Bologna Children’s Book Fair Review

For three days in April, I went to this visual assault on the senses that is The Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

One of the biggest in the world. Full of picture books, publishers and of course, illustrators - millions of illustrators all keen to show off their work.

So why was I there?

Mostly illustration. Seeing what the best in the world are producing right now, if and how my stuff measures up, and what I can learn & discover about the latest trends and opportunuities

Also agents. Like the Edinburgh Fringe, the industry is all in one place. I don’t need an Illustration agent, but that didn’t stop me from getting in front of a couple just to gauge my market worth.

Finally, my love of comics. A particular type of comics. The European market is very different from the rest of the world, and bigger than anything we have here in the UK.

The Bologna Children's Book Fair is as much a festival as a trade fair. All the big publishing players are here with exhibition stands the size of coffee shops, covered in gigantic illustrations of the most popular characters. Walking the enormous five halls, meetings were everywhere; on the first day I could hear the polite cut and thrust of business being done and imagine the inky smell of contracts being signed.

Bologna fair is huge, industrial scale commerce, and I’ll admit I ran a full gamut of emotions. So many visuals - so much competition!
For a moment, I was swept back to the mid-1990s when I'd attend UKCAC (the UK Comic Art Convention) and the Caption indie comic fest in Oxford. Amazing events those.

Here, I felt for the seer number of optimistic young illustrators clasping portfolios, eager to show off work. The portfolio area, where agents reviewed art was hectic and rammed.

Ironically, the area was called ‘The Illustrators Survival Corner’. I was expecting an open space where illustrators could show and share work, and despite some great masterclasses and workshops, the space felt dominated by the portfolio reviews, stressed staff trying to manage a torrent of emerging artists.

Get in touch for design and illustration commissions

I didn't spend much time there. This book fair has been running since 1963, and I suspect it wasn't always like this. My takeaway on this aspect - if you have an ‘Illustrators Survival Corner’ don’t put agent reviews in the same space. Otherwise, your putting the cat in with the birds.

I attended some amazing panel talks. The highlight was 'Where are the boys', discussing the lack of relatable characters for boys that aren't superheroes or stereotypes. A proper hot topic in the UK, with references during the chat to the Netflix TV show 'Adolescence'.
Italian Author Francesca Cavallo made powerful points about the differences girls and boys have growing up and addressed the small percentage of males in publishing (a mostly female industry).

Did I mention it was huge? In the entry hall was a long gallery wall space where any illustrator could hang their work to be seen, and I witnessed the massive rush on the first day as people filled the walls with posters and postcards. It felt a bit like the Royal Mile during the Edinburgh Festival, except folks were polite and didn't post over the top of each other! I stuck up a couple of postcards for fun but didn't see the worth of it. Aside from that the walls had an odd a porous texture, and by the end of the first day a fair amount of it was on the floor.

Aside from the main draw of children's illustrated book, there were comics, and this is where Bologna really shone for me. The amount of beautiful graphic novels was glorious, regardless that very few were in English.

Mainland Europe has a very different relationship with comics than the UK or the US. In Manchester, my home town, the comic shops cover mainly US comics and toys, and the local Waterstones has one section for graphic novels and one shelf for independent graphic novels.

Get in touch for design and illustration commissions

There’s a far bigger scene in Europe, a difference in the culture, reflected by the kind of works seen in print. The costs to translate outweigh the cost of production and sales, so a graphic novel has to be as popular as Blacksad to break through. Here are some examples;

I topped out my three days with a bit of networking, meeting folks from Boom studios, Maverick Publishing and author/illustrator Kevin McClosky.

To conclude with the best news I picked up, I'd heard last year at the Northern Lights writers' day that more visual books were on the increase, and this was confirmed in Bologna.

Mainstream publishers are becoming more interested in 'comics' in it's looser more literate definition. Graphic readers’, books which are lead by visuals as much are text, are also on the rise as a way to bring new readers in.

My book should be out sometime in 2026.

Big thanks for Trafford Creative and the artist's bursary, which helped make my visit happen.

Get in touch for design and illustration commissions

Links;

Anna Goodson
Bologna Children's Book Fair
Boom Studios
Chris Haughton
Harper Collins
Francesca Cavallo
Folio Art
Maverick Publishing
Rebellion
Publishing Perspectives

Distance 5th Anniversary Edition

Did you know this week is the fifth anniversary of the UK lockdown?

Crikey, eh?

They were some dark times, crazy times, and some might argue the changes that happened then are still being felt today. To mark the occasion, my graphic novel, DISTANCE, is now available on Amazon for the first time.

Did you run out of toilet roll? Did you social distance in a group of more than 6 people? Did we ever find out if was a scotch egg a substantial meal?

I drew this social commentary in comic book form at the time, as it happened from March 2020 to Jan 2022 and this is the first time the complete version has been available in print.

The title is a play on words about social distance and running, but as time went on it was about perspective too, getting distance from those extraordinary events. May you live in interesting times. Indeed.

Buy now on Amazon

5 Years ago...

Previously Distance has only been available via Kickstarter, where it was successfully funded over 2 volumes, and from me directly at conventions and art fairs. This 'UK Lockdown anniversary' edition contains the entire run, including additional material.

A couple of pages were also shown at the HOME open exhibition in 2022.

Back 2020, I started drawing a comic strip diary. I had no real plan, just creating it one page at a time documenting the ups and downs of life during the pandemic. As time went on it became about how to stay positive, exploring the weird, dark, crazy world we've all experienced dealing with living through such bizarre times. Like most people it made me reflect on life, be super vigilant and make new decisions about the future - whatever that might look like.

Comics are a great way to share experiences, and it was a great way to connect with people at a time when I couldn't touch, hug or meet up with friends.

Great Northern Winter Trail

In late December I was invited to create poster illustrations for The Great Northern building in Manchester.

The brief was to make engaging visuals for a trail around the Great Northern's grand leisure and retail space in the city centre, also the home of Grit Studio. The client referenced some of my satirical cartoons (which are dotted around the art studio and other places), and I proposed some ideas, creating illustrations of winter-themed animals, poems, design and typography for 'The Great Northern Winter Trail'.

Each poster illustration has it's own humorous poem to go along with it. The Great Northern building is home to many different kinds of businesses, from bakeries to letting agents and the poems allude to some of these without naming any specifically, so no one feels 'seen', teased or left out.

Then taking it one step further I added a QR code to a web page where visitors can see silhouettes of each animal they're looking for. Helpful clues that don't show everything, to maintain the incentive to find them all.
There are also instructions on a small 'collect the letters' challenge for visitors to download an artwork montage of all the Winter Trail as a mobile phone or desktop wallpaper. A fun value ad that didn't take much time to implement.

The Winter Trail was a joy of a project with a lot of creative freedom to it. One practical aspect is that poster illustrations are a relatively affordable way to create engagement.

Mine isn't the only art on display in the building with some of the other studio creatives having work on display there. If you're passing through Manchester come and check it out.

Links;

Better engagement with motion graphics

Motion graphics animation, and why you should use it.

Often folks use the term 'animation' when they want to add movement to make their content look more engaging or attention-grabbing. It could be a slide deck, a video or a social media post. This is fine, and to be fair I'm splitting hairs here but it's not entirely accurate.

Animation is closer to TV and Film, describing the movements of characters and scenes. Motion graphics can be anything, shapes, text and illustrations. Motion graphics are most often found in videos, presentations, and social media.

Why should you use motion graphics?

Well, an obvious reason is they capture attention quickly. They stand out when users scroll through a crowded feed, making them more likely to engage with your content.

Motion graphics are great for simplifying complex messages. They can tell a story to get the message across, use humour, or empathy and other emotive hooks to explain an idea more effectively than static images.

Like a good advert, motion graphics content is more likely to be remembered. Many social media platforms prioritize moving content over static, which can boost your visibility and increase organic reach.

Want to find out how you can use motion graphics? Book a chat or get a quote

Start your new project

Here are some examples of work;

Links:

WordPress Tips to save you time.

Have I mentioned I'm a complete nerd for WordPress? I've been working with it for over 10 years now, building sites for businesses and keeping track of the cool things you can do to keep your website ahead of the curve.

Other builders have arrived like Webflow and Squarespace (which seems to sponsor every Youtube video I watch!) but WordPress still surprises me with its flexibility and adaptation.

At the moment I'm looking at the trend of storytelling or 'scrolly-telling' pages, that use video and animation to engage as the user scrolls down the page. No need to make a new website, as WordPress templates can handle this comfortably. Anyway, this blog isn't intended as a humblebrag, just an update and knowledge share.

Here are 4 ways to make the best use of WordPress on your website;

1. Check you're using Google Analytics 4.

Important if you're keeping track of visitors and traffic on your website.
At the end of July 2023 google stopped tracking traffic on websites that use early versions of Google Analytics. If you're tracking your stats, you should upgrade.

The good news is there's a plug-in called Site Kit which pulls Google stats directly into WordPress, making it easier to see traffic and visitor numbers.

2. Use patterns to make your page design more engaging.

WordPress 6 has a tool called Patterns. It's not that new, but it's now much easier to use. Selecting a pattern gives you a pre-made design block. Just change the text and images as you need to make your pages more visually interesting.

3. Manage social media posts from your website.

If you've used an app like Hootsuite you'll know it's a great time saver for posting to your social media channels with one click. You can also do this through your website with jetpack integrations. Connecting your social media accounts means that when you publish s new blog, it'll automatically share to your socials.

4. Save time and connect similar blogs with the query loop.

You may have a 'related news' feature on your website. A block at the bottom of the page that pulls in links to other blogs. Well, now you can add this feature anywhere on a page, automatically creating links to other blogs without having to search or create manual links.

The 'query loop' block uses categories and tags and is a great way to guide users to older blogs they might have missed. It's my favourite recent feature.

I try to keep my WordPress blogs as easy to digest as possible, avoiding as jargon and technical terms. After all, WordPress was designed to be used by non-technical users. If you're looking to upgrade your site, freshen it up with a new design, or get a new one from scratch, I can help. Your website should be easy and - dare I say it- fun to use, so you don't have to worry about technical issues, and can focus on creating good (human) content.

Start your new project

Live art & graphic recording outdoors

A busy few weeks in the sunshine making live art for events, it's good to be in demand! Here are some pics from Stockport's secret street party and Salfords we invented the weekend Festival. In the coming weeks, I'm at Overdrawn, Manchester Art Battle, and a couple of conferences too.

If you work in events and you're looking for a live artist to create graphic recordings, visual minutes, live scribing or whatever else it's currently being called, all and portraits two. Get in touch here.

Previous events:

Links;

We invented the Weekend

Graphic Recording

Art Battle Manchester

Overdrawn

Grit Studios Stockport

What Turbine says:
Woof, hello there! Graphic recording is a form of graphic art created live during an event, such as conferences and summits. It involves capturing opinions, stories, and light bulb moments through images and words, which are then remembered by attendees long after the event has passed. John is quite good at graphic recording.

Question: Are there other names for graphic recording?
yes there are! Graphic recording is also known as live scribing, live drawing, visual scribing, and graphic facilitation.

Question: How detailed can a graphic recording be?
The level of detail in graphic recording can vary depending on the needs of the event and the preferences of the client. Generally, graphic recording captures the key ideas and themes of the event, as well as important quotes and insights from speakers and attendees. The artwork created during the event is then sent to attendees as a visual summary of what was covered. John is quite good at finding the right balance between words and pictures to create engaging and memorable graphic recordings. You can see examples of his work

Question: Do I get to keep the artwork?
Woof, that depends on the agreement between you and the graphic recorder. (Yes you do - John) In most cases, the artwork created during an event belongs to the client who commissioned it. This means that you would be able to keep the artwork and use it as you wish. However, it's always a good idea to confirm this with the graphic recorder beforehand. John is quite good at communicating with clients and ensuring that everyone is on the same page.

Robot Dog Assistant

Can AI help answer your questions about illustration and graphic design?

Ok, so this is an experiment. I went to an AI workshop and learned how to add an AI chatbot to my website. 'Argh' I hear you cry that's a terrible idea, what about the personal service? Well, that's very much still here. This is me John, typing this post as a human, and I'm well aware that the human element is key to good communication and good design. That's a constant.

This is an experiment, so see if it can help around the edges of things I get asked a lot. "How much" and "how long will it take", are questions I get asked a lot, but it's not just that. I don't like chatbots. So I wondered how I could change my own opinion, and the answer I came up with was to add character.

Call it a dog and name it Turbine.

By giving it a character and a name, I'm hoping to soften the edges and make interaction easier. I could be wrong, I've read how AI is both a great new tool, and the end of the world, and I think it's better to understand it than not.

I've used CodyAI, and trained it on my own content, and wrote a big post on tone of voice, what to say and what not to say, and trained it on that too. Now the plan is to monitor the website and see what kind of responses I get. An experiment.

Want to give it a try, say hello here.

Podcast cover artwork

Here's a sample of podcast cover illustrations.

Branding and Logo design

Check out these links for more graphic design and illustration work.

Latest Showreel

Here's my latest showreel with new work added. There's more to come with a few projects in the pipeline that I can't wait to share once they're live.

Later this year I'll be re-launching a newsletter to update folks when new work is added, head over to the home page and sign up.

Start your new project

The Magic of IMA

Ashley Boroda is a training and development coach. For this project, he needed a video explaining IMA, the tool he uses in his training.

The brief was to make it punchy and fun and Ashley, having a great presenting voice, also did the voiceover. We looked over the script to add humour where it was appropriate and I adapted the character that already existed. See the full video below.

Start your new project

See more motion graphics projects

My thoughts on AI art.

Artificial intelligence in art is a hot topic right now, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on it. Software like mid-journey and Dalli2 have disrupted the industry. At the time of publishing this blog there are two super high profile court cases happening in the USA, where the big stock image providers like Getty are taking to task the code the has consumed millions and millions of images to feed the logarithm. Time will tell how this plays out.

Distance, a comic strip diary. Feb 2022

Distance is a comic strip diary created 1 page at a time.

For three days in April, I went to this visual assault on the senses that is The Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

So why was I there?

Did you know this week is the fifth anniversary of the UK lockdown?

5 Years ago...

In late December I was invited to create poster illustrations for The Great Northern building in Manchester.

Motion graphics animation, and why you should use it.

Why should you use motion graphics?

Have I mentioned I'm a complete nerd for WordPress? I've been working with it for over 10 years now, building sites for businesses and keeping track of the cool things you can do to keep your website ahead of the curve.

Here are 4 ways to make the best use of WordPress on your website;

1. Check you're using Google Analytics 4.

2. Use patterns to make your page design more engaging.

3. Manage social media posts from your website.

4. Save time and connect similar blogs with the query loop.

Can AI help answer your questions about illustration and graphic design?

Call it a dog and name it Turbine.

Ashley Boroda is a training and development coach. For this project, he needed a video explaining IMA, the tool he uses in his training.

The brief was to make it punchy and fun and Ashley, having a great presenting voice, also did the voiceover. We looked over the script to add humour where it was appropriate and I adapted the character that already existed. See the full video below.

Request a callback