Just Published: Hector and the Big Bad Knight by Alex T Smith

World Book Day illustrator, Alex T Smith has written and illustrated his ninth picture book, Hector and the Big Bad Knight, published by Scholastic this month. Hector and his sidekick chicken, Norman, battle the evil Knight who has stolen Granny's magic wand. Can the tiniest boy in the village outsmart the naughty Knight and his humongous hungry dragon? Well, anything is possible with just little bit of magic and a bag of crisps!

To celebrate World Book Day, Alex also shows us 'How to Draw a Knight' in a series of pictures for The Guardian online.

World Book Day Illustrator: Alex T Smith

Alex T Smith is the official illustrator for World Book Day 2014. He was thrilled to be asked to provide the illustrations for this year's promotional material. The brief was great fun, picking up on all of Alex’s favourite things to draw, appealing to children from nursery age to ten years old. Watch out for Alex as he tours the country this month visiting book shops, festivals and children's learning centres.

Now in its 17th year, World Book Day is the biggest celebration of books, reading, authors & illustrators of its kind, for children of all ages in the UK. Designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, it is marked in over 100 countries worldwide.

The major aim of World Book Day is to encourage children to discover the power of reading for pleasure by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. Every year, over 14 million £1 book tokens are distributed to over 46,650 educational establishments nationwide (nursery and pre-school through to secondary) – one for nearly every child in full-time education in the country.

Hannah George

A.k.A

A.k.A were commissioned by Publicis New York to illustrate the launch of Crest's brand new line of 'Be' toothpastes, which feature chocolate, vanilla and lime flavours. A.k.A executed the photography, 3D modelling and artwork production for the multi platform campaign.

Helen Ingham and ‘Adventures in Letterpress’

Hog in the Fog

One of our brilliant new artists, Eunyoung Seo, has just had her wonderful illustrations published by Faber in the adorable tale 'Hog in the Fog', a Harry and Lil story. This is the story of Candy Stripe Lil and Harry the Hog. Lil is expecting Harry the Hog for tea, but there's a swirling fog outside and Harry is nowhere to be seen! Lil sets off to find her friend. Luckily she meets Deer, Sheep and Crow along the way, who all join in the hunt to find the hog in the fog. A heartwarming rhyming adventure story about friendship, teamwork and teatime! Eunyoung's drawings create a sublime sense of atmosphere and with her delicate approach and attention to detail, they really make this a stunning publication. And there's more good news too... there will be another Harry and Lil story coming your way soon, so we relish the prospect of more fantastic art from Eunyong. We cant wait!

Pirate Gran

Rose Forshall's illustrations for the Pirate Gran series of children's books, are coming to life at a theatre near you soon!

Pirate Gran has been dramatised by Scamp theatre from the books written by Geraldine Durrant, illustrated by Rose and published by the National Maritime Museum. We love this poster and can't wait to see what Rose's characters look like in 3D!

Fashion Horoscopes

Montana Forbes completes a set of horoscopes for IKON images.
The three here; Sagittarius, Pisces and Gemini are just a taster of the beauties Montana has created for the company who primarily deal with stock imagery. Montana says "I’ve always had a keen interest in the horoscopes and was really excited to tackle the subject matter for the very first time. After much research, I was inspired to create unique fashion and beauty portraits that incorporated elements and characteristics associated with each sign but without them being clichéd depictions." See all twelve in Montana's portfolio.

Building Economies

Making business look beautiful, Gail Armstrong creates this paper sculpture for PM Network magazine.

Commissioned by Hugo Espinozo, senior art director at Imagination, the image is in the February issue of the monthly publication for the Project Management Institute (PMI). Gail's creation illustrates "6 Markets to Watch: Look for the next wave of project opportunity in one of these 6 climbing economies”. She says: "It discusses the business potential in these building economies and the many ways in which those countries are changing, developing and investing in themselves." Gail chose to focus on Nigeria - oil/energy industry, Panama - canal expansion, Indonesia - infrastructure through telecommunications, Chile - building infrastructure through information technology, Turkey – construction; in particular transport links and Vietnam - factory construction. After submitting several ideas to illustrate the article, the concept of using flowers to represent the growth of these 6 different countries was selected. Gail says "The flower heads have petals made from maps of the relevant countries. By choosing to use a fairly simple, non-specific flower shape and by carefully placing the petals, it is still possible to read the map and the country name. The flower centres and stamens, which echo the map colours, represent the country’s relevant investment area."

Justin Metz for Time Magazine

Justin Metz produced this brilliant cover image for Time magazine illustrating the speculation over Hilary Clinton's run for presidency.
https://www.debutart.com/illustration/justin-metz#/illustration