the making of … – James Foley

Collaborative artwork with kids

I’m honoured to have some artwork included in the 2026 SQUIGL calendar! But the artwork isn’t just mine – it’s a collab between me and a kid living in regional Queensland called Will Thomas.

Buy a calendar

I was given Will Thomas’ excellent whiteboard drawing of a toucan …

… which I worked up into a very scribbly rough …

… then a more detailed rough.

My next step was a colour test, which I liked …

… but once I had my final artwork together, I felt like mucking around with the colours.

I tried a purple background instead, which helped the toucan beaks to pop.

Finally I added a sunrise in the background and some shading, and voilá – the artwork was finished!

Big thanks to Will for the excellent initial drawing – I hope you like how it turned out!

More about the calendar

The 2026 SQUIGL Calendar is a fundraising initiative by Andy Geppert’s SQUIGL Club, an online drawing group for kids living in remote Queensland.

All calendar sales support sending these remote community kids to visit regional writers’ festivals run by Somerset Storyfest.

Buy a calendar

Behind the scenes on Bigfoot vs Yeti

If you’d like a little more info on how my latest picture book was put together, here’s some recent media clippings:

an interview with the wonderful Rebecca Newman at Alphabet Soup about the development of Bigfoot vs Yeti,
and an article on the Fremantle Press website about the digital linocut technique used for the book.

INTERVIEW
Bigfoot vs Yeti
Alphabet Soup
with Rebecca Newman

ARTICLE
From Linocut to iPad
on the Fremantle Press website

New interview on the Good Reading podcast

Earlier in Feb I got to chat with Gregory Dobbs from the Good Reading podcast, all about my picture book Stellarphant and the upcoming colour rereleases of Brobot and Gastonauts.

As Greg puts it, we chat about “the great characters [James] has created – Sally Tinker (the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve), Joe Tinker (full-time baby) and Charli Stevenson (foremost biologist under the age of eleven). We explore the hilarious and often quite smelly adventures they get up to, along with Sally’s amazing range of inventions. There’s also a few Dad jokes along the way.”

INTERVIEW
Stellarphant, Brobot and Gastronauts
Good Reading Podcast
with Gregory Dobbs

Hear me read Stellarphant on Nova with Nathan, Nat and Shaun

Yesterday I got to hang out with Nova Perth’s breakfast team and talk about my favourite part of the year, Children’s Book Week! I also got to chat a bit about the making of Secret Agent Mole, and read Stellarphant aloud on air (with running commentary from the team – you won’t find that in an audiobook).

Thanks heaps for having me in the studio, Nathan, Nat and Shaun! And huge thanks to Chasze the tradie for helping me out when I’d left my phone at home. Champion.

Click the link below to listen to the chat.

INTERVIEW
Book Week 2023 (mp3 file)
Nova 93.7 Perth Breakfast show
with Nathan, Nat and Shaun

How to draw JUNE BUG from Secret Agent Mole

Want to learn how to draw June Bug from my new series, SECRET AGENT MOLE?

Here’s a free tutorial to show you how.

Youl’ll need:

plain white paper
lead pencil
eraser
sharpener
coloured pencils (dark green, light green)
black felt-tipped pen or black texta

Watch the youtube tutorial here.

How to draw HELENA HIPPO from Secret Agent Mole

Want to learn how to draw Helena Hippo from my new series, SECRET AGENT MOLE?

Here’s a free tutorial to show you how.

Youl’ll need:

plain white paper
lead pencil
eraser
sharpener
coloured pencils (pink, red or dark red)
black felt-tipped pen or black texta

Three new interviews

Writers Weekend: Drawing on the Imagination
Seesaw Magazine
with Julie Hosking

I chat with Julie about the upcoming Perth Festival Family Day in Freo, a day of sessions with local and Australian authors and illustrators. I also talk about the creative processes behind some of my books.

Secret Agent Mole
reading With a Chance of Tacos podcast
with Ken Williams

Chatting with Ken is always a laugh! We talk about my new graphic novel series Secret Agent Mole – what it’s about, where the ideas came from, and where the series could go in the future.

Animals in Space
What the Duck?! podcast
with Dr Ann Jones

It was a real pleasure to be able to speak with Ann about the research I did for my picture book Stellarphant. I learned so many weird and wonderful stories about the true history of animals in space, and I got to share some of those tales on the podcast.

New interview goes behind the scenes on Stellarphant

Want to know a little more about the making of my latest picture book, Stellarphant?

Check out this chat with Joy Lawn from the Paperbark Words blog.

I talk about the themes of diversity, difference and discrimination; reveal my favourite illustration from the book; and more.

Thanks for the chat, Joy!

Stellarphant on digital radio + 2 new interviews

Stellarphant is available as an audio reading on the Kinderling app!

Plus interviews on the Reading With a Chance of Tacos podcast and the Fremantle Shipping News.

Five interviews in ten days

As part of the promo for my new book Stellarphant , I’ve had five interviews in ten days. One was a blog, one was a podcast, two were on radio and one was live on facebook.