Tuesday 7 January 2014

'Many heads, arms and shoulders were struck off at one stroke'


'Many heads, arms and shoulders were struck off at one stroke', an illustration by JVL, 
for 'The Deeds of the Norman people' in Epics of the Middle Ages, The Folio Society, 2005.

1 comment:

  1. Dear John

    I am a 42 year old British writer/director working out in LA. I have 3 kids and recently pulled out my treasured copy of The Giant Jam Sandwich, which my parents bought for me back in 1974, and read it to my kids, who all love it, of course, as do I still, as it brings amazing memories of my childhood flooding back to me.

    But it got me thinking, as I am now turning my writing talents away from horror films, which got me my break here in LA, to children's books. I have finished what has been described by a Disney exec friend of mine as 'the most awesome, dark and quirky new work' he has ever read. I was looking to self publish thru Amazon etc, but he advised me to go the traditional route and find an artist and get the thing published as it has a lot to offer the world, and needs the proper distribution.

    'Perrier Perch and his Rock of Wisdom' is about a quiet, nature loving boy in London who finds a magic rock, and when he holds the rock, it gives him great insight and wisdom into the world. He then imparts this knowledge to those around him, and everyone learns a valuable lesson from Perrier, before Perrier goes back to being a normal kid again, when he puts the rock away.

    In the first book he is asked to write about what he wants to be when he grows up by his teacher. His rock flies him to space and onto a mail truck and into the minds of Ghandi and Gates to learn great wisdom. And after his journey, when his teacher asks him what he wants to be, he just replies 'happy'. Everyone's outraged he didn't write about what job he wanted. But as he points out to those around him, they have it all wrong. Happy is what we should all be striving for.

    I have been looking at artists online and also all the kids books in the library for a suitable artist who can match the book's quirky nature. Then I read your book again and imagined Perrier created in your style of art-manship. I then had a strong vision of you illustrating my book. So I set about a course to find you, if you were even still alive! Very glad to find you still active and drawing.

    As this seems to be the only way you are active online that I could find, I hope you don't mind me reaching out this way. So I am not sure you want to even do this kind of thing, but I believe I have a great set of stories with my character: Perrier Perch. I have already written the second story about how England runs out of Tea and how the Queen enlists Perrier to help Queen and country.

    I see this being a book series, a TV series and everything else from there. But I need a great artist. And that's where you come in. Is this something you would even consider? I can send you the book to read if you like and you can see if this is something you would like to consider.

    I am so excited to be even writing this to you and any response from you would be amazing, even if it is less than favorable news. But that's OK. I have to follow through on my vision.

    I look forward to hearing back from you.

    Jake Kennedy
    1.310.963.9441
    thebigfilmguy@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete