Here is a picture of me at my very first book signing, at Turret Books in Lamb's Conduit Street in 1990.
The man to my right is the late, great Bernard Stone, to whose memory Toonhead is dedicated. He owned the shop and inspired and encouraged many poets, writers, and artists.
In fact Bernard was also a children's writer; he wrote some very funny books about mice, which were illustrated by Ralph Steadman. Here is one of them:
The shop, incidentally, also provided inspiration for Otto Lunch's shop in The Truth Cookie. And who is that man behind me? It is not a man, but a wax model, of Sigmund Freud (look him up on Wikipedia! He co-founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology.) The model was made by Lyn Kramer.
FANCY BUTTERFLY DRESSHere's a (really ancient) picture of me in an outfit I made for a fancy dress party.
My character Elsie, is inspired by the surrealist fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. This jacket is one of her designs:
You may notice the butterfly theme. The butterfly motif also plays a potent part in the Silk Sisters trilogy.
In Pink Chameleon, we hear about the time Elsie won a fancy dress contest in an outfit she made called 'Elsie sandwich'.
Have you ever made your own fancy dress costume? Send me a pic of you in a costume, and I'll put it on my site!
But no faking it! Here is a bogus (i.e. Photoshopped) picture of me and Pano in 18th Century French costume, for no reason other than that it's completely hilarious.'
Here is something I made for my mum; I folded it up and posted it through the door, as if it were a preview of the new season's styles from a local shop (this is back in the days when women's clothing stores were called 'boutiques'). I think I was about eleven or twelve at the time, and just starting to think that what I really wanted to do was be a fashion designer.
Eventually I went off the idea though, because I hated sewing (I once hid under the table in sewing class because I was having problems with the nightie I was making). In fact, I think I just hated sewing class , because I had to make things I didn't want. Later I used to make my own clothes for going out on Friday nights.
This is Pop. Pop was actually my grandfather, but we all called him Pop. He was a brilliant teacher at a school for children with special needs. He was a wonderful storyteller, joker and artist. He used to send letters to my brother and me, using pictures instead of words in places, like seven crowned heads for 'Seven Kings' (Ilford, where he lived). Above right is a cartoon strip that Pop drew long before even I was born, which is really a long time ago. Below is a detail from the cartoon. He was my earliest influence, and I still miss him. Write letters, kids! Don't use email all the time!
my first picture book Mind the cobwebs. OK, what have we here? Oh look! This is my very first rough for the first picture book I had published, way back in the 20th Century. I had to change the title to You'll Never Guess! This, and My Secret Brother and Under the Stairs (all published by Hutchinson) are all out of print now, but I do know there are still copies knocking around in some libraries!
I have had several cats in the past, the last one being Oedi Puss (pictured right). Unfortunately, Oedi has now gone to that great cat basket in the sky.
Thankfully he left us his autobiography The True Story of Oedi Puss. In it you will also discover why I am currently a catless person.
As well as this, Oedi is immortalised forever in the pages of my picture book Under the Stairs (pictured below).
Here's a brainstorm page from when I was thinking up ideas for Under the Stairs. In it you can see a Tenniswelly and the Hooversaurus. There was also a Golflogog and the Sneezing Dusterbirds.
Here's a picture I drew of a little girl called Rosie. She was in a book called 'Rosie's Swing' that Francesca Simon wrote, way back before Horrid Henry was around! (Yes, there was a time)
Here's another not-so-old sketch. Back when I first came up with the idea for a story about a girl with a magic recipe book, I had thought it would be aimed more at 7-9-year-olds. So I thought I might get to illustrate it. But it was not to be! This is how I saw Varaminta: Is that how you imagine her?