Fan mail!

In a delightful end to the week I have received what I suppose is fan mail from Abi, who seemed to enjoy Weasels. Excellent floating mouse.

The Animal Ruskin Library

One of my library colleagues left yesterday to go onto bigger and better things. I was asked to do her leaving card and got a little carried away. It's rather filled with library in jokes but I thought I'd put it up here because it features a grumpy panda and what's not to like about that? It's important to note that none of these animals are based on actual people, not least because one of them is a pig in a tutu. 

Here's the front:

And here's the inside:

Proof that Weasels can be enjoyed by both man and beast alike.

If you want to read Weasels to your hamster too you can get it here.

Robot City

In the book I'm currently working on I had a robot city but it alas got cut. I was so fond of it though I couldn't quite let it go. So, here's an edited version of it for no better reason then I love robotic metropolises.

On the subject of the new book I am loving working on it and can't wait until I can actually show people. It's still top secret for now though, shhh!

My first school visit.

Not long ago I did my first ever School visit at The Vine School just outside of Cambridge. I was really keen to get out do a school visit because I really wanted to actually meet the people that read my books and also as an author/illustrator it’s pretty thrilling just to get out the house. Despite this in the days running up to the event I was TERRIFIED. I had horrifying visions of being lynched by hundreds of disgruntled children because they weren't suitably entertained. I counteracted this by practice, practice, practice. I read my book, Weasels, to the spider in my studio over and over to get it right and bought my self a flip chart to practice drawing on. I rounded off this intense regime of training by making my boyfriend act like a 7 year old while I did the whole event at him. He was unnervingly convincing.  

My preemptive panic was unnecessary though because I think it went rather well. All the kids seemed really into the book and were keen to answer questions and point stuff out. The bit that really went down a treat though were the drawing activities where the children would tell me what they wanted to see and I would draw it. As the book features a huge world domination machine the first thing we did was design our own world domination machine. You can see it below but don’t judge me too harshly, I had to draw this very quickly while 100 children shouted at me to use more purple so it was pretty challenging. 

Now this machine has a range of excellent features and I’ll talk you through some of my favourite. You can see from the chimney and furnace that this machine is steam powered. There was one girl though who was concerned about the safely implications of this so she requested the warning sign above the furnace. One boy had the brilliant suggestion of adding ‘A MASSIVE LASER’ which I naturally included with gusto. The next boy wanted a fuse box, which is a little different from A MASSIVE LASER but who I am to say no? It’s also important to note he wanted the new sort of fuse box with the switches, not the old fashioned ones where you plug the fuses in. Not being that handy round the house I wasn’t too sure how to draw a fuse box from memory but I did my best. Other things you’ll find on this machine are a start button, heavily lobbied for purple buttons, cctv, a computer, an exit door, radar, a handle, a drill, an arial, a sky dish and various wires.

Once we’d completed our machine we needed some weasels to run it. So, I took requests as to the sort of weasels we’d need, what they’d be wearing/doing etc and then I drew them to order. The first one we did was Hazmat Weasels (see below). He handles hazardous substances but only in the appropriate safety clothing. Now you may wonder how we ended doing a hazmat weasel and I can tell you that this is because one boy from year 2 said the exact words ‘Can you do one in a hazmat suit please?’. Now I barely know what a hazmat suit is (let alone how to draw one) so I was deeply impressed by this boy and his knowledge of the safe handling of toxic material.

 

Next we did Dr. Weasel who’s there just in case someone has an accident with the furnace, despite the warning sign. He has a lab coat, a stethoscope and a smug look because he has a medical degree. 

Lastly you’ll see Security Weasels who’s there to make sure everyone behaves. He’s chunky, wears a bulletproof vest and sunglasses (so that he looks tough) and has a guard mouse as opposed to a guard dog.

Overall I had a wonderful time and the kids were brilliant and staggeringly inventive. I can’t wait for the next one!

Association of Illustrators Awards

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: 

Weasels is out today!

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.