Bistra makes a big impact at 3x3 Awards!

Bistra Masseva has won a Merit Award in the 3x3 Magazine 2017 Picture Book Show with this gorgeous illustration and we are so proud of her!!

To see more of Bistra's fabulous portfolio visit http://www.organisart.co.uk/Artist/108/Bistra-Masseva.html

Our Artists in Demand!

We are thrilled to have not one, not two but three of our amazing illustrators featured in this month's Children's Illustrators.com  May Newsletter!! Ella Okstad, Nuno Alexandre Vieira and Richard Merritt all have their most recent exquisite work in the highly competitive field of children's book illustration appearing in this May round-up highlighting a collection of superb new book releases! Enjoy it here!

Dynamic Duo's Illustrator Saturday Feature!

Check out the fabulous Chantelle & Burgen Thorne, chosen for this week's Illustrator Saturday feature for Writing and Illustrating Blog! Here they talk about their art, process, history and inspiration - be inspired by this incredible pair's passion for children's book illustration here!

Eurovision Fever Hits The Org!

Only a few days to go until the Eurovision 2017​ final and our artists from the countries that have qualified so far are dancing for joy! 

The Organisation represents Violeta Dabija from Moldova, Shane McGowan from Australia, Merce Canals from Spain, Roberta Bordone from Italy, Sophie Rohrbach from France and Alex Steele-Morgan from the UK who are all in grand final on Saturday! We think they all deserve 'Douze Pointe'! Who will you be rooting for?

David Dean's Cover Story!

It has been a real struggle to keep quiet, but we can finally let the cat out of the bag! The amazing David Dean has been working on a huge project for the past few months and we are thrilled to at last be able to show you the beautiful first batch of rich and dynamic covers for the enormously exciting reprinting of all of Michael Morpurgo’s books by Egmont! These stunning books push David’s cover count to over 100 and feature his bold and characteristically insightful interpretations of the stories drawn from unique and extraordinary perspectives.

David, with his wealth of experience and passion for book design really was the only person to complete this mammoth 20 cover task! He has been represented by The Organisation for the past 18 years and says of this prestigious commission:

“This was a bit of a dream job for me! Getting to do a series of twenty covers, and for such a well-known author, was a real privilege. Morpurgo is an amazing storyteller, and the variety of subjects he tackles meant the job never got stale - I got to paint King Arthur, a wagon train and World War II planes!

The job went very smoothly and almost all of my roughs were approved with little or no amendments. Keeping all the covers different, in terms of colours and composition, was a challenge, but a fun one that pushed me into trying different things! I did find illustrating the cover for 'War Horse' somewhat daunting and put off tackling that one as long as I could! It is such a modern classic and has been illustrated so many times, often brilliantly, that I wasn’t sure I was equal to the task, though it ended up being one of my favourite covers!”

These first 6 stunning books are on sale now and we will be featuring the next gorgeous batch in later this month so keep an eye out!

Richard’s Merritt’s Pat-a-Cake Premiere!

Published by Pat-a-Cake books, a brand new baby, preschool and early years imprint from Hachette Children’s group, these adorable peek and play rhyme books, delightfully illustrated by Richard Merritt are out tomorrow, and they were so pleased with the results that Richard has been commissioned for two more coming next year! Richard says of taking this inspiring new direction:

“It’s really exciting to be part of a brand new publishing imprint, so I was thrilled to be asked to create the artwork for these wonderful books. The illustrations were a welcome diversion from what I’ve usually done in my career to date, as I’ve always wanted to get involved with baby and toddler books because they are such fun to do, thinking of all the cute little details for the children to spot as they read - I even found myself humming along to the nursery rhymes as I worked!”

So warm up those vocal chords for a good old fashioned sing-along! Get your copies here

Ella Okstad’s Ballerina Dreams!

Stunningly and sensitively illustrated by the fabulous Ella Okstad, ‘Ballerina Dreams’ is the adorable younger-reader edition of Michaela DePrince's highly moving memoir of her journey from a lonely child in an orphanage in Sierra Leone to principle dancer for the Dutch National Ballet. Ella says: “When presented with Ballerina Dreams, I was very moved by it. In the beginning, I must admit I was slightly nervous about drawing real life people as they grow up using my own style, but the response I had was utterly positive! I was given a pdf document with lots of family photos to help me to get hair styles, clothes and particularly the ballet postures and movements right. I wanted to depict Michaela just as strong and determined as she is in the story and photos. When the advance copies came, Elaine DePrince wrote me a message to let me know how pleased they both were!”   Ella’s always joyful illustrations perfectly express the love, dedication and hope that drove DePrince to achieve her dreams. Each page of this unique autobiography is bursting with her signature warmth and exudes a gentle and endearing humour whilst simultaneously capturing the vibrant movement of the tiny ballerinas twirling and balancing on tiptoes! Sure to have you dancing for joy, Ballerina Dreams is out this month from Faber, get your copy here:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/057132973X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=057132973X&linkCode=as2&tag=toia-21

Nuno’s Unicorns Storm Usborne!

Zoe is staying with her great-aunt when she discovers a secret world full of beautiful fairy unicorns, but soon she finds out that Unicorn Island is in terrible danger! An exciting new series for the Usborne Young Reading Programme, Fairy Unicorns: Magic Forest and Fairy Unicorns: Cloud Castle feature the enchanting illustrations of Nuno Alexandre Vieira!  Based in Portugal, Nuno is an extremely versatile artist who loves to work with traditional media (with a particular passion for Indian ink!), in digital or a mix between the two and especially loves to create captivating characters and imagine fantastical worlds for them! Fairy tales, magic and adventure are his favourite subjects to illustrate and this is obvious from his sublime cover art to the characterful and spellbinding line drawings that bring these illustrated books to life! Become submerged in his dream-like world and get your copies here now.

Livia’s Lovable Little Ones!

The wonderful Livia Coloji has been a busy bee, illustrating some classic children’s tales for the exciting new Parragon First Readers series, the latest of which feature two of the most cute and courageous little characters from children’s literature - Thumbelina and The Ugly Duckling! 

We are sure that Livia’s stunningly vivid colour palate, bold and beautiful flower and foliage borders and instantly endearing animals will elevate these stories from well-known bookshelf staples to compelling new reading adventures! Livia has been working as a professional artist since 2005 and particularly enjoys illustrating for children, although she has been known to turn her hand to projects as diverse as designing the promotional material for a world music festival and painting the indigenous vampires of her native Romania, so who knows what she might be up to next!!!