Friday, February 24, 2012

I Work in the Children's Book Field & Happy To Do So!

Guest Blogger
Meet Hannah Shaw!

(for more information on how
to submit a post for consideration click here)


© copyright Hannah Shaw

Hello All! I'm Hannah Shaw. I live in Gloucestershire in the UK and have been working as an author and illustrator officially since 2006 but I've been making up stories for most of my life.
You may have seen some of my picture books such as Evil Weasel (or Sneaky Weasel in the US pub. by Knopf) Erroll or School for Bandits. I also illustrate for other authors such as Sean Taylor and I'm very lucky to be illustrating some young fiction books for Julia Donaldson this year.
I work from home, I have a studio office at the back of my house but I actually prefer working in my living room or at my dining table where the sun (yes, it does come out occasionally) shines through the windows. I am helped by my canine assistant who reminds me when to take a break or walk him. He is lying on his back as I write, barking softly in his sleep.
Things I love about being an illustrator:
Getting paid to draw things.
Working on my own stories (endless possibilities).
Really funny briefs from talented authors, editors and art directors.
My Agent, she's very supportive.
Meeting children who read my books.
Doing school visits (for the same reason as above).
Working from home and walking my dog in the woods at lunchtime (the fresh air really helps to get my creative juices flowing).
Having a sneaky lie-in every now and again.

Deadlines -Yuk!!
Even worse: Deadlines that clash with other deadlines!
Restrictive briefs (If you don't trust me to put my mark on it, why did you commission me?)
Working until very late at night.
Drawing arms (Arms are difficult to draw, they have hands at the end of them).
People who say "It must be so NICE being an illustrator, so EASY just sitting around drawing all day" - Yes, sure it's NICE but darn it's never EASY! Saying that, I wouldn't want to do anything else... except... maybe... cuddle puppys for a living!


Twitter: @HannahWeasel


3 comments:

Alicia Padrón said...

I enjoyed you post so much Hannah!
Specially the likes and dislikes list. I like the naps too and agree with the clashing deadlines bit.. Yikes.

Thanks so much for such an entertaining guest post. Love your work! :)

Jon Davis said...

Nice post Hannah, I've followed you on twitter for a while, so it's nice to read an article about you too :)

Gina Perry said...

Thank you for sharing, Hannah. Your work is just lovely. I really like your website too - your 'fun stuff' section has really great activities for little one!