2013 Eustace Tilley

Here's my pic for this year's Eustace Tilley contest for the New Yorker.

I figure Tilley was the original disinterested hipster type... so he can't even be bothered to look at the butterfly. And he's a little rude.

I hate flying, but love it when I'm in the sky. Here's the view from the flight out of Phoenix (location for Neil Flambe #6)

"Merry" Christmas...

The great folks at Simon and Schuster asked me to do a festive neil pic for the holiday e-card. 

The words "merry", "jolly" and "happy" rarely find their way into descriptions of Neil, so even a red nose can't cheer him up too much... he's probably wondering if Rudolph would go better with a wine sauce or an elderberry reduction...

Tilley Endures

The New Yorker has launched its Eustace Tilley contest for another year.

Here's my 2012 submission (which was also the very first blowncovers.com winner!)

What shall I do this year.......?

SCBWI

Tomie dePaola is one of my all-time faves, as both a writher and illustrator.

So imagine my joy when I saw that his annual Illustrator Award for the SCBWI members was looking for black and white work.

The challenge is to pick a bit from one of three classic books. I choose Tom Sawyer, a great book... full of kids behaving badly, or perhaps just naturally.

This is Tom during his prolonged absence from ordinary life. I kind of see him as (a) confused by the words on the facing page - he plays hooky a lot (b) perplexed by the mystery sound in the text and (c) beginning to feel the metaphorical deepness of life, which Twain represents as the Mississippi River.

Christmas Carol Tickets NOW ON SALE

As you may know, I'm part of a reading of Dickens' A Christmas Carol again this year.

A great CBC-founded tradition.

Sunday, December 9th at 2pm. St. Peter's Church Toronto (Bloor&Bathurst)

This year's reading has an amazing cast.

Michael Enright. 

Garvia Bailey. 

Fiona Highet.
 
Tickets are available HERE.

Behind the Scenes!

You've seen the mural I painted for the Cookbook Store.

A crazed Neil Flambe cooking a fiery feast.

I took pics during the whole process and the great folks at Simon and Schuster have assembled them into a great video!

And make sure you take a picture in front of the mural, maybe with your hair "on fire" like mine above.... and send them to us at Neilflambe.com