James Foley

Throwback Thursday: “Once Upon a Time” mural

In August 2013 a group of illustrators from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (Australia West) got together to paint a mural at the State Library of WA.

The theme was fairy tales with a local twist. Ten local illustrators (including myself) participated, each tackling a different fairy tale. Each tale was painted within a letter of the phrase ‘Once Upon A Time’.

Illustrator extraordinaire Chris Nixon compiled this time-lapse video of the process. On behalf of SCBWI, huge thanks to Chris and all the other artists: Samantha Hughes, Kelly Canby, Heather Charlton, Leanne White, Den Scheer, Frané Lessac, Sean E. Avery and Briony Stewart.

Long may the mural live on the wall; may it survive the sticky fingers of toddlers and the crayons of kids.

if the video doesn’t appear here, hit this link to watch.

Designing Viking World – the shops and restaurants

pg5---5-weeks-to-go There’s only 5 weeks until the release of The Last Viking Returns (Sept 1st), and each week until then I’ll show some more behind-the-scenes images.

I’m focusing on one of the main settings in the book – a theme park called Viking World. The theme park has many places where patrons can buy food and souvenirs, just like a real theme park.

Most of Viking World is in fact based on a real theme park – Universal Studios in Singapore. Norman and I attended conferences in Singapore in 2012 and 2013, and on both occasions we set aside a day to visit Universal (you can read more about our adventures here).

I remember vividly the entrance to Universal Studios and the sense of awe I felt. I knew it was all fake and ridiculous and designed to unburden me of my wallet, but I got caught up in the spectacle and the excitement of it all. Here’s the main street as you enter the park (that’s Norm in the middle):

Universal Studios Singapore entrance

All the shops and eateries tie back into the theme of the park, which is movies.You can buy t-shirts and soft toys and all that usual stuff, but you can also buy fresh popcorn, and Oscar statuettes, and movie costumes.

So for our park – Viking World – all the shops, restaurants and stalls would need to relate back to Vikings. Surely it wouldn’t be hard to come up with some ideas?

Continue reading “Designing Viking World – the shops and restaurants”

Designing Viking World – the Statue of Thor

There’s only 6 weeks until the release of The Last Viking Returns (Sept 1st), and each week until then I’ll show some more behind-the-scenes images.

I’m going to focus on one of the main settings in the book – a theme park called Viking World. The theme park has a massive statue of Thor.

Patrons are able to climb the stairs inside the statue; there are viewing platforms inside his mouth and the hammer. Naturally, the statue is closed during thunderstorms.

The most obvious influence for the statue is New York’s Statue of Liberty, which I ferried past a few years ago. Turned out it wasn’t very big – smaller than my head, in fact.

Ba-doom tish.

Continue reading “Designing Viking World – the Statue of Thor”

Character design – choosing colours for the cast

Over the last 3 months I’ve posted my rough sketches for all the characters in the book.

I’ve covered Josh’s family, all the Viking characters and the two villains.

This post gathers all the colour reference versions together so you can see the links between them.

I’ve made some notes on each major group of characters and their colours. Most of the time my colour choices were a matter of gut feeling, and it’s only after the fact that I can figure out why certain combinations seemed to work.

First up is Josh’s family.

I didn’t intentionally make Josh’s costume out of primary colours, but it turned out that way – yellowish hair, red helmet and shield, blue shirt. Add a bit of green and you’ve got a bunch of bright happy colours, which all help Josh stand out from whatever moody background he’s in front of.

Wolverine’s colander helmet and collar are the same shade of gold and red found on Josh’s chestplate. This sharing of colour is a simple way to link Josh and Wolverine together.

Josh’s siblings are in blue and red shirts – the same blue and red found in Josh’s costume. Their shorts/skirt are darker shades of the blue and red respectively. All three children have the same colour boots. Again, it’s about linking Josh with his siblings in the eye of the reader using colour.

Nan is the only one in the family to wear a shade of purple. I find it a loud colour for some reason; I don’t wear it a lot, and it seems to clash with a lot of colours I normally use. This fits with Nan’s no-nonsense, outspoken personality. I made it a soft, warm shade of purple though (at least to my slightly colour-blind eyes) as it seemed like a colour a loving, caring (but feisty) Nan might wear. The sneakers have purple trim in the same shade.

Pop is all in shades of grey – warm shades, tinges of brown in there. The dark vest is a strong contrast to the colour of his skin, shirt and pants. His colours seem warm and masculine and strong to me. Bright colours just didn’t seem to suit Pop; he’s silly and child-like, but he’s strong and grounded. I imagine he would give very big bear hugs. His colours make him stand out, not only from his wife but from all the other characters in the family.

character-sheet--family-550px

Continue reading “Character design – choosing colours for the cast”

Character design – Fafnir the dragon

Over the last 3 months I’ve posted my rough sketches for all the characters in the book.

I’ve covered Josh’s family and all the Viking characters in previous posts. I’ve also shown one of the villains. But there’s a major villain I left out.

Today I’ll show you my sketches of Fafnir the dragon.

Fafnir the dragon appears in Norse mythology. The legend goes that Fafnir guarded a pile of gold – much like Smaug in Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

Fafnir was defeated by Sigurd, a Viking hero.

Here’s my character reference sheet for Fafnir.

Fafnir

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

Next week I’ll show you the entire cast in one go, so you can see how their colours and designs relate to each other.

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.