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I was rather thrilled to find out this weekend that I've been shortlisted for the AOI Illustration awards. Hurrah! I entered a few images from my book Weasels which is a body of work that has rarely failed me when it comes to competitions. To celebrate, here's a snippet of Weasel action from said book:
At last, the Weasels are here! Today is the official publication day of my first book, Weasels, and to celebrate there's a 'making of...' post here on the France Mckay Illustration blog. Also I hear rumours that the Weasels have taken over the @NosyCrowBooks twitter so god knows that they're doing to that.
If you fancy owning your own copy of Weasels you can buy it here, here, here and at many other most excellent bookshops.
Last week I was at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. It's the third year I've been and I'm starting to feel like I've got the hang of it so I've decided to pool my minimal Bologna knowledge and give you Bologna 101: What Elys has learnt.
1) Everyone needs a Frances. Frances is my agent and she's a force of nature. She sets up meetings with everyone worth seeing before hand, tells me who I should come along and meet, tows me along to see the great and the good and then tells them how brilliant I am. People who wouldn't even look at me twice on my own will pour over my latest dummy after an introduction from Frances. She pretty much means my bologna is sorted before I even get out there and all I need do is show up. Get yourself a Frances, but not this one, she's mine.
2) Never eat any of the food at the fair apart from the pizza from the pizzeria next to the authors cafe. The pizza from any other outlet is like a block of chalk with melted cheese on top. Pizzeria pizza is genuine Italian brilliance and is even made in front you by someone's terrifyingly busty traditional Italian mother. The mothers will shout at you if you don't understand the queuing system or order more pizza then they think you need but it's worth it for a decent lunch.
3) Wear thick socks and comfy shoes. You will end up walking miles and your feet will hate your for it. You'll be able to tell that they hate you from both the way that they feel and they way that they smell.
4) Three of those tiny coffees in a row will make you feel like you're about to have a heart attack.
5) Buy LIMONCELLO, not LIMONCETTA. The former tastes like a delightfully refreshing sherbert lemon tipple and the latter tastes like value vodka mixed with bleach. If you do accidentally buy lemoncetta and all the illustrators you're staying with regard you with disdain you can make it palatable by mixing it with lemon soda.
6) On the Cambridge School of Art stand the person holding the pink book has all the power.
7) If you're standing in a queue and shout 'oi, you, PUBLISHER!' everyone will turn round. Won't they Sarah Whelan?
8) Don't get too worked up about the whole thing. If you start to feel that you might go mad if you see another picturebook leave and get yourself some gelato.
On reflection and after rereading those bullet points I think it's fairly obvious I don't really have a clue what I'm doing there but if you're an illustrator and thinking about doing it next year I'd say go, but not on your own, try and set up meetings before hand and don't put too much pressure on yourself. Oh, and always lemoncello, never lemoncetta.
Here's a few photos of the fair and the CSA stand. They don't really convey the scope of it but alas I wasn't very on top of the pictures this year.
My first book, Weasels, is
being launched at Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge next week! It's a
signing event with three other incredibly talented Cambridge
illustrators, Marta Altes, Nicola Killen and Courtney Dicmas, on Thursday
21st March at 6.30pm. It should be a fabulous evening not only because
you'll be surround by excellent children's books but also because the
wine is free. Everyone's welcome so if you fancy getting your hands on
one of the first copes of my whimsical tale of woodland creatures,
machinery and megalomania come down and I'll happily draw a little
weasels in the front of your book.
If you can't make it then never fear you can still get a copy of Weasels here or here and at many other wonderful booksellers.
I've had a yen to do some chapter book-esque illustration for a while so
I've had a shot at a few images from Around the World in 80 Days and in
the process I have discovered there a few finer things to draw then
elephants and moustache.
I hope you're all feeling festive because it's that time of year again. I can't think of anything more Christmassy than machinery so this year my Christmas cards are robot themed. Sometimes we all need a bit of assistance over the Christmas period so I've designed 3 Robotic Aids for the Holiday Season!
Each card features a robot to help you through a specific festive
conundrum.
In case you're not my my Christmas cards list you can purchase these robotic wonders here in my Etsy shop.
