the making of … – James Foley

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.

You can watch, read and listen via the links below.

INTERVIEW:
ABC Radio Perth, Saturday Breakfast
The Picture book that is going gangbusters
with Roanna Edwards & Molly Schmidt

INTERVIEW:
Alphabet Soup
James Foley on Stellarphant
with Rebecca Newman

INTERVIEW:

Helen Milroy Presents …
with Helen Milroy

Join us for this 35min interview where we discuss the pros and cons of being a writer/ illustrator; self-care for writers; and whether or not you should quit the day job and write a children’s book.

INTERVIEW:

RTR FM
with Fiona Bartholomaeus

Fiona and I talk all things Stellarphant in this 10min interview.

INTERVIEW:
Better Reading Kids Live!
with the inimitable Adrian Beck

A hilarious 40min video chat, including a quiz and a behind-the-scenes look at Stellarphant.

My new picture book Stellarphant is available now in Australia and New Zealand!
It’s available in the USA from January 1st.

Buy it now:

… or grab a copy from your local bookshop.

My new picture book took 7 years to make

My new picture book Stellarphant is out in November this year. I’ve been working on it since 2014, so it’s been 7 years in the making.

That might not seem like much compared to Jurassic Park‘s ’65 million years in the making’. But it’s still a lot … but I digress.

I drew the first sketch for what would become Stellarphant on a whim in June 2014. I was sitting with my illustrator buddies in a cottage on Rottnest Island for our annual SCBWI WA Retreat, when I started sketching an elephant and a penguin in spacesuits. No reason why – it just came out on the page. I added some colour and there was the beginnings of a story. The image stayed with me, and I started trying to write something to go with it.

The Last Viking turns 10

On a dark and stormy night exactly 10 years ago today, The Last Viking was launched.

Toffle Towers: old-school hand-lettering & a rocket-powered bus

Ever wondered how the title type for a series gets designed? I’ll show you my inspirations for the title type of the Toffle Towers series. I’ll also show you how I designed the series’ quirky shuttle bus vehicle.

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Toffle Towers: designing a hotel interior

The Toffle Towers series takes place in and around the eponymous hotel – it’s historic, a bit shabby and definitely quirky. In this post I’ll show you how I designed the hotel’s lobby.

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Toffle Towers: how to draw Chegwin

Here’s a free step-by-step video tutorial, showing you how to draw the main character from Toffle Towers.

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Toffle Towers: designing a hotel exterior

Many scenes in the Toffle Towers series happen in and around the eponymous hotel. So it was down to me – an illustrator with absolutely no architecture experience (!) – to design the exterior of the building. It needed to look historic, a little shabby but also exciting and quirky. Here’s how I designed it.

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