my creative space: a colouring book

HI! I have resurfaced!

So the giant project I've been working on is a colouring book!!
It is going to be published and distributed by Lalaland!!!!
I'm so thrilled!!!!

They do lovely colouring books, which are more like story books you can colour in. The drawings are usually more complex than what a normal colouring book would be (not a beach ball to be seen), so the books may be better suited to slightly older kids, but that's not to say younger tots can't expressively scribble at will!

I love the idea that kids can colour over the top of shaded artworks, to give them a greater sense of achievement, and to teach them to focus on detail (which is, after all, one of the processes in learning to draw).

My book follows the story of a girl who leaves the big city and moves to the country (I know, I know, getting lots of mileage out of that one). There she meets lots of animals of course. To make it slightly educational, and much cooler, I included some Australian animals that are quite rare, with a type of index at the back so you can learn what they all are. And of course there's a moral, ahhhh. ;)

Because I had to do the entire thing in two and a half weeks, I ended up re-using some of my previous concepts, but redrew them differently.

I sent in all my files today (after battling to get our internet connection to come back to life). DONE!
I'm buzzing with a sense of achievement. I'm so excited I thought I'd share some of my favourite pages...









The book comes out in August!


Now, pardon me while I go barge through dunes of eraser shavings, climb mountain of unwashed dishes, part my un-tended hair, and flop on the lounge for an evening of brain-numbing TV and not moving a muscle.