I am about to embark upon illustrating the companion piece to our first childrens book (which to date is the best kids book ever).

John McCarthy dubbed this our ‘difficult second album’, but despite that he came up with a beauty.

We hope to publish the two stories in one book - they will knock you sideways when they are revealed, they’re so fabulous.

I am still not revealing the title of the first story for children because it would give too much away for now. However I will let you in on the title for our second story:

Desmond is a Robot.

If you are familiar with the music of Grandaddy , and particularly the album ‘The Sophtware Slump’, then you might understand why I felt it would be a good album to work to while illustrating ‘Desmond is a Robot’. So that’s what I’m listening to now.

This Grandaddy video is dedicated to Donncha and Adam,

As I mentioned already John McCarthy wrote the best kids book ever, and I illustrated it. It’s a picture book, and we are now working on a companion piece for it - we see the two stories being published together as both are beautifully short.

Trying to get published will probably be a long, slow process, so in the meantime I thought I would give a sneak preview by showing you the characters in the first book, pictured above.

On the left is Michael, and on the right his new found friend Sandra. And her two cats.

Michael can do something most people can’t, and he has a lot of fun with his amazing ability. But I can’t let the cat out of the bag yet.

I wish this book had been around when I was a kid, I hope it gets into the hands of children who read really soon! Publishers: think of the children! They’re being deprived of the best book in the known universe!

Any help or advice anyone can give us with regard to getting published would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone who got in touch already!

Leave a comment, or use our contact form to email us!

Rich.. pointed me to Ideafixa the other day, a virtual magazine that highlights artists of all kinds. Each issue is themed and illustrations, and photographs and other works of art that fit the theme are published from a wide range of artisits.

There have been four issues to date covering Sex, Metropolis, Rock’N'Roll & Sci Fi.

The next topic is Surrealism and will be out May the 1st 2007, the deadline for submitting work is April the 15th.

Flicking through the magazine, developed in Flash, is a nice way of discovering artists and just wasting a few minutes doing nothing but being visually stimulated.

Take your elevenses now, make a cup of tea, and have a leaf through. I discovered loads of stuff to my liking through Ideafixa, such as Justin Degarmo, Bob Dob, Gringo, RHS and Fabio Girardi (link to his blog in Spanish, can’t find a site with his art on it but he has t-shirts at Camiseteria and Threadless)

I found the above image posted randomly on a forum I was aimlessly browsing one night. I instantly decided it was pure genius, but there was no information with the picture to help me identify it.

I tried all kinds of searches, but let’s face it - how do you even begin?

Then, weeks later, I stumbled upon the identity of it’s creator: Check out this Wired Magazine article on Charlie White’s photography.

The weird looking fellow is Joshua.

Charlie White photographs vulnerability.

Using a humanoid puppet he calls “complete fragility manifest in a body,” White presents human frailty through a fictional character, much as a novelist might.

As White tells Jacki Lyden for Weekend All Things Considered, his puppet, called Joshua, helps him to explore the themes of male self-image and self-loathing. White places Joshua in a series of vulnerable situations — at a cocktail party or a lover’s house — and photographs the scene.

The above info and more photos featuring Joshua can be found here.

here’s another of the strongest Joshua images I found - the one at the top of the page is fascinating in it’s energy and that’s-wrong-I’m-sure-of-it-but-I-don’t-even-know-what’s-going-on-ness but the one below hits all the aims outlined in the text above - self loathing, human frailty, vulnerability… it stays with you in a very haunting kind of way.

The Lifelong Learning Festival kicked off yesterday in Cork (Ireland), does anyone know it’s on? It seems very low profile - or maybe it’s just that I’m too much stuck at my computer!

Anyway it runs from Monday 26th or March to Sunday 1st April (2007) and there’s loads on so it’s worth taking a look at the program. All the events are free and I genuinely think there’s something for everyone in there, I’m not just quoting from a pamphlet here

For example today, Tuesday the 27th, the Cork Environmental Forum are showing Environmental films from 12 noon to 9pm and it sounds like there’s some really interesting titles in there such as ‘The Power of Community‘ and ‘The Future of Food‘. The films will be shown in the Lifetime Lab on the Lee Road - I’m not sure where that is but you can call 028 37884 for details.

There’s all kinds of other events on, like ‘How to Start in the Gym’, ‘Try Basketball’, ‘Dance Classes for Adults’, Lunchtime concerts, ‘Discover a little About Lithuania’, ‘A Batty Walk in the Park’, ‘Learn About Eugenics’, ‘Growing Up in China’, ‘Learn Some Basic IT Skills’, ‘Writing Skills Workshop’ and LOADS of stuff for Children too.

All free.