rollin' over

Thought I'd give you a little update on the Jane Austen book that I illustrated last year, as I'm often asked about it. Jack and Alice is currently being printed in Portuguese by a Brazilian publisher. I'll update again when it is released. Unfortunately, no news on an English version yet, which is crazy to me. Because, with all those Andrea Joseph fans out there I'm sure it would sell. I believe Jane Austen has a few fans herself, too!

it's time the tale were told

I've been meaning to post the details about the Jane Austen book that I illustrated for ages. It's been another thing on the list of things to do which seems to grow by the day. So, I'll be brief. Here is the link to the publishers website. Unfortunately the book is only available in Italian at the moment, but the New Year should see the English version. I'll let you know when that happens, but for now, you can read a little about the book and about me HERE (then search Andrea Joseph).

see the drunkard of the village

See. I told you it would all go horribly wrong. Poor old Alice will be regretting sipping so much Claret tomorrow morning. I hope this is a lesson to you all. Now I just need to practice what I preach.

on the highway of regret

This weekend, boys and girls, I am going to teach you about the perils of too much alcohol. Believe me, I am well qualified to do so. Sometimes it's about knowing when to stop. But, if you don't know when that is it's about not starting at all. Because things can all go horribly wrong. As you will see in my next post.

So, watch and learn. Watch and learn.

forget myself

My last post found me extolling the virtues of illustrated endpapers...

...when it struck me that I now have some endpapers of my own...

...not only endpapers, of course, a whole book, but at the moment we are just talking about endpapers...

...it also got me thinking that not only do I love endpapers...

...but I love a good flyleaf too...

...and you know, I might be blowing my own trumpet here...

...but I think that my endpapers are pretty lovely and my flyleaves look non too shabby either.

that's entertainment

It's been a slow couple of weeks drawing wise. I've been having some work done on my house and I've realised that any disruption to the tranquility of my solitude means that drawing just does not happen. But, I do, of course, still have the book illustrations to share.

It just so happens that I live five minutes down the road from a place called Lyme Park, which is where the BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice was filmed. It is, quite frankly, THE only adaptation you'll ever need to see (we all remember the lake scene, right girls?). Anyway, as a little nod to that, I made Lyme Hall the house in the Jane Austen story that I illustrated (it also appears in THIS drawing and THIS one). I absolutely love weaving all this stuff into my illustrations. Packing them full of references, messages and clues. There's plenty more in this drawing. Maybe you can spot some?

all i wanna do

Ooooh. 'Citing stuff. The book I recently (ish) illustrated arrived at my little home today. It's a great feeling to finally hold it. It's a little book, little but cute. I know I keep on repeating myself, but for those who don't know, it's by Jane Austen. I'll tell you more, and add some photos, in the next post. Right now, I'm so excited I just wanted to share this news with you.

This is one of my favourite drawings. It also graces the cover. This scan isn't so great. In the original you can see every hole that the needle made in the material. Yes, I actually drew every tiny hole. Nothing obsessive about that, I'm sure you'll agree.

a song for Alice

My drawings are, to say the least, highly detailed. Often I over do it. I know I do. It frustrates the hell out of me that I just cannot let a drawing be. So, on the odd occasion when I create something and resist the urge to cross hatch the hell out of it it I feel quite pleased with myself. Those drawings often become my favourites. Probably because they make a refreshing change.

Here's one of those. It's another from the Jane Austen book.

message to the universe

Damn, my laptop is playing up again. It's so frustrating. I got a fix back in June, but I suppose I knew that that was not going to be a long term solution. Hope it gets better soon, cos I've got a couple drawings, that I am loving, from my travel sketchbook to post.

In the meantime here's a little drawing from the Jane Austen book. You know what's even more frustrating (there's really no reason you should)? I've been sent the PDFs from the publishers, so I could take a look at the book. But, because my computer is unwell, I can't bloody open them. Aaargh.

walk on

If you are familiar with my blog then you'll know that, a while back, I was illustrating a book. Although, I was not really able to talk too much about it (and I'm probably still not supposed to) it's hard to resist. Especially when I do not have any other drawings to post, here. Yet I have over twenty waiting in the wings. Well, one less now.

This is one of my favourite drawings from the book. For those who have asked, it is a Jane Austen book. It's not one of the biggies, i.e. Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice. It's one of her earlier, shorter stories from the Juvenilia collection. I didn't know these stories existed until I was approached to illustrate one. I'm glad I know now. I found this one, in particular, very amusing. Not least because it's about a girl who drinks too much Claret. I feel it was made for me. But, I'm worried that I am being typecast so early on in my illustrating career.

For the most of the book I have tried to tell the story through objects that are part of the story. I'm not sure whether that makes much sense, but here I've illustrated a scene on a wine cork. A Claret cork, of course.

you've come a long way baby

Hey! You've been invited to a party. A belated birthday party. My blog was four years old a few days back. But I didn't realise until today.

That's pretty fitting, actually. It's pretty typical. I don't think I've ever got a birthday card out on time. Friends and family know to expect their cards a few days late. I now buy belated birthday cards before birthdays, because I know that I'll end up sending them late.

Anyways, what an eventful four years it has been. This is a little drawing from a, soon to be published, Jane Austen book that I recently illustrated. Which makes this little drawing pretty fitting too. It illustrates quite how far I have come since beginning this blog.

I can't wait to post more of the bigger, better drawings from the book - I'll be able to do that as soon as it's published.

Thank you for the last four years guys.