My Nana Knits Cats

For this current project I have chosen the Macmillan Childrens Book Competition. I have to write a 32 page, origional children's story and illustrate it.

I'm really excited about this one! Had quite a few ideas for a story but they all felt a bit obvious. I wanted to do something compleatly different that (as far as I know) nobody else has done!

My story is called "My Nana Knits Cats". The story is told by the eldest of 3 siblings and is about them going to visit their nana. She isn't just any old nana, their nana can knit cats that come to life!

This story is based on an old photo of my nana :)

...My Nana Knits Cats...

(First draft)

My brother, my sister and I love going to visit our Nana.
Most nanas knit hats, jumpers, scarves, gloves and socks…
My nana knits cats!

All kinds of cats!
Big cats, small cats, short cats, tall cats, fat cats, thin cats, spotty cats, stripy cats, fluffy cats and scruffy cats
Cats all the colours of the rainbow!
Blue cats, red cats, yellow cats, green cats, purple cats and pink cats!

Knitted cats like to eat art and craft materials instead of cat food. Nana makes them lots of lovely things like button cake, glitter buns and bead pies. Knitted cats don‘t drink milk or cream, instead they drink fabric softener. Knitted cats also like to chase gloves round the house instead of mice.

Like normal cats, knitted cats need to be kept clean. Nana bundles them all up into different piles and puts them into the washing machine. Sometimes a naughty red knitted cat will jump in with the white and cream knitted cats and they all come out pink!

One time nana accidentally washed the cats a bit too hot and they all shrank and came out as kittens. Nana calls them mittens.

Inside the washing machine all the knitted cats love swimming around and chasing all the little socks like fish.

In summer nana hangs the knitted cats up on the washing line to dry. The knitted cats love the warm summer breeze. They feel like they can fly.

Sometimes my brother, sister and I will go an visit nana and her knitted cats. The cats keep us warm when we go out and play in winter. (Cats acting like scarves and hats)

One time my brother accidentally unravelled into a very long piece of wool. Nana gathered up all the wool and re-knitted the cat as quick as a flash.

All the knitted cats like to sleep on the floor in a big messy pile but nana likes to put them into order and place them into their beds (clothing draws) each night while they sleep.

When my brother, my sister an I sleep over at our nana’s house the knitted cats like to pretend to be our pillows. They are very comfy and their purring helps us sleep.
My brother, my sister and I love going to visit our nana!

384 words

Anna Violet

On tuesday the 18th of Jan we had a visit from some past graduates. It was really helpful and interesting to speak with people who understand the course and have been sucessful after graduation. One illustrator's work in particular really stuck with me. Mainly because she uses inks and watercolours like myself but in a much more effective way. I also liked the fact that she is illustrating for childrens books which is what I hope to do when I graduate.

I really love the following 3images because of the use of textures and ink washes. I also love the bold colours and the way each character has a distinctive personality.

http://www.annaviolet.co.uk/anna/home.html

Blast from the past!

My mother and I were rooting though some old boxes and found some of my old school drawing books from when I was 5-6years old!
I wish I could still draw with this much freedom! I was clearly a genius! :D
I'm not going to interpret the images for you...

The text is mistaken... This is not "christmas holly". This is in fact, a hord of vicious branch lizards! They have red eyes, sharp claws and attatch themselves to tress for camourflage.

These lovely creatures are called Lwos. They are like owls but have both their wings on one side and have spaghetti for legs. They live in lovely nests and eat dead mice and birds as you can see in the area I have circled for you :)

This is a Chocodile. Very similar to a crocodile except it can move much quicker due to it's longer legs. It wags it's tail like a dog and is always smiling.

These are flower trees. They have big green trunks and tiny flowers on top. Flower trees last longer than normal flowers because they are much bigger. Flower trees are also ugly...

This is what the planet earth looks like during summer from space. There are lots of flowers in summer, hence all the colour.

These are robins. But they are smarter than average robins. They know that by having wheels for feet they can move much faster on the ground. This means they can scoot around and eat up all the worms befor the stupid robins!

This is a very accurate drawing of myself when I was 6. I had very short arms back then and sadly one of my feet grew faster than the other. I evened out eventually. I also had claws...

Hope this gave you all a giggle :P

I'm actually intending on using some of these images as inspiration for future work. Want to bring some of these gems back to life!

Little Me?

Been wanting to design a little cartoon version of myself for a while now. This is where I'm up to so far :)
Cartoon anatomy lessons please? Anyone?

Hannah Stouffer

http://www.hannahstouffer.com/home.html

Came across her work by accident whilst surfing the internets :)
I love some of her work but then hate others. I prefer the more traditional looking pieces of work to the overly digital ones. In particular I like her work that usues inks and dripped paint for added texture. also love her line work and detailed patterns.

Karolin Schnoor

http://www.karolinschnoor.com/index.html

Recently saw this illustrators work on Megan Thomas' blog and loved her work. In particular I love the landscapes (need to learn to draw landscapes myself).
The textures are also lovely and the colours in her colour work. I like the heart shape image below because it appeals to my love of swarms :)

Visual Inspiration

Some more examples of images that I love and draw inspiration from....

All were either found on Deviantart.com or Etsy.com.