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I can hardly believe it’s the first Sunday of July, and I know I probably say that at the start of every month, but how is it that we’re already over the half-way mark of 2010? So wild. <\/p>\n
Anyway, the first Sunday of the month at 7-Imp means I highlight a student illustrator or someone otherwise new to the field. This morning, I welcome British illustrator Nicola Killen<\/a><\/strong>, whose debut picture book was published in the UK in May of this year and will be published this Fall by Egmont USA. It’s called Not Me!<\/a><\/em><\/strong>…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And Nicola’s here this morning to share some art from it and tell us a bit about her. I haven’t seen the book yet but am very much smitten with her style and look forward to seeing the title. I thank her for stopping by. <\/p>\n Nicola:<\/strong><\/font> Having worked designing greetings cards<\/a><\/strong> for many years, I decided to enroll on the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art<\/a><\/strong>. While on the course, I went to a firework display with some of my classmates, where one of them tried to throw away an unwanted toffee apple. The apple flew away and she was left holding the stick exclaiming, ‘It wasn’t me!’ This incident provided me with the idea for my first book project on the course, Not Me!<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, where a group of children deny any involvement in incidents around the house, despite evidence to the contrary! On a class trip to the Bologna Book Fair, I was lucky enough to be given the chance to show the project to publishers and was amazed that a couple of them were really interested in the book! After graduation in February 2009, I went straight into working on the art work and, four months later, it was finished. Not Me!<\/em> was published by Egmont UK on 3rd May this year and will be published in the US in September by Egmont USA.<\/p>\n My master’s project on the course was I Got a Crocodile<\/a><\/strong><\/em> about the growing friendship between a child and a crocodile. I wanted to make it look different from my previous work, so I took away the linework.<\/p>\n You can see more of the images on my website, nicolakillen.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n I really enjoy experimenting with different materials and tend to mix different printmaking techniques with elements of collage, sometimes by hand and sometimes digitally. I always carry a notebook with me so that, if I see or hear anything funny, I scribble it down so I don’t forget.<\/p>\n As well as working on my next book (which features a couple of cheeky penguins called Fluff and Billy)…<\/p>\n …I am currently freelancing two days a week in the art department of an animation company, Impossible TV<\/a><\/strong>, working on the upcoming series of Gaspard and Lisa<\/strong><\/a><\/em> from the books by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben.<\/p>\n I try to keep my blog fairly up to date, so please go to nicolakillen.blogspot.com<\/a><\/strong> for news updates!<\/em><\/p>\n All art work and sketches copyright \u00a9 2010 by Nicola Killen. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n As a reminder, 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New folks are always welcome. <\/p>\n Hi, everyone. I had yet another week of working, blogging, writing, and just generally trying to keep up. I was super happy that author\/illustrator Amy Schwartz stopped by<\/a><\/strong>, in particular; I’m happy that my girls are surviving their summer swim class (they weren’t very excited about it, and one is still just tolerating it all); we’re still very much enjoying reading about Peter Pan<\/em> and mythical sea monsters together (speaking of, anyone else see this<\/a><\/strong>?); and I love this Bookshelf Porn<\/a><\/strong> (I think I need some shelves this tall<\/a><\/strong>), which I saw someone post on Facebook. Oh, and I’ve also very much enjoyed the posted ALA pics of fellow children’s lit bloggers. <\/p>\n How about you all? What are YOUR<\/font> kicks this week? Anyone around this holiday weekend?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I can hardly believe it’s the first Sunday of July, and I know I probably say that at the start of every month, but how is it that we’re already over the half-way mark of 2010? So wild. 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