Coming Next Tuesday

Accepting Orders.

Accepting Pre-Orders.

Accepting pre-orders for intense audio CDs for both stories that sound like this remarkable piece of vocal and musical art right here.

From Tuesday next week, I will begin accepting orders and pre-orders for both printed Bertie books and the CD audio books. Orders will mainly be done through Paypal but if you're *ahem* lucky enough to know me in person, you can always pay up front. Although I may still demand the postage and packaging price. I am a starving artist after all. £2 for an autograph? Oh go on, be a love.

So far, there are only 50 copies of the first book so be sure to grab 'em while they're hot! Books will not actually be hot, that would be dangerous, impractical and just downright silly.

Here's a quick breakdown of the prices!

Picture Book Price: £5.99

Picture Book with Audio CD: £9.99

P&P: £2.00

I can't supply the PayPal address currently as I will not be online for the next week. I am taking a week off to visit family in Scotland and while I'm able to communicate my email if need be, I'd rather be at home to start trading so I can really hit the ground running with the book orders. Although I might be minus a few copies of the book after my visit as there has been some interest on that end. So it might be nearer 40 copies left if I were to guess. Hotcakes, man. HOT. CAKES.

The hottest cakes.

Bertie Blue is happening, my lovelies. Just one more week.

One Week: Bertie Blue 'Bravest Pigeon' Copies and 'Paris' Pre-Orders

That's right folks, you heard it here first! We've finally got all the printing issues sorted for Bravest Pigeon and I am now able to start taking orders for the printed copies!

Now with added quote review from the famous
Amazon Reviewer... whoever that is.

Obligatory pigeon mask selfie with proof copy.

Not only that, but we also have audio books available, where a CD with full music and sound effects accompanies Bertie's adventures.

The price of the book alone is £5.99 and copies with the audio CD is £9.99. Postage and Packaging is £2.00.

If you need a little reminder of how the audio books will sound, the Bertie Blue trailer will give you an idea. I definitely recommend them, they add a lot of atmosphere and emotion to the stories.

But that's not all.

We are also now taking pre-orders for Bertie's next adventure, Bertie Blue in Paris! Prices are the same as above.

I'm not the bragging type but I'm happy with a lot of the work I did in here. This time I had to work to stay close to the source material in terms of famous Paris buildings and so on. But it came out looking all the better for it, I reckon. Certainly helped me focus on my backgrounds a lot more.

I'd share a few of my illustrations on here but then I'd be depriving you from hours of fun flicking through the book. So yeah, if you want to see them in their full glory, you should totally pre-order. Yep.

We also now have an official email address for Bertie Blue orders and information! Go on over to Bertieblueinfo@gmail.com and we'll be able to directly answer any questions you have about the books. This will also be our Paypal account for you to send your orders to.

On a slightly related note, I've ordered a lot of flyers in order to promote the books. They look a little something like this.

Once I have more illustrations ready for the rest of the books in Series One, I'm thinking of making a poster similar to the front of the flyer. Sound groovy? Let me know if that would interest any of you lovely people.

Anyway, I've already had a few lovely souls volunteer to hand out the flyers and I'm going around asking about to see if anyone else would be so kind. Let me know if you'd like to get your hands on some flyers and I'd be more than happy to hand some your way. I'm gonna ask Steve if I can slip one in with every book sent out.

So! To recap:

~Books: £5.99
~Books with Audio CD: £9.99
~Postage and Packaging: £2.00
~Bertie Blue in Paris available to Pre-Order NOW (prices are the same)
~Bertieblueinfo@gmail.com is for paypal orders and any questions you may have.


I'm very excited that I can finally share this with you guys! It's been a few months of getting everything sorted but now that we appear to have found a working system, we can really hit the ground running with the third book. Yep, there are many more in the series to come! I'll start working on it after the weekend though; still need to tie up a couple loose ends with these two first.

I'll say this about it though: the Geordies might like it.

I'll leave this entry with a huge thanks to everyone who has supported the series so far and to those who will continue to do so by buying the books. You're making a little freelancer very VERY happy.

Oh, one more thing, you might have noticed that paypal 'donate' button at the top there. Yeah, THAT is just if you want to throw a little something my way personally, not where to go to pay for the books. You all probably already knew that but better safe than sorry.

Crumbs Development: Comparison and 'The Dog Division'

"Yoohoo! Emma? Remember us? C'mooon, we're starvin' here!"

Ah, Crumbs. My poor, neglected brainchild. As I've said before, I've mainly been focusing on the Bertie Blue work so much that I've had to put Crumbs on standby for the time being. I honestly didn't expect to pick up work quite so soon after graduating but I actually started the job nearly two weeks before Crumbs went live. I'd built up a buffer before but wasn't able to add more to it and eventually in November the pages ran out, as did the time I had to work on more.

The worst of it was that I wasn't able to discuss much of the project until recently, making it look like I'd dumped the comic or given up on it for no reason. Which I assure you is NOT the case. In fact, I have many ideas for Crumbs which I want to get cracking with ASAP (I definitely need to revamp the site and make it easier to read) and as my illustration work continues, I simply need to find a way to juggle both pigeon related projects.

If anyone has some time management hints and tips, please feel free to share. That was never my forte. I get by but I want to get better.

For now, I have some Crumbs based concepts to share, although one of them is simply a re-do of a picture I did in my last year of uni. For anyone who has read or glanced at my old college blog, you might remember an autumn based image of Blue and Jay watching leaves fall. Out of curiosity, and because I hadn't managed to draw an autumn picture this year, I decided to redraw the piece and see if I've improved between now and then.

I have to admit, I quite like it. I have no idea why I give my pigeons such long necks. Blue may be stretching up in wonder to get a closer look at the leaves but I have no idea what Jay's excuse is. Maybe his head is trying to escape from his mutant fingerfeathers.

That aside though, I think I'm getting the hang of shading a little more and those leaves look a lot like... well, leaves. There's more of a cold autumn morning/evening feel to it, I think.
I dunno, maybe that's just me. Have a look at the comparison below and feel free to share your opinions.

Jay's characterisation in the pictures has changed as well. He was originally quite timid and had never set foot outside before, so the falling leaves made him a tad apprehensive. Now, he's wondering about leaf aerodynamics and their effectiveness in flight. Or something. Weirdo.

So yeah, that was fun. Perhaps I'll redraw the picture in a year or so. Or maybe redraw some other old abominations. Time permitting, obviously.

Oh, and here's a concept I've been tossing about in my head for some time now, rambly synopsis included.

Learning new tricks.

Crumbs: The Dog Division is a spin off collection of stories, revolving around the honorary dog Crumbs members, Tita, Snaps and Rocky, going into more detail with their backstories.

Snaps is an Irish Setter with severe attitude, anger and abandonment issues after her owner was no longer able to cope. Because of the misguided attention and lack of discipline her owner gave her, she actually sees herself as human and is furious over being abandoned by her 'mammy'. Her explosive temper could very easily lead to her downfall.

Rocky is a chocolate labrador who wants to become a guide dog for the blind, but due to the stereotypical nature of his breed, he is met with skepticism by trainers and fellow guide dogs alike. He is forced into becoming a hunting dog like his brothers but lacks the pent up energy and lack of focus they have. As well as the courage to stand up for himself.

Tita, a calm and level headed pug, has experience in aiding pigeons in need, as well as staying strong in the face of adversity. Her guidance will be vital in helping Snaps and Rocky work through their issues and achieve their goals, proving once and for all that old dogs can learn new tricks.

This would be a spin off of Crumbs as the three dogs feature quite prominently in the story, Tita in particular. Ideally, if there is enough interest, The Dog Division would one day be available in print for anyone interested in the dogs' backstories.

I'm a bit iffy on the colouring/designs currently but I'll play about with some more concepts and see what works. I just figured I'd share what I have at the moment.

However, I kind of need to get cracking with the main story before I put much further thought into this, y'know? I'm getting right to it. Just gotta step up on getting a routine sorted.

And, y'know, actually planning out the comic pages. Pretty important.

Thanks for reading, lovely people! I'll be back with more artwork/Bertie news soon.

Bertie Blue E-book Now Available!

Click on the cover to get to the e-book link

The first story is now available as an e-book! If this sounds like a thing that would interest you, get your bottoms over there and get it bought!

Once again, I'd appreciate it if you'd share the link and get the news spread as much as possible. The book will be going into print very soon and this story is the first of many planned.

Also while I'm here, thanks so much to everyone who has shared the blog entry and news of Bertie so far. You're wonderful kind people and your shares, reblogs, retweets and so on are helping mightily. Many much thanks to all of you!

Oh, and I'll totally sign your printed copy if you want me to.

Please keep sharing! You're all being a huge help!

PROJECT REVEAL: The Adventures of Bertie Blue

OK, here it is, folks. The big one.

The reason I haven't been able to work on Crumbs as much.

The super cool children's book series that keeps close to true wartime facts and ways of life 100 years ago.

And it has a pigeon. Which you guys kind of expect from me.

Allow me to present to you all...

A few months ago, my hairdresser David (who worked at the 'hip and happenin' The Studio salon in Cramlington... hey don't look at me like that, I really owe this guy!) told me about an author who is working on a series of children's books he wants to release into schools in time for the Centenary year. I sent him an email with some Crumbs concept art and the comic pages detailing the pigeons involvement in the war. He said my art style was what he was looking for to accompany the text and it basically took off from there.


The stories revolve around Bertie Blue and the Captain going through their daily lives in the trenches and in wartime, visiting other landmarks and exploring the historical and emotional aspects of the era.

The book cover at the top is the first story in the series, with more to follow. The stories will be available with an audio version in the future and there might be the possibility of some motion work. The priority is getting the books printed out and available.

I have been given permission to share the trailer featuring the motion work to give you all a general idea of what the stories are.

If you know anyone who would be interested or have any questions regarding the books, please get in contact with me. My details are in the 'contact' tab at the top.

And if you wouldn't mind, I'd highly appreciate you sharing this blog entry in any way you can, via word of mouth or social networking and so on. We're having a good experience working on this project and we'd love to be able to share the finished result with everyone.

Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy Bertie. He's a little cutie pie, ain't he?

Obligatory Introductory First Post

Welcome to the new place! Please excuse the mess, I'm still decorating.

I gotta tell ya, it's a bit like leaving student accommodation that was full of discarded pizza boxes and empty energy drink cans and moving into a modern minimalistic flat... that quickly became littered with discarded pizza boxes and empty energy drink cans. Hey, can't take the college out of the student.

Or rather, the self employed freelancer now.

Bit of a large jump, really. Still kind of hanging by my proverbial fingertips. Although that could just be the anxiety talking. Oh God, what have I done...

... SO YEAH, HI! Welcome to my brand spanking new professional artwork and progress blog, where I will be documenting my business and various creative projects from now on. I HAVE done a 'projects' and a 'portfolio' tab to join the rest of them at the top there but they're currently hidden at the moment. It's mainly because they involve a project that I'm going to go more in depth about tomorrow.

Specifically one involving this adorable little blighter.

And no, he has nothing to do with Crumbs.

All will be revealed.