Christine Pym - Illustration

NEW BLOG!

2012-10-19T21:42:00.000+01:00

Hello followers! I hope you are all fine and dandy?

After being here since 2007, I feel its time for a fresh start and so I am moving to a BRAND NEW BLOG.

You can now follow me HERE

Thank you for following and for all the lovely comments left on here, it really has meant a lot and I hope you can continue to follow.

Hoot Hoot

2012-10-02T12:52:00.002+01:00

Monkeys everywhere!

2012-09-25T13:30:00.000+01:00

Its Frankfurt preparation time again and this year there will be Monkeys, many, MANY monkeys :-)

Sneaky peeks...

2012-09-25T12:40:00.000+01:00

Its SNEAKY PEEK time again!

Most recently I have been working with the super nice folks at Usborne Publishing on two projects that I have always fancied having a go at. In November they will jet off to Frankfurt Book Fair. Wish I could go with them...the lucky chaps!

Summers here!

2012-07-24T16:34:00.003+01:00

About time too I say! Have a great one folks x

A sneak peek -

2012-07-09T12:21:00.005+01:00

A sneak peek from a sample I was asked to do t'other week. Quite an appropriate story actually with all the rainfall we've had in Derbyshire recently...

Will now be watching my inbox awaiting the verdict!

and today I drew a...

2012-07-05T16:16:00.005+01:00

Policeman. I'm spotting a theme here...

Today I drew a...

2012-07-03T16:53:00.005+01:00

Burglar.

mmm - work!

2012-06-29T15:40:00.002+01:00

Work has arrived in my inbox - Hooray! I'm as smiley as this little bear...

He was a sample character for a lovely story about Bears and family and love. Unfortunately he wasn't quite right for the publisher but I do hope I can use him again somewhere.

Story writing...

2012-06-08T16:31:00.007+01:00

For years now I've been writing stories in the hopes of becoming an author - illustrator. For me, I can think of nothing more satisfying than an idea popping into my head, creating a story from it and then making the text come to life. With so many others, it's my ambition and it has been for a long time.

I have spent months on various texts. I've worked on them so much in fact, that everything about them soon became stale, lifeless and overworked to a point where the initial idea was a distant memory.

So...

after all these attempts, you can imagine my excitement when one night, just before bed, an idea popped into my head. I noted it down and could barely sleep for thinking about it. The following day I looked at it and surprisingly, it still seemed like a story with potential to me. Within that week I had written a first draft, roughed out the storyboard and made a dummy book. That has never happened before! (not in the space of a week anyway!)

The story layout still needs some tweaking and I've just sent the latest draft to my agent for some feedback. But! It has been three weeks now since the initial idea was penned and I'm still excited to work on it AND even though there is no guarantee that any publisher will want it, I still feel I've crossed a milestone in my writing.

When it's ready and sparkly perfect for presentation, I will have ALL my fingers and ALL my toes crossed. I would love this idea to go to print and for it to be my debut book as author - illustrator.

Here's hoping!

Work for A productions

2012-05-16T22:10:00.002+01:00

Here are some of my favourite snippets from the work I did for Driver Dans Story Train. The program was shown on Cbeebies back in March this year.

Email Issues

2012-05-16T20:46:00.002+01:00

Apologies to anyone who may have sent some mail my way and not had a response. I made the very silly mistake of not updating my account settings when I switched my website over. It has now been set correctly so if you have tried to reach me and not had a response, then please feel free to get in touch again :-)

Little Crocodile loves books...

2012-03-01T16:37:00.002Z

and so do I! Happy World Book Day folks!

CHOO CHOO!

2012-02-24T15:12:00.002Z

The illustrations I completed for Driver Dans Story Train will be airing on Thursday the 1st of March at 5.50pm on Cbeebies. If you manage to catch it, I hope you enjoy it and I hope my patterns don't make your TV turn funny...

A boy and a Bear

2012-02-05T16:21:00.003Z

It's nearly Bologna time again which means time for the portfolio makeover. A very much needed portfolio makeover! This piece was actually drawn up months ago but I never got around to finishing it until today. Take that usual lazy sunday!

Period Features

2012-02-04T17:09:00.003Z

Today I braved the snow and traveled to a little shop in Leek called Period Features. They have the most beautiful things and the shop itself is like stepping back a hundred years. If you have a love for old style things its most definitely a place to visit. I came home with these - a Lolita hand painted tray by Nkuku and a vintage style notebook, although if I had bags of cash I would have tried to buy everything there!

New workspace and drawings

2012-02-03T15:16:00.000Z

Now that things are settling in the shop, I have been able to pick up my pencil after what feels like ages. It's great to be drawing again and even more so on my brand new AMAZING and SPECTACULAR desk -

Its a restored early 20th century bureau with original lock and key (perfect for hiding away a days mess!). And here is what I've been doodling recently...

Lots of smiley crocodiles!

Have a great weekend all!

Longnor Post Office - My first home!

2012-02-03T14:52:00.000Z

Myself and Ste's first home in fact, and the reason why I have not posted on here for sooo long!

We've actually been running the Post Office and shop for over 4 years now but we never thought we would get the opportunity to buy it. We completed on Monday! :-)

For the past few months all our time has gone into the business. We have bought new equipment which has allowed us to introduce new products including lots of local cakes, pies, meats and other tasty things and essentials. Its all been VERY exciting, not good for the diet...but very exciting!

The building has been in Ste's family since 1979 but was first built in 1810 and as far as I know, has always been a Post Office and General Store. I have been told that the upstairs was used as a store for corn and for hay. The horse and cart would back into the garage and then they would pull the bales up through a trap door which is now in our living room! As for other original features, there are very few upstairs but who knows what we will uncover when we start to decorate.

Our plans are to make it look like it does in this old photograph and to turn the garage into another business. We think something illustration focused would be just spiffing...

And the winner is...

2011-08-09T14:10:00.003+01:00

Sorry I am a little late with the results and thank you to all who entered.

The winner is... dah dah dah dah dah dah daaa - aaaa...

Frann Preston-Gannon!
Congratulations Frann :-)

Please send me your address and soon crocodile and his little hat will be on their way to you. I hope you have a good stock of bourbon biscuits at the ready, you'll be needing them...

Hooray it's a GIVEAWAY!

2011-07-28T12:18:00.003+01:00

In celebration of reaching 300 followers I am giving away this happy little fellow.

His favourite colour is green (obviously) and his favourite biscuit is the Bourbon biscuit although occassionally he does like to mix things up with a custard cream.

If you would like to enter, all you have to do is leave a comment after this post. The winner will be announced on Monday the 8th of August sometime after 10am (GMT)

Good Luck! and thanks ever so much for following :-)

Today I painted a...

2011-07-18T11:58:00.005+01:00

Bear! Bears are definitely on the brain at the moment...

In the sketchbook...

2011-07-04T10:58:00.005+01:00

Mainly Bears (I do LOVE bears!), a dog and a little girl who is rather pleased to have such an unusual friend. I would be too!

and when I'm not sketching Bears, these days I am at my desk doing this:

writing stories. Writing stories with my new blue/black ink cartridges. I love the colour of blue/black ink, especially on cream coloured paper, there's just something very lovely about it.

Chicken Licken

2011-06-10T14:59:00.000+01:00

Ahh...deadlines met so I can now update my blog guilt free. Hooray!

I recently illustrated 'Chicken Licken' with Oxford University Press and below is the cover artwork, well a couple of versions of it in fact.

This was my original design -

and this is the revised cover -

I have noticed that the cover has now been amended further. You can see a pic of the final cover on Amazon here. The tree appears to have sprouted some more leaves, how magical!

The book is part of the Traditional Tales series and is out in September this year. If you happen to come across it, I very much hope you enjoy it :-)

Website

2011-05-20T12:05:00.002+01:00

After a jolly long time being indecisive, my website is now up and running.

If you fancy a peek you can do so by clicking HERE.

Driver Dan's Story Train

2011-05-03T10:05:00.001+01:00

I'm over the moon to tell you about the new project I am currently working on. It's a book for A Productions which will by read by Driver Dan (Driver Dan's Story Train) on CBeebies.

My illustrations will feature in the storybook section of the programme and then afterwards the children get to step inside the book and interact with the story. Very exciting!