I’m responsible for…
creating the original Hug-a-Bug-World characters. I’ve known Julia for 25 years and we’ve always spoken about working on a project together. When she approached me with her idea and asked if I’d be interested in illustrating the book, I said yes straight away.
I’ve always drawn and painted…
I studied art at university and soon after started to exhibit my work. Many of my designs were also used for cards and prints. After having children I taught art whilst continuing to paint, but this is my first venture into creating illustrations for a book.
Julia and Stacey presented me with the story…
for the first bookfrom which I created the characters. The blank canvas is always rather intimidating, but once your imagination gets going, ideas pop into your head; for example, the little heart which the readers have to find on every page. My designs are then handed over to Andy O’Rouke, our digital illustrator, with whom I work closely.
Sedric the snail…
was the first character I created. One of the reasons Julia wanted the characters to be bugs was to raise children’s awareness of nature and to emphasise how crucial it is to care for our environment. The uniqueness of every individual, is at the heart of the Hug-a-Bug World. I loved giving characters to the bugs. We needed a range of characters but you can attach any character to any bug, animal or human: I just knew that every character had to be seen as unique.
I believe in the Hug-A-Bug World wholeheartedly…
If our readers can grow up with emotional intelligence and develop empathy, then we will have made a big difference with our concept.