Illustrated Children’s Book

You can download this PDF for free.

There’s no AI used in this and please note the copyright symbol.

There might be a few hard copies left on sale on my www.between6and16miles.co.uk website, where I sell art prints and illustrated fanzines. And then again, there might not.

I never dreamed about being a children’s book illustrator when I was young. I always wanted to draw things and produce art, but I was never specific (what 8 year old is?) about where that art might go or for whom it might be made. In general, I’m happier with adult books and vinyl albums and 12 inch art – after all, I buy records and books all the time, even now – but I can’t deny it was a very great pleasure creating paintings for a book aimed at captivating children and making an author’s ideas come to life.

The title alone – Whale In The Wood – gave me enough direction to begin to imagine what the illustrations might look like. I like to be literal when I can and woods and whales (and by extension forest animals and the sea) are things that I love to paint anyway. Nature is a never-ending treasure-trove of shapes and colours and form and any chance to paint or draw it is one I usually leap at. So, the whale and the woodland came quite quickly in the end (and by extension, the style followed, because once I had some basic paintings – some shapes and some colours and some layouts – I could use them as a springboard for the rest of the art).

I found quite quickly that I was incorporating bits of the woods and the estate from near where I live. I live in Sheffield and anyone from Sheffield – or familiar with it at any rate – may recognise the tower blocks I’ve added into the imagery. There’s a woodpecker in there too, which you can hear on our local park most years. I wanted to include the towerblocks because I’m from a council estate (one outside of Sheffield and South Yorkshire) and I feel quite strongly that there are more children in the UK who would recognise towerblocks than would recognise trees and plants and woodlands. For the avoidance of doubt, I don’t think that this is a good thing: nature is far preferable to concrete; however I think it’s important to not imply that only children who live near woods can be imaginative.

I created the layouts and managed the printing process too, which was interesting for me. I didn’t want the art or the book to look too smooth so I spent some time learning how to create and add texture to my work, which I’m glad I did because it’s a process I now use on nearly all of my art, whether it’s for record sleeves or reports or books.