Rovertown Dynamos vs. Mogford Juniors - a story about the camaraderie of football

The title page for the story. The main character's name is Bernie.

Rovertown Dynamos vs. Mogford Juniors is one of three illustrated stories I wrote and illustrated for a children's book published by The Neuro Foundation - a charity that supports people of all ages with Neurofibromatosis.

The Neuro Foundation wanted the book to be warm and life affirming and for one of the stories to be about bullying (they had requests about the other stories but I will talk about them another time).

At first I was worried about how I could write about bullying in a positive context and then I thought about setting the story in a football team.

I should point out that I know very little about the game of football, although I have been around football fans all my life somehow the game itself washes over me. However, my partner Mark Panton and our daughter have shown me something I can relate to - the positive side of the culture of football. They are both fans of Dulwich Hamlet FC in South London, a non-league club that goes out of its way to be inclusive and supportive of all kinds of people. Our daughter is autistic and has mild learning difficulties. She has been watching Dulwich Hamlet matches with Mark since she was very small and has been able to have a level of independence and interaction during the games that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. Both on and off the pitch there is warmth and camaraderie; my daughter is safe to wander around during matches and no one judges her.

It occurred to me that if a football player was insulted during a match their team would immediately rally round to support them. This was the starting point for Rovertown Dynamos vs. Mogford Juniors.

The teams in my story are both made up of girls. There are lots of stories about boys playing football and I feel that girls are too often overlooked. I know from experience with my daughter that girls can be passionate about the game and that there aren't enough opportunities for them to play. In my small way I am trying redress the balance a little by showing girls being good at football and being taken seriously.

The moments of emotion that are in any game of football helped drive my story along.

I won't give away the plot except to say that the main character has Neurofibromatosis and she is teased by an opponent because of one of the outward signs of the condition. But she is a great goalkeeper, her team help her see that it doesn't matter what others say about her and there is a happy ending.

The book is called Friends and it is available on The Neuro Foundation website.

You can find out about Dulwich Hamlet Football Club on their website and go to the FA website to find out about women's and girl's football.

Many thanks to Mark Panton for advising me on the detail of football games.

Friends – three illustrated stories for children with Neurofibromatosis

Friends by Amanda Lillywhite

I loved working on this book.

The charity I created it for, Nerve Tumours UK, was supportive and positive all the way through. They help to improve the lives of those affected by Neurofibromatosis and helped me understand the condition by introducing me to a specialist and to children with Neurofibromatosis. The children and their families spoke to me about their lives and experiences, I am grateful to them for their time and honesty - they were inspirational. 

I was commissioned to write and illustrate three life affirming stories that featured main characters with Neurofibromatosis. The Neuro Foundation wanted the stories to be fun, fully illustrated and easily accessible.

In the first story, The Windiest Playground in the World, Isaac wonders if he'll be able to make friends after moving to a new area.

Part of an illustration for The Windiest Playground in the World by Amanda Lillywhite.

The second story is Rovertown Dynamos vs. Mogford Juniors. Goalkeeper Bernie needs help from her team when an opponent says something mean about her.

Part of an illustration for Rovertown Dynamos vs. Mogford Juniors by Amanda Lillywhite.

The final story is The Missing Fish. Chandra is worried about a fish that seems to be missing from the waiting room tank when she goes for her regular check up at a clinic.

An illustration for The Missing Fish by Amanda Lillywhite.

Friends is available on The Neuro Foundation website, along with information about Neurofibromatosis and support for those with the condition.

One Hundred Thousand Jumpers - illustrations for a story about adoption

Front cover for One Hundred Thousand Jumpers by Rachel Braverman

It was a great pleasure to work on illustrations for Rachel Braverman's story about an adopted girl struggling to fit into her new family. The title comes from the theme of the book: Becca's adoptive mum is a keen knitter. The front cover is above and the first of the five black and white illustrations that appear on the story pages is below.

Becca is feeling unsettled in her new home and can't sleep.

The book is not yet in print, I'll update this post when it is. If you'd like further information about it you could contact me via this blog.

Illustration talk/workshop for Level 2 students at Lesoco College

Students working on their responses to the creative brief I gave them.

Earlier this week I went to Lewisham and Southwark College (Lesoco) in south London to talk to Level 2 students about my experiences as an illustrator and I also set them a creative brief task to create a character.

As arranged with their lecturer, Mary Campbell, I had two hours to talk. I decided to give an overview of:

• My education.
• My background in graphic design and animation.
• The many and varied clients and projects I have been involved with. (I had quite a large portfolio with me!)
• How I work with clients.
• Sources of illustration work.
• How to look for work.
• Publicizing your work.
• Useful education and training for self employed illustrators.
• Support groups and networks for illustrators.

That was a lot of talking and unfortunately I didn't realise I was starting to run over time until shortly before I had to finish. The students only had 20 minuttes or so to draw their responses to the character based creative brief I had given them. They were amazing, they all produced something and many of them managed to create interesting characters that would be viable.

The students are looking for work experience placements in illustration, design or related businesses, studios or agencies in London. If you can help please contact art and design lecturer Mary Campbell at the college or send a message to me and I'll pass it on.

ShoutSouth! 2015 - a story making festival for primary and secondary school children

Illustrators involved in ShoutSouth! Festival 2015 clockwise from top left: Loretta Schauer, me, Deborah Allwright, Gillian McClure, Sally Kindberg and Bridget Marzo

I joined Children's Writers and Illustrators South London (CWISL) a few months ago so this was the first year I've been involved in their ShoutSouth! festival. One hundred children from ten primary and secondary schools took part. I was delighted by the quality of work I saw over the three days they were with us at London South Bank University. 

The kids were split into four groups with writers and illustrators assigned to running workshops for them and helping them create their own stories. I was with the Lions along with authors Beverley Birch, Sally Kindberg, Cate Sampson, Karen Owen, Alex Wheatle and Deborah Allwright. Other illustrators and writers worked with the Panther, Tiger and Leopard teams. You can get an idea of how many of us were involved by looking at my photo of the display on the Pea Green Boat Books table and there is information about us all on the CWISL website.

Today was the final day of the festival. As it was a Saturday, parents of the children and their siblings were invited and got involved in their own workshops. Sam Osman ran a writing workshop for adults (some teachers also took part in this) and Loretta Schauer had the younger siblings drawing with her. Meanwhile the Lions, Panthers, Tigers and Leopards finished their stories, then some of them read them out to us all – they were amazingly creative. The festival closed with a story from Margaret Bateson-Hill, cake and certificates.

It was lovely to see the kids so motivated and excited by creating stories, I look forward to the next festival. If you think your London primary or secondary school might like to be involved in a future ShoutSouth! please contact CWISL via the website for details.

A big thank you to Derwent for supplying each child with their own selection of pencils.

Thanks also to the kids, their families, their teachers and their schools for making ShoutSouth! such a wonderful experience: 

Granton Primary

English Martyrs Primary

St Mary's Primary

Lilian Baylis Technology School

Bolingbroke Academy

Sacred Heart Primary

Christ Church Primary

London Nautical School

Jessops Primary

Isleworth and Syon School

Part of the story mountain visual aid I made for Cate Sampson's Spot the Plot workshop.

Karen Owen got the Lion group off to a good start.

Sally Kindberg talked about characters with the group.

Bridget Marzo got all the kids drawing faces.

Cate Sampson explained the story mountain to the kids plus Beverley Birch, Alex Wheatle and Karen Owen.

One of the kids came up with a new story for Jack and Jill.

Beverley Birch got the kids excited about using their senses to add interest to a story.

They all worked amazingly hard on their stories throughout the three day festival.

Loretta Schauer got younger siblings of the story makers interested in drawing.

The pencils provided by Derwent were put to good use by all the kids.

A display of books by the authors taking part in the festival.

Margaret Bateson-Hill had the kids enthralled by one of her stories.

Mo O'Hara gave out certificates to all the storymakers.

A cake was sponsored by Pea Green Boat Books.

Well done Lions you did some great work during ShoutSouth! it was a privilege to be part of your group.

If you'd like to read about the experiences of other ShoutSouth! writers and illustrators go to blog posts by Patricia Elliot, Karen Owen and Bridget Marzo. Artwork from the event will be posted on ShoutAbout (a CWISL website that any writer or artist under 16 can contribute to).

CWISL is now preparing for ShoutWest! – a similar festival to ShoutSouth! to be held at Brunel University in west London on 5th and 6th November 2015. I'm looking forward to it.

Illustrated Character Sheets

I've been putting together some character sheets based on a couple of my stories. In case you haven't come across them before character sheets are a collection of illustrations of one character in different poses - a way of showing others that you can be consistent. They are great fun to do and I'm finding that it is a way of getting to know my characters a little better.

An art editor recommended that rough sketches be included on the sheets. To be honest this is something I wouldn't have thought of doing but now that they are on there I feel that they add depth. I put blobs of pure colour on for reference but I'm not sure that this is important for others so might take them off. Perhaps they are a little distracting.

More character sheets to come soon.

The main character in my graphic novel for 7-9 year olds.

The main character in one of my picture book stories.

Merry christmas everyone!

An illustration for the cover of a non-fiction book about risk management

One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a freelance illustrator, in my experience, is the variety of the work. Risk management is a new topic for me!

The illustration for the cover of Evgueni Ivantsov's book Heads or Tails combined pencil drawing, digital colour, vector based illustration (the scales) plus coin artwork downloaded from the US mint website. All elements were combined together using a bit of Photoshop magic.

More of my pencil drawings and vector based illustrations are in the Illustration Styles part of this blog.

A webcomic about a YA writer and a picture book author/illustrator - Duck&Bear

Duck&Bear was inspired by my own writing and illustrating experiences and those of fellow members of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. It is a webcomic about a YA writer and a picture book author-illustrator - their efforts to create stories and have them published. Duck&Bear was made for the launch of SCBWI (British Isles) online magazine Words and Pictures. All 5 instalments are posted on my comics page.

Activity pages for Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly, London

The inside spread.

My most recent commission was for Fortnum and Mason: a four page activity booklet for children. I wrote about this project and its tiny role at Judith Kerr's book launch for The Crocodile Under the Bed on my blog Illustrating for Children.