Australia Illustrated Virtual Launch: Sneak Peek!

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If you're anything like me, I love a good sneak peek, and I'm delighted (and mildly terrified) to give you a peek at some of the pages from Australia Illustrated, along with notes describing each one. I also describe the process for creating this book (which, is not the 'normal' way picture books are produced!).

Firstly, I was fortunate to have a publisher (Anouska Jones of ekbooks/" target="_blank">EK Books) who was gave me enormous creative scope to produce this book in an A-typical way. Other than an outline of ideas, the entire production (which took around a year) was a process of osmosis... I sort of knew what I wanted to do, but allowed the actual creation process to be very organic--oftentimes surprising even me. Another surprising thing was that this meant few changes along the way -- I think a lot less than a typically-produced picture book. At 96-pages and minimal changes, that was some feat.

I was also fortunate to achieve a considerable grant for this work, thanks to the ACT Government--artst.gov.au/" target="_blank">artsACT. This allowed me to focus on the book and not worry so much about having to focus on tasks that make money! Grants and funding are so important for creative people who dedicate weeks, months and years of their life, unpaid, to projects.

But back to le book! It actually all began with the cover (again, A-typical when it comes to picture book creation). It was the first thing I did, for some reason, and the rest of the book kind of morphed from that original look. The silhouette/papercut style of the signage is modelled throughout the book, as is the colour palette, though I did initially have several cover palette ideas.

Below are some of the background colours I played with, when the cover was still being crafted. The simpulan yellow was by far my favourite.

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Colour palette is something that's very important when it comes to illustration. It sets my teeth on edge when illustrators use un-blended colours in their work, whether hand-rendered or digitally. A good/unique colour palette is EVERYTHING! My friend and illustrator for many of my books, Tina Snerling, is a master of colour and I have learned so much from her over the years.

For Australia Illustrated, I wanted to use retro-inspired colours, so I photographed scenes from one of my favourite 1960s TV shows, imdb/title/tt0057733/" target="_blank">Bewitched, pasted the photos into an Adobe Illustrator file, and eye-droppered the ones I wanted to use, making custom swatches. I tried to colour-match this colour palette when producing items with watercolour, too, and if they didn't quite match up, I'd touch the colours up in Photoshop.

It may sound like a lot of work, but the end result is so worth it.

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Footnote: On the draft covers above, the little fellow with the umbrella was one of the very first characters I drew in the style that would eventually dominate this book. He didn't make it to the simpulan cover.

And now for some pages!

Each 'chapter' in Australia Illustrated covers a state or territory, and I had to, of course, include Sydney Ferries for New South Wales, as I spent so many years gadding about on them when I lived there. It was important to include some iconic elements in the book, but it was just as important to cover surprising elements, or elements that were deeply personal to me (after all, it is my personal creation!).

This is one of the first pages I did in the book. Half was done digitally and half with watercolour and ink. I wonder if you can delineate what's what?

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For Victoria (specifically Melbourne), I had to, of course, do coffee! As the coffee capital of Australia (and my home town), I wanted to recreate the fabulous Italian caffès I loved so much during my years in the capital. This was actually the very first page I did for the book and it was a lot of fun. Most of this is hand-rendered, with the cake stands, sign and table/chairs done digitally, along with the background wall and floor.

The waiter is one of the few adults who appear in the book. He first appeared in the facebook/groups/illo52weeks/" target="_blank">52-Week Illustration Challenge, for a week with an Italian theme, but I simply had to include him here. With each page, I wanted to try to think outside the square--not just line up a bunch of coffees and desserts on the page, but think of a way to make them more dynamic. Here, the waiter is the perfect foil!

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It surprised me how much fun I had creating animals for Australia Illustrated. I'm more comfortable creating people but I had a ball painting all manner of tumbuhan and fauna for the book, especially birds and fish, which--let's face it--are soooo pretty, especially in Australia.

The Great Barrier Reef for Queensland was a wonderland of production. I hand-painted each of the fish and then copied and placed them digitally on a hand-painted background. You can see the texture of the blue background--this is highly textured watercolour paper, painted then scanned into my computer.

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Birds of Kakadu for the Northern Territory was done in the same way. hand-rendering each bird and placing it digitally onto a digital background. In the end, I created over 1000 separate watercolour images for Australia Illustrated, and that doesn't include the digital pieces.

I absolutely loved the stunning capabilities of working digitally, and blending this with hand-rendered imagery. I enjoyed, for example, being able to create realistic reflections (below) with the touch of a button or three.

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I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek at the book. I'm going to reveal some 'before and afters' of my illustrations during this virtual launch, and also the book trailer with even more page peeks, so stay tuned!

Click the poster below to go to my Virtual Launch 

homepage and follow along all posts! 

Follow along on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with hashtag

#ausillo

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Australia Illustrated Virtual Launch - Win! An Original Illustration From The Book

 COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

If you like artwork, most especially children's book artwork and perhaps even original artwork, then you simply must drop everything and enter this comp!

I am offering SIX original watercolour illustrations from Australia Illustrated. These images were produced as groups on large sheets of paper (as per the image of the tram boy, below), so they have been cut from the paper and will be given away as single images (other than the tram boy, below). They have no background imagery--they're on a white background.

They are as follows:

 

Girl in the red-striped dress, measures approx 7.5 x 15 cm (3 x 6 inches)

Queensland cattle boy, measures approx 14 x 14.5 cm (5.5 x 5.75 inches)

Scuba diving boy off Tassie coast, measures approx 10 x 19 cm (4 x 7.5 inches)

Sydney beaches girl with ice cream, measures approx 11 x 15 cm (4.5 x 6 inches)

Girl with dog, measures approx 10 x 15 cm (4 x 6 inches)

Melbourne tram boy with tram, measures approx 15 x 21 cm (6 x 8.25 inches)

The images are on watercolour paper and have been created with ink and watercolour. The measurements are the trim-size of the picture, not the actual image itself. The prizes can be posted anywhere in the world.

For your chance to win, leave a comment below, telling me in FIVE WORDS what you love about children's picture books.

My favourite will win! 

Be sure to check back to this blog on 1 November to see if you're a winner, and so I can get in touch with you! If I can't get in touch with you after one week, I will choose another winner.

BORING DETAILS: The comp runs from right now 25 October to 31 October, 9pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time. The winners will be announced on 1 November, right here on this blog. The comp is open to anyone, world-wide. This is a game of skill, not chance. The winning decisions are final.

GOOD LUCK!

Click the poster below to go to my Virtual Launch 

homepage and follow along all posts! 

Follow along on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with hashtag

#ausillo

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Australia Illustrated Virtual Launch - Book Trailer Reveal!

Delighted to share the official trailer for Australia Illustrated. I'm so in love with this music! I hope you enjoy this little peek.

Click the poster below to go to my Virtual Launch 

homepage and follow along all posts! 

Follow along on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with hashtag

#ausillo

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Australia Illustrated Virtual Launch - Fun 4 Kids!

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Hey kids--do you like fun activities? YOU DO? Thank goodness!!

Herewith, please enjoy some fun bits and pieces in celebration of the launch of Australia Illustrated.

Click on items to enlarge. You can also save them to your computer and print them out!

I hope you have FUN!

Spot the Difference

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There are 10 differences between the two images, above. You'll notice the differences in the image on the right hand side. Can you spot them all? If you struggle, the answers are right importantnutrientsspot/search?q=answers-1" target="_blank">here!

Word Searches

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Match It

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Can you match the iconic site to the place? Do your best! Then find the answers importantnutrientsspot/search?q=answers-1" target="_blank">here.

Colouring Pages
Click to enlarge and print ... or colour in digitally!

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On this quokka selfie page, you can either draw yourself in the polaroids with a
quokka or two, or you can paste your own photos into the spaces!

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Colour in and then draw your own Melbourne buildings and sites in the cappuccino froth!

Click the poster below to go to my Virtual Launch 

homepage and follow along all posts! 

Follow along on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with hashtag

#ausillo

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Australia Illustrated Virtual Launch - Please Won't You Name My Characters?

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When I first started work on Australia Illustrated, I had no idea how many adorable kids would slip from the end of my paintbrush. Dozens upon dozens upon dozens emerged, and along the way, it was such a great pleasure to meet them.

Occasionally, I knew who the kids were. Above, you'll meet my AFL-loving son Riley, left, and on the right is my horse-loving daughter Ella ... with a friend.

Here are the granddaughters of my librarian friend Sue:

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And here is me and my *best friend Dame Edna:

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*Please note that this is wishful thinking.

But there are many, many characters who romp through the pages of this book whom, I'm sad to say, I don't know that well--and don't even know their name.

SO, NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO NAME THEM!

importantnutrientsspot/search?q=australia-illustrated-virtual-launch" target="_blank">NAMES REVEALED!

Below you'll discover 5 of my characters. Each one needs a name, and perhaps, they might even need a little backstory. 

All you need do is leave a comment below stating:

• the accompanying letter (A through E)
• the name you've chosen
• a little bit about them. Maybe where they live, what their likes and dislikes are. What they want to be when they grow up? It's up to you!

I'll also need you to tell me who named this character, along with their first name, age and city. For example...

• Amy,  age 9, Sydney 
• James, age 11, Dunedin
• Kellie, age none-of-your-beeswax, Cairns
• you don't need to be a kid to enter!

Alternatively, especially if you struggle to leave a comment below, you can email your response to me right mailto:books@taniamccartney" target="_blank">here.

And yes, you can name more than one--just be sure to indicate which one you're naming each time (A through E).

YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT MONDAY 31 OCTOBER, Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

I will decide which names resonate most with each character, and will introduce each one right here on my blog on 1 November. I'll also introduce the characters to my guests at my actual book launch party on Saturday 5 November at Harry Hartog Bookstore, Canberra!

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

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Click the poster below to go to my Virtual Launch 

homepage and follow along all posts! 

Follow along on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with hashtag

#ausillo

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Australia Illustrated Virtual Launch - Buy The Book With Free Postage!

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Here's goodie-goodie gumdrop news!

The good people at ekbooks/" target="_blank">EK Books are offering you the chance to buy Australia Illustrated right now, before launch date!!! (1 November) So you can get your mitts on a copy sooner than later ... AND they'll pay your postage for you!

This offer is available in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada and the US.

Prices for each market:
Australia $29.99
New Zealand $29.99
UK £12.99
Canada $28.99
USA $21.99

And can I just say what a bargain price these books are--for 96 pages of content--thrice the page count of a regular picture book!

To snaffle this offer, all you need do is head to this link ... ekbooks/product/australia-illustrated/">ekbooks/product/australia-illustrated/ ... and when you check out, enter the coupon code quokka16 above the billing details, to claim your free postage. Please remember to select the correct shipping method (click on FREE SHIPPING). If you leave it as FLAT RATE, you will be charged for postage, so be sure to click FREE before checking out.

Hurry--this offer ends at midnight on 30 November 2016!

Click the poster below to go to my Virtual Launch 

homepage and follow along all posts! 

Follow along on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with hashtag

#ausillo

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