The Story Calendar arrived because I love to tell stories through images...and this seemed a quick way to sneak another story into the year!
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Generally picture books are made up of 12 double page spreads and I thought a good way to practice editing a story down would be to follow the months of the year in the format of an A4 wall calendar.
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"Blue Hat Badger" is a character that I've been sketching for a few years, wondering how to feature her in a story. I first saw the image in my mind of a little badger in a blue hat wandering along, whilst listening to Nick Heyward's "Blue Hat for a Blue Day" on my old iPod Shuffle (remember those?) during a commute to work.
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It wasn't until 2020's first Lockdown, that I returned to this little character, adding 2 friends, Fox and Rabbit. I simply drew what I wanted to, with no idea of a story or where it was going. The Lockdown walks around the canal and fields where I live were a lifesaver, so I simply sketched the 3 friends on similar journeys.
The idea of a "journey" interested me, and I wondered where they might be going and why.
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I realised I had been trying to force an idea for years, but the one staring me in the face was the mystery of the blue hat.
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The months of the year follow the three friends as they try to find out who the blue hat belongs to. I love to write stories in rhyme because they often create images in my head that I wouldn't otherwise have thought of.
The calendar format gave me a simple structure and layout, one that I could experiment with a little bit.
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I love to make the text part of the imagery, but this is something I'm still working to improve on. I wanted to experiment "drawing" the text with crayon in a joined up font. I absolutely love the texture of this in contrast to the main illustration, but it's not something that would be clear enough for a picture book text.
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I think I can just about get away with it for this calendar though...!
I wrote the story during the summer of 2020, but as time went on, I started to get busier with a book launch and exhibition/workshops for my second picture book, "The Peg People". Then commissions started to become more frequent, so finding the time to work on Blue Hat Badger was quite difficult.
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Some images feel a little rushed because of this, and there are certainly some that I would do again given the chance, but on the whole, I am really pleased with the illustrations.
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So pleased, in fact, that some favourites have made it onto my greetings card range! Be sure to have a browse in my online shop if you're after a birthday card.
I'm not quite ready to let go of Badger, Fox and Rabbit just yet. I really love drawing them, they bring me a strange comfort, but they also seem to appeal to a lot of you.
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This "Afternoon Tea" greetings card is a recent addition to the collection, and I hope to add many more designs in the near future. Keep checking my social media sites for more updates.