Join my Pencil Case Pals

I've had a spring clean over on my Patreon page and also some ideas on how to make the membership tiers more fun!

If you've got a minute, would you mind going along for a look and letting me know what you think?

Ta pal

See what's new over on Patreon!

Outdoor sketching in the snow

As an illustrator, a daily sketchbook practice is vital to hone skills for future projects.

On our last big snow day I decided to get out of my comfort zone and into the cold, and I took my sketchbook and a selection of materials out to capture the snowy city with some timed sketches.

My pages got wet and so did I, but much fun was had.

Click below on this video from my YouTube channel to watch all about it:

World Book Day

I wrote, illustrated and published my debut children's book Our Dave in 2020. It had been in my mind for a very long time. Because my partner‘s sister loves rhyming children’s books, and as she was approaching a big birthday we wanted to make her a book. So I decided to finally put Our Dave down onto paper.

The further through writing and illustrating it I got, the more I realised that this was really something! So I went full-steam ahead and ended up getting it published.

I funded the printing of Our Dave through a Kickstarter, which was great for getting Our Dave known by children all around the world.

Our Dave is a rhyming children’s picture book all about a very special cat who is abandoned by his old owners and who is left in the cat shelter to search for his new forever home. It’s actually based on the real life story of our own cat Dave, who was abandoned by his old owners and who we adopted in 2014! Dave was the love of our lives, and our hearts broke in 2021 when he passed away at home with us.

I’m incredibly proud of Our Dave and it warms my heart to know that so many children’ around the world love it too.

I’m now on a bit of a personal and professional development journey, digging deep into my artistic style with the help of industry professionals. I’ve got many more books in my head and heart, ready to get working on.

The next book that I’m working on is nearly ready to be formatted. It’s all about an old sea dog called Molly and has been in the pipeline for a long time. I am currently aiming to self-publish this book too, but I am increasingly open and interested in approaching publishers with this book too. And if thot this book, then definitely the next ones.

I’ve created these FREE Our Dave storytelling stick puppets. Get yours now by simply signing up to my newsletter here.

If you want to support me, you can either sign up to any support tier on my patreon page, or why not buy your own copy of Our Dave here: www.embersandink.co.uk/products/our-dave-childrens-book