Sorry Everyone!

Apologies for the radio silence for about….wow….a year! I've found I'm updating my Facebook page much more regularly at the moment so if you're still reading feel free to pop over to Mark A Chambers for constant updates, photos and random ramblings :)

Toodlepip!

Bear With Me

Right, firstly, apologies again for the radio silence regarding my blog. I've been silly busy and I'm finding myself updating my Twitter and my Facebook fan page so much that this gets left behind a little bit *slaps wrist*. Still it's my turn with the 'Bear With Me' book this week so I have to post something about it as it's such a fab-tastic project to be involved in and there's only a few more Illustrators to do their page before the big auction :)

Over on my fan page and my Twitter page I'll be posting all sorts from photos to sneak peeks etc.. so keep checking for little updates. As well as that I've obviously got to come up with a page myself *wets pants slightly*.....here's hoping the ideas flow into my head!!

Other than that what have I been doing recently. Well I've just been sent a nice new picture book from Oz to do, I'll be starting the roughs to a picture book written by the great Charlie Higson (The Fast Show, Young James Bond, all-round comedy legend!) I've done the new cover to the next Stinky & Jinks book and I've been working on a new style. So all in all very very busy, I also popped over to France for a much needed holiday and soaked up some sun along with some wine and cheese! :)


That is where I am at this very moment in time.........I'll try and post some Bear With Me stuff on here this week when I can but there'll be all sorts going up on my fan page, Twitter and Instagram account :)

Mark, over and out!!

Busy Couple of Months......

Well.....*takes deep breath*......how busy have I been recently!? Silly crazy busy is the answer. I've been doing all sorts of stuff for many different publishers and now that the Book Fairs are over it's time to relax (a bit) and look back on what I've been doing.

Below is a montage of a few pieces/styles I've been doing and as you can see, it's been pretty varied! I think I may have covered all bases, even having to draw a tiger on an operating table having its teeth extracted! No....I'm not making that up!!

So have a quick peek at the below image and apologies for the slight radio silence! My holiday is in a week and I am seriously looking forward to it!

Mark, over and out! :)

Great Week!

It's been just over a month or so since I last posted so apologies for the slight radio silence but it has been crazy silly busy in the studio! So much work on at the moment with the upcoming Book Fairs in Bologna and London that time just seems to fly....every year it's like this for book illustrators and every year it's always the same! :)

Do we complain? - Yes

Do we love it? Yes

Would we change it for anything else? - Not on your nelly! ;)

So what's new?! I'm currently working on all sorts and I'm trying my best not to get all my illustrations mixed up, wouldn't want pirates and dinosaurs in a Football crowd now would we? Although *starts to imagine one crazy scene*. This past week has been very cool however as in and out of scribbling tigers, doodling Hamsters and sketching giants, I had the FAB news that two of my books have been shortlisted for an award later in the year. 'Pigeon Poo', with Little Tiger, has been shortlisted in the Picture Book category for the Sheffield Children's Book Award and 'My Hamster is a Genius' in the Stinky & Jinks series has been shortlisted in the Shorter Novel category for the same award. Stinky & Pidge are up against some strong opposition so fingers crossed! If all else fails, Pidge can poop on the rest of the competition and Stinky can nibble a few toes!

I also took on a great sounding new picture book written by a leading actor/comedian whom I've always liked so that should be a lot of fun to do! Now to just find some time in the schedules to do some of my own personal portfolio work....*ponders 48 hour days* :)

I'm Back....!

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to all (only two weeks late) I'm back in the studio, back to the scribbles and back to the busy schedule already planned out for me. Apologies for the slight radio silence but I was ill with flu over the holiday period, so I've been getting back into things verrryyyyyy sloooowwwlllyyyy since 2013 hit our shores. In fact.....I spent most of the first week back in the studio looking and feeling like this :

Very grumpy and tired! However, we've had some snow so all is right in the world *beams a smile* and I've just been drawing some Sumatran tigers......what's not to like about that!? :)

Eric's Unusual Pets

#2

Eric had a bee......

Eric's Unusual Pets

#1

Eric had a hippo.....

Cap'n Chris P. Bacon

Well it's Monday and the start of another week of scribbling and doodling so............

...here's a pig dressed as a Pirate! :)

'Feline Baumgartner'

On Monday 14th October 2012, a man from Austria took a helium filled balloon up to a height of 128,000ft or 24 miles up into the earth's atmosphere. The door of the capsule opened, he stepped out, saluted to the world that stretched out before him and 'bunny hopped' off the platform *gulps*. His name is Felix Baumgartner, a guy who broke two records and pushed the boundaries of man. Any further up and I think he would have floated away, next stop, the International Space Station :)

So in recognition of this amazing feat here's my tribute to him.........

'Feline Baumgartner'

Boldly going where no cat has gone before. He was obviously feeling 'claws-trophobic' in the capsule but let's hope he doesn't 'paws' too long before jumping and that he doesn't reach 'hy-purrrr' space on the way down so he can live to tell the 'tail' *blows trombone and goes for a lie-down*

Well done Feline (and Felix) :)

A Character is Born......

So, I hear you all say....what goes into developing a character for a picture book?

You're sent the text, looks fab.

You're sent the dimensions....thanks, it's....book shaped!

Now you have to come up with the content and put some scribbles to those names and scenes.

This character is called 'Polly', from a recently published book called 'Pigeon Poo' by Little Tiger Press. A rollicking rhyming story that's all about a pigeon that poos all over a lovely town that Mrs Bucket would be proud of. Polly is one of the main characters that feels sorry for Pidge and comes up with a great idea for her new feathered friend.........but what is she going to look like?

The steps below show a few initial early sketches that I sent into LT.....

Some heads and faces worked, some didn't but after many phone calls, cups of tea (the odd slice of cake) and a few redraws we finally went along with........

...tad-ahhhhh *blows loud trumpet*...this one! We felt it had much more personality than some of the others and plenty of 'cute factor'! As you can see the artwork starts with a black line and is then gradually filled in with some funky textures and rendered to make her come alive. I particularly like her hair in this one and she looks pretty fashionable in her dazzling spotty tights and Dorothy Gale red shoes!

The final book looks like this with Polly sheltering from Pidge's splats and splots.....

.....the lesson here is, 'always leave the house with an umbrella, because you never know when a pigeon might poo on your head!' :)

This is my mess.....

Here is where I come up with all those scribbles, sketches, squiggles and doodles! There's even a lobster and a Mogwai! :)

*HEAR YE, HEAR YE*

I....am....back!

After two whole years away from updating it I thought I would jump back on the blog-bike and get peddling. I found myself updating my Facebook fan page more frequently so decided to have a break from the 'Blogosphere'. Still, there comes a time in an illustrators life where you have to carry on with something that you started way back in 2008 and bring it up to date......

So there will be :

New news,
New news about news,
New info about me &
New work......

....and to celebrate this momentous occasion, here's a monkey -      :)

BREAKING NEWS!!

'I haven't updated my blog for a while!' :)

Apologies for the lack of updates, but I have been so busy and I have found myself updating my facebook fan page more often which is currently acting as my alternative blog now. So for constant updates and news please pop on over to:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-A-Chambers/372677076828

Where you will find an abundance of info and work. :)

A month on.....

Hi folks, sorry I've been quiet but I've been very busy working on these commissions and also doing some promotion for the Bloomsbury project coming up. I will update properly very soon but in the meantime here's a link to a recent article on the BBC website:

http://bit.ly/c9PZEv

Hope you enjoy listening to it! :)

Great news...

So a month has past since my last post (sorry folks) but I have been very busy with lots of commissions. Will do a full update very soon but in the meantime here is some very exciting news involving London Zoo and the publisher Bloomsbury :

http://saahub.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/mark-chambers-chosen-for-zsl-and-bloomsbury-collaboration/

More piggys

Here are a few more piggys from the sketches I did the other day :)

Piggy!

Sat down and sketched out a few piggy character samples for my portfolio yesterday.... Here is what I came up with! :)

How the months fly by!

Well it's May already, the sun is trying to poke it's nose out of the clouds and work is busy busy busy! Managed to finish Frog Star for Tick Tock and they are all happy with the work. Cross Chick went down really well too so much so they have used it on the front cover of their 2010 trade catalogue :) I've been carrying on with the Froebel project sent over to me from Seoul in South Korea which is coming to the end now. Also sent a few samples to my agency this week including a brief from Muller to turn their 'Little Stars' characters into picture books and literally just this moment I have sent over a sample to Egmont for their Little Red Riding Hood story. Hope they all go down well with the clients :)

'Run Rabbit,Run' published!

Hi folks, it's only a few days until my next published book's out. I received my free copies this morning and it looks great! Click here to have a look! :)

Fan page up and running!

I've just created a fan page that will include updates and goings on in my world of illustration. So pop on over here to become a fan! :)

When I'm Bigger...

This morning I finally finished this book for Stone Arch across the pond in Minneapolis. Here's the cover :)

Bologna deadlines are eating my time up at the moment but I will try and post as many updates as possible for you good people!

Little Chick..!

The other book for Tick Tock is called 'Cross Chick'...here is the cover idea! Finished all the artwork for this book the other day and it went down a storm. So much so they are going to put it on the front and back cover of their trade catalogue for the upcoming Bologna Book Fair. How's about that then :)

Frog Star..!

The Tick Tock book called 'Frog Star' had it's cover designed today.....here it is! :)

Eco Apes over and out!

This project has been going on a few months now but the final piece of artwork was finished the other day! Eco Apes is a three book series that teaches children about recycling using three apes. Each has their own characteristic; Ragbag is the brainy one, Dot is the dim one and Bob....well he's a Baboon!! :) The front covers for the books (above) have turned out well and I'm sure the books will teach everyone that you can't grow a pizza tree or a fish and chip plant! :P

About time to update my blog...?

I think so! Sorry folks, been a bit quiet recently as I have been uber busy with loads of different projects. I've been drawing little chicks, frogs, crocodiles, rabbits, kids blowing bubbles, pandas making a mess, apes and private commissions for multi millionaires! Yes that really is the life of an illustrator! :)

Pirate House swap Approval!

So 'Pirate House Swap' has been approved by all working on it including the author....very pleased with the final product! Publication date to come......

Start Reading - Four book series!

This four book series finished just before Christmas will be out later this year.... pop over to Amazon and purchase some copies! :P

http://tinyurl.com/yjl6ja2

Five Little Monkeys

This is also out very soon...be sure to keep your eyes out for it! :)

http://tinyurl.com/yfthw2e

The Enormous Turnip

The Enormous Turnip is now out in hardback... take a look! :)

http://tinyurl.com/yjc56bo

Pirate House Swap

Well I've just sent off the last piece of artwork for this book.... big smiles all round as it's taken a while due to changes at the artwork stage etc... Just thought I'd post up the possible cover art (yet to be officially approved) so feast your eyes on the above! :)

Little Chick Chick

Posted above are a few sketches I did yesterday for TickTock who have commissioned Little Chick...feedback expected soon! :)

What have I been doing?

So what have I been doing since the clock struck 12 on January 1st 2010 (2010 already??)

Finished all the work on the four book series for Wayland which is part of Franklin Watts! Nits, hiccups, broken arms the lot were the make-up of those stories but they were pretty fun to do! Should be out later this year!

Pirate House Swap is still ongoing although I can see the light at the end of the tunnel that is THIS FRIDAY (15th Jan). Literally just this minute received an email from Random House saying we are almost there! :)

Vicki, my agent, has asked me to get cracking on some bear plus sidekick sketches for the upcoming greetings cards show at the NEC.

Ellie, my other publishing agent, has been in touch about 'Little Chick' commissioned by Tick Tock. Cracking story about this chick who tries to find out what he's good at! Need to revise the sketches I did for them before Chrissy.

Apart from that peeps not much else can be said about 2010 so far! Work is going ace with lots more coming up! It's still bloody freezing but the snow is going, finally! Everything is peachy! :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

From all here in my studio.........that's just me then :P

Nice bit of publicity!

This seemed to have escaped me, cheers folks! :) http://saahub.wordpress.com/page/2/

Pirate House Swap

A book I have recently finished illustrating is doing the rounds.... check out this link and go to page 6 :)

http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/childrens

Place of work...

Ok ok, you've all been wondering! Well here is where all the magic happens and the creative ideas spread forth from my brain! :) Oh....and a picture of the famous Larry who inhabits my studio with me....

SAA Hub

After my agency was asked to become a part of the SAA we now have our pages up and running on their site! This is great news for myself and my agency as it is literally what the name suggests., a 'hub' for all the top illustration talent around from the likes of Arena, Meiklejohn etc... Good work team! :) Click the link on the right to see our pages....

Rabbit and the Big, Red Scooter

Well it's been just over a year but this book has finally got some legs. As it's Frankfurt book Fair this week I was asked by Templar publishing who commissioned this piece to come up with some sample material to take away with them. Two sketches done, spread one and spread four, spread one went to final art and I was damn happy with what I produced bearing in mind the timescale I was given. Here is a sneaky peek at one of the vignettes... :)

Theo Paphitis Commission

Earlier this year I was asked to produce some artwork for 3 business entrepreneurs who were to open the Thinktank here in Lincoln. Shaa Wasmund got in touch the other day to see if I could come up with a similar piece of artwork for her friend and Dragon Theo Paphitis. Well here it is folks and I have to say, I was pretty pleased with it! Lot's of in-jokes going on in this piece. Hope he likes it as it is being presented to him tonight at a dinner with all the other Dragons present! Phew.... top stuff! :)

UPDATE....FINALLY!!

Right folks, it's only taken 2 months since my last post of a promised update and here we finally go! Mad mad couple of months but all brilliant...loads of great work being churned out! Firstly another book has been published. Big People, Little People written by Malachy Doyle is out and can be bought here :) http://tinyurl.com/ylq5lyt as well as Amazon

It's a great book about this little guy who goes off in search of the land of big folk! The story came across as a bit like the tale of Brobdingnag in Gullivers Travels... It was a fun book to do! :)

UPDATE.......!! Coming soon :)

Update coming soon folks...new work, new jobs! Been so busy recently with everything....phew!

King of Pop dies

Random non-illustration related event here but it's so massive I felt compelled to put it on here for posterity. Michael Joseph Jackson has died aged 50.... R.I.P Legend of the MTV generation!

The thinktank opening

Went to the official opening of the thinktank here in Lincoln last night, a great building for new businesses. Fantastic design as well with all 'mod-cons'. Nick Hewer of the Apprentice, Jason Bradbury off channel 5's the Gadget Show and all round gadget guru and Shaa Wasmund internet entrepreneur who has some serious names on her cv including sir James Dyson were the guest speakers! I was commissioned to come up with three pieces of artwork for them as gifts and here they are folks...I was pretty happy with them, and from the reaction they got so were the guests! Great stuff! :D

OOOOO ARRRRR....!

'Splice the main brace, pieces o' eight and drink ye a baltic swig'.. 'The Pirate Houseswap' artwork is finished! All there is to do now is the cover and any changes Random House want doing and it's there! Took a while to do but it will look great when published I have no doubts! Watch this space for publication date..... :o) Toodles....

London Book Fair - Booktrust Seminar

Recently went down to London to the LBF and had a seminar along with some photos taken with some other illustrators including Axel Scheffler (2nd from left back row), Julia Donaldson (3rd from left back row) The creative minds behind the Gruffalo and Room on the Broom naming but a few. Also actress and comedienne Francesca Martinez (4th from right back row) was the host and she was hilarious!! It was a good day and the kids had a ball.....so did we! :)

On TV!!

And another article that was written about the upcoming opening of the new Childrens Zoo at London Zoo. I will be going down to London again tomorrow as I have been invited to the Contractors opening of it. Should be great fun and I'll get a load of photos from it... So watch this space folks! :o)

Just learnt that I will be on TV on Thursday the 2nd April. BBC local news are covering this story about the London Zoo project I have just done. A video will be posted soon so stay tuned ;)

Update..!

Right well thought it was about time for another update. Image above is an article I was in back in February for a local magazine. All good promotion! :o)

London Zoo Project Update!

Well, this project was finally finished this week. Glad it's all been done and sent off, I'm really looking forward to seeing what it all looks like in the new Children's Zone when it opens on April 3rd...

Twitter

Yes I have succumbed to the growing giant that is Twitter. So tweet away people!

Here is my link : http://www.twitter.com/markAchambers

2009 first blog!

Well I have finally got round to updating this and adding a first post for 2009! What have I been up to? Well I'm currently painting up all the pages for the 'London Zoo' project, just finished the first one and it's looking really good! Finished the 3rd spread from 'Pirate House Swap' last week and sent it off, they are all very happy with that so onto the next one now. Need to crack on with 'Big People, Little People' and get sketching out the 'Space Pop up book' I have been asked to do. I'm on the radio tomorrow morning at silly o' clock but that should be fun and I have had a feature written for the 'Journal' magazine which is out now. Catch you soon for a new update! :o)

Christmas 2008

Well it's Christmas already and what a year it has been. I've just seen that the cover artwork for 'Hunky Monkey' and 'Adventures of the Aluminium Can' are online so all good there. Looking ahead to the New Year, 'Pirate House Swap' has gone ahead which is great news. London Zoo job has expanded beyond all recognition to include posters, cafe window illustrations and all sorts! 'Rabbit and the Big Red Scooter' is to take off soon as well so that will be roughed out then coloured up... Currently sketching out the Alphabet images for Ladybird and also trying to finish off the 'Weather book' for Tango so that should all be wrapped up pretty soon. I'll be back soon folks :o)

Mayor of Lincoln's Christmas card image

This is the image that Lincoln council asked me to come up with for the Mayor's annual Christmas card image, which will be sent nationwide as well as internationally!

Happy for Christmas everybody! :o)

Newspaper Article Nov08

This is an article in the local paper about the award I won back in October. Great stuff! :o)

Radio Show

I was asked to be a sofa guest for the local BBC radio station. Judy Theobald has the mid morning show and her producer asked if I could do a picture book style illustration of Judy. It went down very well with her because I made her look younger..... :o)

Nasen Award Certificate

Tango sent through to me the certificate I received on the night of the awards. So here it is.... :o)

Weekender Article

Article in the local paper about the awards that Ted and I won the other week. :o)

Nasen award winner!

Went to the annual Nasen awards at the Russell Hotel down in London on Thursday 16th October. Came back very happy after winning the Children's picture book category with 'Best Friends' that came out in February 08. Great fun book that's about a boy in a wheelchair and his friend going on adventures together!

The Terrace formal opening

The Terrace where my studio is based was formally opened last Wednesday with Wayne Hemingway OBE coming to make a small speech and declare it open. The Mayor of Lincoln was present too plus many other local governing officials and the local press. They asked me to produce two small pictures to be presented to them on the night so I came up with these. Picture book style images of them both.

Cafe Portico

The Cafe here at the Terrace has it's first day today and my artwork is all over the walls. As they are all for sale, hopefully loads will be bought! :o)

NASEN Award

Found out last week that one of my books, 'Best Friends' has been shortlisted for an award. Ceremony is in October so fingers crossed for that one :o)

Exhibition starts today!

Waterstones exhibition starts today and will be showing for a month. Should be a great little project to be part of.

Newspaper Article

This is an article about me and my work printed in the local paper. How I came to doing illustration for a living plus a few helpful tips on how to get started :oP

Waterstone's Exhibition

I was asked a few weeks ago to provide some work to be exhibited in the Waterstones here in Lincoln. Starts on the 4th August and goes on for a month. Some published work will be shown and some yet to be published work. Should be great fun! :o)

Templar Meeting "Rabbit and the Big Red Scooter"

Got back on Friday from a meeting with Templar down in Dorking with my agent. A picture book has been commissioned with them and is to be published around June 2009. It's called 'Rabbit and the Big Red Scooter' and is about a Rabbit that gets very jealous of a Hare that turns up in town one day. It's a great story and scribbles are going down now for it,looking to finish the book towards the end of January. The picture above was the sample that won the commission with Templar...Looking forward to getting stuck into this one! ;o)

Stinky Speller

This Illustration is a sample for a text I was sent last week. I took a passage about one of the two characters being a 'stinky speller'. Still to finalise the two characters for this title but the two rabbits are working pretty well.

Hedgepig

A sample Hedgehog I did just before the weekend for my portfolio. Animals seem to be going well at the moment so will probably sit down at some point and do a few more. I'm thinking about two rabbits for the book 'I'm Not' I was given last week. We shall see but keep checking back for new samples and how the books are going...!

Sandpit Kid

A new sample done in a slightly different style to what I have been working in recently. Really trying to intensify the look of my pictures for the high end trade picture books that my agent is targetting and I'm almost there! Keeping the elements that work well in the style I use plus using a few extra other techniques to 'beef' them up a bit. Doing Educational material most of the time gives you bad habits but it's all good :oP

Me and my Mammals :o)

New image with a little guy holding his pet animals!

Egmont pitch

Learnt yesterday that I managed to seal the Egmont pitch I had to do a sample for last week. Great news! Looking at a series of 5 books for this project, will be starting as soon as finalised deals have been made. Get in!!

Dozy Dave

New character I have come up with while doodling. Looking to develop my animals as these are working really well at the moment according to my agent. So 'Dozy Dave' has been created, this little monkey can't do much right and gets into trouble everywhere he goes!