Alex Latimer's Blog, page 3

I've always struggled to find an easy way to manage sales of my prints - sometimes an order for a print comes in and I'm in deadline mode and it can takes weeks before I have the time to pick-up the print from the printers', package and post it. So please embrace The Fineprint - a local, high-quality, print, package and despatch online store that will make ordering prints simple for everyone. I've also managed to keep the print prices down. Click your way over there and have a browse. (It's South Africa only for now, but give it time.)

Where would an enormous crab and a colossal squid sit to have a hearty breakfast? Where would they find a table big enough for a huge vase, two plates each the size of a soccer stadium and a table cloth six kilometres long? Table Mountain of course. Sorry Cape Town.

My third picture book, Lion vs Rabbit , was published in the UK yesterday. It'll be released in other countries throughout the year - including the US, Germany, Spain, Denmark and China. I think it's my best book so far - which is probably what everyone says when they publish a new book - but I reckon it's true. Click on the image on the left and take a look at some of the inside spreads.

Here's the book description from Amazon:

Lion is a bully. All the other animals are terrified of him. So they advertise for help. Soon Rabbit comes to the rescue. Although he's small and Lion is big, Rabbit has something that Lion doesn't have...

An extremely funny story with a wonderful little twist, and the key message that you can always get the better of a bully.

The weird thing about working on books is that about a year after you send the final files off, the book appears in shops. It's always a lovely a surprise - and here's the latest one called From Aardvark to Zuma. It's basically a humourous encyclopedia of all things iconically South African - from people to brands to animals and places. The idea for this book started in 2008 and eventually found a loving home with Penguin South Africa who seemed happy to just let me do whatever I liked - which was awesome. This should be available at most bookstores around South Africa as well as through the usual online shops (Kalahari, Loot, Takealot) - so keep an eye out for it, especially if you're needing Christmas gift ideas.

How's this cool lunch that Billynda McAdoo made for her son Charlie?
Here's Billynda's key to her lovely lunch:

Babybel ninja, the chocolate cake (Clif Jr. bar) that the ninja kicked into the air and ate in one bite, pb&j sandwich covered in the leaves that Tim had to rake, grapes from the party that Tim invited everyone to - including the time-traveling monkey that threw pencils at Tim's sleeping Grandpa, carrots, and a Hershey's kiss

These gems arrived today - the translations of Penguin's Hidden Talent. There's Norwegian, German, Finnish, Swedish and American. I'm still delighted and quite amazed that my books have come this far and will have an influence on kids around the world. It's fantastic really.

The South African Alphabet started out as a poster a few years ago - now it's become an alphabet book for kids (due to be published in less than a week) and will soon after that be a pocket-sized guide to all things iconically South African called From Aardvark to Zuma - published by Penguin South Africa. They turned out really well.

Here's a bit of mind-bending trivia for you - both the English and Afrikaans books share the same images. So each illustration in the book (and there are two per letter) had to start with the same letter in both languages. Somehow it worked. I'm not sure how.

(Oh, and for a little while at least, I will be selling signed A3 copies of The South African Alphabet poster - click here to go to my website where you'll discover more details.)

Over the years I've had loads of emails requesting prints of my work - and though I'm happy to oblige (thrilled even, that people want my work on their walls) it's always been a costly and time-consuming task for me - mostly because I live far away from any decent printers. But now I have a solution - especially for those who love The South African Alphabet. That solution is The Littlest Mammoth.

The Littlest Mammoth is a hand-picked selection of some of the most wall-worthy kids illustration out there. Presently there are only two pieces of my work for sale - The Map of the World and The South African Alphabet - but they're sandwiched between some lovely pictures from other illustrators. Head on over and take a browse - see if you can decide which ones you like best.