meet annika pederson…

Here’s a peek at some character development I’ve done for a morning warm-up sketch project that the marvellous Dave O’Connell (tozocomic) and I are going to unroll before your eyes… (This is Annika introducing herself to Dave.) Stay tuned for more about this one!

News:
Book now for the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators two-day conference in Winchester, Nov 22-23rd! It’s going to be great! I’m doing a seminar on making thumbnail layouts for picture books with my friend Layn Marlow, but there are going to be a whole host of amazing speakers, including writer Geraldine McCaughrean (her novel The White Darkness is one of my faves), illustrator Chris Wormell and my very own lovely-jubbly comics editor for the DFC, Ben Sharpe. (Hee hee… the profile photo he sent in made him look like an axe murderer, so I doctored it a bit here…). It’ll also feature editors Lizzie Spratt from Walker Books, Jonthan Lambert from Templar, Natascha Biebow from Random House Children’s Books, and art directors Jo Spooner from Macmillan and Val Braithwaite from Bloomsbury.

I’ve been to the SCBWI illustrators’ conferences for the past two years (once in London and once in Newcastle) and they’ve been fun and hugely helpful for networking and learning about the children’s book industry. This is the first year they’ve combined writers and illustrators (which is great for me because I’m trying to do both). Details on the conference website here!

I’m looking forward to reading Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle. Here’s the Daily Crosshatch review by Brian Heater.

And here’s a new promo strip for Garen Ewing’s The Rainbow Orchid which will be published by Egmont next year. …The suspense!

This episode of Aardman’s Creature Comforts is just so wonderfully boring in a way that only British people can be boring, so somehow it becomes hilarious. I saw there’s an American version with voice-overs or something, but it’s just not the same.