Gold, frankincense or silver?…

Lauren Child’s new Charlie and Lola Christmas book coincides with the 25th anniversary of the first Charlie and Lola book.

The cover uses a gold foil.We tried silver foil to compare and contrast.

PLUS: there’s a spot UV inside (thanks to Soren Lorenson).

The book’s cover, and the silver foil option shown below.

The author visits the studio to talk about the text design.

LC cutting and assembling the collage for an illustration in the new book.

Collage in progress. No glue in sight yet.

Twenty-five years and a million moonsquirters later…

Is it that decade already? Only twenty-five years ago, the first Charlie and Lola picture book I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato was published. I was far too young then, but i’m pleased to have worked on the brand new Christmas book I Am Wishing Every Minute for Christmas. After all this time, the artwork is still drawn, painted and painstakingly cut out of paper and glued together. I don’t know how she does that. Go Lauren – Happy Anniversary.

The tomato offers its gift of fiery color and cool completeness. – Pablo Neruda

Limited Edition HB of the first picture book. Orchard Books, 2010.

Limited Edition HB of the first picture book. Orchard Books, 2010. Butterfly plague with branded name.

The author visiting the studio working on the Christmas Book. September 2024.

Lauren in her studio with incomplete Charlie and Lola artwork in foreground.

An early draft of the new cover.

Back to school with Marshall Armstrong…

Marshall Armstrong Begs to Differ. Marshall Armstrong Is New To Our School was published fifteen years ago, and the experience of being new to a school hasn’t changed – not one bit. Children are very observant, very curious and – like Marshall – quite resilient. He’s not even allergic to peaches

Film and music by David Mackintosh.

Introducing, from the bakelite period: my Grandfather Frank…

The Frank Show is a picture book by David Mackintosh, published by HarperCollins Children's Books. Now over ten years old, the book has matured like a fine non-alcoholic wine – but grandfather Frank is as old as he ever was. Are Frank's grandson's fears justified? Would you take your grandad to school to talk about how interesting he is when you know he's not? Maybe you would if he was Frank.

Click for a film about The Frank Show by David Mackintosh. Written and illustrated by David Mackintosh. Film by profuselyillustrated.com. Music by The Adorable Plush (David Mackintosh and David Crane). www.profuselyillustrated.com

Is it that time of the century already?…

Lauren Child’s first Charlie and Lola picture book is turning 25 years old. I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato is not only a mouthful, but it is very alarming from a typographic perspective. Rarely do I see quite so many warnings and highlights when typesetting a text. A very special anniversary edition with behind-the-scenes extras from the author is on the menu.

Inner spaces: Indesign reveals all.

Happy Birthday Jacqueline 2025…

Teacher Notes for Hen are now available…

Some fine teacher notes for My Dog, Hen have been prepared by Penny Kemp and can be downloaded here.

Hen has found a good home…

I have recently acquired a number of cardboard boxes of the first edition UK hardback of My Dog, Hen which are being sold through my website.

If you contact me directly I’ll happily put a drawing on it or initial it for you, wrap it up, then walk up the street, cross the road to my post office, go inside, and post it to you via Royal Mail. Some booksellers struggle to offer this type of personalised service.

Of course, if you want the book pristine, untouched and from-the-factory then that’s OK too. Let me know when you order.

Click to roll the video tape…

Book reading, fried eggs and Twinkle at The Ned Hotel, London…

Thank you to the Ned Hotel, London, and the families who came to the book reading yesterday. We drew pictures, and read My Dog, Hen , and the children ate the best looking pastries I’ve ever seen. The reading was inside what was previously a water tank that serviced the building, but is now an excellent cabana-style bar area. The building is the old Midlands Bank, designed by Edwin Lutyens, but the children weren’t particularly interested in the structure so much as the jam donuts. I tried to steer the conversation back around to the construction process and the physics of the rooftop water reservoir, but they wanted to talk about things like a bulldog eating fried eggs and a cat named Twinkle. A good time was had by all.

Thanks to Matthew and his team at the hotel, and to Phil Perry who knows what she’s doing.

Not being able to photograph the room and attendees, like a courtroom artist I have to draw the event from memory.

The City of London early on a Sunday is always shockingly peaceful.

World Book Day and encyclopaedic memories…

Growing up, it was unusual not to find a full set of encyclopaedia in a friend’s house I was visiting.

Years later I learned that if they did have the full set, then that family were probably on a subscription. People went door to door selling subscriptions. A subscription meant when the encyclopaedia company felt like they needed to update the information, they would send the customer a new complete set of the latest edition – A to Z. This meant that customers were left with a full set of superceded, outdated, hardback encyclopaedias burning a hole in their spare room or garage.

On world book day, I want to remember the many sets of encyclopeadia and the stalled subscriptions, and the school fetes unable to sell old sets on. But it’s not all bad memories because I had two volumes (D and K, 1965) which I salvaged parts from for collages.

Volume K, circa 1965.