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I wish I could paint this fast

Here’s a timelapse of me painting a page from The Last Viking Returns.

This page features Odin and his ravens, as well as Freya (the goddess of love and beauty), Sigurd (blacksmith to the gods), and Thor (no introduction needed).

All the illustrations in the book (including this one) were drawn with pencil, then scanned and coloured digitally using a Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet and Photoshop CS3/Corel Painter X3.

The footage was captured using Screenium. The colouring process took 4 hours in real time.

The Last Viking Returns is the sequel to The Last Viking (2011) and is once again illustrated by James Foley (me) and written by Norman Jorgensen. All being well, it’ll be released in October 2014 by Fremantle Press!

Merry Christmas, from James and Norm … (and Odin)

Merry Xmas, from Odin

 

I often joke with school kids that Odin looks like a pirate Santa. (You may already know that similarities between depictions of Odin and Santa are not coincidental). Anyway, that running joke led to the drawing above. There could be a story in it; who knows?

On behalf of Fremantle Press, Norman and myself, I want to say thank you for your amazing support since the release of The Last Viking. Can you believe that was 2 and a half years ago?? And it’s now only 10 months until The Last Viking Returns!?

Right now I’m working on final illustrations, but I’ll have more time for behind-the-scenes posts in 2014. Stay tuned. And Merry Christmas!

 

James

 

Picture A Story exhibition

The State Library of WA has a new exhibition beginning November 2nd called Picture A Story, comprising works from their Australian children’s book illustration collection.

You’ll see artwork by Shaun Tan, Ron Brooks, Graeme Base, Alison Lester, Frane Lessac, Leigh Hobbs, Matt Ottley, Sean E Avery and me!

There’ll be originals, sketches and sculptures I made for The Last Viking… including this little reference maquette for Josh.

And as you probably noticed at the top of the post, Wolverine is the official mascot of the exhibition!

More info at the State Library website.

Picture A Story exhibition

The State Library of WA has a new exhibition beginning November 2nd called Picture A Story, comprising works from their Australian children’s book illustration collection.

You’ll see artwork by Shaun Tan, Ron Brooks, Graeme Base, Alison Lester, Frane Lessac, Leigh Hobbs, Matt Ottley, Sean E Avery and me!

There’ll be originals, sketches and sculptures I made for The Last Viking… including this little reference maquette for Josh.

Josh reference sculpture

And as you probably noticed at the top of the post, Wolverine is the official mascot of the exhibition!

More info at the State Library website.

Vikings invade Darling Harbour

The Jorgen Jorgensen pulls in Darling Harbour
The Jorgen Jorgenson docks at Darling Harbour

Last week, the Australian National Maritime Museum was invaded by Vikings!

The staff were happily enjoying the launch of their new exhibition Vikings – Beyond the Legend when a horde of real Norsemen arrived at the docks at Darling Harbour, Sydney.

They came in peace though. Only one Anglo-Saxon warrior died.

Read more on the official ANMM blog.

The Amity Kids Adventures: A gorilla and a gumnut

20130818-201217.jpg

It’s been a long time between posts! Thanks for waiting. I’ve been working on three chapter books, e-books actually, called the Amity Kids Adventures. Book 1 is called Magpie Mischief, Book 2 is called Disturbing the Peace, and Book 3 is called Kidnapped! They’re written by Jon Doust and Ken Spillman and illustrated by me.

Continue reading “The Amity Kids Adventures: A gorilla and a gumnut”

Sneak Peek

Hello readers! We’ve been away for a bit. But Norm and I have been working on something new. Hopefully I’ll have a cover image to reveal in the next month.

In the meantime, here’s a section from one of my colour roughs. It should give you a little idea of what’s to come.

TLV2-sneak-peek-1

 

Onward to glory,

James

‘In The Lion’ noted in 2013 CBCA Awards

CBCA Notable Book medalMy picture book ‘In The Lion‘ was named a Notable Book in the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Picture Book of the Year category. Thanks to all the judges, and congrats to all my colleagues who had books noted and shortlisted.