tips – James Foley

I got to chat with Brenton McKenna for ALIA Graphics

Back in May I had the great privilege of yarning with my bud Brenton McKenna for ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics. ⁠
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Brenton and I interviewed each other about our newest graphic novels (including Secret Agent Mole: Goldfish-Finger), our processes and our inspirations. Brenton is the creator of the Ubby’s Underdogs trilogy and has a new series out called Hairy Holes, all about some hairy creatures that live in the Australian outback. It’s hilarious! ⁠

You can catch our chat here on YouTube.

P.S. ALIA has a massive treasure trove of videos, all about graphic novels and comics. Make sure you check it out!

Littlescribe Mini Writing Festival

It’s a writing program and a writers festival all-in-one, and it’s back for another year!

The 2023 Littlescribe Mini-Writing Festival features Australian Children’s Laureate Gabrielle Wang, past laureate Jackie French, CBCA picture book of the year winner Claire Saxby, best-sellers Jacqueline Harvey and Louise Park, and festival favourites Deb Abela and Oliver Phommavanh. Oh, and me too.

It’s on from Monday 31st July to Friday 4th August and is fully online, so no matter where your school is (or whether you’re homeschooling), you can join in. There’s sessions for students aged 5-14, covering everything from poetry to picture books, and sports writing to slam poetry.

I’ll be chatting with Tim Harris (we made Toffle Towers together!) about creating and illustrating unique characters, plus joining all the other sessions as an illustrator-in-residence.

Program below. Full details on the LittleScribe website.

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

How to draw MAX from Secret Agent Mole

Want to learn how to draw Max Mole from my new graphic novel series, Secret Agent Mole?

Here’s your chance!

Click below to watch my free tutorial.

You’ll need:

plain white paper
lead pencil
eraser
sharpener
coloured pencils (dark blue, light blue, red, black)
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.

Learn how to create graphic novels with me

Ever wonder how graphic novels get made?

Excerpt from my graphic novel, *Chickensaurus* (2020)

I’ve recorded a workshop on that very subject for the Brisbane Writers Festival’s online program.

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.

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.