Diamonds & Gemstones
Antonio Soares adds his artistic sophistication to the online presence of jeweller Kirstie LeMarque.
Yann Legendre – American Express
Yann Legendre was commissioned by Pentagram Design (NYC) to create the new illustrated rendition of American Express’ famous ŒCenturion brand mark.
Stephen Player
Ladybird's all new Expert Series of books have kept Stephen Player busy - with a book on Artificial Intelligence which is out now and written by Michael Wooldridge, an expert in the subject on Computer Science and Head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford. This splendid book explains in an accessible and authoritative manner the concept of AI -
Susannah Lovegrove
Just back from Bologna and London Book Fairs with the AP portfolios, and got a hugely enthusiastic response from publishers, art directors and designers on this wonderful image by Susannah Lovegrove!
Emily Fox Illustrates Fabio: The World’s Greatest Flamingo Detective
You’ll need your sunglasses on for this new fiction series published by Bloomsbury! Fabio the World’s Greatest Flamingo Detective, written by Laura James is beautifully illustrated by Emily Fox in eye-catching neon pinks and greens.
Simon Bartram’s New Picture Book: RUFUS!
Simon Bartram, creator of the award-winning best-selling Bob, Man on the Moon has a brand new picture book out - RUFUS, published by Templar. Rufus is a very keen and very green but not a very mean monster who really wants to find a real deal peopley person of his very own to scare!
: Sophie Melissa – SAA Associate Prize For New Talent Winner 6 Months On
Last summer, Sophie Melissa was awarded the SAA Associate Prize for New Talent in Illustration at New Designers, her prize was a six-month trial representation with an SAA member agent. Sophie chose to be represented by New Division and hasn’t looked back. As we catch up with Sophie she is in the midst of preparing for New Designers One Year On, it seems fitting that she’s come full circle and will be exhibiting her new illustration work at the show that launched her career.
Within a few weeks of launching her portfolio, New Division had secured Sophie’s first commission. Since then she has been continually working, even securing a regular editorial commission with luxury lifestyle title Square Mile magazine. She has also piqued the interest of advertising agencies, having been shortlisted for a digital campaign for McCann. Sophie says she couldn’t have imagined a better start to her career “It’s been a really supportive experience and opened up a lot of opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise had. It’s difficult leaving university and breaking into the industry so the opportunity has been great.”
Sophie had the choice of joining any one of a selection of SAA member agents who had shown an interest in her work; an overwhelming decision for a fresh graduate, but Sophie was quite firm in her choice of New Division. ‘When considering the different agencies, I looked at the types of artists they represented and who I thought could help me best to develop as an illustrator, New Division immediately stood out to me.’ New Division’s Director, Claire Meiklejohn was on the judging panel at New Designers and was thrilled that Sophie chose to join the agency ‘For such a young artist, Sophie’s portfolio showed a real maturity. We were delighted that Sophie wanted to join the agency.’
New Division has form in launching illustrators to great success straight from college, so guiding Sophie through the first few months of her career is something Claire has experience with. ‘First things first, Sophie came to meet the team. This is something we feel is very important, as ultimately a successful representation will be based on the relationship the artist and agent have.’ Sophie agrees ‘It was really useful meeting the team in person, it was great to put faces to names and have a chance to get to know the agency personally. I got to understand how the agency works, along with getting help on developing and updating my physical and online portfolios.’
Sophie’s portfolio was launched a few weeks after the initial meeting and her first commission with Scouting Magazine soon followed.
‘The illustration for Scouting Magazine was a really wonderful introduction to client briefs. There was a lot of freedom visually and scope to develop a scene from the story.’ Sophie has since worked on several other editorial projects and is delighted to have secured a regular commission with Square Mile magazine, ‘It’s great to be working with
interesting concepts and themes, such as politics and business, which I previously haven’t focused on and the tight deadlines help keep my work fresh and exciting.’
Square Mile Magazine Feb 2018 commission
In her downtime Sophie has been busy working with Claire on developing her portfolio, in terms of both style and content. Claire views developing an artist’s portfolio as one of the key roles of an agent ‘we are at the coal face, so to speak, we are out with the books showing our illustrator’s work to clients and we can directly feed their opinions back to our artists. Some of the initial feedback on Sophie’s work was that it would be interesting to see her use a brighter colour palette. We shared this with Sophie and she has taken this on board producing some wonderfully vibrant, colourful samples.’
Claire has also pushed Sophie to explore new subject matters, encouraging her to work outside of
her comfort zone. Sophie adds that it’s not just portfolio development that the agency has helped her with, they have also guided her through the process of creating illustrations ‘answering development briefs and producing roughs for Claire has helped refine my working process and helped me get used to creating work for others rather than myself.’
As Sophie is reviewing her work in preparation for New Designers One Year On she has had time to reflect on her representation so far. As well as learning about the process of completing commissions, the trial has also helped Sophie learn about working as a freelancer. ‘I’ve learned that it is often quite fast paced, and work varies from week to week, which can be exciting but also challenging. Sometimes I’ve had multiple projects on and other times not as much, so by also focusing on creating samples it helps me to balance my time.’
And what advice would she give to this year’s graduates? ‘Make the most of your time studying, work hard and meet deadlines. It really helps to set yourself projects that replicate the work you want in ‘the real world’ as this will make the transition easier.’ Claire’s advice to young artists echoes these sentiments, ‘Practice, practice, practice. You want your style and visual language to be as fluid as your handwriting. An artist once said to me that she draws every day, she likened it to being a professional pianist practicing her scales every day. I loved this thought, and would recommend all illustrators keep this in mind.’
With this thought in mind Claire has been really impressed with Sophie’s attitude and commitment to the trial and has offered Sophie permanent representation, which Sophie has happily accepted. Claire reflects, “‘The SAA Award is a wonderful opportunity for young artists to dip their toes into the world of representation, whilst being guided by a helping hand. At every step of the way Sophie has been really enthusiastic and open to all my advice and feedback. She has shown she is really dedicated to her craft and has a real drive to make this a successful career. Her professional approach is to be commended and she is now reaping the rewards. We’ve loved working with Sophie and can’t wait to see what the next few years bring for her."
The SAA will once again be offering an Associate Prize for New Talent in illustration at the New Designers Part 2, 2018.
The SAA is a group of like-minded Agents who collectively represent nearly 1000 World Class illustrators. The SAA promotes the use of quality illustration and nurtures new illustration talent.
Making Waves with Chloe Daykin’s Fish Boy, and Richard Jones
Cover art for Fish Boy, by Richard Jones
If you scan through the reviews of Fish Boy, you will see, over and over, these words: “reminds me of David Almond — think Skellig”
And that is more than enough for me. It also came as no surprise that it was nominated for a Carnegie Medal*
Not only is this debut novel by Chloe Daykin akin to the style of David Almond — a great and true compliment there from reviewers and critics — but the artwork, by Richard Jones is equal in both atmosphere and feel.
RJ: “. . . it was clear I hadn’t quite lost my love of the fine arts and after I graduated I somehow, and to the complete surprise of anyone who knew me, found myself staying on and reading for a PhD. My subject was the application of the fine arts in illustration and it took me four years to finish. It was a great experience and I learned an awful lot, however, my mum is the only person who calls me Dr now and I don’t use it on my passport just in case I’m asked to deliver a baby or perform an emergency tracheostomy on a plane.”
— From A Journey into Picture Books: The Art of Richard Jones (continue reading here)
Interior artwork for Fish Boy, by Chloe Daykin, published by Faber and Faber
For me, personally, the cover of a book is just as important as it’s contents. Yes — I must admit I do judge a book by it’s cover, and there are some covers that really stand the test of time. In fact the cover work is the very thing that can make an author stand out on the book shelf — and if author and illustrator stick together, both can become recognisable together. Take Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake for example, or C.S Lewis and Pauline Baynes. Although Quentin Blake has books of his own, (and Roald Dahl has worked with other illustrators) we will always recognise the books of Roald Dahl, for example, by the cover illustrations of Quentin Blake. There’s certainly something to be said for continuity in design.
Richard’s most recent picture book collaboration with author Jim Helmore is testament to a great union of words and pictures. The Snow Lion, published by Simon and Schuster in September 2017 has been translated into 14 different languages.
Richard has also illustrated picture books with author Libby Walden, and conservationist, Martin Jenkins who has written an educational series with Walker Books on animals at risk.
Winter Dance, with Marion Dane Bauer — originally a US title with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has been coeditioned and translated into four different languages since being published in December 2017.
So what next for Richard? Well he’s one to watch, we can be sure of that. He is an absolute pleasure to work with, and his style has that sense of something we are going to see on bookshelves for a very long time. LM
You can follow Richard on Twitter and Instagram
If you’d like to work with Richard, you can get in touch via his agent, Arabella Stein here.
*The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book written in English for children and young people. It was established by in 1936, in memory of the great Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Previous winners include Arthur Ransome, C.S. Lewis, Margaret Mahy, Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman and Patrick Ness.
Let Them Eat Cake! Book Launch Fun with Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet
CAKE by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet was officially launched yesterday evening at Waterstones in Piccadilly, hosted by our friends at Macmillan Children’s Books.
If you haven’t yet bought a copy of Cake, you MUST! No matter your age, it will make you laugh out LOUD. It’s the perfect example of Sue and Paul doing what they do best.
Here’s our round-up of the evening in pictures.
Life imitating art: An incredible replica of Cake, made out of . . . cake.
And the proof is in the eating — oh poor Cake! This is true #kidlithorror . . .
Speeches made by Sue and Paul, who spoke about the importance of literacy and storytelling for children, Associate Publisher at Macmillan Children’s Books, Penny Morris, and Agent, Arabella Stein.
Sue Hendra, Bright MD and Founder Vicki Willden-Lebrecht, Paul Linnet and Wanda.
Book signings and party bags, beautifully made by the team from Macmillan.
You can follow Sue and Paul on Twitter
If you’d like to work with Sue and Paul, you can get in touch via their agent, Arabella Stein here.
Let Them Eat Cake! Book Launch Fun with Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet
CAKE by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet was officially launched yesterday evening at Waterstones in Piccadilly, hosted by our friends at Macmillan Children’s Books.
If you haven’t yet bought a copy of Cake, you MUST! No matter your age, it will make you laugh out LOUD. It’s the perfect example of Sue and Paul doing what they do best.
Here’s our round-up of the evening in pictures.
Life imitating art: An incredible replica of Cake, made out of . . . cake.
And the proof is in the eating — oh poor Cake! This is true #kidlithorror . . .
Speeches made by Sue and Paul, who spoke about the importance of literacy and storytelling for children, Associate Publisher at Macmillan Children’s Books, Penny Morris, and Agent, Arabella Stein.
Sue Hendra, Bright MD and Founder Vicki Willden-Lebrecht, Paul Linnet and Wanda.
Book signings and party bags, beautifully made by the team from Macmillan.
You can follow Sue and Paul on Twitter
If you’d like to work with Sue and Paul, you can get in touch via their agent, Arabella Stein here.