books

Max and Mei website

A fab new website has been launched for the Max and Mei series of bi-lingual children's books I illustrated. The books are Mandarin-English and really great fun. The new site features all the characters from the books, and all sorts of interesting interactive stuff.You can hear the stories being read aloud,and play some fun language games (I was ok at the numbers, not so great at the word matching!)

The website has lots of (educational!) playful stuff for kids of any age.

The original books are based on Max and Mei meeting all the creatures in the Chinese zodiac. In the newest book they meet a dinasaur (sort of!) The books are available direct from the publisher PPP in Hong Kong, and amazon everywhere else. Enjoy!

Hugh's Three Good Things

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new cookbook is here!Published by Bloomsbury in the UK, there are lovely illustrations by me, and gorgeous photographs by Simon Wheeler, all laid out by the wonderful art director Lawrence Morton.I've created illustrations of the ingredients in watercolour and pen & ink, and there are also some fun collages of Hugh interacting with illustrated elements, like this...I love that I can incorporate a slightly surreal element into the photos...and also play around with the recipe text a little.I've done some hand-written text in the cookbook for the first time too...The contents page is my favourite! Here's a corner...You can buy the book from the River Cottage amazon page or any good bookstore, and there is even a kindle/ipad version (but with less pictures, just so you know). You can also get more information on the River Cottage website, and there are some sample pages you can view in full here. Yum....

Ling Ling app

The childrens book I illustrated called 'Ling Ling Looked in the Mirror', about a cheeky girl who dreams of all the things she can grow up to be (and her even more sassy panda friend), is now available as an app! I'm very excited about it. You can view it on any ipad or iphone. You can have it read to you, or read it yourself. You can click on the pictures and it'll tell you what they are, you can get help reading a word if you're not sure what it is, and you can even record yourself reading the whole book.

It's aimed at kids between the ages of 4-10, but really it's fun for any age at all!

It's available as a hard-cover book on Amazon, and as an app in itunes. The app is £1.99 in the UK, $2.99 in the US. You can see a preview of it here.

Brooklyn Sketchbook Project

I've just been to visit the first stop of the Brooklyn Art Library's Sketchbook Tour 2012, in the home of the library itself: Williamsburg New York. It was a gloriously sunny day, and I wandered in, got myself a library card, and browsed some of the delightful sketchbooks on offer. There were so many! Of course I checked that my own sketchbook (you can see some pages from it on one of my previous blogs) was there safe and sound, which was a great feeling. The sketchbooks will be in Brooklyn for another few weeks, and then off around the States, and in London in November. You can check the dates on the website. Hope you'll make it!

River Cottage veg everyday!

My new book is out! I say my new book, but of course it's Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's new book: the next River Cottage everyday cook book, all about vegetables. Yum. For this book, I created the illustrations out of the ingredients themselves: I printed with the actual vegetables in the recipes. Remember how you used to print with potatoes at school? Sort of like that, but in a slightly more professional way. I left some of the vegetable prints simple (like this globe artichoke) and with others I created narratives and patterns, to complement the recipes.The illustrations have the same relaxed 'home-made' feel to them as the ones in the last 'River Cottage every day' cookbook, but this time in full colour, and with texture. You can read what Hugh says about the book here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/aug/26/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall-vegetables

It's the Guardian link, as he writes for them every weekend. The book is on their best-seller list!You can also go direct to River Cottage to watch several videos of Hugh talking about the book. He's so excited about vegetables...

I'd also like to say a little thank you to Lawrence Morton, who art directed the book, as he's been so wonderful to work with. Thank you!

award!

Finally, I win an award! Well, technically I didn't really, but I was part of the team that made the piece that won the award, so it's a good start... The UCDA (University and College Designers Association) in the US gave the 'Award for Excellence' for the Betty Jones 'Summer School' annual report I illustrated for Middlebury College. It was designed by Carey Bass, with photographs by Brett Simison.

With pen and ink line, I drew on top of various photographic portraits of teachers, highlighting what they thought about their experiences as educators. I really enjoyed this project, which just goes to show that sometimes the fun ones are the ones that really work.

Here are a few pages from the report...

my shop

So, my 'shop' is under construction and soon you'll be able to buy all sorts of lovely Mariko things direct from me. Hurrah! At the moment you can buy my teatins from Whittards, my books from all good booksellers internationally, and my ceramics from Tiffanys in New York.

My very own Mariko Shop will exclusively sell:

Limited edition signed glicee prints

And coming soon to the shop will be:

One special Christmas card  per year, pre-orderable in sets of 10, with envelopes

Mariko tape (for all your packaging needs)

Limited edition book art, printed and bound by hand

My HK range of ceramics and textiles...

introducing my portfolio

Today I'll be talking you through my portfolio: how I've divided and sub-divided the sections and why. The first section is 'editorial'. This features illustrations I've done for magazines and newspapers. I've split this into several themes: 'food', because I like doing work on this subject the most, 'lifestyle', because so much fits under its umbrella, 'people', because they’re always engaging and 'horoscopes', as every illustrator quite simply must have one.

The next section is 'special commissions'. This contains projects that are unique and don't necessarily fit easily into any fixed category. These are the projects I love best. Among them are ceramics for Tiffany & Co., backdrops for a photoshoot for Martha Stewart Weddings, and drawings on napkins for a charity exhibition.

'books' features all the large publishing projects I've worked on, from the detailed illustrations throughout the River Cottage everyday cookbook, to the many children's books I've illustrated, finishing with my book covers for various international novels.

I've been making maps for many years, almost from the beginning of my career, and the 'map' section shows a highlight of the various kinds: 'large scale' shows maps that are close-up and detailed, with road names and exact locations. 'small scale' tends to be maps of large areas, or whole countries, where capturing the atmosphere is most important. 'Penline' shows maps with a looser line, in a more graphic style, while 'concept' features more unusual maps, with a specific angle.

'editions' showcases my art prints: etchings (of ceramics and travel), Japanese woodblock prints, lithographs, and also a small selection of my medium-format photographs.

The section entitled 'personal work' shows the more intimate side of what I do. Sketchbooks are my constant companions, where all that I see and think are noted for future reference. 'things I've made' are objects I create, decorate and make interesting, 'greetings cards' is where I show the special cards I've designed, while 'exhibitions' contains photographs of the shows I've had of my work.

'about' tells you a little about me (you can see what I look like too), 'clients' is a list of some of the people I've worked for, and 'contact' tells you how you can find me to tell me, well, anything you'd like really. Or better still, that you'd like to commission me for something....

Oh, there's also a discreet 'links' button at the bottom of the page to let you know other websites I like.