Author: James Foley

James Foley makes children’s books for children who read books. If you’re a child and you’re eating his books, you’re doing it wrong. His books include the Secret Agent Mole graphic novel series, the S.Tinker Inc graphic novel series, and the multi-award winning Stellarphant. James lives in Perth with his wife, 2 kids, and a labrador. He is a massive Marvel movie nerd and comes from a long line of queuing enthusiasts. Follow him on socials ( @jamesfoleybooks ) or at www.jamesfoley.com.au .

Thank you.

Hi everyone, sorry I’ve not posted anything in a while. I’ve been working on a few things:

tying up loose ends on my new book The Last Viking Returns;
working on a picture book for older readers that’s coming out in 2015;
visiting lots of schools and libraries to present talks and workshops;
and doing an Artist Residence at Mount Hawthorn Primary School with fellow author/illustrator Briony Stewart.

This year has been busy! But on to the purpose of this post.

Today is a landmark for a few reasons.

Firstly, it marks the end of my first year as a full-time author/illustrator.

It’s been an amazing year and I want to thank all the schools, libraries, freelance clients, teachers, students, parents and colleagues who have supported my work and helped make all this possible. I’m very lucky to be doing what I do.

Secondly, it’s only 2 months until the launch of my new book, The Last Viking Returns!

To celebrate both of these occasions, here’s the book trailer for The Last Viking Returns. Turn the music up loud.

For more Last Viking Returns action:

Check out the Last Viking Returns page on my website;

like The Last Viking Returns on facebook.

Thanks again for your support!

James

The Last Viking Returns – book trailer

Here’s your first proper look at The Last Viking Returns!

The book will be out on September 1.

Josh is as brave as a Viking warrior. And not much can scare a Viking. But when the two littlest Vikings go beserk, Josh, Grandpa and Viking World are in for a rocky ride. Here’s a sneak peek at the sequel to The Last Viking.

First review for The Last Viking Returns

The Last Viking Returns was reviewed for the first time this morning! Here’s what ABC Radio Central Victoria had to say:

“Young Knut has to keep his twin siblings in check when he and his grandparents visit Viking World – a theme park like you’ve never seen before!

It’s full of detailed illustrations, runes to crack, lots of Viking references and a seemingly impossible villain to face – Fafnir the dragon. Sarah [Mayor Cox, children’s literature expert] says this is one of the most engaging books she’s seen in ages.

Young children will love it – it’s a good old fashioned romping adventure, which will have them gasping in anticipation of what will happen next.”

For the full audio, head to http://blogs.abc.net.au/victoria/2014/06/vikings-and-dreamers.html?site=centralvic&program=central_victoria_mornings.

And stay tuned to this blog and the facebook page – we’ll reveal the official book trailer for The Last Viking Returns next Tuesday afternoon!

TLVII Cover

Character design – the Dragon King

Between now and the launch of The Last Viking Returns (Sept 1st, 2014), I’m doing a series of posts showing my rough sketches for all the characters in the book.

I’ve covered Josh’s family and the Viking characters in previous posts.

Today I’ll show you my sketches of a new character – a villain. He doesn’t have an official name, but I call him the Dragon King.

The Dragon King works at the Viking World theme park. He’s the star of the Fiery Funeral show that takes place each evening at Fjord Stadium. He leads the team of archers who launch their flaming arrows at the longship on the water.

He thinks he’s a celebrity but he’s really a silly old git. At the end of the book, Nan gives him a belting. I can’t say anymore or I’ll ruin the book!

Here’s my character reference sheet for the Dragon King.

Dragon-King

I made a standard colour version of each character too, so that I could keep their colours consistent. Here’s the colour sheet for the Dragon King:

dragon-King-colour

Next week we’ll show you something different again. We’ll finally reveal the book trailer!

You’ll get your first proper look at the characters in action.

To stay up to date, hit the subscribe link on the right hand side of the blog, or like our official facebook page.

Character design – Odin’s wolves

Between now and the launch of The Last Viking Returns (Sept 1st, 2014), I’m doing a series of posts showing my rough sketches for all the characters in the book.

I’ve covered Josh’s family and most of the Viking characters in previous posts.

Today I’ll show you my sketches of Odin’s wolves.

As well as two pet ravens, Odin has two pet wolves. Their names are Geri and Freki. Both names translate as ‘ravenous, greedy’. Not that they display these qualities in The Last Viking Returns; they are more heroic, joining Sigurd as he faces off against Fafnir the dragon.

The two wolves also provide a parallel for the dogs that accompany Josh on his journey in the book.

This is my character reference sheet for the wolves.

Wolves

I made a standard colour version of each character too, so that I could keep their colours consistent. Here’s the colour sheet for the wolves:

Wolves-colour

I don’t think I did too badly drawing these two; they probably look a little too much like huskies rather than wolves. There’s so many subtle differences between dog bodies and wolf bodies, I still think I need practice!

That’s it for the Asgardian characters. Next week I’ll introduce one of the villains – the Dragon King.

Character design – Freya

Between now and the launch of The Last Viking Returns (Sept 1st, 2014), I’m doing a series of posts showing my rough sketches for all the characters in the book.

I’ve covered Josh’s family and most of the Viking characters in previous posts.

Today I’ll show you my sketches of Freya.

Freya is the goddess of love and beauty. In the original mythology, she rides a chariot drawn by two giant cats.

She appears briefly in The Last Viking but looking back I wasn’t happy with her depiction. I kept her costume the same for the The Last Viking Returns but I changed her face and body shape.

Viking women were just as fierce as their male counterparts. Norman and I wanted Freya to be tough enough to run into battle with the boys, so I made her taller and stronger than she’d looked previously, and gave her a sword too.

This is my character reference sheet for Freya.

Freya

I made a standard colour version of each character too, so that I could keep their colours consistent. Here’s the colour sheet for Freya:

Freya-colour

Next week we’ll look at my sketches for Odin’s pet wolves.

Character design – Odin

Between now and the launch of The Last Viking Returns (Sept 1st, 2014), I’m doing a series of posts showing my rough sketches for all the characters in the book.

I’ve covered Josh’s family and some of the Viking characters already.

Today I’ll show you my sketches of Odin.

Odin is the head honcho in Norse mythology. Lots of schoolkids get him confused with Zeus, and understandably – both are old men with white beards who live in the sky. (It’s no wonder that the Christian God is sometimes imagined as an old white-bearded man, considering the centuries of similar depictions that came earlier).

This is my character reference sheet for Odin.

Odin

I made a standard colour version of each character too, so that I could keep their colours consistent. Here’s the colour sheet for Odin:

Odin-colour

Next week we’ll look at my sketches for the goddess of love and beauty, Freya.

Character design – Sigurd

Between now and the launch of The Last Viking Returns (Sept 1st, 2014), I’m doing a series of posts showing my rough sketches for all the characters in the book.

I’ve covered Josh’s family already and I’ve just started on the Viking characters.

Today I’ll show you my sketches of Sigurd.

Sigurd was a Viking hero, not a Norse god. He was renowned for his feats of bravery, including the slaying of the dragon Fafnir. (More on that later).

In The Last Viking Returns, Thor sneaks out of Asgard to have a holiday. Sigurd is left to defend Asgard against Fafnir.

Sigurd needed to look different enough to Thor to provide a counterpoint; he needed to look more responsible and down to earth. That’s why he doesn’t have the fanciest clothes or the shiniest sword. His appearance is also based on his original occupation – Sigurd was a blacksmith. He wears a leather cap, similar to what a Viking blacksmith would have worn, and this also helps him stand out all the other Asgardians (who all have horned helmets).

There is in fact an earlier version of Sigurd that almost appeared in The Last Viking, but he looked completely different back then- I’ll show those sketches another time.

These are my reference sketches and notes for Sigurd.

Sigurd-1

Sigurd-2

Sigurd-3

I made a standard colour version of each character too, so that I could keep their colours consistent. Here’s the colour sheet for Sigurd:

Sigurd-colour

Next week I’ll talk about Thor’s father, Odin.

Character design – Thor

Between now and the launch of The Last Viking Returns (Sept 1st, 2014), I’m doing a series of posts showing my rough sketches for all the characters in the book.

I’ve covered Josh’s family already, so it’s on to the Norse gods – the Asgardians. Thor is up first.

Millions of children are familiar with the Marvel comics version of Thor, thanks to the Avengers cartoons and films. For copyright reasons, we were unable to reference that version of Thor (not that we would want to).

In the original stories Thor had red hair and a big red beard. He wore magic gauntlets to protect his hands when wielding his lightning hammer, Mjolnir. I tried to include these elements in my design, while making it (hopefully) original. (Though in all these Viking characters there is more than a little influence from Asterix comics).

These are my reference sketches and notes for Thor.

Thor-1

I made a standard colour version of each character too, so that I could keep their colours consistent. Here’s the colour sheet for Thor:

Thor-colour

And here’s how he appears on the back cover of The Last Viking Returns.

back-cover-Thor

Next week I’ll focus on a new Viking character – the hero Sigurd.

Character design – Nan and Pop

Between now and the launch of The Last Viking Returns (Sept 1st, 2014), I’m doing a series of posts showing my rough sketches for all the characters in the book.

Next in the family are Nan and Pop.

I hadn’t drawn Nan or Pop at all in the three years between The Last Viking and The Last Viking Returns, so it was back to the drawing board to learn them again.

These are my sketches and notes.