[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-when-titus-took-the-train-publication-day":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I have so much to blog today that I'm going to have to save most of it for later... But it would be very strange not to mention that \u003Cb>the fab writer Anne Cottriger, Oxford University Press and I launched a book today! And we're so proud of it!\u003C/b>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780192729873.do?keyword=when+titus+took+the+train+&sortby=bestMatches\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tituscover-ecc27784f5.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nI hope you like it! Illustrating this book turned out to be a bit of a departure for me; I tried out a bunch of new ways of working, including using inks instead of watercolours, which gives the book very vivid, jewel-like tones. And it has this great interplay between the real and the imaginary, so I experimented with alternating warm and cool coloured palettes to reflect that. And there are loads of little foreshadowing clues... I hope you find the book a great romp. I think Titus is my favourite human character I've drawn so far, the little guy totally rocks. He's based slightly on my friend \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Phoenix\">Woodrow Phoenix\u003C/a>, who told me how he used to wear a cowboy hat all the time when he was little. He and my first two studio mates - \u003Ca href=\"http://www.garynorthfield.co.uk\">Gary Northfield\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.vivianeschwarz.co.uk\">Viviane Schwarz\u003C/a> - were hugely supportive in getting this book off the ground, so that's why I've dedicated it to the three of them.\\r\n\\r\nOne other very cool thing! I've had a huge admiration for \u003Cb>The Greenwich Phantom\u003C/b> for ages, and he/she just featured me on the blog! \u003Cb>Thank you so much, Phantom!\u003C/b> \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thegreenwichphantom.co.uk/2010/10/sarah-mcintyre/\">Read it here.\u003C/a> It was the tree drawings that made the Phantom take note this time, and it's \u003Cb>Philip Reeve\u003C/b> who set me off on those. Everything's linked. (Read \u003Ca href=\"http://the-solitary-bee.blogspot.com/2010/10/its-that-sheep-again-bee-salutes-vern.html\">Philip's review of \u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i>\u003C/a>.)","2010-10-07T22:43:00.000Z","when-titus-took-the-train-publication-day",[],"when titus took the train... publication day!",1776628718875]