WIP artwork - At senior school, I was the shy, awkward, uncool new kid. But against all odds, I made a friend. The main thing we had in common was that we were both outcasts and understood each others' weirdnesses. In fact, she's still a bezzie and we still do!
WIP artwork - I found my parents' wedding photos from the 1960s in an old, battered biscuit tin. They looked so young and full of hope for the future. Dad even looked like a Chinese version of Cliff Richard circa 'The Young ones' - what happened?!! Maybe the kids happened. Maybe the Chinese takeaway happened. [...]
WIP artwork - Me and my family having our tea in our Chinese takeaway kitchen 1983.
Working on art for my new YA novel. Every Christmas I wanted to be the perfect family I saw on telly. Where the kids aren't fighting, Dad's not swearing his head off, and Grandad's not moaning about his gout, but it never happened. 1984 was only made bearable by Band Aid's 'Do they know it's [...]
I've been with The Catchpole Agency for five years and never met any of the other writers or illustrators till now. To celebrate 20 years, my agent James organised a get together at his home in Oxford. I was so lucky and excited to meet such talent all in one place for the day!
The love for 'Bob and Rob' never stops. A fan sent me these characters, made entirely out of felt. How cute are they?
Was not expecting this! I came home to find a parcel of Korean editions of 'Bob and Rob'...it looks so amazingly kitsch, I LOVE it - thank you Frances Lincoln! I'm going to give a copy to my local Korean supermarket as they're always so friendly in there - maybe I could swap it for [...]
I didn't win this time but being shortlisted for my debut book is still pretty awesome. Thank you 'Read It Again!' Awards!
The second of my two-picture book deal with Frances Lincoln publishers. 'When Angus met Alvin', is about a well behaved alien and an unbelievably naughty one, and you can imagine, they both totally get on each other's nerves. But if they want peace, they must try to learn and tolerate each other. Then one teaches [...]
Got surprise post today! From a group of year 1 children I'd given a 'Creating Characters' workshop to. Not only had they invented some fantastical characters during the session, they'd written stories about them afterwards, and compiled them into books - just for me. What a lovely perk of the job.