published in February 2012 by Brubaker Ford & Friends is a lyrical picturebook showing the phases of the moon and what different animals believe it is. The style for the book went through a number of iterations until I settled on a very painterly approach. The text is quite simple and poetic, taking stylistic cues from Haiku. Because the text is so sparse I felt it would be complemented by a rich textured technique to give the pages a viscous, dreamlike quality. The book is available from , as well as all other good book stores.

The Owl from keeps vigil over her eggs and the almost-full-moon, believing it is one of her hatch. Because the text was initially informed by the length and meter of Haiku, I looked Eastwards for inspiration. Hiroshige, Hokusai and others have influenced the composition of the pages. The medium is of course very different, but the idea is there… or at least I hope so.

The Lizzard from climbs a tree towards the Moon, which it thinks is a hanging fruit. I am pleased with the vibrancy of colours I achieved in this image, while still keeping a night-time feel.

The Kitten from laps at the Moon's reflection, mistaking it for a bowl of milk. Using an over-and-above angle is the only way this image could work, given the limitations on the placement of the moon. (On each page the moon appears in the top-right corner as the die-cuts gradually grow from page to page). The added bonus of the perspective view is that it breaks up the side-on aspect of most other pages.

The Giraffe from stretches it’s long neck towards the crescent moon, thinking it’s a leaf. The challenge for this composition is the gutter in the middle of the spread. In early sketches the neck crossed the center, but as the page folded it made the Giraffe look awkward. I think having him on one page and the moon on the opposite creates nice tension and distance between them.

The Mice family from twitch their noses at the cheese half-moon and sugar stars. This is quite a radical change of scale to the preceding images. I had to defocus the flowers and leaves in order not to distract from the foreground characters.

The Squirrels from squabble over the moon, which they mistake for a huge golden acorn. I hope I managed to give the animals some character. Most of the book is about stillness, so this spread feels quite dynamic in comparison. But there is nothing wrong in creating some drama out of conflict.

The final page of . The child falls asleep with his toy monkey. He is the only one who understands that the moon is the Moon and it means it’s time for bed. This was a tough illustration to get right because the style of the animals is not particularly realistic, while the child is more or less true to life.

"FORTY WINKS" is a cute bedtime story featuring forty adorable creatures called Winks. The idea behind the book is simplicity itself. In order to go to sleep (catch forty winks), you need to read the book and catch all forty Winks. The book was finished in dummy form, but unfortunately the project stalled. However I am slowly resurrecting it as an interractive iPad app.

“A Wink can be anything that you can think.” Some people have commented that this image reminds them of Dr.Seuss. Although I think I have a style all of my own, being compared to the great Theodor Seuss Geisel (his full name) is about the biggest compliment a children’s book author and illustrator can get.

Winks can even be robots! For some strange reason the robots I draw tend to wear Y-fronts. I have no idea why, but in the illustration I did for “Astronaughties” the character of the robot not only ‘wears’ Y-fronts, he is also called “Y-PANTS”!

This creature epitomizes what Winks are. After all the furry snake probably has forty eyes to wink with. Although I haven’t counted… The background is pretty jumpy too, achieved by smearing blobs of colour down the page.

“Little Parrot” is an interactive book for the iPad which is about half way through development. I expect it to be finished in time for spring 2012. As I am of an artistic mind set, knuckling down to learn programming to allow me to self publish interactive books, has proven quite a challenge. But I hope the result will be worth it.

The Little Parrot meets a variety of animals on his journey through the jungle. The animals respond to the users touch. The snake moves it’s head and flicks it’s tongue and hisses. In order to make the elements animateable (if that’s a word), the illustration has to be done on separate layers. The background has to be separated from each moveable object, like the parrot’s body, wings, etc.

The Bees fly out of their hive, buzz and follow the users touch on the screen. They fly in a swirling, swarming formation, which was tricky to achieve. The flowers and foliage in Little Parrot are heavily influenced by the work of Henri Rousseau, one of my favourite artists.

The bear snores and grumbles, and “zeez” float in the air. I quite like the expression on the little Parrot’s face I managed to achieve in this illustration. He looks suitably apprehensive of the possibility of the bear waking.

The Crocodile scene was the first I illustrated and programmed for this interactive book. The crocs’ jaws snap shut and the frogs croak, while the lilies gently float on the water. This is only a snapshot (pun intended) of the dynamic, animated scene full of movement and surprises.

Behind each bush and shrub hides a cat and when a user clicks on the screen a cat emerges and growls, making the little Parrot shiver and shake from fright. The Orange clump of grass in the middle of the illustration actually turns out to be a lion’s mane! Grrrr!

“Stella” is a project, which is still in development. It employs a simpler style of illustration with strong keylines and bold, colours. Although closer to my vector graphic work, I wanted the line to have a hand drawn, irregular weight and feel. The book is a little psychedelic and irreverent in subject matter. Look out for more from Stella in the .

An illustration for a retro space adventure series. I was aiming for a halftone pattern look of old toy boxes. “Astronaughties” as the name suggests are a gang of intrepid, slightly naughty, space explorers composed of three human children: Stella, Astro and Cosmo, their dog Spotnik, an alien called Zeep and robot Y-Pants.

This illustration is for a dark Christmas story about Santa learning of an existence of a factory/sweatshop where poor children are forced to make toys for rich children. A thinly veiled parable of the inequalities of East and West, the Haves and the Have Nots and the commercialization of holidays. From the vantage point of the factory chimney you can just make out Rudolf’s red nose in the bottom left corner.

Just a character I made up called “Noyin”. What is a Noyin? Well this is him. When you tell a child that they are being annoying, they hear “a Noyin”. As a result this is likely what they imagine you mean. For reasons unknown to me I have a strong penchant for characters wearing bowler hats and using umbrellas. Don’t ask me why, I didn’t grow up watching The Avengers.

This is a small detail of a competition entry piece to illustrate one of Julia Donaldson’s books. I didn’t win. But I still like my Gorilla and his curly chest hair.

Some cute vector animals for a series of tales based on the premises of Rudyard Kipling’s “Just So Stories”. An exercise in simplicity and the reduction of form to basic elements such as circles and semicircles.