Pink heart jazzies all round - Dotty Detective is back on the case with a brand new adventure, The Holiday Mystery! Dot and her family and Beans and his dad are all going on holiday to the Sunny Glades campsite by the seaside. They make a new friend in Poppy, the teenager...
Pink heart jazzies all round - Dotty Detective is back on the case with a brand new adventure, The Holiday Mystery! Dot and her family and Beans and his dad are all going on holiday to the Sunny Glades campsite by the seaside. They make a new friend in Poppy, the teenager...
My last black and white illustration - of this batch - to show. Look out for this fine chap in Picking Pickle! I don't know what the things I love to draw have in common. Whether it's a baby or a Great Dane or a Chevrolet Corvette, they probably all smell bad and...
Cars and trains and boats and planes... I've been a Mr Toad (poop poop) for as long as I can remember. Not just cars: basically if you can get in it and go from A to B it's a YES PLEASE from me!
We're back! What better way to welcome the spring. May I present Picking Pickle, a new picture book to be published by Pavilion Books in June - written by Polly Faber and illustrated by me. We've been yelping excitedly in the wings for a long time on this one. When Polly's story bounded...
Scenes, settings and stories... oh and hats! I also found out, while inventing the Fancy-Coat-Lady's fancy coat, that in the 1950's the advances in nuclear physics combined with the decorative patterns of the era to create atomic florals, which seemed just the ticket. It's this kind of small detail that makes my imagined...
Animals! And the journey of anthropomorphism: from a real-life natural pet, McClusky, through to Dixie and Percy with their three-piece suits and driving licenses, via Bambang and Mary Plain who inhabit that glorious world somewhere in-between. This is the everlasting, enduring appeal of being an illustrator, where anything is possible. And if I...
Today: drawing children, then and now. I love the vitality of contemporary life, but when it comes to classics - oh those scratchy grey woollen shorts and button-over shoes and homemade haircuts... when I got the job to re-illustrate Milly-Molly-Mandy, as with Mary Plain, it was a childhood dream come true. ...
This week I'll be sharing some of things I love to draw. Illustrating fiction in black and white is the greatest happiness. Because dress it up all you like and the deliciousness of colour notwithstanding, it's the line that underpins it all, the heart and the bones of everything. Today: children. Lots of illustrators...
After this wretched winter, too. Nothing says spring like a hare on a bike ride - and even if you can't see inside you just know there's egg and cress sandwiches on board.
Out now in paperback - in sunset-orange foil and it is SHINY! [video width="720" height="720" m4v="https://claras.me/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IMG_3606.m4v"][/video] Although people who know me might suspect that for my orange-y accents... I probably prefer Wotsits.
From Dotty Detective The Birthday Surprise: We don't know when McClusky's birthday is, because he's a rescue dog, so each year he has THREE birthday parties diabetes (just in case he didn't have enough special celebrations before he became part of our family). He must have been a very sweet puppy.
Put on your party hats – Dot and the gang are back with a brand new story! Dot is hugely excited about her birthday (although not half as excited as their teacher Mr Dickens is about HIS). There are present lists to write, invitations to make… But there’s a new boy in class, and...
In 2017 Mary Plain returned in style! You can read more about her journey – and mine – here. Four books were published (looking so smart and beautiful - Egmont really did us proud!), meringues were eaten, rosettes were worn. Mary made new friends (who did a tremendous job at drawing her...
Instead of banging on about what I did this year, I’m looking back to what we did. This was without doubt the absolute highlight, and has filled me with a toasty-warm feeling of pride and optimism ever since. In the weeks that followed the Grenfell Tower fire in June, I heard about the work...
Happy Publication Day, Mary! So this day has arrived at last. Mostly Mary and All Mary have put on their best rosettes and stepped out into the world. Egmont UK have done us proud. These books are all I could have wished for. Meringue, anybody? Take a bow, Miss Mary Plain -...
Mary's picture writing Mary has many ways to unequivocally get her message across, but none quite so charming as her picture writing. Sometimes it's easy to decipher, sometimes a little head-scratching is called for. In my family we have always sent messages to each other in a Mary style. Why not have a go? Tomorrow,...
tiny bears! Here is Mary in action, and in every imaginable mood. A busy bear. You might be surprised to know that each individual image is barely bigger than my fingernail. You won't be surprised to hear how often I've wondered if I could have this made into fabric, so I could sew myself a...
bringing Mary to life on the page With just a week to go until publication by Egmont UK of Mostly Mary and All Mary, I'll be posting a special little something every day to celebrate. We will go behind the scenes for sneak previews and never-seen-before drawings. We will get to know Mary, orphan bear cub from...
published today! Decorated with shiny silver dots, like little moons! In this third book in the Dotty Detective series, best pals Dot and Beans are on a school trip to Adventure Camp. There are zip wires and moonlight walks and marshmallows to toast by the campfire... but OH NO there are mysterious, mischievous goings-on in pursuit...
out today! Gosh I haven't been busy with this blog for the longest time... like a Reliant Robin sitting on the drive under it's cosy winter car cover (one careful lady owner). But what a party to get back into the driving seat for - Publication Day for Mango and Bambang: Tiny Tapir Trouble,...
doodling! Are you a compulsive doodler? I don’t mean the kind of informal drawing that artists sometimes call doodles. That’s lightweight. I mean the almost unconscious wiggles, swirls and dots on the back of an envelope while you're on the phone; filling in alternate squares on grid paper to make a checky tiled effect....
