New Paper Engineer Joins PP!

We are delighted to announce that PP artist Agnese Baruzzi is now also one of our featured Paper Engineers! Take a look at her wonderful paper engineering skills here!

Let The Games Begin!

With the start of the Olympics with the Opening Ceremony tonight, I'm celebrating with a handful of limited edition Team GB M&Ms! Nom nom nom! Go Team GB!

Olympic Torch Runs Past Plum Pudding!

We had the real pleasure of seeing the Olympic Torch run past Plum Pudding today! The atmosphere was electric! What a fab moment to be able to share! Go team GB!

One Of My Favourite Things...

...is seeing our illustrators' books in shop windows! This week I have walked past these beauties! Enjoy!

Five Cheeky Monkeys: Debbie Tarbett

Muddle Fairyland: Erica Jane Waters

Hocus Pocus: Helen Prole

Plum Pudding Illustratour 2012 Competition Runners Up

Congratulations to our 5 runners up, selected from over 60 entries! Well done! Check out their gorgeous submissions below!

Marta Alvarez

Laura Catalan

Paula Alenda

Yolande Mosquera

Ana Campos

Kate Pankhurst Featured In The Bookseller!

PP artist Kate Pankhurst's wonderful new series with Orion books, Mariella Mystery, has been featured in the Bookseller today! We have high hopes for Mariella here at PP and are delighted to see this series find it's perfect home at Orion, where we know Kate will be well looked after. Congratulations Kate!

Read the article in The Bookseller here!

Today's Illustrated Interview... Alison Brown

Here at PP we wanted to be able to share with you more of an insight into the wonderful world of being an illustrator and periodically will be bringing you our Illustrated Interviews, each featuring a Q&A session with a different PP artist. Today's Illustrated Interview comes from the fabulously talented Alison Brown!

Where do you live/work? 

I live in Leeds  and work from home.    

What do you love about working/living there?  

I like the diversity of Leeds, but also the traditional side of Yorkshire. Where else could you go to a country fair, see a handbag full of Yorkies in the W. I. baking tent and watch a ferret contest?

What don't you like?

It's much too far from the sea!

What do you love most about being an illustrator? 
Creating characters - whether I'm starting from scratch or they already exist in a text, I love the process of drawing and redrawing them until they feel really familiar, so I know exactly how they will react when they can't open a tin of beans or are faced with an angry bear.

How do you work?

I do lots of drawing. I try to use a range of different tools but I have to admit I'm addicted to my mechanical pencil. At the next stage, I use whatever materials suit the subject. At the moment I'm working in acrylic, gouache and coloured pencil, and I also use a computer. I try to draw from life regularly and experiment with new materials.

What's the hardest part of your job? 

Working alone can be difficult, as it can be hard to judge my work, and there are times when I really need a second opinion. Fortunately for me, I now have Mark and Hannah's honest feedback and great enthusiasm to keep me going! 

Also, while I like the flexibility of setting my own timetable, sometimes I miss having job with a going-home time!

What/who inspires you? 

I get a lot of inspiration from my family and from everyday things around me. Recently, I saw a rat making off along a train platform with a whole baguette - he'll probably appear as a character in a story one day!  I really enjoy documentary photography because it lets you witness those surprising or funny moments that someone, somewhere else, has experienced. 

There are so many illustrators from the past and present that inspire me, and something I find really exciting is seeing their original artwork. Seven Stories in Newcastle is a magical place, where you can see whole bodies of work by some of the best children's writers and illustrators. Being in a gallery with all of John Burningham's or Anthony Browne's artwork on the walls, complete with bits rubbed out, painted over and flaking off, is like hearing your favourite music live!

What do you like to do when you're not illustrating? 

My favourite things are spending time with my family (on a beach if possible!), going to galleries, exhibitions and films, and reading. I also like singing, it's the best stress-buster I know.

How did you get into illustration? 

Growing up, I read lots of cartoon books and comics. I used to copy them, and I think they taught me a lot about how expressive and subtle a very simple drawing can be. I studied fine art at college, and then worked as a graphic designer, before becoming a full-time illustrator.

Any tips for aspiring illustrators? 

Learn to love hands and feet - sometimes it's tempting to stuff them in pockets / under tables / behind bushes, but they convey all kinds of emotions that sometimes faces just won't reveal!

What's your ultimate dream? 

Apart from living beside the sea, one thing I would love to do is create some characters for animation. But at the moment I'm very happy to be working on my first picture book, and hope there will be many more to follow. And my son Evan would like to add that if Matt Smith could read it on Cbeebies bedtime stories, that would be awesome...

Le Freak, C'est Chic!

After an unfortunate incident with his previous pair of glasses and a train whilst in Spain for Illustratour, Mark nipped into a Spanish shop and picked up these beauties! Style personified! If any of you wonderfully talented artists fancy trying your hand at a portrait of Mark in his new glasses and emailing me over a jpeg by August 31st 2012, I'll feature them on the blog and send chocolates to the winner! 

Plum Pudding Illustratour Competition Winner 2012!

Mark has just returned from the Ilustratour conference in Spain where he had been invited to talk to students about the industry. As you'll know from our last post, it's the second visit in as many years, but this year was special in that it launched the Plum Pudding Illustration prize! The cash reward was accompanied by the offer of portfolio advice and possibly representation.

There were over 60 entries that were shortlisted to 6. The winner was the fabulous Tamara Anegon with this sweet illustration produced in response to a short passage of text. Well done to Tamara who we have high hopes for!

Plum Pudding In Force At Illustratour 2012!

By popular demand, once again Mark has been asked to give a talk on behalf of Plum Pudding and participate in an illustration masterclass at international illustration and picture book event Illustratour in Valladolid, Spain. This year Plum Pudding are offering a competition to those artists attending with a grand prize of one to one extensive portfolio development with the agency and 300 Euros! Crumbs! Click here to check out more!

Congratulations Emily!

Our very own Emily Golden's picture book 'The Loon on the Moon', published by Scholastic, has won the prestigious Dundee Picture Book Prize 2012! Congratulations Emily! We're so thrilled for you! As if that wasn't enough, it was also nominated for the Scottish Book Awards - have a look at the pics below to see Emily at this fantastic event. Well done Emily!

PP Paper Engineers!

We are delighted to be able to showcase the fabulous talents of paper engineers Claire Vincent, Martin Taylor and Glen Coleman, all of whom offer wealth of experience and talent! Check out some of their remarkable works below and don't hesitate to drop us a mail at letterbox@plumpuddingillustration.com for any of your paper engineering needs!