Heidi

These illustrations have taken a little longer than I hoped due to a few issues with my computer last week. But thats all sorted now and the Heidi inspired series in now finished.

I've created a set of six illustrations, including 2 book cover designs, all inspired by the scenery and characters in the story of Heidi:

Next up on my list of illustrations to finish off is The Language of Flowers series. Hopefully I'll get those finished and share them here some time next week.

Uppercase

Last year I was contacted by Lisa from Uppercase Box about designing a product for her YA book themed monthly subscription box. I had lots of fun designing an exclusive colouring book inspired by six children's classics:

Peter Pan

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The Wizard of Oz

The Secret Garden

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

Below is a small selection of the illustrations I created for it, and some Instagram snaps from the subscribers that received their boxes last week!

(Photos by @books_n_dragons @vi3tbabe @_myfictionalworld @dawnnikolpl)

Uppercase is a great monthly subscription service based around young adult readers. Each month subscribers get a brand new book, an author's signature (either a bookplate or in the book itself!), and several bookish items (some of which are exclusive!)

Unfortunately Lisa doesn't ship to the UK at the moment, but if you're based in the US or Canada then I definitely recommend signing up! 

New Illustration: Flowers in the Attic

"It is so appropriate to colour hope yellow, like the sun we seldom saw. And as I begin to copy from the old memorandum journals that I kept for so long, a title comes as if inspired. 'Open the Window and Stand in the Sunshine.' Yet, I hesitate to name our story that. For I think of us more as flowers in the attic.'

- V.C. Andrews, Flowers in the Attic

Hello!

Today I have another new illustration to share. (If you've visited my new website you might have already seen it!)

Recently I finished reading Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. I'd previously watched the films and enjoyed the stories but I felt they rushed through it a bit so I was intrigued to try the books and discover the full story. I've only read the first one so far, and I'd definitely recommend it. The writing style takes some getting used to as its a bit long-winded, but the story itself is great (if a little dark in places!).

I want to try and incorporate my reading with my drawing more often, and create illustrations based on the books I read, starting with this one based on the characters from Flowers in the Attic.

Throughout the book it is mentioned how the children were previously referred to as the Dresden Dolls for their "perfect" appearance, but now they've been abandoned in the attic like discarded toys. This inspired me to draw the characters as dolls rather than humans, and to draw them from behind so that they're faceless. I've also used a muted pastel colour palette to represent their life without sunshine, and avoided the colour yellow as they "never coloured even one of our paper flowers yellow" because yellow represented hope, of which they had none (I did say the story was quite dark!).

Here's a few work in progress shots and close-ups from the illustration:

I've started to re-design the layout of this a little in order to create a design for a book cover, which I may share on here soon too.

In complete contrast I'm now reading Alice in Wonderland and plan on doing a mini project based on that very soon.

On my Bookshelf: January '15

I've been putting a lot of time into designing the cards this month, so I've haven't read as much as I'd like, but I've definitely enjoyed everything I did read!

Here's my recap from January:

1. Grow Your Handmade Business - Kari Chapin

I started the month with something a little different in the form of a non-fiction creative business book. This book was full of some great information and got me very inspired to get to work on improving my little business. And my book-keeping is now all in order thanks to the advice in here! I definitely recommend this to anyone running a small business.

2. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

As with The Fault in Our Stars, I was a little late to the party with this one as I know everyone was loving it last year. Just before I started reading again, I went to see this at the cinema and loved it. And of course I enjoyed the book even more! This kept me gripped all the way through (despite knowing the ending!) and I read it in a few short sittings. Needless to say I definitely recommend it, whether you've seen the film or not.

3. The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh

This one was leant to me by my cousins at Christmas. I read this straight after Gone Girl so i was a little worried I might find it boring in comparison, and the beginning did feel a little slow. But once I got in to it I really enjoyed it, and finished it in a day. When my cousins leant it to me they said it would make me want to be a florist, and I couldn't agree more! Its full of some beautiful descriptions of flowers, their meanings (there's even a dictionary of them at the back) and the work of a florist (the images of the flowers markets in my head are just lovely!). The story itself is very emotional and the characters are very strong. The words on the front of the book sum up the story beautifully: "Anyone can grow into something beautiful".

4. Dark Places - Gillian Flynn

After reading Gone Girl I had to give another of Gillian Flynn's books a go. I finished this one last night and have to say I'm impressed. The way it's written is very clever, and small things at the beginning of the book that seem irrelevant at the time all come together at the end to tell the story. Some chapters are written in first person in the current day, and others are written in third person about other characters at the time of 'the incident,  which really adds to the drama and pace of the story. I definitely recommend this. I also just found out this one is being made in to a film as well! I have a few more books waiting on my bookshelf, but once I've got through those I'll be buying Gillian Flynn's other book, Sharp Objects.

On my Bookshelf: December '14

For my birthday last year I was given the book of Our Zoo by June Mottershead (after I had enjoyed the BBC Drama version). I hadn't read a book for (embarrassingly) a couple of years before that, but once I got started I read the whole book in two afternoons.  After that I was hooked on reading again, and went online to order myself three more books.

Here's a little summary of what I read in December '14:

1. Our Zoo - June Mottershead

As I already mentioned, this was the first book I read for a long time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Its a sweet story and its filled with one of my favourite things: animals! This is definitely not a very dramatic story, but its beautiful written and has lots of wonderful descriptions of the animals and the zoo.

2. Before We Met- Lucie Whitehouse

In contrast to the previous book, Before We Met is much more dramatic. I bought this one as I'd just been to see Gone Girl at the cinema (I haven't read it yet but its next on my list!) and loved it, and the description for this one said it was prefect for Gone Girl fans. Personally I didn't find that much similarity between the two story-lines, however it is certainly very gripping, and kept me intrigued all the way through. The story has a few interesting twists and turns, and the ending was pleasantly unexpected. 

3. The Fault in our Stars - John Green

This has been by far my favourite read so far, I barely put it down and had finished it in one long afternoon! This is one of those stories that makes you laugh and cry at the same time, and the characters pull you in al the way through. 

On a side note, I mentioned to Jamie several times about how much I enjoyed this story (he arrived home just as I finished it and I rambled on for quite a while!) and so he bought me the DVD of the film for Christmas. As well all know film adaptions of books aren't always the best, but this one was very pleasing. The characters and scenery are exactly as I pictured them, and it too managed to make me cry and laugh at the same time! I definitely recommend both the film and the book.

4. The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer

This one was very different from anything I've read before (admittedly I haven't read much for a long time). Its written from the perspective of a character slipping into mental illness, so the style of writing is very unique. The fonts change throughout out the book, as Matthew moves between his own home, where he uses a typewriter, and the hospital, where he uses a computer. There are letters and drawings dotted amongst the pages and the story is written in an unconventional order. A book about mental illness may not sound too appealing but this is a lovely, creatively written story about a very intriguing character, I definitely recommend it.

I also read An abundance of Katherines by John Green, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. As you can probably guess, I purchased these two after reading The Fault in Our Stars. These two are both enjoyable and have some great strong characters, but not quite as interesting or emotional as The Fault in Our Stars.

I have several books on my shelves waiting for me to read them this month, including Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, and Wonder by R J Palacio. At the moment I'm reading Grow Your Handmade Business by Kari Chapin (and very much enjoying it), but as soon as thats finished I'll be making a start on Gone Girl.

What books have you enjoyed recently?

Any suggestions for me?