A Bit Lost :The Making Of...Part Two

In the end my story turned out quite differently to my original idea. Although the story had changed, there were a few things that I kept the same. The main thing was for the story to be able to be read without words so that children can understand everything just by looking at it. I also wanted there to be other visual interests in the book that children can find themselves. In the first story there were glimpses of the berries that the birds were looking for all along throughout the story, and in A Bit Lost it is the mum looking for her child.

The first images for A Bit Lost!

Although I changed the story, you can see the patterns on the owls were similar to the original birds and I was using all the same colours.

Some character sketches

I got some character ideas from handicrafts I bought in Mexico (this one was made by Tejiendo Arcoiris in San Cristobal)

...more bold graphic toys for inspiration...

A noggin...

And a bit of Henri Rousseau.

I had the idea of doing a leporello (non-accordian) fold-out so that you can follow the path that owl takes as he falls. I ended up dropping this idea too. But there is still a half page where little owl drops on the opening spread.

Eventually I lost most of the pink colour from the owls too. By now it has now become almost unrecognisable from the original story

Some more colour tests...

I started going a bit mad with all the trees....

One thing I like about these images is the only white on the page is the white of the eyes of the characters. It focuses attention on them in what would otherwise be a very busy image.

Watch out for the third and final part of Chris's guest blog about the making of A Bit Lost, coming very soon to a computer near you!

A Bit Lost: the making of... part 1

Chris Haughton tells us about the process of making his beautiful and witty picture book, A Bit Lost, which we will reveal over several posts... 

Before I had my idea for A Bit Lost I had actually wanted to do a different story about birds in a forest. The birds in this first story come down from their tree top roosts to the bottom of the forest and meet all the other animals that live there. They pass all the forest animals that want to eat them and eventually manage to find food near the forest floor. The last spread would then be a panoramic of them back perched at the top of the trees at the end of the day overlooking all of the life in the forest below. I had the idea because I wanted to introduce all the animals and have the interactions of the forest in a sort of Arne Naess story of deep ecology and interconnectedness.

 

This image was the trigger for the story. It's a screen print I did for the fair trade company People tree. I really liked the image because I had the idea of hiding figures in the complex background (see the little cat in the bottom right)

 

I liked the silhouetted running shapes of the birds. They eventually evolved into the running owl and squirrel in A Bit Lost.

 

The birds here hide from a tiger (also a snake and an elephant)

The birds in their perch for the final image. They look across at the whole forest and see the web of all the animals that we met in the story.

In the end I didn’t like the way the birds interacted with the other animals in the forest. They were not engaging with them and it left a sort of lonely tone to the story. I decided I wanted to do something that was more engaging and somehow a little like pantomime. Without engaging with little funny questions and cause and effect (Uh oh! is he going to fall off?/ Uh oh! Is it Mummy? etc) a very young audience tends to lose interest quickly.

The breakthrough came when I made the bird fall from his nest. That way he was lost and had to engage with the other animals in a way that wasn’t about avoiding being eaten. In order to give the bird a range of expressions, forward facing eyes is much better graphically so I chose an owl instead of a bird. Also owlets apparently have a habit of falling out of their nests. I had imagined somehow that owl babies were cute until I actually looked them up on the internet…

I Kissed the Baby!

All the animals love the baby – and so will you! I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy is a delightful picture book with a distinctive style!



"I saw the baby! Did you see the baby?" "Yes! I saw the baby, the teeny, weeny thing." "I tickled the baby! Did you tickle the baby?" "Yes! I tickled the baby, the wriggly, giggly thing!" Join in the fun in this shout-out-loud picture book for the very youngest of children.



Mary's bold art style and striking use of colour really make the images jump off the page, check out this fabulous review by The Book Chook and download the activity sheets here.

Oscar and BAFTA winner Jim Broadbent reads from Mole's Sunrise

A beautifully illustrated and movingly written story about a blind mole who wonders what a sunset is like. Mole's Sunrise by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Sarah Fox Davies will certainly stay with you long after reading it!



Mole had never seen the sunrise. "I'd love to see it," he said. When his good friends, Vole, Rabbit, Squirrel and Sparrow take him down to the lake to show him the sunrise, their vivid descriptions help him to see it in his mind and he is able to imagine the rising sun and experience its beauty for himself.

Award winning charity Living Paintings has also developed Mole's Sunrise into a new touch, sound and picture book for blind children. Using tactile picture carvings by Living Paintings’ artist Peter Boex, and audio description from Oscar and BAFTA award winner, and Harry Potter star, Jim Broadbent, the story can be enjoyed in all its glory by children who are not able to see, on the same day that their friends can read the traditional version.



The adaptation was the idea of the book’s author Jeanne Willis. Jeanne said: ‘I’ve already been lucky enough to have two picture books brilliantly adapted by Living Paintings and I know that its production of Mole’s Sunrise will be inspired in every sense. I’m particularly thrilled that this title has been adopted because like vole, sparrow, rabbit and squirrel, Living Paintings will show the sunset to its audience in all its glory – something I could never hope to do through words alone.’



Living Paintings’ Chief Executive, Camilla Oldland added: ‘Thanks to a collaboration with Walker Books and author, Jeanne Willis, Living Paintings is proving that it is possible to break down yet another barrier in achieving equal access to literature for blind and partially sighted children.



You can listen to the dulcet tones of Jim Broadbent reading from Mole's sunrise here.

Yummy: My Favourite Nursery Stories

A major new book from Lucy Cousins, creator of Maisy - Yummy: My Favourite Nursery Stories. This collection of eight classic nursery stories pulls no punches – it is lively, bold and quite unforgettable!



Lucy Cousins retells her favourite nursery stories in spare bold language and brilliant vibrant pictures. She gives their famous characters new life and imbues their great adventures with her own very modern magic. These stories are treasures of the imagination. They were first told long ago and they will be told again and again, far into the future. They never fail to stir and excite. Retold in this book: Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Enormous Turnip, Henny Penny, Goldilocks and The Three Bears, The Little Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs and The Musicians of Bremen.



Why not download these gorgeous Yummy recipe cards or check out this amazing interview Lucy did with Booktrust. 

Everybody Was A Baby Once by Allan Ahlberg & Bruce Ingman

Meet witches, snowmen, lizards and favourite nursery-rhyme characters in this joyful poetry collection for infants of every age!



The inspired creators of The Runaway Dinner and The Pencil, Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman are proud to serve you up a shouting, screaming, smiling, whistling, playing, chasing, rhyming romp for children of every age. Nineteen poems, funny, wistful, delightfully illustrated, introduce a merry cast of babies, witches, sausages, robbers and favourite nursery-rhyme characters that will enchant everybody who is – or was – a baby!



For a little bit of Friday fun, check out this adorable video featuring one of the poems from the book, The Sausage Whistler, created by illustrator Bruce Ingman.

Hello Tilly by Polly Dunbar

We'd like to introduce you to a special little girl called Tilly. You'll love her. She lives in a little yellow house with her friends and together they get up to all sorts of adventures. This sparkling six book series is written and illustrated by the very talented Polly Dunbar, whose previous work includes the award-winning Penguin.



In this first book in the series, meet Tiptoe and Hector, Doodle, Pru and Tumpty as they play the trumpet, bang the drum, eat a feast and dance the Wiggle Wiggle Woo! Whump! Bump! Whoops!



Grab a copy and snuggle up with Tilly and Friends!



Check out this fabulous video with author Polly Dunbar talking about how she gets her inspiration for all things books and illustration!