This year I decided to visit the Bologna Children's Book Fair. It's been three years since I last went as a final year student back in 2013. It was a hugely different experience this time round, I had more industry experience, more work in my portfolio and an excellent Agent to go with. I found walking around the halls a bit overwhelming. There are so many Publishers and different disciplines. It really made me consider where I fit in the picture. Where does my work fit now? Where could I take my work in the future? Where do I want my work to go in the future? It was great to chat to everyone and especially nice to meet so many new people. I really appreciated the feedback and guidance on my work, especially book ideas. I took a couple of new book ideas with me. I had a mad rush preparing promo material, but I'm glad I had something to leave behind. I thought the penguins looked quite funny on teenie-tiny postcards. Anyway, here's a snap of the 'I...
Hello Bloggers! Last week I went to my first ever book fair. For some reason I decided to jump in at the deep end and went to the ginormous Bologna Book Fair , no really, it was genuinely huge. Prepare yourself for a monster post... It was the 50th annual fair, I have my suspicions that it may have been even busier than usual. The fair took place over 4 days and 6 big warehouses. I felt as though I walked for miles, and I probably did. Maybe its all a ploy to keep Illustrators fit and healthy? This year's guest country was Sweden and there was a small exhibition of Swedish Illustrators. I ended up buying the accompanying Illustrators index - one pricey book, but definitely worth it. The fair was a real eye opener into the larger world of children's books and illustration. It was also interesting to experience the commercial side of illustration. I went with my talented Illustrator buddies Annaliesse , Martha and Kate , and we bumped into ...