The Great Explorer Book Launch

I am delighted to announce the launch of my brand new picture book 'The Great Explorer'.

When: Saturday 4th of February

Time: 2-6pm

Where: The Central Hotel, Exchequer Street, Dublin.

I will be signing copies of the book and we will have teas and coffees and treats for the kiddies so please do drop in and say hello if you are in town.

The Great Explorer Trailer

My New Picture Book 'The Great Explorer' will be available in the shops on the 2nd of Feb. 

I'll post here during the week with the location for the launch which is taking place in Dublin on the 4th of Feb. 

 Here's a very dramatic movie-type-trailer I made for it!Watch it in HD looks much nicer.

Alphabeast app is go!

 

So excited to announce that our iPad Alphabeast app is now available on iTunes! Thanks so much to everyone who helped make this happen through fundit.ie. 

 The app was created by myself, James Kelleher and the brother Simon Judge and features all new illustrations from the world of the Beast. 

It's available for iPad at the moment but we are currently working on the iPhone and Android versions which should be available in January. Visit iTunes and search for Alphabeast to download.

The Lonely Beast Gift Set

Looking for a (reasonably priced) gift for a loved one? Well look no further! The Lonely Beast Christmas Gift Set now available on my shop with free shipping for €20. The set includes signed Lonely Beast book and choice of two signed mini prints. Free shipping too!

What's included:

A signed copy of The Lonely Beast book + a choice of two signed prints (28x24cm - same size as the book) printed on nice 350gsm textured paper.

Simply choose two from the three of the prints by indicating your choices as well as an inscription for your book and they will be winging it's way to you right away!

VISIT THE SHOP BY CLICKING HERE TO PURCHASE

 

Sharks!

 

The lovely book 100 Facts About Sharks by David O'Doherty, Claudia O'Doherty, Mike Ahern has recently been published and I was honoured to have been asked to supply artwork for two of it's 'facts' (see above).

If you haven't picked up a copy yet I urge you to purchase it soon! It may save your life one day. As well as the brilliant 100 Facts About Pandas.

Illustration course!

I'm delighted to announce a new illustration course that I have been invited to lecture at in Giddy Studios!
After the great success of the last courses and all the great work produced, Giddy Studios are opening their doors again to another intensive four weeks of illustration madness.

If the last course and the work that was produced is anything to go by then I cannot wait to meet our future students. It was an honour to be involved with such a talented bunch.

The course is great way to meet like-minded people and walk away with several bodies of new work.

Details for this seasons are as follows:

The Lonely Beast US edition

I just received some copies of the full HD Hardback version of the US edition of The Lonely Beast from the lovely folk in Andersen Press. With fancy dust jacket and everything! It's amazing to see it in hardback after getting used to the soft cover. I guess it's usually the other way round.

Endless Summer Campaign

 

 During the course of the Summer I worked on this great campaign with the lovely folks in Cawley Nea for Carphone Warehouse. They didn't want a dreary 'Back to School' campaign (I always hated seeing those signs during school holidays, invariably in July!) so the concept was to capture all of the fun of the Summer holidays and keep it going into the Autumn. The illustrations are based on doodles from the back of copy books, I still have a pile of mine and went to them for reference!

I will be doing live versions of the drawings on big canvases in the Carphone Warehouse stores in Galway, Limerick and Cork (starting tomorrow in Galway).

Click the Read More link below to see some of the places the artwork ended up...

Amongst Inspiration

I was honoured to be asked to be the first contributor to James Coopers lovely Amongst Inspiration shorts that he has just started producing. Thanks James!

From James: 'As an Australian creative based in Dublin, I have met & been inspired by a number of talented Dublin creatives working across all disciplines in Ireland's capital.'

Alphabeast App!

Alphabeast from Pilcrow on Vimeo.

Very excited to announce a great new project I am working on with Simon Judge and James Kelleher. We want to bring the world of The Lonely Beast to life on the iPad and iPhone as an interactive A-B-C app for kids called Alphabeast. I will be creating 26 all-new scenes featuring the beast and his friends so that kids can learn the alphabet, discover new words and have heaps of fun all at the same time. watch the video below to get an idea of what we are up to.

We need your help to do it on the youfundit site!! Your contribution will go towards the production and development costs of making sure the Beast finds a happy home on the app store. There are lots of great rewards for each contribution. You can read more about it here.

ESB Electric Picnic illustrations

If you're in Electric Picnic over the weekend keep an eye out for the Sparkhead illustrations etc that I did for ESB with the guys in IIBBDO. There's a big recharging area with swings, seesaws and running wheels!

The Great Explorer Picture book

 

My second picture book 'The Great Explorer' is finally finished and winging it's way to the printers! It will be published on 2nd February 2012 by Andersen Press and is now available for pre-order on Amazon. This is the cover!

 'The Great Explorer' tells the story of a young boy named Tom, whose Dad is a famous explorer. His Dad goes missing in the North Pole so Tom decides that he must go and find him and sets out on a perilous journey across Oceans, snow and ice, braving dizzying heights in a hot air balloon and helicopter. He also crosses the path of some scary large animals!

For my second book I wanted to make a fast paced rollicking adventure so I arrived at Tom as the main character to battle the elements. I am a huge fan of the great arctic explorers like Shackleton and Scott and of all the astounding feats of bravery they achieved at the turn of the century but the character that I hold dearest to me is of course the great Tom Crean. I have a mild obsession with him, as do many Irish people, so this story is a tip of the hat to the great man. My story is set in the North Pole as opposed to the South Pole, mainly because the animals are better :-)

I'll post more images and info from the story closer to the release date of the book! Also I'll post here about the launch for it which will be some time in February.

The Beast at Edinburgh Book Festival

 

Very excited to be doing some book readings at the Edinburgh book festival tomorrow afternoon. Do drop in if you're in the vicinity! Click here for info.

Any recommendations for shows on over the weekend?

The Lonely Beast in New York Times

I was delighted and very surprised to have The Lonely Beast included in the New York Times Sunday Book Review in last Sunday's book review section ahead of its release on September 1st in the U.S. Hooray!

You can read the review here.

Seasonal Skills in The irish Times

This is the first of a series of fun illustrations I'll be working on over the course of the Summer with writer Conor Goodman and will be published every Thursday in the Irish Times. You can see this one in todays paper. I'll post them here as they are published.