A Sneak Peak of Some Upcoming Publications

I'm dying to share some of the work I did for The Folio Society before Christmas, for a book called Medieval Comic Tales by Derek Brewer, but it won't be published until June so I'd better hold off for a bit. Here's a little teaser though; a wee snippet from the frontispiece....

The book is a collection of mini stories from across Medieval Europe that range from the moralistic to the just-plain-peculiar, quite a few of which contain a randy/foolish/both clergyman.
It was a fun project to work on, I did twenty internal illustrations and the cover, with highlights including: a man getting a hot poker in the bum, an ape moonlighting as a nobleman, naked people stuck to a chamber pot and a man skewered through the eye by a boat hook. It'll be out in June, so watch this space, or check foliosociety.com nearer the time for more info.

 I recently created some little linocut icons for a BBC History Magazine article on Elizabethan senses which will be in the March issue. You'll have to check out the mag for the rest, but here are a couple to whet your appetite.

They'll be used as headings for some illuminating insights into the sensory experiences of the late Tudor period. The other four 'senses' I illustrated were Seeing, Feeling, Smell and Fear. The magazine's out on the 28th February if you'd like to see the rest and learn a little more about what life felt like for our recent ancestors.

And, last but not least, Chickens: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Keeping Happy, Healthy Hens by Suzie Baldwin, published by Kyle Books, on which I worked back in October/November, will be out on the 22nd March and is available for pre-order now on Amazon. I received my copy the other week and it's fantastic book, packed full of everything you need to know about looking after happy chooks of all shapes and sizes, plus gorgeous photos and lots of my little lino print illustrations throughout. Including a couple on chicken anatomy, like this one:

So that's a wee round up of some recent work that'll be out soon. Hope you're all keeping snug and warm!

Flutterby

A couple of cards I made yesterday; one for Rowan's sister, Anna, whose birthday is tomorrow, and the other is a thank you card for my nan and auntie, who sent me some beautiful silver and garnet, art deco-y dangly earrings for my brithday (I turned 30 last week. My mum still wants to know how I managed "to get this old...").

In other news; Rowan gave me a cool little screen printing kit for Christmas and I've just ordered some natural cotton tote bags to use it on. I haven't screen printed since college, so it's pretty exciting! With any luck I'll have a load printed and up for sale soon.

First Aid Kit for Amelia's

I created this illustration for an Amelia's Magazine review of First Aid Kit's Lion's Roar album. The band are awesome and they get a great write up from Amelia accompanied by gorgeous illustrations from Sarah Ryan and Hannah Lewis. Looking at my illustration now I kind of wish I hadn't cropped the sunburst the way I did, but I'm happy with the way it turned out otherwise. Read the review over at Amelia's Magazine and check the band out here.

Foter.com Warning

Just a quick heads up for all you artists, illustrators and photographers. Check out foter.com just in case they've got any of your work on there as "Free Stock Photos". I was shamlessly Googling myself earlier, when I should have been cleaning the kitchen, and came across this: 

That's an illustration I did for BBC History Magazine, lifted directly from my agent's Flickr page, along with all the text plus a credit for me and them (lending it a certain amount of credibility; as @whoatemycrayons commented on Twitter, "they look like they are an agent of yours!"). And next to it? A big old button saying "Download".

After a quick name search on their site I've discovered three more of my illustrations and a lot of other work by illustrators Handsome Frank have on their Flickr. Both myself and HF have contacted them through their website asking that they immediately remove the images, which are obviously NOT available for free download and are still very much in copyright. I'm currently awaiting a response, but I know of at least one other person, photographer Henk-Jan Wesselink who's also discovered foter.com listing his work for free download, so anyone else with imagery on the interwebs (especially Flickr, which seems ripe for the picking) might want to check the site for your work too.

And if you've used foter.com? I suggest you delete anything you've downloaded from their site, because they could be putting you at risk of copyright infringement without you realising.

UPDATE: 13.01.2012
All the images from Handsome Frank now appear to have been removed, though that's probably just because HF deleted their Flickr account. I've had no response from Foter. Wordpress are advertising foter.com as a plug-in for their sites saying, "This plugin lets you seach (sic), manage and add Creative Commons photos to your blog posts in a very simple way". They're able to do it because Flickr has an option to set the copyright of images to different licencing attributes. But, unless you change your settings, anything you upload to Flickr is generally understood to be under copyright to you, and is not allowed to be used. If you want to check, have a look at the text directly under your Flickr images. If there's a copyright symbol then you're fully covered and anyone using your pics is being very naughty. If there are other symbols then people are allowed to use your work for free. Click on the symbols to edit the attributes.

New Website!

It's a day later than planned, but my newly polished website is now up! It was in dire need of a hearty spring clean and, while it hasn't changed all that much, I've rearranged it, scrapped unnecessary sections and added links to shops where my work can be bought, so overall the site should now fit more comfortably on screen, be easier to navigate and just generally look a lot nicer. Here are a couple of snippets:

I'm still using Clikpic, because it's just so much easier and cheaper than building a site completely from scratch, and it's so simple to use their site designs as a base to create something personal. Mine looks nothing like the original template, but it was a great starting point and the basic layout is still there, holding it all together.

Please a have a little look through my new site and if you find anything's not working or looks like it's gone wrong let me know!

Happy new Year!

Somewhat belated, I know. I've spent the last week or so giving my website a mighty overhaul, but I'll tell more about that tomorrow, when I make the site live (it's currently still up and bumbling along in it's old state).  For now, though, I wanted to share this stately old tawny owl, which I've just printed for Rowan's dad's birthday card.

Hopefully soon I'll also be able to share a little bit of the commission I completed just after Christmas for the Folio Society. It's a funny one!

Folksy

I've now got some goodies available on  Folksy. Folksy is like the UK version of Etsy. This means that all the prices are in pounds, all the delivery charges are affordable because nothing's got to travel very far and it's easier to find what you're after or get your work seen because there are fewer people on it, being as it's UK sellers only, rather than the whole world.

So my Christmas items are now on sale at folksy.com/shops/BeThorney

I promise to get some more things up there soon but it's not just me, why not have a little browse of some of the other treats available on Folsky.

Like this paper garland made from an old copy of Alice In Wonderland, with John Tenniel's illustrations peeking out amongst the text. I want one...

Paper garland by Bookity

Or this fat Little Robin bauble of wool and sequins...

Little Robin by Tattycorum

Or, if you'd rather a less tubby robin on your tree, how about this perfectly blanket-stitched felt bird decoration by 100 Birdies For ME!...

Dark Green Christmas Birdie by 100 Birdies For ME!

Or, my favourites, how about this adorable Red Robin Trio

Red Robin Trio by Beth Foster of The Linen Cat

But that's just a (very bird-heavy, I must have a fetish) selection of hanging decorations from Folksy Handmade Christmas. There's much, much more besides, so why not pledge to buy handmade, independent and local this Christmas? It'll make it all so much more special.