POP UP FILM

So I've written a few times about the work I do for workshops in schools etc. I love that part of my job - going into schools or bookshops to read my books and do a little illustration workshop is not only fun, but inspiring for me to see the children enjoy themselves and get so much out of my visit. I think it is so important for children to have access to books, it shouldn't be a wealth, or class issue reading and enjoying books. And while I love visiting local bookshops sometimes I only reach children that already have an excellent understanding and love of books. It is important for me to visit schools that perhaps have a group of school kids where there isn't a huge culture of them being read to at home, or perhaps english is not their first language, or more often isn't their parents first language.

I work a lot with the Pop Up Foundation which is this absolutely brilliant orgaisation that works very closely with schools in London and authors and illustrators bringing together workshops to help inspire and instil a love for books. Recently I went to Grafton school in Holloway where Pop Up was running a week long series of events for the children there, culminating in a story reading session from the people from the Roald Dahl Museum. I did a workshop reading Batty, talking about making a book from start to finish and creating a jungle backdrop with the kids for the story telling session at the friday assembley. Pop Up made an amazing video of the whole week to go with it. If you get a minute please do watch it - it is beautifully shot and edited, not like any other video on the subject I've seen before....and of course yours truely 'pops up' to speak in it a few times....

 

CUSHELLE KOALA

Ok so I can finally share with you what I've been working on and why my blog has been so quiet of late. I got a great job working with Cushelle (yes, the toilet paper people) to write and illustrate monthly animation instalments of a story around their cute little Kolala charatcer. The first one is below for you to watch and hopefully I'll be doing one a month from now on. You can also see it on their facebook page, or click here for the link to watch it via youtube. Hope you (and your kiddos!) like it!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Hello all. Well hello to anyone left. Sorry I haven't posted anything in an age. I have some really big (and exciting) projects on at the minute which means I'm dedicating all my time to that and have put blogging aside for a bit. I'm still in the process of moving spaces too, and that will happen sometime in July - I'll let you know when I'm up and running in my new web home!

In the meantime I thought I'd let to you know that to celebrate Independent Booksellers Week I will be doing an event this Saturday 29th June at Bag of Books in Lewes at 10.30am, and then next Saturday 6th July I will be at the Book Nook in Hove at 11am. I love both these shops and feel it is really important to support independent booksellers where I can. I much prefer buying from a bookshop than somewhere on line - you get a better weath of information from talking to an 'actual' person, and they may be able to help you with other choices you may not have thought of. Nothing as lovely as poking around a bookshop for a bit! I will be reading my book Bear's Best Friend and showing my process of making a book as well as getting everyone to draw their 'best friend teddies'. There will be badges and colouring in sheets too, so lots of fun for all the family!

So please do come along to these events if you are local to the area and say "hi"! I have just guest posted on a lovely new blog called Little Lewes for anyone in the sussex area that is after inspiration on what to do on days out with the kids. Kate is a friend of mine and has put great thought into starting this blog. There is a wealth of information already up there - so go on with Summer holidays just around the corner head on over to the blog for interesting days out and things to do in and around the Lewes area.

BOOM.

Ok so this is a little of what my brain, my desk, my room and the whole damn house looks like. MESS. But it is also a snippet of what I'm working on at the minute now the other book is outta my hair. I have a trip to Newcastle on Saturday for my Seven Stories workshop, then one more week and then finally a little relaxing. I will hopefully be able to get back into blogging and I have big plans for the blog. I'm thinking a complete shift. I'm considering two different directions....I can't work out which to plunge for, but hoping to work it out in my head very soon.

BOOK EVENTS

As well as completing the colour spreads for my new book in a few weeks just fifteen days time (oh lordy it makes me weep a little when I write that) I am jetting all round the country in the next few months promoting my books, including my newest book release with fantastic author Lucy Coats.

First up I'm visiting two schools for the Booklinks Festival on March 4th. Absolutely love being part of this festival run in partnership with Pop Up which is an excellent creative programme and always has great authors and illustrators involved. My last school visit with them was such fun, you can see the amazing results here.

Then I'm off to the Shrewsbury Festival, School's Week, on the 6th March for two days where I will be visiting a school all day, and delivering these workshops based around my book 'The Girl with the Bird's Nest Hair'.

After that it is off up to Newcastle where I will be doing a 'best friend' reading and drawing workshop at the the AMAZING Seven Stories with Lucy on March 17th. Details found here.

Then on May 28th I'll be a little more local in Herne Hill, South London, at the beautiful book shop Tales on Moon Lane at 10.30am with Lucy to read our Bear book and do a short drawing workshop. On June the 1st I'll be back in my old stomping ground in East London at the Discover Story Centre to do an event there with the lovely Lucy again.

If you live near Newcastle or London and want to pop along to one of the events get booking now as they sell out quickly. And let me know if you are coming so I can say hello! I'm afraid the other events are just for the schools I'm visiting. Fingers crossed I might be at Cheltenham later on in the year for their book festival...

And then I will be putting my feet up and having a well deserved cup of tea and seeing my poor neglected child!

MORE SNIPPETS & A WINNER

Little bits and pieces to show how I work and how it progresses. I like using most media, whatever I think is right really. I enjoy not being stuck in one particular working method. As you can see the image from yesterday is looking more complete with flooring now. Just a few more tweaks here and there and that one will be done. Although I find it stressful having so much to complete in such a short amount of time it sometimes works in my favour that continuity is much better.

And the print giveaway winner is Rae! Congrats Rae, the Sealion print can be off to you straight away. Message me your postal address so I can package it up and send it off. Thanks to you all for entering, there will be more giveaways of course throughout the year as I add more prints to my etsy shop.

CURRENTLY

My desk looks like a (pencil&pen) bomb has hit it. There are rubbings, and bits of sharpenings everywhere, as well as tiny scraps of paper. I'm not keen on mess in general, I like to keep a tidy house, but my studio is looking terrible. There is no time, or any real need to tidy as I go. As long as my paper remains pristine and white then we are ok. I am really in the thick of working now. The first few colour artwork spreads went slowly, I needed to warm up again, remember how to draw my Monster characters and feel at home with them. I'm getting ever so slightly quicker which is a good thing, but there is going to be a lot of late nights in my studio over the next few weeks. Thank gawd for the daylight bulb that my husband bought me as else I think I'd not be able to continue to work late in the poor yellow house hold light that fills the other rooms up.

It's going to be an antisocial and tiring next few weeks, but hopefully worth it. I am cutting the blog right back now to the odd snippet of perhaps what I'm drawing and the 52 project, otherwise all other posts are on hold until I've finished this work at the end of March. I love blogging, but only when I have time, and I have little of it anyway, and virtually none now. I hope you will stick with me though, and continue to check in from time to time! You have one more day to enter my print giveaway. I will announce the winner tomrrow morning. Best of luck!

NEW PRINTS // A GIVEAWAY!

So these new prints: Skipping Raccoon, & Sea Lion have been up for a few weeks in my ETSY shop. They are all 8 x 10 inches printed onto A4 paper which makes them super duper easy framers as just about every shop has that frame size, so no expensive made to measure framing. I find ikea and muji great for cheap, good quality frames. They are printed with Canon archival inks on Somerset velvet (which looks a little like watercolour paper) enhanced 100% cotton paper. It is gorgeous paper, mould made and 225gsm in weight so feels lovely.

They were supposed to be there before Christmas but life and work just about everything else got in the way. To celebrate me finally getting my butt in gear (and getting a new printer that actually wants to FEED in my paper without me trying a million times and screaming blue murder at it) I'm doing a giveaway. All you have to do to win one of these prints is to follow my blog, either by clicking on google connect or via bloglovin. Then leave me a comment to tell me so and which print out of the two you'd like to win. For an additional entry you can follow me on twitter @iamsarahdyer and tweet about it, (I'm a late comer to the twitter party!) Just leave me a comment to tell me you've done so and your twitter name. I will pick one winner next Monday evening by random.org and announce it Tuesday morning. It is an international giveaway so anyone can enter. Yippee!

Too see any of these prints in more detail please follow the link to my etsy shop.
Good luck to you all!

WORKING 9-5 {and then some....}

Ok, so good news over here! I have a lovely new book deal with the people at Frances Lincoln. It is a follow up to this book, and I'm so happy to be drawing that little Monster family again. The deadline is pretty tight, most of the artwork needed by mid March to make the Bologna International Book Fair. Hopefully there it will be well received and can sell, sell, sell to other countries! I will be having my head down over here, colouring in like crazy, so please excuse the lack of blog posts that are about to follow...

I do have a little giveaway lined up though for the beginning of next week. To celebrate my near break down in large, well know electrical store with a broken printer that is only a few months old and failing me miserably, I now have a shiny new Canon that is hopefully going to serve me well in the future.  ::crosses fingers::
So check back Monday for details on how to win!

FEATURED

Hello, I'm up to my eyeballs in work. Which is great, but I'm drinking a lot of tea (and of course eating too many biscuits as they go hand in hand...) and not really getting round to posting all the amazing DIY things I wanted to show you. Anyway I digress, hopefully I'll be able to do that later this week. For now I wanted to swing in and say I'm interviewed on this wonderful blog as part of National Storytelling Week. They are also hosting a giveaway on their facebook page where you can win a copy of my book 'The Girl with the Bird's Nest Hair'. So make sure you pop on over there, or to my facebook page and 'like' it so I can let you know the details later this week!

MIND THE GAP(S)

waiting for my train 

Taking on a bit far too much. Sound familiar?

I have a tonne of work to do before Christmas arrives. I haven't really started Christmas shopping. Ben and my father both unhelpfully have December birthdays. I really need to have to finish off one two book ideas in the hope so that they become actual paid contracts in the New Year. I am almost ready with no where near having two new prints up in my etsy shop by the weekend next week. I have roughs planned am yet to start two other personalised animal prints that were supposed to hit the ideal time of the Christmas present buying rush. Don't even ask about those new cloud pillows. Hey ho (as Father Christmas would say), I guess there is nothing I can do about it, I really need to work longer days (like Father Christmas does.).  I've taken on a few days teaching and it is really so nice to be back which means a day illustrating my own stuff is wiped out and I'm quite tired knackered from the commute to London. But I really shouldn't feel like complaining, and I never do only occasionally do on here, it just suddenly felt like the whole treading water thing had slipped to some light drowning... Lets not even mention the lack of blog posts recently hey?!

So anyway I hope you can bear with me. I still intend to put up those prints in my shop sometime before the New Year next year is out so please keep checking back. I also hope to blog a little more, but that is perhaps definitely on the back burner while I keep up with all my illustration and general life stuff being a mum. Thanks for all hearing me out, and I really hope you don't mind hearing my woes. I'm sure I'm not the only one that struggles to juggle mamahood, Christmas, freelancing, showering, eating and being some sort of housewife EVERYTHING from time to time?!

CUSTOM ORDERS

These are two child & pet and child & toy portraits I've done recently. If you would like one please email me for more info, or look at the listing on my etsy shop. Make sure you order asap if you are thinking for a potential Christmas present! Many thanks!

If you order in the next week you can use the code EARLYBIRD to earn 20% off anything in my shop!

THREE NEW SIZE PRINTS

Hello! So you may remember I have these A3 prints for sale in my shop. Well I've been meaning to sell them in a different size and a recent request prompted me to do so. The cat, dog and the owl are now available as 8 x 10 inch prints printed on Somerset Enhanced watercolour paper 225gsm. The paper is lovely, feels wonderful and is a 100% cotton fairly heavy weight paper. They will be shipped in a cellophane wrapper and in a sturdy cardboard envelope. I'm currently offering them at the price of $20 (or £12.91) Pop over to my shop and have a look. I have four new prints coming in the next week and then a special pre Christmas giveaway to celebrate them arriving so keep checking back here!

OH, IT ALWAYS HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T NEED IT

Sickness that is. I am so rarely ill. Stanley has his moments, like all good babies they pick up little treats here and here. For example this morning I went in to his room to find that he had been sick in his cot. I will come back to that...for now it is about me. I was ill Sunday, you know when you start to feel something creeping in and it has that way of sweeping over your body with the same dread and lethargy I loathe. Anyway by Monday morning I had a pretty impressive temperature and felt terrible. It is so hard too to explain to Stanley that I'm not my usual crazy dancing self because I'm ill. And no it's not because I don't want to give in to all the 'uddle mummy' demands it is because I reeeeeeally don't want to pass this on to your tiny little body to deal with. I had to get better, I had a book festival to go to miles away in Southend on the tuesday...the very next day. I had someone picking me up at 6.20am to drive the hideous 3 hours there. I think though sometimes that helps - forcing yourself to get up, get moving and basically get over it! In the end I made it. It was booked 6 months ago and I didn't want to let the library down, the staff, or the lovely children coming for two workshops. In the end it was the best decision. The place was lovely - Southend Book Festival is one of the best small book festivals I've been too. Welcoming, well organised and run with kind people making sure I was ok, feeding me sugary treats and cups of tea to keep me going. The kids were a joy to work with, thoughtful, clever imaginative and above all fun. I clearly wasn't quite right as I completely forgot to take my normal photos of the wonderful creatures they draw. This time though I did get something given to me... this as a memento from one of them. What more could you ask for when you're not feeling quite yourself?!

Now though I am of course back to full health, Stanley it seems not so much. Not sure what the sick was about but I do know I had that horrid Mama guilt of knowing he had slept in it for several hours without making a fuss, poor lamb. A warm bath, a hairwash (oh dear) and some clean clothes have made him happier and comfortable for now. Hopefully this afternoon with some sensible food in his belly he will start to feel better.

♥ S&s

footnote: I hope to post the second t-shirt painting photos this week, sorry I forgot all about them.

MEETING FRIENDS

And by friends I mean internet friends. I always started blogging as a way to show my working methods in my illustration. Bits and pieces that inspire me - other work I love and my own books and illustration. Recently as you know I have included Stanley in my blog as he is obviously the main part of my life and this has led me down a different blogging path and into the paths of other like minded bloggers. I am not one normally for the whole social networking scene. I'm not on twitter, I don't have time for it and I know I'd be too concincious about how many followers I'd have...I'm needy like that! So when I started blogging and being brave enough to come out of the woodwork (or lurking I think it's called in the internet world!) and comment on a few nice blogs I started to feel good. Meet other like minded Mums that were blogger Mums but not typical mummy bloggers if you see what I mean! In that group I have met designers, makers, vintage collectors, inspiring workers and generally amazing Mums. I'm really enjoying blogging at the moment, I feel relaxed about it all, happy to blog as and when I feel I need to. I just wished I could jet all over the place to meet these new people in the flesh. For the time though I'm happy seeing what they are up to in the world of cyberspace and planning a few more UK based trips. A while ago I recieved the most amazing parcel from one of my favourite bloggers Jenny. (Who unfortunately is stopping blogging in just a few short days) She had a vintage sale online and was good enough to send to the UK. She slippped in an extra goodie for me and wrote the sweetest note, what a thoughtful touch from someone I have never officially met.

I'm happy to have 'met' people like her, and hope to continue to do so. As we speak I am off tomorrow to meet up with two bloggers I know on-line but have yet to meet in real life. I'm looking forward to the little trip down to Bristol to see Abbi and Fritha. I don't feel weird about it, I know we'll get on because we've all been chatting for almost a year. I do sometimes feel though that I have to justify my friendship - like other people think it's odd. It feels sometimes that the word 'internet friend' is a dirty word. Which is silly because I remember before the internet days penpal was never a dirty word - it was encouraged to keep up correspondence and find out about other lives around the world. I think any friend no matter how you know them is still a friend. That is not to say the my friends round the corner mean any less or more, they are just there for me in a different way. Jenny posted a great piece about it on her blog recently and the sentiments she expressed I totally agree with. Heck if it wasn't so far and so expensive I'd be making trips to see Jenny herself, Drea and Ashley if they'd have me and Stanley for a visit!!!

WORK

I'm currently drawing lots of these guys for a potential new story at the minute.

I obviously can't show you much as it is early stages, but I'm hoping to be working on a new picture book soon. The last one I worked on feels like an age ago! I am also getting some new prints ready for my etsy shop, and working on some chine colle prints if I manage to find the time to get myself into an actual printing studio. I am busy though which is nice, although some days I get a little overwhelmed by how much I have to do and how much I want to get done work wise. Still it is always good to be able to do both. My job is flexible and I feel lucky about that - but I'm afraid I may neglect the blog a little bit for a while to get my work in order. Some big meetings ahead in London and I need to be prepared. I may be down to just one or two posts a week for a while, but I hope you all understand!

CUSTOM PORTRAITS

I've got a new listing in my Etsy shop for custom portraits! Wahoooo! They are original hand drawn and coloured illustrations of your child with their favourite pet/stuffed animal OR your child with their new sibling perhaps. An example of one I have already done is up in the shop now that I did for Drea over at OhDearDrea and her gorgeous daughter Marlowe and their dog Jerry. At the moment you can win one of my custom portraits over on her blog. I'm thinking that they might make for a special Christmas present (heck yes, I AM thinking about christmas already!) Hope you like them!

THE BALANCING ACT...

Recently I've been struggling to juggle working and being a Mum. I'm not sure if it is because on the whole Stanley is easier to look after and therefore I can take on more, or if I feel like I ought to be doing more. Anyway my days without him now seem so rushed from start to finish. I never take a break and always eat my lunch at my computer whilst trying to check emails, blog, or catch up with the few blogs I follow! I've never been great at balancing things. I think the trouble with having only ever worked freelance is that you feel the moment you stop that will be it. Work offers will dry up and and no one will ever employ you again! I use to teach part time at Kingston University on the Foundation course there and I LOVED that. It was lovely to have a slightly more 'normal' job and work regular hours getting paid on time etc etc. When I got pregnant though I felt I needed to give it up as I knew I could never commute the hour and a half to work when he was little, or when he was old enough to get to nursery, the hours just didn't match up.

When I was pregnant I never stopped working. I had no maternity pay from an employer, just the teeny tiny bit you get from the government, so I felt like I should just keep going until my bump got so big in the last couple of weeks I was just too far from my desk to reach my colouring pencils! I took my first job on when Stanley was 8 weeks old, and it was for cbeebies, called Driver Dan's Story train (you can see the artwork for it here.) It perhaps wasn't my finest piece of work but they were happy with it and in the end I enjoyed doing it. I'm not sure it was the best idea, but I wanted to keep the work coming, and you know what it is like, as a freelancer you feel like you can't say no to anything! I don't know how I would have managed it if it wasn't for Grandparents help. I remember I took the call, said "yes" and then put down the phone looking at tiny Stanley thinking what have I done? I can barely get dressed and showered most days how will I work?!  I breast fed up until he was 8 months old so that limited how long he could be away from me, so I used to do short bursts for maybe 2 hours here and there when someone else would take him for a walk. He never napped for long in the early days so I didn't have that luxury! It all went ok in the end though and I felt hugely satisfied having finished the brief and they were happy with it!

I always envy other mums with 'real' jobs as they have this specific time frame of 9 months or so where they get paid (however much that might be) and switch off from work a bit while they concentrate on just being a Mum. I don't feel I have ever done that. Perhaps I will always have a case of the grass is always greener. Maybe my job seems perfect to others as I can fit it around Stanley.

Now he is older he goes off to one set of Grandparents on a Monday and one set on a Thursday for the whole day. That means two full days a week to work, blog, make food and clean the house a bit. At them moment is is working so well and he loves spending time with his Grandparents. I feel very lucky to have this help nearby, I've no idea how I'd manage without it.

So other working Mum's out there. How do you all manage your time? Whether you are freelance working from home, a studio, a full time blogger, or you have a 'normal' job that you go out to. How do you find you manage your time best? Am I fairly normal for feeling like I could and should do more work? Or do you feel you have the balance just right? Any tips or words of wisdom would be wonderful!

Right, back to work I go!

LITTLE BIG BOOKS

Super exciting post arrived today! A while ago I was asked to contribute to a German publication called Gestalten. They were compiling a book of illustrations for children's picture books. It was very exciting to be asked to contribute as the publishers have a great catalogue full of wonderfully designed books. You should check out their website here. The book I feature in is called "little big books - illustrations for children's picture books" the link to the book is here. It is a glorious book if you like illustration and of course in particular children's book illustrations. It has several great interviews, one with Kitty Crowther who's work I really admire and one with Martin Salisbury who's writings on children's books I've mention before. I'm completely stoked to be in the same book as many great illustrators I admire. It feels good to blow my illustration trumpet rather than my rather boring Mum one once in a while ;)

little old me

oliver jeffers

tom schamp

marc boutavant 

kevin waldron

beatrice alemagna

camilla engman

WORKSHOP {part two}

So the Brent workshops were a slightly different set up. They were about me and my latest children's book 'Batty',  creating a workshop around the book. These workshops are always fun, but are sometimes difficult to gauge as until you get there you never really know what type of audience you will get and how many children will turn up! I always go prepared with two workshops in mind, that way I feel I can take on what ever is thrown at me and hopefully everyone is happy - most importantly the kids and the council that has employed me!

This time is was a mixed bag with only a few children at the first library but loads at the second! It all went well though as the children (and parents/carers) were really enthusiastic. I love how they interpret my characters and re-draw them, it is fascinating to watch. Children of that age (4-7ish) always draw in such a care free way, I suppose the way we as illustrators are trying to capture, or hold onto. It is refreshing to watch and good for me to. I also feel renewed after a workshop, exhausted, but eager to get back into the studio.

The theme for the books this time was 'Batty at the Olympics'. Being from London they seemed particularly inspired and excited by the events on their doorstep. Many of them had seen the torch and loved the idea of the bat being at the Olympics competing in events and winning against other animals - such fun imaginations!