UnPOPpable

UnPOPpable_6

When I was young, I used to enjoy trying to make my home address as  

long as possible. Have you ever tried doing that? So I’d start with my  house number, which was 36 and the name of the road, then the local  area, then the name of the town, which was Wolverhampton (now a city!), followed by the district, West Midlands and then the postcode, and then ENGLAND, followed by UNITED KINGDOM, EUROPE, 

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE, PLANET EARTH. 

Remembering the times spent doing this, I decided to try it again on the last page of 'UnPOPpable', only this time go much further than PLANET EARTH. I asked my friend Gill to help me (she owns a telescope and knows all about these things!). Although this is purely a page of type, I think it illustrates very clearly just how small we really are and just how MASSIVE the universe is!

Is there anybody out there? Discuss (leave a comment!).

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?

UnPOPpable_5

BIG POP THEORY

Shooting Star?

BIG BANG THEORY

UnPOPpable_4

PoP pOP PoP pOp PoP POp PoP pOP PoP pOp PoP POp PoP pOP PoP pOP PoP 

PoP pOP PoP pOp PoP POp PoP pOP PoP pOp PoP POp PoP pOP PoP pOP PoP 

PoP pOP PoP pOp PoP POp PoP pOP PoP pOp PoP POp PoP pOP PoP pOP PoP 

PoP pOP PoP pOp PoP POp PoP pOP PoP pOp PoP POp PoP pOP PoP pOP PoP

PoP pOP PoP pOp PoP POp PoP pOP PoP pOp PoP POp PoP pOP PoP pOP PoP 

Click here to Pre-PoP! 

xxx

ELEVENSES

HANDS OFF OUR LIBRARIES

Last Saturday (Feb 5th) I took part in a READ-IN at Easingwold Library. The library was packed out with local supporters of all ages. I had taken along a huge drawing of an owl sitting in a bare tree and asked the kids to fill it with paper cut-outs of their hands to show their support for their library. Yesterday a photo of our visual petition was printed in THE TIMES. 

 PAGE 6 - THE TIMES/FEBRUARY 10TH 

HANDS OFF OUR LIBRARY/EASINGWOLD FEBRUARY 5TH

BONJOUR!

The French Press

Coffee Pot 5

Also known as a 

PRESS POT

COFFEE PRESS

COFFEE PLUNGER

CAFETIERE

Now sit back and watch the world go round and round and round and round...

A tout à l'heure!

UnPOPpable_3

Elevenses
I listen to music ALL the time. It’s not uncommon for there to be different music playing in every room in the house. When I’m concentrating on a drawing I can quite easily listen to the same few tracks over and over again - fortunately I wear headphones so no-one else has to suffer the mindless repetition! 

While I was working on ‘UnPOPpable’, there was one piece of music that seemed to hit just the right mood for the book, ‘Albatross’ by Fleetwood Mac. It’s a simple but compelling track. As I listened to it again and again, it bought back memories of watching school summer fete balloons float further and further out of sight until they were just tiny specks in the sky. I tried to capture this experience by showing the boy’s unpoppable balloon getting smaller and smaller on each spread until it is just a tiny yellow speck on the page.

"Come back!" called the boy.
UnPOPpable published by Macmillan Children's Books 2011

LEFTOVERS

Here are some layouts and drawings that didn't make the final version of the book.

NEW BALLOON ART

Just discovered this on TLC. Full-blown fun with THE UNPOPPABLES, a new six-part series following the innovative world of balloon art. 
Looks crazy!

UnPOPpable

www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780230748163

EASINGWOLD READ-IN

WOW! A big thank you to everyone who came along and took part in the READ-IN at Easingwold library earlier today.

Read-In at Easingwold Library 

Save Our Library Tree

NATIONAL READ-IN

Library READ-INS are taking place all over the country today to protest against the planned cuts to library services. Over 450 libraries NATIONWIDE are threatened with closure.

I will be reading Our Big Blue Sofa at Easingwold Library - the day starts at 10am. All welcome.

1933

This week's coffee pot is an absolute classic - the moka pot espresso maker invented by Alfonso Bialetti in 1933. 

Coffee Pot 4

And now sit back and enjoy an extended coffee-break (our first triple-play!) dedicated to the late great John Barry Prendergast,(1933-2011).

FAB FOUR

01/ Amora Ketchup
02/ Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce
03/ Kan-U-Go
04/ MOMA

BIG BANG THEORY

UnPOPpable_2

Elevenses

‘Unpoppable’ isn’t a proper word, it’s not in the dictionary - well not yet! So it took me a while to work out the best way to spell it: I preferred the double p spelling, ‘unpoppable’ but others thought ‘unpopable’ was easier to read. In the end I opted for ‘unpoppable’ because it works well with ‘unstoppable’. But to make it easier to read I decided to play around with the typography. At the beginning of the book, on each page turn, the pop in unpoppable gets slightly bigger and bigger until it’s about big enough to burst!

Main text is set in Minion Pro Bold Condensed

UnPOPpable pages 10-11 work in progress 2010

UnPOPpable pages 12-13 work in progress 2010

OUTLOOK: orange (Pantone 1585) 50% chance of yellow (Pantone 102) becoming brighter.