Benchmark Education are an American independent education publishers specialising in literacy resources.  I was fortunate to meet  them at the London Book Fair last year, at which point I had already been working on this commission for them through my agent.  

I produced a series of comic strips published in their Prime Science books covering subjects relating to rock formation, lithosphere, earthquakes, erosion, and so forth.  I created three characters that were used for the strips to provide a consistent relationship between learning and the audience.  Here are some of the pages I illustrated:

Seeing Red is the second book in the Football Factor children's book series written by Alan Durant and published by Wayland Books that I've illustrated.  It was published towards the end of last year and is finding its way into schools and public library catalogues where they seem to be getting loaned out quite regularly.

For the series, I completed 6 book covers and 156 pages of interior artwork.  It provided a welcome opportunity to work on a longer term project over a period of 8 months.  As a freelancer, lengthy commissions provide a bit of financial security and allow you to focus on creating characters that you can spend a lot more time messing around with.

Below are a few of the pre-published spreads from some of the favourite pages I drew.

First Match is the first title in the six book 'Football Factor' series of children's books published by Wayland Books, an imprint of Hachette UK, and is aimed at reluctant readers.  Each story follows the ups and downs of a member of Sheldon Rovers football team as they aim for cup glory.

The first tale concentrates on Danny Zico, a seventeen year old defender making his debut for the first team.  Let's hope he doesn't mess it up!

The series is written by Alan Durant, with myself providing the cover illustrations and 26 pages of interior art to accompany each story. I enjoyed the creative process of trying to come up with different ways of depicting the football action in a dynamic way to maintain the readers interest and to add to Alan's words.  

Posted below are some of the interior pages in an earlier pre-edit version, since I don't want to have to slice open my published copies in order to scan the printed pages in!  

[Text copyright Alan Durant, Illustrations copyright of Wayland Books]

Book title: Wolfhold​
Publisher: Franklin Watts
Publisher Website: Hachette Children's Group UK

Wolfhold, a children's book I illustrated earlier this year has recently been published by Franklin Watts, an imprint of Hachette UK who publish the likes of Neil Gaimen, J. K. Rowling and Donna Tartt, oh, and Alex Ferguson. The book is written by Steve Barlow & Steve Skidmore, both former teachers, who have authored some 150 books together for most of the major children's book publishers in the UK.

The book is about Tom who wakes up in a strange village with no memory of why he is there.  It's a really clever short story aimed at reluctant readers, so it's important the artwork helps to engage children and young people. I had the assistance of Jack Davies whose layouts made it across into a significant number of the final pages.  He has a great eye for dynamic angles and perspectives in his compositions. Cheers Jack!

The book also sees a transition in my work from inking on paper to using Manga Studio 5.  Check out some of the page illustrations below and work out which were inked traditionally and which were inked digitally!

Book series: Football Factor
Publisher: Wayland
Publisher Website: Hachette Children's Group UK

Here's a quick run down of the publication dates for the children's books I've drawn which will be published over the next few months.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how they turn out in print!

Football Factor Series (Wayland Books):

1. First Match - written by Alan Durant. Publication Date 26/09/2013
2. Seeing Red - written by Alan Durant. Publication Date 26/09/2013
3. Tough Tackling - written by Alan Durant. Publication Date 24/10/2013
4. Goal Machine - written by Alan Durant. Publication Date 24/10/2013
5. Safe Keeping - written by Alan Durant. Publication Date 28/11/2013
6. Cup Glory - written by Alan Durant. Publication Date 28/11/2013

Other Books:

• Wolfhold - written by Steve Barlow & Steve Skidmore. Publication Date 10/10/2013 (Franklin Watts Ltd)
• The Apollo 11 Moon Landing: July 20, 1969 (24-Hour History) - written by Nel Yomtov (Raintree Publishing):

                Library Binding - Publication Date Jan 2014
                Paperback - Publication Date June 2014
                Hardback - Publication Date June 2014