Recap - June 2024

Say yes now and panic later

I have two mottos in my creative life - Networking, networking, networking and Say yes now and panic later. This month a combination of these mottos led me to a memorable experience in a small city in northern Italy.

I can’t emphasise enough how important networking is. By “networking”, I mean “making friends”. Friends more often than not have played a big part in my creative career such as finding my agent. I met the Spanish-Austrian illustrator, Gemma Palacio, during the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2019 through another illustrator I had met in the same fair in the previous year. Fast forward to April this year, thanks to Gemma, I was invited to an illustration & comic book festival organised by our Italian publisher, Zoolibri in Reggio Emilia.

I was chaffed to be invited but it took me a couple of day to make up my mind and accept the invitation because:

• I didn’t know anyone except Gemma at the festival.

• I didn’t speak Italian (at all).

• I would have to draw live, on demand!

I generally don’t like the unfamiliar and the unknown, but I followed my motto #2. I said yes to the invitation and decided to panic later.

I usually use Photoshop to colour my artwork these days so I practiced for a month prior to the trip to Italy to get myself ready for drawing live. But nothing really prepared me to draw “on demand”.

A week before the trip, I found out my friend, Steve Antony, was taking part too and I felt a little bit better. But as the day drew closer, I began to panic and regret that I had accepted the invitation…

Steve and me - we were on the same flight!

So how did it go? It was definitely the most challenging event I had ever done BUT I’m glad and proud that I did it. First of all, it was such a lovely festival organised by local volunteers for the local community. It was held in a small park. There were stalls for food, crafts and activities as well as books. People brought blankets and spent all day there. The festival was celebrating its 15th year and some people had attended every year since the very first event. It was such a great atmosphere.

In the main tent, 23 local and international illustrators and comic book artists drew for the public. With a small fee (€12), people could pay to have an artist draw whatever they want in front of their eyes. We had roughly 15-20 minutes per drawing. Luckily, my very first request was something manageable (a turtle on a skateboard) but I didn’t realised how nervous I was until I held a brush. My hand shock like a leaf in the wind and struggled to draw a straight line!

The day before, Gemma, Steve and I jokingly discussed things we hoped no one would asked us to draw at the festival, such as bikes, horses etc. My biggest fear was dragons. And you know what? I ended up drawing three dragons…(and one horse). When a boy asked for a hundred Japanese ghosts and monsters, I thought of running away (luckily, he agreed to just three monsters). Steve was asked for a whale on a bike and somehow he managed it. Respect!

To be very honest with you, I don’t think I produced my very best work. Looking back, I could have definitely done better if I could have taken more time to think and draw. But my patrons were appreciative. It was so rewarding and I was grateful to see my drawings made people’s faces lit up and to hear “Bello!”.

Some of my drawings.

I know I shouldn’t compare myself to others, especially those who have different disciplines, but oh my god, other artists, especially comic artists, around me were amazing!* It was really humbling experience to see their incredible work.
*Check out some of them here and here and here.

But don’t get me wrong. Although it was an intense experience, I had a lot of fun. I was lucky to be a part of the wonderful festival. This trip was definitely one to remember. I’m glad I said yes to this. (Steve created a reel that perfectly summarise our experience.)

mrsteveantony

A post shared by @mrsteveantony

To wrap up this post, I have a few brilliant books to share.

Little Lion Girl by Olivia Hope and Fiona Woodcock (Bloomsbury) - OUT NOW

This is a story about a little girl, Leonie’s day in a big city. It invites you to see the overwhelming yet exciting city through her eyes and imagination. Olivia’s beautiful and imaginative text perfectly captures the wonder of the city, describing it as if it’s a jungle/savannah filled with fascinating animals. Fiona’s amazing illustration does justice and more to visualise the text. I love the colour scheme of red, orange and yellow in this book. The decision to paint the concrete jungle in warm colours is genius.

Some of my favourite pages.

I’m an admirer of Fiona Woodcock’s work. She has such a distinctive “style” (I hate the word). Here you see her familiar blow pen technique, yet I feel she has pushed herself artistically with this book while keeping her artistic identity intact. Read more about this book on

Fiona Woodcock

’s substack.

Little Lion Girl

Mabel and the Big Wide World by Paul Stewart and Jane Porter (Otter-Barry Books) - OUT NOW

Here’s another book about facing a big, overwhelming world. In this story, Mabel the mouse who lives in a barn is scared of the outside world as it’s full of big hairy things and teeny-weeny scary things, but, she gradually discovers the beauty and joy of the big wide world. Paul Stewart’s words are gentle and kind, just what little readers who feel like Mabel about the big outside world need.

Jane Porter in my opinion is a chameleon. She uses different illustration techniques depending on the book/story. She used collage for this book and it’s delightful. The thing is, whichever methods she uses, her gentle and charming personality comes through. I think that’s what “style” really is. If you’d like to see more, here’s a link for Jane’s behind-the-scene video.

One of many georgous spreads.

Bear’s Wash Day by Nicola Kent (Little Tiger) - OUT ON 4TH JULY

This is the first from Nicola Kent’s board book, “Busy Chores for Little Paws” series. Award-winning author-illustrator, Nicola is known for her picture books, such as The Strongest Mum, and this is her first board book series. It’s to introduce your little one all the steps of household chores in a charming and fun way. The first book is about laundry. What you can expect from this novelty book is Nicola’s signature eye-catching, colourful illustrations and ingenious mechanisms. It has not just flaps but also wheels and a slider! As someone who hasn’t illustrated novelty books, I can’t imagine how it’s like to illustrate a book like this. All I can say is SO CLEVER! My favourite is the blender, which bits of fruits turn into smoothie as you turn the wheel. I can imagine little ones will have so much fun with this book!

Nicola has also created her first chapter book, which will come out next year. Nicola, Fiona and Jane are truly inspiring. They never settle. They keep pushing themselves. This month felt like a big wake-up call that reminded me that there was a long way for me to go and a big room for me to grow. What’s the best way to challenge myself? I will continue following my mottos (and panic later). What’s your motto?

Speak to you next month!

Momoko x

UPCOMING EVENTS

Illustrators’ Fair (Saturday 12th July, London) - I’ll be back to the art-packed fair in Kings Cross with my fellow artist, Rachel Bone, selling my prints and cards.

Newark Book Festival (Thursday 11th - Sunday 14th July) - I’m taking part in a panel event (Sunday 13th July) along with crime novelist Sarah Hilary, children’s author and Patron of Reading Gareth Baker, children’s fiction author James Nicol and fantasy and sci-fi author Wilf Morgan. Tickets are on sale now.

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