The Timekeeper: Progress update

After several (3-4 I think) long and stressful weeks work, I have now completed a dummy book for 'The Timekeeper'. Below are a few more spreads (but not many as I do not want to give the whole story away). I have a rough printed copy, which is slightly smaller than my originally intended size for the book, however I quite like it! It is a bit squiffy in places, a home printer and binding with a single fold is not ideal - a little more research into book binding techniques is needed before I produce the book for Macmillans.

I have sent a copy to a writer/ editor friend of mine who will hopefully help me tighten up the text a little - I am definitely better with pictures! So again I will wait for his feedback before making my final book.

The next step is to develop several pages to finished quality. I am aiming to complete a minimum of 4 spreads, as I am aiming to enter this book for the Macmillan Prize 2012 (a competition run by Pan Macmillan to encourage new illustrators into the children's book industry). I have included below a completed cover design, which could count towards my 4 spreads, however I would ideally like to enter pages from the main narrative, rather than the ancillaries - cover, end papers, etc. 

I have included a spread with text to offer a bit of a flavour of how the final book will read...as you can see definitely a bit of Dr Seuss influence in there! It has been a very long time since I wrote any poetry...maybe in my angsty teen years, but it was great fun!

The Timekeeper: Dummy Book Progress

I am currently developing a dummy book for my current project, with a working title of 'The Timekeeper'. Here are the first few rough pencil pages, plus one colour experiment. The final 32 page book will be full colour, produced using mixed media (my influences at the moment include Shaun Tan & Simon Bartram). I will also be writing the accompanying text with possibly a little influence from Dr Seuss & Edgar Alan Poe.

The story begins with an astronaut named Alan Shepard, commanding the second successful manned mission to the moon, Apollo 14. Little did NASA know he had smuggled 3 golf balls and the head of a six iron (making the handle from on board equipment). Shepard got one clean shot which he claimed went 'miles and miles and miles...'. Even an astronaut could not have imagined the journey that little golf ball had in store.

In a galaxy far far away an old man, who has been living in space since the dawn of time, is happily going about his business of building the universe one (clockwork) star at a time...Until one day a mysterious little orb, all covered in dimples, pops out of a wormhole and shatters his peaceful existence.

What happens next? well you will just have to stay tuned!

I read about Alan Shepard's moon golfing exploits many years ago, and have always been amused by the idea of it being our first contact with an alien species. I finally got the idea for this story while watching Professor Brian Cox's 'Wonders of the Universe series on the BBC. The idea that time as relative and only existing with the existence of the universe itself inspired the basis of Timekeeper character. The craftsman aspect is possibly down to my dad (who modelled for over 700 photos during the early development of the book) who is a skilled painter (and previously a carpenter). I also wanted to play around with mythological & religious ideas of a creator, or perhaps father time. All in all this book is the convergence of many loosely related items of fact and fiction weaved together.

I feel it is important to challenge children, and their parents! Making them to question the world around them helps create a curious mind...which in my opinion is the greatest gift you can bestow upon a child.

I hope to have a complete dummy book and a minimum of 4 finished spreads for the MacMillan Prize 2012 for children's book illustration, which closes on Tuesday 8th May 2012