A year on - ECA Degree Show 2014

Reunited with some of my ECA studio pals.  

Cate James drawing 'What dinosaurs get up to' in Hannah Botma's exhibition space.

It is so scary to think that it has been a whole year since I finished my Master of Fine Art degree.

So much has happened in the space of a year: I have had one book published with Walker Books, my illustration for the Seven Stories 'Over the Hills and Far Away' book is set to be published in October of this year, I have recently finished my first full picture book with Frances Lincoln (tbp in January 2015) and I am working for Paper Dove greeting card company in the North East of England.

I recently went back to Edinburgh for opening night of the Edinburgh College of Art Degree Show 2014. It was amazing to be back in the best city in world and to catch up with all of my lovely friends.

Well done to all of those who have just finished their studies... with a special mention to my illustration friends Hannah Botma and Jessica Kettle. It was a fabulous show!

I'm excited to see where we all are this time next year!

Illustration Friday - Voyage

Here is a little post for this week's Illustration Friday topic 'Voyage'. I think everyone knows the story of Christmas, and that these two characters have a long voyage ahead of them!

These are two card designs that are part of a four pack that I created for Paper Dove last week. Creating designs for kids packs are my absolute favourite and it is quite nice that Christmas follows me throughout the year! 

I hope you enjoy these little fellas.

Sara Ogilvie Workshop at Paper Dove

Sara showing the group her prints and explaining about her working process.

Paper Dove designer, Caroline Gordon getting stuck in with mono-printing. 

My experimental mono-prints based on Sara's beautiful Russian Dolls.

Sketchbook development from Sara's new book 'Meet the Parents'.

Last week at Paper Dove was full of fun and excitement with a visit from my favourite illustrator, Sara Ogilvie (the illustrator of 'Dog don't do Ballet'). 

I first met Sara at the 'Take Five Illustrators' exhibition opening in 2012 at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, whilst studying for my masters degree at Edinburgh College of Art. Since then I have been fortunate to work with her at other talks and workshops at both Seven Stories and Edinburgh College of Art. This time I'm lucky enough to work with her at my new workplace.

During the morning session, Sara gave an inspiring talk about us where she finds inspiration, her creative process, her approaches to different creative projects and creating books for children.

After lunch we had a messy session in the print room, experimenting with the potential of mono-printing and screen-printing. As a group we came up with some interesting characters based on some observational drawings of Sara's collection of old toys.

I am looking forward to arranging her next visit soon!

Illustration Friday - Red

I've been drawing quite a few rabbits recently, so thought it would be nice to continue using them for this week's Illustration Friday topic, Red.

Hope you enjoy!

Paper Dove at Seven Stories

On 8th March, a few of the Paper Dove designers went to Seven Stories to meet the official 2014 World Book Day illustrator, Alex T. Smith. This event was supported by Hodder Children's Books. During this fabulous interactive family event, Alex introduced us to Claude and friends. He told us about where he gets his inspiration from, did some live drawing for us and taught us how to draw our very own Claude. This event was rounded up by a book signing and photo session in the Seven Stories Book Shop.

Photo by Emily Rose Lambert

On Monday 10th March, we went to the Walker Books event 'Ink and Drink with Chris Haughton', which was also hosted by Seven Stories. This was a great opportunity to hear about Chris' creative process, his experience of illustrating for children and his work with Node (fair trade rugs). We also had the opportunity to do some doodling ourselves and have his latest book 'Shh! We Have a Plan' signed. 

Here is a funny little snap of us having tea with the Tiger in the Judith Kerr exhibition.

Illustration Friday - Voice

This Illustration Friday post was fitting for celebrating both World Book Day and the completion of my first full picture book with Frances Lincoln.

It has been a crazy time getting the book ready for Bologna, but it is finally finished and has been sent to repro. Here is a little vignette from an interior page where a brother and sister are lovingly reading their favourite book together.

Happy World Book Day!!

Paper Dove Studio

It has been a tough start to the year with completing my first picture book for Frances Lincoln Publishers. Whilst it has been a wonderful experience working with such amazing people, I must say that I am happy to finally be catching up on some sleep! 

It has obviously been a while since I updated my blog, so I thought I would start by sharing some of the recent artwork that the design team have been creating in the Paper Dove studio. Here are a few visuals of sketches and original artwork made in a variety of different media.