It's been several years in the making, but we're very proud to announce that Tado's first picture book 'Monster Trucks: The Big Race' was published on July 3rd and is now available in all good bookshops.
Written by Jon Hinton and published by Scholastic Children's Books, The Big Race is the first in a new series of fast-paced, big-wheeled racing romps that follow Bolt, Chunk, Roxy, Fizz, Newton and Masher as they rev off on exciting adventures in a crazy world full of fun, laughter and a few spills along the way.
Fred Gambino's new collection of concept art, illustrations, speed painting, book covers and sketches is published by Titan Books this month. The Art of Fred Gambino: Dark Shepherd, show's off Fred's talent for creating epic and atmospheric out-of-this-world environments and space hardware. This impressive art book is more than a collection of commissioned work, it also unveils a personal science fiction screenplay, Dark Shepherd, that he's been developing for the last few years.
Arena Illustration is very proud to welcome a new illustrator to their list, Mélanie Delon. French born Mélanie, is quickly becoming one of the hot new fantasy illustrators to watch out for. She works primarily in Photoshop, digitally painting with a drawing tablet to create stunningly realistic portraits which are both mysterious and emotive. Her paintings have featured in many publications worldwide and she is a regular contributor to Imagine FX magazine.
James Grover adds more of his magic to the walls of Zizzi Ristorante in Market Harborough.
The mural was hand drawn live on site, using acrylic pen paints and emulsion. And referencing the history of the area with it’s close proximity to Rockingham Forest, James says “In prehistoric times the area was the largest expanse of woodland in the country, but deforestation has seen a large reduction in its size. More recently, in medieval England, the forest was allocated as a Royal Hunting Forest where wild boar, fallow deer and pheasant were in abundance. Nowadays, the remaining forest is protected and is still a key feature of the area.” Another superb Zizzi interior by James!
The tees are adorned with individual black and white illustrations representing the twelve star signs and are now available to buy at Top Shop. May has made some intricate drawings for these shirts which can be worn on your chest with pride! Top Shop have also interviewed May for their Inside Out page, read more on her work for them and her inspirations…
Mayuko Fujino is a collage illustrator based in New York.
Her ‘cut-out creations’ are handcrafted and beautifully designed, inspired by nature and traditional Japanese stencil dying. Take a look at her portfolio…
Macmillan Publishers just launched six stunning books for their new Young Sherlock series! Illustrated by hugely talented artist Steve Stone (also well known for his Percy Jackson covers and other successful young adult fiction covers worldwide) the books are written by Andrew Lane and Art Directed by Rachel Vale
Steve was hired to produce strong, cinematic images for this prestigious series.
Harlequin France asked Lucy Truman to illustrate the French Language Edition of ‘Holding A Dream’ by Nora Roberts. Lucy’s beautiful artwork has received a great reaction from the industry and public alike.
Gary Newman was commissioned to illustrate Orangina’s summer outdoor campaign. Gary’s fabulous graphic artwork can be seen on billboards across Europe.
‘As soon as I saw this book I fell in love with the cover and hoped that the rest of it would live up to my expectations. It far exceeded them. The sort of book I would be proud and excited to buy as a present for every young child I know.’ Viveka Alvestrand, Oscar’s Mother.
Bright Author-Illustrator Benji Davies recently won Oscar’s First Book Prize 2014 for his hauntingly moving ‘The Storm Whale’. The £5000 award is held by The Evening Standard in memory of Oscar Ashton, a lover of stories who sadly passed away unexpectedly aged 3 1/2 years. The Bright Agency were ecstatic and overwhelmed to represent 3 of the 5 Illustrators who made it to the final five and secured the book deal for a 4th:
Philippa Leathers – ‘The Black Rabbit’ was also a Bright publishing deal with Walker.
As a business celebrating it’s 10th year in the publishing world, Bright are incredibly proud to represent over half the nominees on this list. Nurturing new found talent as well as supporting established names is a key factor in the company’s working ethos. The Bright nominees have grown with the agency and are just small examples of what can happen when agent and creative really collaborate to achieve amazing artwork and stories that then turn into industry-shaping book deals.
The final 5 were narrowed down from an original 57 entries by a panel of esteemed judges and some very critical young readers. All involved were searching for books that could easily be read by children under 5 as well as being appreciated by their adult counterparts. Judge Charlotte Ross said that the books on the shortlist were “both timeless and original, and we picked tales with images and words that fired the imagination”.
But overall, the winning book was picked because the judges believed Oscar and his vivid imagination would have loved it to – because of this, Benji and Bright are honored and truly humbled to be a part of such an amazing award.
