Week 20 - David Roberts

We're in London for a third week and this time the book finds itself being doodled in by the great David Roberts.

David Roberts was born in Liverpool. He had many jobs including shelf stacker, egg fryer, hair washer, film extra and coffee-maker before finally realising his dream of becoming a children’s book illustrator when his first book ‘Frankie Stein’s Robot’ written by Roy Apps was published in 1998. This book was shortlisted for the 'Mother Goose Award' for emerging illustrators.

Since then he has illustrated works by some fantastic authors such as Philip Ardagh, Daren King, Julia Donaldson, Jacqueline Wilson, Tom Baker and Chris Priestley. David considers himself privileged and lucky to be doing a job he loves. His most recent works include ‘Jack and the Flum Flum Tree’ by Julia Donaldson, ‘The Dunderheads Behind Bars’ by Paul Fleischman and the classic book by Kenneth Grahame ‘The Wind in the Willows’.

David is also the creator of the ‘Dirty Bertie’ character about a little boy with bad habits such as picking his nose and trumping loudly!

David now lives in London. See David's images below of his studio and how he got on with his spread.

Thanks to David for a great week! To see more of David's great work check out his website. Now on to week 21, where the book will be making its way to the creaky cottage in Surrey to be with Sam McCullen. Until next week...

Week 19 - Jim Field

The bear remains another week in good old London Town as he spends his time with another animator and illustrator, Jim Field.

Jim is a lead driven, pencil pushing, 12 volt DC enhanced, 25 frames per second, illustrator and director of 2 headed dogs and hands with 3 fingers, caffeine filled, commission loving, led zeppelin fan. Amen.
His first picture book Cats Ahoy! written by Peter Bently won the Booktrust Roald Dahl-Funny Prize in 2011 and was nominated for the Kate Greenaway award. He is currently working on his third book with Peter Bently and MacMillan.

Jim lives in London with his three bikes and girlfriend.

So 19 down, 11 to go! Thanks to Jim for a superb spread! You can see more of Jim's work on his fab website and you can follow his cycling adventures on Twitter. And so the bear moves on again, but stays in London to see the brilliant David Roberts. Until next week!

Week 18 - Steven Lenton

The choccy eggs have well and truly been polished off so its back to reporting on how our travelling sketch book is doing. The book travels to London once again to visit animator & illustrator extraordinaire Steven Lenton.

Steven hails from Congleton in Cheshire and works from his studio in Soho, London. For years he has worked on numerous animated tv shows and advertisements but in 2010 decided to venture into the realm of children's books. He uses a mixture of pencil line and digital colour to create his characters and loves to draw dogs at every given opportunity. Steven's first board book was published last year (October 2012) called 'Five Christmas Penguins' and his first picture book 'Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam' will be published May 2013.  He is currently working on his first author/illustrator title and is very excited to be part of the 'Bear With Me' project.

 

Thanks to Steven for his great spread and not getting chocolate finger prints all over the book. To see more of Steven's illustrator and animation visit his brand new website. You can also follow his latest hi-jinxs on his blog and twitter page. The book stays in London to be with our next ace cat drawing illustrator, Jim Field. Until next week...