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Come and chat to NICK SHARRATT about his debut novel, The Cat and the King, on Thursday 1 September, at 4pm

66 replies

BojanaMumsnet · 25/08/2016 15:25

Hello

Nick Sharratt will be joining us on Thursday 1 September at 4pm to discuss his debut novel, The Cat and the King.

Nick Sharratt is one of the UK's favourite and most acclaimed illustrators, with over 250 books to his name; including the bestselling novels by Jacqueline Wilson. He has won every major award for his illustration and even been presented with a gold Blue Peter badge! Nick lives in Brighton.

Nick's fabulously funny debut novel, The Cat and the King, tells the story of a gentle, unworldly King and his very clever cat. Gloriously illustrated throughout in two colours, The Cat and the King is brimming with warmth, fun, and Nick’s irresistible wit. Find Nick at @nicksharratt1.

Nick will be speaking at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival later this year. This is the largest dedicated children’s book festival in Europe and regularly attracts some of the biggest children’s authors and illustrators from the UK and internationally.

Please do join us on the day or leave your question here in advance if you can’t make it!

Thanks
MNHQ

Come and chat to NICK SHARRATT about his debut novel, The Cat and the King, on Thursday 1 September, at 4pm
Come and chat to NICK SHARRATT about his debut novel, The Cat and the King, on Thursday 1 September, at 4pm
OP posts:
1995kir · 01/09/2016 16:07

Hi Nick,

What is your favourite biscuit, like the cat and the King?

lrichardson0 · 01/09/2016 16:07

Hi Nick

What made you choose to illustrate the book in a selective palette of red, white and black?

It looks great!

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:07

@RainbowHash

Hi Nick, we all really love your work. My 4 year old is obsessed with Shark in the Park and both he and his 6 year old sister could probably make up new combinations in Mixed Up Fairy Tales all night given the chance! Congrats on the new book! Do you ever get 'artists block'?! (A bit like writers block). And if so, does it ever worry you?! And how did you get into this business?! Did you study art? Thanks!!

Delighted that your 4 year old likes Shark in the Park - did you know there's a touring show of it now?

I don't have time for artist's block! There's nothing like a deadline to get your brain working. I do work better under pressure.

Like nearly all the other illustrators I know, I went to art college after having drawn and drawn as a boy. When I left art college, I went around all the publishers with my portfolio and eventually got through the door that way.

DontTellTheBride · 01/09/2016 16:08

I was just coming on to see whether you've had the illustrator's version of writer's block, but I see that's been done.

OK, a slightly more direct question as my niece is keen to get into illustration: is it easy to make a living as an illustrator? There must only be a handful who've reached your level - what about the rest and what do you recommend to forge a career in this area?

Thanks!

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:10

@FeelingSmurfy

I have always been a big jacqueline wilson fan and love your pictures in her books!

How does it feel having a whole book to yourself rather than doing pictures for somebody else and sort of sharing the book

Also, did any of the writers give you any tips

It's great to have a combination of working with wonderful writers like Jacqueline and doing my own books too. But it's so satisfying to do the writing and the pictures and just have your name on the cover!!

A tip I've picked up from Jacqueline is to do a little writing every day and that's exactly how I wrote The Cat and the King.

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:13

@Meeep

Which book (before this one) have you felt most proud of your work in?

It's always the book that you're working on that you feel most excited about. I've got several things in the pipeline that are hopefully going to be the best things I've ever done!

SmileAndNod · 01/09/2016 16:14

Thank you. I'll pass it on to my children and hopefully they'll do better than me!

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:14

@1995kir

Hi Nick,

What is your favourite biscuit, like the cat and the King?

Oh, I love biscuits. I like Tunnock's biscuits, I like jaffa cakes but strangely enough I've come back to a good old digestive right now.

Morningbear · 01/09/2016 16:14

I adored your illustrations as a child and spent long days trying to accompany my ‘novels’ with your illustrations. Even seeing them now makes me feel very nostalgic! Musicians quite often change their style over the course of their career but it seems that illustrators, once they’ve found their style, stick with it - I suppose because it becomes their 'brand'.

Have you ever got bored of your own style and wished you could do something completely different under the same name?

megletthesecond · 01/09/2016 16:15

Hi Nick. Just wanted to say we love Shark in the Park Smile. We're tinkering with a new demo database at work and I had actually set up Timothy Pope as a dummy customer. I'll keep my eye out for the new book.

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:16

@alsoasharratt

Nick your stuff is great. I'm also a sharratt so high five to the sharratts of the world! My question is, what is your typical working day and how long does it take you to do each illustration?

Thanks!

Always good to encounter another Sharratt. My working day starts at 8 o'clock and goes on til 7 o'clock, with an hour off for lunch and an important tea and biscuit break at 11. People are often surprised at the long hours that illustrators work, it's surprisingly hard work but it is fantastically rewarding.

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:18

@TrollTheRespawnJeremy

I grew up reading jacqueline Wilson and your illustrations and her writing are synonymous in my head.

Are you both quite pally now? I can picture lots of naice days with a glass of wine discussing what to put in the books :)

Also any tips for budding illustrators? Where did you get your big break?

Jacky and I are good mates, we've known each other a quarter of a century and we do like a glass of wine together but sadly we don't get that much opportunity. People do think that the author and the illustrator work closely together but it doesn't work like that. I get sent Jacqueline's manuscript and I'm left to decide how to illustrate it. Jacqueline sees the roughs but I have a very free hand.

1995kir · 01/09/2016 16:20

How did you discover you wanted to be an artist?

lrichardson0 · 01/09/2016 16:20

Hi Nick, out of all the books you've illustrated so far, which one did you enjoy illustrating the most? Thanks!

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:20

@Morningbear

I adored your illustrations as a child and spent long days trying to accompany my ‘novels’ with your illustrations. Even seeing them now makes me feel very nostalgic! Musicians quite often change their style over the course of their career but it seems that illustrators, once they’ve found their style, stick with it - I suppose because it becomes their 'brand'.

Have you ever got bored of your own style and wished you could do something completely different under the same name?

Thank you Morningbear for your nice comments. For me, I just draw in the style that feels natural for me. I have tried other styles particularly in my art college days but I've come back to a very similar way of working to when I was a boy. And hopefully children relate to that style.

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:21

@lrichardson0

Hi Nick!

Who is your favourite king from history?

Good question. I think it would have to be Henry VIII. Great outfits apart from anything else!

TheSandmansSon · 01/09/2016 16:23

Hi Nick - I'm an aspiring illustrator and comics artist, and I was wondering if you have any practical advice for turning it into a profession? Aside from practice, practice, practice I mean! x

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:23

@1995kir

How did you discover you wanted to be an artist?

It's just the thing that I've done most naturally all my life. There's a lovely photo of me aged about 6 painting a picture in our back garden and I'm still doing essentially the same thing all these years later. I was 9 when I decided that I was going to be a professional artist, thanks to encouragement at primary school.

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:25

@TheSandmansSon

Hi Nick - I'm an aspiring illustrator and comics artist, and I was wondering if you have any practical advice for turning it into a profession? Aside from practice, practice, practice I mean! x

Well, practice, practice, practice is important but determination and tenacity are very important too - good luck!

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:27

@lrichardson0

Hi Nick, out of all the books you've illustrated so far, which one did you enjoy illustrating the most? Thanks!

As a matter of fact, it was for The Cat and the King. Even though there were 144 pages to illustrate compared to 24 pages in a picture book, I fell in love with my cast of characters in a way that hadn't happened before. And I'm itching to revisit them as soon as I can!

Cheerybigbottom · 01/09/2016 16:29

Hi Nick!

Me & my sprog are delighted to hear there's a touring show of Shark in the Park, thanks for that Grin

I've a stupid question now. I noticed in Shark in the park on a windy day you had been to a primary school up the road from me in Stockton on Tees for ideas. Is this something you do often? It must be very difficult to put Childrens imaginings onto paper, and harder still to create a story they enjoy so much.

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:29

@Angelil

Hi Nick, you are perhaps most famous for your work with Jacqueline Wilson, but which other writer(s) have you particularly enjoyed working with apart from her? Thanks for all the great work you've done over the years :)

Thank you Angelil. I've been lucky to work with many great writers. I loved illustrating Giles Andreae's Pants books and I relished the chance to work with Michael Rosen a couple of times. It's also been terrific to collaborate with Kes Gray, Julia Donaldson and Pippa Goodheart.

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:32

@notamummy10

I grew up reading Jacqueline Wilson books and watching the TV adaptations which I loved!

As I understand it, you did some of the animations for the The Story of Tracy Beaker TV adaptation- how did it feel seeing Tracy Beaker come to live for the first time?

It was great to be involved with the Tracy Beaker animations. As the years went by, and the technology changed my involvement became greater and my own drawings were literally animated which was thrilling.

Bathfestivals · 01/09/2016 16:33

Hi Nick! Thank you for illustrating the cover of this year's #BathKidsLitFest brochure. We're looking forward to seeing you at the festival. What does it mean to you to be involved in events like this?

NickSharratt · 01/09/2016 16:34

@TanteJeanne

I wonder why adult fiction doesn't often have illustrations? In children's stories, the illustrations really add to the story, communicating things that the words don't. Couldn't illustrations do this for adult fiction too?

Good point. Do you remember when magazines had novel extracts and they usually had a full page illustration to go with them? They were fantastic and I definitely think a lot of adult fiction would be even more enjoyable with some visual content.