Apparently like that!
I love seeing how words and particularly sound effects get translated into other languages. My graphic novel Gastronauts has been released in Türkiye as Gastronotlar, which means we get to find out how farts (and burps) sound in Turkish!
See below for the cover and more internals.
Continue reading “Ever wondered what a fart sounds like in Turkish?”
Originally published in 2018, Gastronauts is back with a new full colour edition!
With colouring by Paulina Gamez and new covers designed by Rebecca Mills, this new edition is disgustingly good.
It even comes with an extra bonus story!
Continue reading “Gastronauts re-released in full COLOUR”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
Sally Tinker, the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve, is back!
She first appeared in my debut graphic novel – Brobot – released in 2016. The book was printed in black and white and just 112 pages long. Three sequels followed: Dungzilla, Gastronauts and Chickensaurus – each longer and more ambitious than the last – plus some full-colour short stories in The School Magazine. And that was it … or so I thought.
Then the wonderful team at Fremantle Press said, “Hey James … how about we rerelease the Sally Tinker comics in full colour?”
My instant and highly professional reply was, “heck yes!”
Then I looked at my diary and saw how busy I was already. I wouldn’t have time to colour them in. “Oh bottom,” I exclaimed in measured tones.
So Fremantle said, “what if we get some artists to help?”
And I remarked, “that’s a flippin’ excellent idea!”
So Freo asked an up-and-coming artist called Paulina Gamez to do the colouring, and the ever brilliant Rebecca Mills to redesign the covers. I reformatted the School Magazine stories to fit inside the new editions. And before we knew it, we had four revamped and beefed up graphic novels to release!
First up is Brobot on April 3rd, followed by Gastronauts on June 1st. Both feature new covers and extra stories. (No official release dates on the colour editions of Dungzilla or Chickensaurus, but rest assured they’re in the works). If you enjoyed Secret Agent Mole then you should love these comics too!
Pre-order your copies at the links below.
Published by Fremantle Press, 3rd April 2024.
ISBN: 9781760993115 (paperback)
Buy online:
Published by Fremantle Press, 1st June 2024.
ISBN: 9781760993122 (paperback)
Buy online:
Exactly what is says on the box – 8 more free drawing tutorials!
Hi everyone! I hope you’re all staying safe and well in these strange times.
Looking for free stuff to help with your homeschooling? I’ve got you covered.
check out my Teacher resource page. It’s a comprehensive list of resources related to all my books. There’s a bunch of bonus activities and content at the bottom of the page.
Check out the free videos below (if the videos don’t come up, please try the online version of this blog post).
Also – while schools might not be going back to normal for a little while, I’m still available to do presentations for school groups – either live or pre-recorded. Get in contact to find out more.
There are heaps more videos on my youtube channel and also on my Teacher resource page.
Littlescribe also has a bunch more free creative writing lessons on their Youtube channel. They also offer full terms’ worth of creative writing programs for a fee via their website; each writing program is developed in conjunction with professional Aussie children’s authors (including me).
My publisher Fremantle Press is offering 10% off my junior graphic novels, and is throwing in a ‘Kids At Home’ pack too – a bunch of freebies and activity sheets! Use the discount code ATHOME at the checkout to get your discount and freebies. Head to the Fremantle Press website for more info.
*** This offer lasts until Easter 2020. ***
Look after yourselves – wash your hands, keep up your social distancing – and we’ll meet up again on the other side of this.
– James
My new book Gastronauts is out now in bookstores and online.
Today I’m taking you behind the scenes to show you how I illustrated the front cover.
Here’s my final rough:
Continue reading “Behind the scenes of Gastronauts, part 4: final cover illustration”
My new book Gastronauts is out now in bookstores and online.
Today I’m taking you behind the scenes to show you how I designed the robots and vehicles in the story.
Quick recap: Sally Tinker is the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve. In Gastronauts, Sally’s baby brother Joe swallows her latest invention. So Sally and her friend Charli shrink themselves down in a tiny submarine and journey into Joe’s body.
Here’s how I designed the cover.
Sometimes you get the cover idea pretty quickly and clearly from the start.
This was not one of those times.
I struggled with this a lot at first; I couldn’t figure out how to show the reader that Sally and Charli were inside a sub, inside Joe, and make Sally and Charli big enough so that they were recognisable, without being too big that the scale stopped being anatomically correct.
None of these ideas really work, but I’ve included them here to show you how a cover design process can go. There are usually lots of rejected, fairly ordinary ideas.
Continue reading “Behind the scenes of Gastronauts, part 3: cover design”
My new book Gastronauts is out now in bookstores and online.
Today I’m taking you behind the scenes to show you how I designed the robots and submarine in the story.
Quick recap: Sally Tinker is the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve. In Gastronauts, Sally’s baby brother Joe swallows an invention called the smartCHIP, along with a bunch of tiny robots called smartbots, and also a tiny shrunken submarine containing Sally and her friend Charli.
Here’s how I designed Sally’s SUB and the smartbots. But:
**SPOILER ALERT***
I’ll discuss plot points for the book, so if you haven’t read the book yet, go do that first, then come back.
All good?
Have you gone and read the book?
Ok, here’s how I designed the SUB and the smartbots.
Continue reading “Behind the scenes of Gastronauts, part 2: submarine & robot design”
My new book Gastronauts is out now in bookstores and online.
Today I’m taking you behind the scenes to show you how I made the illustrations.
Here’s one of my favourite spreads from the book. It’s where Sally leads her friend Charli into the SUB (Sally’s Underwater Boat) for the first time.
I thought it would be easiest to show the insides of the SUB by just drawing a massive cut-away diagram. Here’s how I drew it.
Continue reading “Behind the scenes of Gastronauts, part 1: illustration process”
James Foley 