Cuddle Kitty

Today marks the official launch of Cuddle Kitty: A Tail of Friendship, a super-cute picture book I worked on with the lovely debut author Steven Rogers.

Steven was a pleasure to work with throughout the project, and I loved bringing his text to life with characters based on his daughter and two cats, Cleo and Heidi (Heidi only makes a small cameo in the book, but we made sure she featured!)

Hiss! Yowl! Run away!
It's time for me to scat.
She just doesn't seem to know
the way to treat a cat.

Emma wants to cuddle her kitty, Cleo, but she gets too excited when she sees her furry friend. Cleo loves cuddles, but loud noises and rough petting scare her.

Can Cleo show Emma the right way to play?

Before I started, I sent Steven some rough character tests. These were, of course, done early in the project, and as you a see we moved the style to something a bit softer, with less black lifework. I was finishing up on There’s a Crocodile in My Sandpit when I did these tests, and I can see some of that style creeping in - but in the end it was less suitable for this softer text.

And here’s a little look at the progression of two of my favourite illustration, from initial thumbnail to final illustration:

You can visit Steven’s website at stevenrogers.com.au

And if you would like to read some reviews of Cuddle Kitty, you can find one at Online Book Club and another at The Children’s Book Review.