Wally & Bert BFFs front cover

Contrary to a previous post, I have completely reworked the front cover of Wally and Bert, BFFs. Here is the updated version, which I feel tells the story much better.

I'm currently waiting for the book proof to come from the new printer's in Exeter. This is potentially great news, as people often ask in astonishment why I have been printing in the USA. The answer to that question was that it was more cost effective, even with the shipping costs to get the books printed in the US. However, I have been put onto another printer which the same price, but in Blighty. If only we could do it on the Island, we could even cut out the postage!! 

Hope you like the cover. Look out for his arrival in the New Year.

Merry Winter Holidaynessmass

So much has been happening at Chateau Scarlett Inc that I barely know where to start! Mr M has all but finished the new studio and last week I moved most of my workstuff in. Next week we are due to have some electricity put in, so then we can also have some heat - as it's FREEEEEZING there at the moment. He has very cleverly put big skylights in the roof, so we actually don't need any artificial lighting at all. Natural light is much better for painting too.

The second exciting piece of news is that Wally and Bert has gone to the printers and I'm hoping to see a proof before Christmas - although that might be pushing it a bit. The children in Year 4 at Barton have done a cracking job of drawing some animals for the back endpage and we have some quotes from them in the front about being best friends. I can't wait to see it in print.

Next jobs for me will include finishing off the Wellington Boot stories for YouTube and then having a good think about the next Wally & Bert story. I already have an idea. A very silly idea. You'll have to wait and see if its a good idea!!

Hoping you all have a lovely Christmas, eat lots of minky pies and if you don't like them, send them to me and eat some chocolate instead. And if you don't like chocolate either, What is Wrong With You????

Giant Arrives Next Door

Our two dogs, Wally and Maisie were shocked to discover a giant had moved in next door. It started with a bit of deep woofing at very close proximity one dark and windy evening and led to them unexpectantly coming nose to nose over the wall.

 We discovered that the giant (known as Coco) can jump the wall and get through our otherwise small-dog proof enclosures in the garden. This has left Wally with permanent sticky up fur on the back of his neck and a nervous twitch. 

Maisie on the other hand, has previously been scratching her ear fluff and now has considerably less on the left hand side. It looks ridiculous and no matter how much I tell her, she doesn't seem to take any notice.

It turns out that Coco isn't the scary colossus that Wally has taken her for, but a lovely chocolately coloured big ball of fun. Now that she has been rescued and lives in a loving home, it won't be long before the three of them are chasing each other over in the park.

Reading to Bram

Last weekend I found myself reading Vincent and the Vampires to the Great Great Great Grandsons of  Bram Stoker! That truly was a 'Wowsers' moment! I was at the first Isle of Wight Literary Festival, which was a thing of wonder! May there be many more.

This week I have been focussing on cracking on with Wally and Bert and waking up at night thinking about my next exhibition, which starts in a month at the Apollo Theatre. I shall have some new work up on the theme of Shakespeare Quotes as well as some artwork from my two books. I'll be there in the intervals for any questions or book signings. 

Happy Halloween!

Wildlife Day

Tomorrow (22 Sept) I shall be at the Wildlife Day at The Riverside Centre in Newport from 10am. I'll be on hand for signing books (only 88 sleeps 'til Father Christmas comes) along with all manner of Wildlife types! RSPCA, WSPA, IoW Bat Hospital & more arranged by the League Against Cruel Sports. Brian May from Queen is coming to speak on behalf of his Badger conservation group.
See you there! Wear your Badger Hat!

Tutorial part 2 - the making of a Wally cover

In the first part of this tutorial, I painted the little dawg. This next bit is the scary bit. The first time I decided to do this, I did think I was about to ruin a perfectly good painting that had taken me some time to do. I can't even remember what made me do it, but I found myself, scalpel in hand, cutting around a character. Happily, it all ended well, and I have been working like this ever since.

Take your sharp scalpel, with a new blade in it (I use a 10A) and cut! I left a few mm around the dog.

 

Scan in and Edit - Place on your photoshop document. 

If you look in the Layer menu, you will see there is a 'levels' option. You can move the arrows up and down to bring your character into focus with the background easier to erase. (Thanks @BeckaMoor, I was listening!)

 Then choose the 'magic eraser' tool from the side bar on the left. You will probably be flashed up with a warning sign that Smart Objects need to be Rasterized, but just press ok.

You can see here on the pic above and below that with the magic eraser, it doesn't get everything. But I use that to my advantage as I like it to look like a layer, not an element of a whole picture. It gives the image a more 3d appearance. The leg I've circled in blue I need to erase a bit more as it looks a bit scruffy, but the red circle I left almost as it was.

 I already had worked on the front cover graphic elements, so I just used Edit - Place to put him in the right spot. As you can see, his legs are sticking out the bottom of the circle, so making sure I chose the right layer, I carefully erased them.

 Here's the finished piece.

Thanks for looking at my blog. 

For further details of my other work, you can visit

www.scarlettinc.co.uk

Tutorial part 1 - the painting of a Wally

For those of you who are interested, I thought I would show how I went about painting and creating one of my Wallys from the book I'm working on at the moment, Wally & Bert BFF's.

I start with drawing the layout of the page on thin Layout paper, then trace through onto watercolour paper just one of the elements, in this case, Wally. The pic on the left is a colour rough and if you look carefully, you can see the light pencil drawing on the right.

With my Staedler water resistant black pens, I draw the outline of the character. In this instance I have used a thicker pen for most of in, with some thinner for details.

When I'm sure it's dry I rub out the pencil lines and load clean water onto the area I'm about to paint.

Flying in the face of all I was taught at school, I like to mix my paint on the paper, although I do have a rough idea of what colour I want to end up with. So in this case I have loaded some W&N bright red artists watercolour watered down only a touch.

 

And then I chase it around the paper! You never know what is going to happen as watercolour tends to have a mind of it's own (and a close relationship with the laws of physics!)

I like to add water and literally sit there watching paint dry. I remove areas with my wet brush for the highlights and add more paint to the edges and more often than not splodge drops of water onto large areas to give texture. Although it looks like he has a fatal case of smallpox, I know it will look different when dry.

While the head is still wet, I have added some W&N Brown Madder to the area around his eye and ear tip...

and some Vandyke brown. I keep going until I'm happy.

And here he is with his lower half attended to and he's now mostly dry. The intentional (ahem) mistake I made was to forget the waistcoat texture, so I did that after he dried and before I started to colour it.

I love sparkly stuff, so for the waistcoat I used Daler Rowney Pearlescent Liquid Acrylic, Macaw Green, a little splash of pinky red for the bone. As you can see, the 'smallpox' effect has disappeared and he's now ready for the next stage, which will be in part 2.

 

The birth of a lovely thing...

Caw blimey, at long last it's SCORCHIO! The dogs are busy baking their little brains dry while Mr M is whacking posts into the new studio site, in preparation for the structure to go up. I can't wait to have somewhere proper to work, after all these years of working here... (yes, that is the end of my bed)

 and here... (yes, that is a 3ft cubby hole where no light can possibly reach)

 I will soon be working from here....

Obviously, by soon, I mean hopefully by Christmas. 

I accidently had quite a lot of time off illustrating following the arrival of the two younger M's. How I laugh now at my naivite, thinking I might take 3 months off after having number 1. Surely, I could work while rocking his baby chair with my foot, couldn't I? So 3 months turned into 7 years, but when number 2 started nursery, I bought a table and got the brushes out again. 

Actually, it did me a favour. Much as you need to stand back from your painting to see it properly, I found standing back from my techniques made them come into focus. I saw what I liked doing and what I was good at, and found ways around the things I found difficult. Thus working in layers was born, and later, working much more with the help of my digital friend.  So the time off wasn't wasted, it was like waiting for the strawberry jam to set.

This week I have been entertaining the small M's who are having rather too much fun, and have started story number 5 for the Red Wellington's series which is a slightly animated gang of stories. I have also been pouffing up Wally and Bert, who came back with their tail between their legs (that'll be Bert between Wally's legs - all will be revealed) after being returned from an agent. Luckily tomorrow it is going to rain, so I'll be able to concentrate fully on the poor little fellas, as they are feeling like they've been chucked out of Britain's Got Talent. Rock on Wally!

This afternoon I have been squeezing and squashing some pics into an email to Rob at www.literacyshed.com as he is very kindly going to make a photostory of Vincent. What a fab resource for all things literary and thank goodness for Twitter, without whom I would never have known about the literacy shed. Go on, follow the link and have a look for yourself.

In other news from Scarlett Inc Heights, I've been having a first, second and third go at the front cover for Wally and Bert. Comments welcome!

 

12th Wedding Anniversary

What a difference twelve years makes!! 

At this time on 8th July 2000 I was having a nervous breakdown because my hairdresser had decided to go AWOL and did not turn up to pouf my hair in time for my wedding. I had to comb the twigs and stuff out by myself.  I was however, wearing a gorgeous pale gold wedding dress and holding my 10 month old 'Phil Mitchell-alike'. At the allotted time I was waiting outside with our guests, getting worried that my husband to be was late, when in fact he was waiting inside wondering why I was late!!

It turned out to be a lovely day with my Dad and my dear Uncle in attendance, both of whom are now no longer with us and great fun was had by all. We nicked off at 4pm with the rest of the chocolate wedding cake and managed to eat most of it with 'Phil' which looking back on it, was probably the catalyst for our son's love of all things sweet. 

The picture is of me on my wedding day (left) and by contrast, me today, dressed in winter hat, winter coat, DM boots and Wallydog with his winter coat on too.

And here, you can see how 'Phil' has now changed into 'Long haired nearly teenager attached to electric device at all times', along with the smaller version 'Chick Magnet'.

 

We're off to get something nice to eat and then to settle in front of the tv to watch Andy Murray either WIN Wimbledon (Well done Muzza) or lose to Rog, (Bad luck, Muzza). That covers all bases, doesn't it?

Wally and Bert

I went to meet the very nice owner of Babushka books in Shanklin today. He has kindly agreed to stock Vincent and Royal Fleas; thanks Reuben! What a fab bookshop too - loads of interesting finds.

Last night I tweeted that I had been drawing weird shoes, hoovering the dog and shovelling foundations for my new studio. The latter may have been a slight exaggeration, however I had a really nice tweet back from @laurathisgirl saying that it was her best tweet of the day. So here are the shoes! This is the first two pages of my new book.

Royal Fleas

Just a few spreads from Royal Fleas to whet your appetite!

Front Cover

Each year, the Queen stops at Little Burpingham.

Sophie writes to the Queen to mention the Corgis' fleas!

Mr Horatio Flowers-Simkinson does his least favourite job.

A Day of Amazingness...

I spent the day in London yesterday at the Association of Illustrator's Children's Book Event, bathing in the glorious creativity of some really wonderful illustrators. On the one hand it was inspiring to be around such gifted people, on the other hand it made me feel a wee bit intimidated and on the other other hand, it gave me much motivation to find a cure for Procrastinitis and get on with producing some really good work.

I met Tony Ross (Little Princes, Horrid Henry) who has illustrated an astonishing 2000 books since 1976; he very kindly signed my copy of The Pet Person and drew me the dawg!

I also met Alex T Smith of Claude fame, who is currently one of my most favourite illustrators and thoroughly nice chap! We chatted about the merits of chihuahuas as we both have a duo and it transpires that the mad behaviour I have experienced with my two is quite normal.

So, back to the drawing board with my next book and onward with the building of the Groovy Studio.

I shall say zees only vunce...

My Mother has joined the French Resistance, as borne by her attire today. The onions might have been artistic license.

Octagenarian she might be, but she can shock a Nazi into submission with a withering look. I know it's Father's day officially, but I'd just like to say Thank Gawd for Mums!

In other news, I'm halfway through drawing out the pages for Wally & Bert, BFF. Now, I will have to do some serious research before I commit myself, but is it BFFs or BFsF? Best Friends Forever or 'Best-Friends-Forever's, as if the three words are turned into one noun? Hmm, any advice greatfully received!

Finally, as my Dad and Harry's Dad are no longer with us, I'd like to say Happy Father's Day to Roger, my 1st Father-in-Law and dear friend.

Wally & Bert

I've started the next book. It's about 2 best friends, Wally and Bert. It's going to be in a different format than Vincent or Fleas, smaller in size but longer in content.

I've done my planning and rearranging and some character studies. Here's a sneaky look.

My scruffy sketchbook.

 My messy table!

Disaster, danger and dear doggies.

Narrowly avoiding COMPLETE disaster, our day has been less than productive. The second of our three days of Diamond Jubilee fayres started with a bit of a breeze and soon became darned windy. Normally that would just be a bit annoying, but as we were on Tarmac and unable to stake our marquee onto ground, things soon took a turn for the worse. A huge gust of wind blew head on into our marquee and flipped it over, twisting the steel legs and ripping the sides.
Thankfully no one was in the way and loads of lovely people rushed over to help us retrieve the marquee and some of our pictures which had blown away. Amazingly, a large framed pic and it's accompanying easel which also made a bid for freedom was undamaged. Having packed away the busted poles and material, we struggled on without shelter, but by about 3pm we decided it was really getting a bit dangerous when the heavy duty Market stand next door nearly took off. I didn't want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt, so we put the rest of our stuff away and headed home.
At least there were two happy little faces eager to see us on return. Dogs are great, aren't they? Bembridge Street Fayre tomorrow, 2-4.30.

My Favourite Cardboard box of the day.

Quite unexpectedly, a new postie brought me a box of Royal Fleas this morning. I really thought that the publisher hadn't sent them to print yet, but what they hadn't done was log it on their computer system. 

This is fabulous news because now I will have plenty for the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations.

Appley Beachfront on 2/3 May

Bembridge Street Fayre 4 May bank hol Monday.

Other than kissing postmen, I have mostly been prizing Dairylea sandwiches out of Wallydog's mouth today. He has discovered how to get in the compost bin. What a tinker. 

Here's a pic of my favourite cardboard box of the day.

Where the Dickens????

Now I'm nervous! My order for copies of Royal Fleas went in on the 10th May and as yet (8 days later) they have not been printed. Oh cripes, I hope I have copies for the Diamond Jubilee. On a brighter note, I found the best shop in Newport (the Wighty one) in Watchbell Lane. Don't know what it's called but they do dressing up clothes and loads of retro cartoon ephemera. I was in HEAVEN! Dangermouse,Taz, Yogi Bear, Penelope Pitstop, Dastardley and Muttley. It was hard to leave, but at least I managed to get a bald head for Small Fellow to be Voldemort at Halloween. We prepare early in this house.

Tomorrow (19th May) it's Riverfest at Newport Quay from 11. I'll be taking orders for Royal Fleas. TTFN

Royal Fleas is ready!

The proof for Royal Fleas came today while I was out learning about Lemur Conservation! I've ordered copies to take to the Bembridge Street Fayre on the Monday of the Diamond Jubilee weekend. Hopefully Mr Postie won't let me down. See you there!!

Tea and Sympathy please

I've just discovered that writing a press release is not a simple science. Think as a journalist, make the book 'newsy'. Remember the journo doesn't give a stuff about your new book, how hard you worked or how nice the pictures are. Remember to use Times NR or Calibri. Don't make it too long. Get all the right information in. Remember they will give it 10 seconds. 

It's a bit like walking a tightrope. Blindfold. With no pants on.

And the other thing I've been tackling today is creating a Fan Page on Facebook. Why do the help page visuals differ from the reality on my screen? Why is there a 'change page name' button on the visual, and not on my own page?

Right, that's it! I need help. Dogs - put the kettle on.

If I sound drunk, it is because I have been glued to my desk and computer for 24 hours a day for the last 3 weeks and have forgotten how to behave in public.

  

In the spirit of 2012, I have now completed Royal Fleas, a story about the Queen's corgis in time for release for the Diamond Jubilee in June. I also had a story about the Titanic written up as dummy book form which I was considering for this year; Darn! I should have thought up a witty yarn about the Olympics too!

Royal Fleas is currently off at the publishers, being proofed, so the long wait (and the stalking of the postman) begins in earnest again.

With this feat of insane indurance out of the way, I shall now think long and hard about Wally and Burt, a story about a dog and his best friend (with a twist). In the meantime, here's a preview of Royal Fleas.

Mr Horatio Flowers-Simkinson, the Queen's horrible Secretary,
doing the job he loves the most.

Sophie, her hand knitted dog suit and the Queen's surprise!

Scary Tax Lady who didn't laugh at my jokes

After the nervewracking experience of phoning the United States Tax Office, I can now officially say I have my US Tax Identification Number. Sadly, the lady in Philedelphia didn't understand  2 out of every three words I said and by the time I had spelt all my address and got to the county of 'Wight' she thought I was taking the P*ss.

Anyhoo, Vincent is now rocking on Amazon.com and I took possession of forty copies that a nice postman brought today.  

It is also ready for downloading on Kindle; you don't have to have an actual Kindle, you can download the app on iPad or similar. This is a link to it:

www.amazon.co.uk/Vincent-and-the-Vampires-ebook/dp/B007PSIVDI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334168749&sr=8-2

On top of all that excitement, I am working my little socks off trying to get Royal Fleas ready in time for the Jubilee. Here's a preview of the front cover.

Royal Fleas, indeed.

Crazy moose that I am, I've started work on another story which heavily features the Queen and her Corgis. That's not the crazy bit. The Crazy Bit is that I'm trying to get it published and in circulation in time for the Diamond Jubilee. 

I tried it out on publishers some ten years ago. The general opinion was that it was a good story, but because it was very distinctly Queen Elizabeth 2, and as she was then 74, the book would become obsolete should she pop off to the other side. 

Just think of all the 10p's they could have earned in fees in the last decade! Who knows how long she'll live for? She's looking fantastic and I fully expect her to top 100! 

 Here's a scruffy drawing of a spread from ROYAL FLEAS.

Vincent on Kindle!

If, and it's quite a big if, I have twiddled all the right knobs, Vincent and the Vampires should be available on Kindle via Amazon.co.uk tomorrow!

Getting my head around all the technical side of this digital stuff is soooo much harder than drawing a flippin' bat. Making sure the front cover is so many pixels by so many, and at a ratio of 1:6 or thereabouts. Good job I finally got round to doing GCSE maths a few years back.

Anyhow, if you want to have a look at the little fella on Kindle, it will only set you back 2.52 of your English pounds. No one's bought one yet, so be the first!!

www.amazon.co.uk

Twitter tweet tweet flappety flap.

I've been making my own wallpaper today! Birdies and birdcage. Thought I might use it in the next Red Wellingtons story, although you will have to wait to see it - we've decided to upload them all onto YouTube together, when all 10 are finished.