Gabby Dawnay - writing and artwork

Monday, 14 September 2015

Junior Hipster review...

Oh Alex is going to love this one… I myself am quite delighted by the unashamed embrace of this word and all that it suggests. Enough about the blog's name, this is a smashing little review of our little book.

Thank you Junior Hipster and rock on all you hipster kids out there!

JUNIOR HIPSTER BLOG REVIEW

And the latest ECO KIDS PLANET magazine…all about the Eastern Himalayas

The latest issue of Eco Kids has arrived! It's just as jam-packed with info, stories, games and activities as usual, plus two pull-out card sections, a quiz and an experiment!

The Eastern Himalayas issue

The introduction...

…Incredible Animal Discoveries Trumps...

…and Interview with a Snow Leopard

Three pieces of mine in this issue (see above).

And for a bit of unbiased background information, check out the reviews of Eco Kids Planet magazine on cool blogs:

Curious Mum and Mellow Mummy

Time for me to go and write an Interview a Bengal Tiger for the next issue…

A Possum's Tail hits China!

So, A Possum's tail continues its journey around the globe - next stop...CHINA! Received a delicious package this morning from Tate Publishing: a paper parcel that contained a plastic-wrapped twin-pack of books (one the Possum, the other a possibly alarming tale that involves a hunter with a gun trying to shoot animals) both enclosed in an activity sheet for each book).
Altogether excellent…

A Possum's Tail, Chinese edition

What a wonderful package!

Here's the other book and the activity sheet…

Saturday, 12 September 2015

Yahooooo!

What an amazing job Doodle productions/SquintOpera has done - I'm feeling so proud to be part of such a beautiful project. It hasn't been easy to adapt an arts and science printed magazine for kids that's so fresh, imaginative and visually remarkable as well as scientifically robust. How do you transfer the charm, character and energy of Okido into a completely different medium to reach a far broader market? But we've done it. And not only does it look great, but it's funny, smart, clear and has a cracking soundtrack and super-sticky theme song! Plus the simple science is all there, wrapped-up in an awesome adventure story every episode.

On that point, my mother was worried that children might think there really is a Valley of the Lost Balloons - but is that such a bad thing? After all, there's Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny...

Messy's Lost Balloon

The legendary: "Valley of the Lost Balloons…"

Zoe & Felix chasing the escaped balloons

Giggling, lighter-than-air helium gas particles

Heavy air particles

"Hello! My name's Messy & I'm a monster - but I'm not scary!"

Friday, 11 September 2015

IT'S ARRIVED!

MESSY GOES TO OKIDO IS ON CBEEBIES EVERY WEEK DAY AT 4.20pm

And today - Friday 11th September - is my 1st episode:

"MESSY'S LOST BALLOON"

& if you can't catch the show today, you can always watch it on iPlayer any time afterwards!

Monday, 31 August 2015

MESSY GOES TO OKIDO COUNTDOWN...

Find out more about #MessyGoesToOkido here - just click on the picture...

Friday, 28 August 2015

MESSY GOES TO OKIDO is coming...7th September 2015!

MESSY GOES TO OKIDO

I've worked on the magazine since issue 01 - 8 years ago - and I'm proud to say that I was also part of the small team that began work on adapting Okido into a tv show 5 years ago!

And now the show is finally - almost - here...

The first episode (of 52) will be broadcast 7th September at 4.20pm on CBeebies.

So if you've ever wondered why balloons float, feet smell and things fall down not up down...

Tune in and find out!

Watch the titles here:

MESSY GOES TO OKIDO

LINKS: OKIDOmagazine SQUINT/Opera

CBeebies

Animationmagazine

BACKGROUND information...

My first picture book - called A Possum's Tail - is a collaboration with brilliant illustrator Alex Barrow and came out 6th February 2014. A second book called London Calls! is a whistle-stop tour of London, led by a Pearly grandma and her granddaughter. London Calls! came out on 4th September 2014 and is my second book with Alex Barrow. A Possum's Tail was nominated for the 2015 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal.

Both books are by Tate Publishing.

Please see my AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE or CURRICULUM VITAE for more details & updates.

As well as writing children's books, for children's television and two award-winning children's magazines, I do both private and commercial art commissions, a selection of which you can see here.

The children's shoes are part of an ongoing series of "first shoes", including several cards commissioned by the Almanac Gallery.

Hand-drawn, bespoke invitations, announcements, portraits and menus, such as the examples here are also available upon request..

Any enquiries please email: gabbydawnay@gmail.com

OKIDO MAGAZINE AND TV

I've been a regular contributor to children's art and science magazine OKIDO since 2007. HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY (WOW) beautiful Okido!

An Okido animated kids tv show, based on characters from the magazine is currently in production with Doodle/Squintopera http://www.doodle-productions.com. The original adaptation of the show (co-created/adapted by myself, producer Ceri Barnes and Doodle Productions) was acquired by CBeebies. 52 x 11 minute episodes will be coming to a screen near you soon in 2015.......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............................

MESSY GOES TO OKIDO Series ONE & TWO is now available to stream on Netflix & most episodes are available to watch on YouTube. Series THREE is currently in production.