gary did of me:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/garydrawssarah-b532dc0270.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe picked up a copy of Jamie Smart's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.findchaffy.com/thebook/\">\u003Ci>Find Chaffy\u003C/i>\u003C/a> from Barker & Jones bookshop in Naas and ogled it in the pub. Gary got very excited when he got on a sudden roll of finding Chaffies.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/chaffy_trimpub-0e294461d6.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd we found these amazing Black Rider hoods with glowing eyes in the pound shop down the road.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_gary_maskpub-95517a80ae.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nCBI looked after us so well, we got to stay at the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.dunboynecastlehotel.com\">Dunboyne Castle Hotel\u003C/a>... very swish!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dunboynehotel2-dc3a0ed49c.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dunboynehotel-2daba64ac8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nGary was drawing history pictures for some of his workshops, so I convinced him to draw a Henry VIII in my sketchbook. Score!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/gary_henryviii-53a100ded3.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nSome of the libraries were pretty impressive, here's the one in a former church in Trim:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/trim_library-84d32d14f8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_Castle\">Trim Castle\u003C/a>! (You might recognise it from the filming of \u003Ci>Braveheart\u003C/i>.) I'll have to go back, I only managed to snap these photos from a speeding car. Thanks so much to everyone who made this a great trip! We love Ireland!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/trim_castle-c9fcae25c5.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd not to be outdone, on the same day, our fab studio mate \u003Cb>Lauren O'Farrell (aka Deadlyknitshade)\u003C/b> appeared on ITV's \u003Ci>This Morning\u003C/i> with Philip Schofield and \u003Ca href=\"http://knitthecity.com\">Knit the City\u003C/a> activists Lady Loop, Shorn-a the Dead and The Fastener. We're storming! That is, YARNSTORMING!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"388\"/>\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB38NiAQhhI\">\u003Ci>YouTube link\u003C/i>\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nHuge thanks to \u003Cb>Big Issue Scotland\u003C/b> for your fab \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bigissuescotland.com/features/view/382\">review of \u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i>\u003C/a>!\\r\n\\r\nOn to the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thecomicsshow.co.uk/guests/sarah-mcintyre/\">British International Comics Show\u003C/a> tomorrow in Birmingham for an 11am signing of \u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i>, then the \u003Ca href=\"http://cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature-2010/aliens-and-monsters-sarah-mcintyre/\">Cheltenham lit fest\u003C/a> for two events on Sunday (\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/new/events.html\">details here!\u003C/a>). The comics workshop is sold out, but there might still be room in the Monsters & Aliens session.\\r\n\\r\nAnd one more thanks to \u003Cb>Cliodhna Lyons\u003C/b> (\u003Ca href=\"http://ztoical.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">ztoical\u003C/a>) for giving us a DVD of the amazing Oscar-nomination Irish animation she worked on, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thesecretofkells.com\">\u003Ci>The Secret of Kells\u003C/i>\u003C/a>. I won't embed the trailer, because it was so Disneyfied that it almost put me off seeing the film, but don't believe the trailer. This film has jaw-droppingly unique, beautifully stylised and textured artwork. I'll finish with a few stills from it, this is one you'll need to hunt down and see.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kells5-afd964093d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kells3-3331e15108.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kells10-47a6e72b1b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kells9-ffe82f0237.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kells8-a2e372e06c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kells6-c41b430aeb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kells7-db6272189c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kells4-6cb163aa67.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kells2-076cc6900a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kells1-1c7aec46a9.jpg\">","2010-10-15T22:32:00.000Z","the-vern-derek-show-goes-to-ireland",[],"the vern & derek show goes to ireland!",1776628719119]