I'm back... with some fun new projects!

[Simon Beck]

More years ago than I care to remember, I wrote and illustrated a children's picture-book called "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Shark". Some of you might remember it:



Anyway, last year I finally got round to self-publishing it on Lulu.com, and to my surprise I found considerable local interest in it. I sold a few dozen copies at a local cafe, and the head-teacher at my younger son's school bought six copies to use for classroom reading material! That prompted me to write and illustrate the long-overdue sequel, "Armadillo", the story of the eponymous critter travelling from Peru to London. The story is written in verse, and can be sung to the tune of "Clementine. I decided to use the same silhouette technique, but this time with colourful backgrounds, often working from photos and in one case from a 3D model. All the graphics are drawn by hand, using a mouse, and the only software used is XaraXtreme Pro.



The third book is "Bob", the story of "the world's best goldfish", told (this time in prose) from the point-of-view of his doting young owner. The narrator is concerned that Bob might be bored, and thinks up increasingly elaborate schemes for decorating his tank. From wallpaper (can you get wallpaper for goldfish?) to the Taj Mahal and beyond, Bob hardly moves from one picture to the next (apart from the pupil of his eye), but eventually he gets what he really needs, and expresses his happiness in the only way a goldfish can. Again, several backgrounds were based on photos. The Eiffel Tower and Taj Mahal took two days each to draw, while St Basil's Cathedral took four days!



You can check out my books (or even order them!) at my Lulu page.

I'm currently working on an alphabet book featuring animals and musical instruments.

It's good to be back in XaraLand...

Simon Beck
London, UK