Chapter 2 of the Mighty Orange-Peel is finished! After writing the chapter and scrapping it and starting from the beginning I've come up with something that I'm quite pleased with. Chapter 2 focusses on the story of where the name The Mighty Orange-Peel comes from. So, now that the prologue and chapters 1 and 2 are complete it's time to let them sit a while and come back to them in about a month with fresh eyes.
And what good timing! It was a happy Saturday when two books I've eagerly been awaiting arrived in the post! I've been good not to dive into them until I'd finished my own stuff. But, now that I have I'm going into 'sponge' mode where production is arrested and I spend time immersing myself in the things that inspire me. I visit galleries, sit outside, read lots, watch films and so on.
The first book on the list is 'The Spook's Bestiary' by Joseph Delaney. These are part of the
Wardstone Chronicles. Fab books and the illustrator, Julek Heller, has made some mind blowing pencils for it. The second book is 'The Search for Wondla' by
Tony Diterlizzi. One of my absolute favourite artists who created Diterlizzi & Black's Spiderwick Chronicles. I love his art but I've not read his writing before so I'm keen to get into the book.
I'm also watching out for
D. M. Cornish's Monster Blood Tattoo: Book 3 - Factotum! Cornish is an Aussie writer/illustrator who's created the amazing world of the half-continent. Really rich text and illustrations. That's out later in October. I think I'll have to get back on the trail of Opeel before that but it will be ready for me during my next break!
In the meantime I'll be posting some earlier works and any illustrations I make in the coming weeks to keep things ticking along!