Tuesday 9 December 2014

Yoyobloke: The Fabulous New Shop and Gallery of PP Artist Sandra Aguilar!

Congratulations to our very own Sandra Aguilar who has opened her own shop and gallery in Madrid, Spain. Selling beautifully designed bags, accessories, stationary, limited edition prints and zines, we're so excited to get our own orders in on her website too! As well as selling beautiful items designed by herself and other talented artists, Sandra will also be holding exhibitions for local talent as well! Check out some of their upcoming exhibitions here. I feel a trip to Madrid coming on! 

Here are some of her simply incredible goodies:


Naughty Sardine Keyring



Limited Edition Blue Jeans Bag



Blue Rabbit Print



Unicorn Pencil Case

For more delicious treats visit the Yoyobloke website here!


Thursday 6 November 2014

Monty The Penguin

It may be a little early for some of you but here at PP we are already very much starting our countdown to Christmas! Today, John Lewis have released their simply adorable new christmas advert - get your tissues ready!

We're even more excited to announce the release of the accompanying picture book from Nosy Crow, illustrated by our very own Catalina Echeverri and fellow artist Arno and written by Lucy Feather! Congratulations all of you, it's beautiful! You can get your copy from John Lewis here.


Tuesday 14 October 2014

Congratulations Judi Abbott and Little Tiger Press!

Train! The latest picture book from our wonderful author/illustrator Judi Abbott has been picked as one of two runners up in this year's inaugural Sainsbury's Children's Book Awards! We're delighted! Well done Judi! Read more here.

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Paula Bowles and the Amazing Affordable Art Fair Take Over!

Our lovely Paula Bowles has been running fantastic workshops for children at The Affordable Art Fair in Bristol! Check out her brill post all about it on Brillustration's blog here!


Friday 18 July 2014

Young Illustrators Award 2014

Calling all of you fabulous artists! The application for the Young Illustrators Award 2014 is now open! 

The Young Illustrators Award is one of the most internationally renowned competitions rewarding creativity and innovation in personal contemporary illustration and graphics. It encourages and supports designers in their artistic practice and offers them an internationally recognized platform from which to launch their careers.

“Young”, in this context, does not refer to the age of eligible participants but to the works that can be submitted: in the sense of “current and fresh”. There’s no age restriction! 

The main goal of the YIA is to present the partly undiscovered and vivid scene of creators from all over the world to the public and to encourage the creative exchange. These works are important statements of contemporary aesthetics, demonstrating the current visual power of the international illustration scene.

Check out their website for more information and to apply here

Thursday 10 July 2014

READING ROCKS!

There are some wonderful new summer reads from Little Tiger Press this year, including those from our very own fabulous author/illustrators Alison Brown and Judi Abbot, (aka. Giuditta Gaviraghi).

Here you can see some of Little Tiger's lovely picture books being read by their authors and illustrators and below you'll find videos of Alison and Judi reading their newest picture books Mighty Mo and Train. Snuggle up with the little ones and enjoy!



Thursday 12 June 2014

Emily Twomey Brightens Up The Children's Minor Injuries Unit At Southmead Hospital!

We asked Emily to tell us all about this incredible project:

Back in March, I was approached by Fresh Arts, the ongoing arts programme at North Bristol NHS Trust and Willis Newson, a leading independent arts consultancy in Bristol. They were undertaking a big project in Bristol to introduce artwork to the new Southmead Hospital and were on the hunt for an illustrator who could help them with a specific department. The department in question was the Children’s Minor Injuries Unit and the aim was to enhance the area to improve patient experience and to create artwork that helps to calm and captivate the imagination of young patients.


I was asked if I would be interested and immediately accepted. I had never worked on a commission of this scale before, and the purpose behind the project really appealed to me. I began by talking to staff and visiting similar wards to find out what worked in terms of artwork and what the staff would like to see. It was interesting to hear how staff often used artwork to distract patients, and how humour plays a key role in making the experience less stressful for children. I researched colours and themes and found that in a number of studies, nature themes came out on top as the most relaxing.


I was supplied with architectural plans to work to and I had an initial site visit to view the space. At the beginning of the project the hospital was still under construction, so I was working to the same deadline as the builders to get the hospital ready in time for the opening at the end of May! I started by making mood boards for each room with colour schemes and characters/themes that I thought would suit each area. I then moved on to pencil drawings to scale on plans of the rooms. These included 3 assessment rooms, 2 waiting areas and a number of public spaces such as nappy change rooms and the loo!


Every stage had to be approved by Willis Newson and Fresh Arts, so it was a real collaboration and it definitely made me extra organised as there was a strict schedule to stick to. After the pencil roughs were approved by staff, I moved on to the final stage of the process, the coloured illustrations. This was the most epic stage of the commission for me! I had never worked on something that involved such precision. I needed to provide my artwork at 1/4 of the final size and I was responsible for making sure it would fit around machinery and furniture in the hospital rooms. It involved a lot of measuring and double checking. I also had to provide my artwork print ready, with bleed and cutter guides for each separate vinyl…it was a big task!

It took approximately a month to create the finals, and these were then sent to a print company in Bristol called C3. They checked all my artwork and printed them out at 25% so we could all check for errors. I was particularly worried about the world map vinyl for one of the waiting rooms because I was sure I would have spelt something wrong or got a mountain range in the wrong place… but it was all ok! I then went with the installation crew to start the task of sticking the vinyls to the walls. After a week, it was all done and I visited to see them in place.


It was quite emotional, because I had only ever seen them on my little computer screen, so seeing them up to 3 metres long was quite overwhelming. I was so pleased with the result, and some of the staff were also there and seemed equally as happy. All in all it was a very challenging commission which tested by organisational and technical skills, but I loved doing it and I hope that the patients and staff are happy in their new cheerful and colourful department.















Friday 21 March 2014

Bologna 2014

Ciao tutti! Well, it's that time of year again! Here at PP Headquarters we've been running around in a whirlwind of pre-Bologna madness preparing everything to take to Bologna Bookfair next week. We're finally almost there and Hannah and Chloe fly out tomorrow, (for a sneaky couple of days in Italy before the fair!). This year we have just over 50 meetings with clients to attend, so it's going to be as hectic as normal! We can't wait to show all of our incredible artists' new work to clients, as well as some truly wonderful project concepts. We'll be in touch with an update post the fair! Ciao, a presto!

Thursday 20 March 2014

Lottie and Dottie Sow Carrots!

Check out this reading of this lovely tale by author Claire Burgess featuring our very own Marijke Van Veldhoven's wonderful illustrations! This lovely young reader, published by Orion, will inspire the green fingers in your little one. We're off to sow carrots now!


To see more of Marijke's portfolio click here.

Thursday 6 March 2014

The AOI Illustration Awards!

Calling all Illustrators! There's still time to enter the AOI Illustration Awards! The awards are open to illustrators working in any medium and there are both Professional and New Talent categories! 

The AOI site currently receives an average of 98,000 hits from around 19,000 visitors per month and winning and shortlisted work from the competition can now be browsed readily by potential commissioners and clients. This work continues to remain on the site in the archives once the next round of shortlisted entrants are announced allowing for long term exposure for all illustrators who have been involved. 


Winning illustration from the competition will also be displayed in the AOI's  popular touring exhibition which is launched at Somerset House this October. This special exhibition receives an average of 40,000 visitors every year. 

So we fully recommend that you check it out and apply! All information regarding entries, including entry fees can be found here.

The submission deadline is the 16th March so hurry!

'The Mummy Shop' Is A Winner!

A massive congratulations to PP illustrator Lauren Beard! Her picture book The Mummy Shop, witten by Abie Longstaff and published by Scholastic, has won the Never Too Young category of the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards! Well done Lauren!


You can find out more about the awards here.


Friday 10 January 2014

Congrats to Alison Brown and Bloomsbury!

Very big congratulations to our very own Alison Brown, Smriti Prasadam-Halls and to Bloomsbury on their wonderful picture book I Love You Night and Day! It's going to be read on CBeebies on the 16th January by Adjoa Andoh! On top of this, it is being featured on Gransnet as this month's Picture Book of the Month!

In addition, Bloomsbury USA will be publishing I Love You Night and Day in spring this year in time for Father's Day and in even more exciting news Sainsbury's has chosen I Love You Night and Day as their picture book of choice for Mother's Day here in the UK. Sainsbury's will only be promoting one picture book in this slot so it's absolutely fantastic that they have chosen Alison's! Great job everyone and congratulations!


Check out more of Alison's fabulous portfolio here.