Come and find me...

Hellooooo! I've been neglecting my blog in the midst of juggling projects...but I have been posting the odd thing to Facebook...Find and follow me here: 

https://www.facebook.com/ZoeWaring.Illustration/posts/1605709699705335:0

Xx

Spring has sprung!

Hello!
I haven't blogged for a little while, this is due to my brain being full of wedding and honeymoon plans - but I am now married to my silly side-kick and best friend Mr Menday! Yay!
Here are two of my fave pics from the day courtesy of http://ianweldon.com/

But that's not to say I haven't been busy working too...

Most excitingly, I've just started working on roughs for a top secret, dream picture book job... eek! More to follow...unless I burst with excitement! QUACK!

I've just finished a funny, rather unusual, but super cute commission for the French magazine Tralalire... this will publish in July's issue so I'll be able to share a snippit soon! http://www.tralalire-lemag.com/ Let's just say I can now draw cute fleas - who knew!

Another unusual, but very cool job I'm working on at the moment is for South Korean publisher, brbooks.co.kr - illustrating two books which work alongside smartphone apps.

So long story short, I can't really share much as yet...
but incase you missed these guys, here are some little panda's who were spotted dashing up the isles at the Bologna Children's Book Fair!
I think these guys need a story!

Cat and Dog

I have a picture book coming out and it has a publication date (hooray!) 1st July 2015 (eek!) It is called.... Cat and Dog. It's with Top That Publishing and is written by the lovely Helen Oswald. And I can finally show you a sneak peak! Remember this guy from early last year...well he's in there...

The book was illustrated in my more painterly, sketchy style - which was quite a change for me, but I really enjoyed getting my fingers covered in inks and wearing down my pencils!

I'm not going to spoil the plot, but let's just say these two friends have their ups...                                 

...and their downs!

I've obviously been raking around Google and although there isn't a picture, it is available for pre-order through Foyles;
http://www.foyles.co.uk

 I think this may be the cover... but watch this space! Exciting times!

Animal Adventures

Animal Adventures is a lovely board book series, that I recently illustrated for I am Bookworm. http://iamabookworm.co.uk/animal-adventures/

They follow the adventures of four characters, Hugsie the Penguin, Dougal the Cow, Polly the Cat and Leonard the Lion as they explore the fascinating world around them. They meet lots of other characters along the way, which were a joy to illustrate too! 

I loved working on these cute and cleverly thought out concepts and was thrilled to discover that they have already found their way into the hearts of a French and Dutch publisher! Look out for them this spring France and Holland! 
Here are some little snippits and a lovely picture of them standing proud, courtesy of I am Bookworm.

SAUSAGES

As some of you know, as well as cute baby animals - I am also slightly obsessed with dachshunds.
It began in a blog post from 2012, when I learnt to crochet the little fella's. Schnitzel, my favourite from the batch, is still on my desk looking up at me. Ahhh, hello Schnitzel!

I created this illustration of an extra long sausage dog, having a long nap, in his long hammock, for the Bright Agency US publishing campaign November Naps. bit.ly/1xY7HWP 

It got me thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of being; The Longest Sausage Dog in the World, EVER! It's an ongoing idea I keep playing with, that I would love to develop into a picture book.

 

I also made him into my 2014 Christmas card. Woof!

Rabbit & Raccoon

I do enjoy sketching and it is nice to have a break away from the Mac... but combining both works well for me.
The little animal sketches from the Monday's blog inspired me to make this christmas card for a lovely Executive Editor I know...

More baby animals...

So it's probably quite obvious that I LOVE drawing animals! Cute baby animals, mostly.
Here are some more, from a little board book idea I've been thinking about...
(I wish these little guys were all real and lived with me!)

Bits & bobs

While I'm looking into what work I'm able to share with you, here are some other little characters.

I've been trying to get to grips with my pencils and inks again. I think the rougher pencilly guys are working well and feel quite characterful, but the three below are perhaps too tight, it's nice to experiment though!

I'm still here!

So it's been a very exciting year and I'm now reaching a point where I can finally show you some snippits from the wonderful books and new artwork I've been working on! 

This week I'll aim to post something new each day, and get this neglected blog back up to speed! 

In the meantime, here are some musical mice to entertain you! X

Bright beginnings

Hello folks!
I've been rather quiet lately...busy stuffing my face with mince pies you say?
Not just that, the lovely people at Bright Agency have been keeping me busy!
I was signed up as one of their new artists before Christmas, 'hooray!' so I've been working on lots of new bits for my portfolio and developing two of my styles further...

Here are some things to show I haven't just been hiding in a pile of crumbs...

This is an idea I've had rattling around for a while, the precautionary tale - Never eat a Sausage Dog
...a good message I think!

These two illustrations are from another picture book idea I'm working on. I can't reveal the title, but let's just say its a perfect tale for all those little impatient penguins we know and love!
I'd love to develop this text further with an editor!

These cats have developed from a piece you may remember from my blog post in November 2012. http://zoethedoodler.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/cat-in-box.html
They were created with Windsor inks and various pencils, I'd sort of put them to the back of my mind - but Vicki and Lucie at Bright encouraged me to push the little cats further and I'm so pleased I did!
These new pieces were created using a combination of inks and pastel pencils, then brought into photoshop and the results are really bright, fresh and young. I think these little guys would work really well for a pre-school series.

I'll be working on some Woodland creatures next, which I look forward to sharing with you soon!
In the meantime find me at  Bright Agency

Mr Busy Beans and the beandogs

I scanned in one of my posca doodles and worked it up a little bit. Here's Mr Busy beans running into a lady with a LOT of excitable beandogs!

...and then I started to find other things to draw on.

Posca fun with Beans

I dug out some blank nesting dolls and created a little gang...

More Mr Busy Beans!

I wasn't finding him engaging enough and decided the dotted eyes had to go. His new big eyes and much more humorous and expressive...he can keep an eye on those naughty beandogs now!

Mr Busy Beans

The Posca pens led me to creating (and slightly obsessing) over a character I've named Mr Busy Beans. I'm in the process of writing a story for this busy little edamame, but in the meantime I have been trying to develop him and his world. Here he is on twitter; https://twitter.com/MrBusyBeans
And here are some of the earlier beans...

Hello, I'm still here!

Well it has been a very busy summer, but I have managed to squeeze in lots of doodling! I discovered Posca pens recently, they're amazing! Here are some little bits an bobs I've been creating with them...

 

 

...and here are some little close ups!