Times Square

Progress pics of the New York spread. Curiosity's landing was streamed all over the world. I watched it on the internet in my pajamas at about 5 am UK time, while others got to watch on a slightly bigger screen. Watching the NASA team confirm touchdown and celebrate, hugging and high fiving, still gives me goosebumps , you can see the years of hard work pay off in an instant. Some spreads in the book didn't need filling , with the vastness of of space stretching from edge to edge . This page however was the chance to see how much I could fit in. Theres even an easter egg or two, such as my nieces watching from the sidewalk.

One of the best parts about illustrating this book was the range of spreads this rover's journey allowed me to portray. 

Some pages required a lot of detail and intricacies, whilst others had to convey such a large scale, it was best to draw very little at all.

From the gorgeous Californian hills surrounding the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to high tech launch control rooms, to landscapes on another planet all together, it really was an incredible story to try and put to paper, with the best part being - it was all true. 

The feats this mission has achieved thanks to the incredible engineers behind it, captured my imagination and countless others around the world. She really is a very special rover indeed. 

Curiouser and curiouser

So here it is, the finished product I have been cryptically posting random images of throughout all those updates.

Walker Books have been amazing to work with and their feedback at every turn has turned my initial pitch to the finished book it is today.

I will be posting in depth looks into the book across the books release.

(I didn't have access to any Martian rocks, so Brighon Beach was the next best thing.)

My Photoshop canvas

Need to practice at staying inside the lines.

Cali

Crowd

Working on a big spread and getting the crowd looking right is proving the trickiest part. Lots of fun removing parts of a drawing and framing them on their own though.

beep boop

Roll up

Never did get round to posting this, a fun exercise.

JPL

Hide some layers...

And voila, negative space

Many happy returns. So, so many.

It was my birthday a few weeks ago. There were no balloons, but there was cake, so it all balanced out.

Small update for a small mouse

Part of a much larger picture which I'll post if I ever finish it!

Bella and Drew Go To The Zoo

End of April update

Had a fantastic visit to the London Book Fair earlier this month. I didn't really know what to expect beforehand, and at first I thought perhaps it was entirely business focused, and me wondering around with 'illustrator' on my name tag was entirely redundant, but all those worries were unfounded. I listened to an inspiring talk by Anthony Browne, whose surreal illustrations always fascinated me growing up, no other children's book looks quite like his. 

I also received some invaluable feedback on my work and portfolio, and since then it has been a case of attempting to plug the holes my portfolio's had.   

With that in mind, here are a bunch of images which are me attempting new things with my illustration, and also look totally random next to each other.

A giraffe, yesterday.

Happy Earth Day Earthlings

A Closer look

Here's a look at what I've been tinkering away on. 

I was greatly inspired by the journey the Mars rover took, on Earth and in space, and I felt there was a great opportunity to teach younger readers about the amazing things happening in space exploration. 

The story is told by Curiosity itself, much like the rover's official Twitter page tweets in the first person. Seeing the first person narrative created on the Twitter page was one of the places I drew my inspiration from.

I was also inspired by Pixar's film Wall-E, which perhaps was itself partly inspired by previous real life rovers. 

My goal was to create great big spreads which would capture children's imaginations, whilst also teaching them about the amazing story behind Curiosity's mission.

Life is Strange

It sure is. Chloe drawing, inspired by playing Dontnod Entertainments' episodic game.