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Children's author, illustrator, screenwriter

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Draw a Big Sky Mountain beaver with Alex Milway

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Summer holidays are in full flow and I know it’s not always easy to think of things to do. Art and especially drawing is something we revert to on a very regular basis. My kids love it and so do I.

Everyone can draw – I really believe this – it’s just that it needs a bit of regular practice. Whereas we all write day-in day-out, so many people put down their pencils at the age of 14 and never go back. But it’s certainly true that sometimes you need a bit of confidence and support, and that’s something I find a lot at schools when I teach children to draw my characters.

It can be really hard coming up with something new on the spot – who doesn’t fear a blank page? – so I often take children through my character designs step-by-step to give them a character to work with. It’s just like learning a new word or a sentence: you can use it over and again, and build on it.

That’s where this free download comes in handy…

This one here 🙂

It’s a step-by-step guide to drawing and it’s so easy to follow. Pretty much all of my characters start out as a circle, and Iris and Elsie from Big Sky Mountain are no different. You can then colour and design it in your own unique way.

Once you’ve designed your beaver – or perhaps your own family of beavers – I’d love to see what you’ve achieved. If you want to tag me on Instagram or share on my Facebook page, that would be brilliant.

Why beavers?

The Big Sky Mountain series feature many ‘Keystone Species’ animals. These are species that make a huge and important impact on our planet and its ecosystems, fundamentally shaping our world. You’ll be seeing some of our other wonderful keystone species in upcoming Big Sky Mountain books.

Elsie and Iris, the parachuting beavers in Book One were inspired by two true stories. Conservationists really did drop Beavers from an aeroplane in a bid to move them to a new home (they survived the drop, you’ll be glad to hear). And beavers are often re-homed in same-sex groups to avoid overpopulation. The fact that it’s impossible to tell males and females apart from their appearance makes that harder than you might imagine!

Parachuting beavers

Covid has arrived at Hotel Flamingo HQ

As you may have seen over on Instagram, we are currently isolating because a family member tested positive for Covid. Not fun, but we’re getting by. In trying to think of things to occupy ourselves, my creative inspiration has mostly revolved around baking cakes and cooking food…you get the picture. And I have to say I am particularly proud of my spectacular Guinness cake! 

We also unearthed some pretty amazing tiles under the carpet in one of our rooms. It was like finding buried treasure! Now I have a tiny inkling of how amazing it would be to uncover a Roman mosaic… I may have got my hopes a little too high for what we might dig up in the garden (so far we’ve only found old iron and drink bottles from the 80s).

The good news is, I’ve also found time to start the next Big Sky Mountain book. Stay tuned for more news, including sneaky peeks at the artwork and other exciting snippets!

Until next time, take care of yourselves. And remember, download your free Iris and Elsie drawing guide here.

Something I’ve been working on…

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I’ve been busy all week drawing pictures for a secret project. I’ve been desperate to put some of them online as they’ve turned out better than I’d hoped, but, you know, I’m trying to keep it secret.

So, I’ve decided to post this mysterious image, just to scratch an itch.

New books, new characters

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I’ve recently put the 4th yeti book to bed, so I’m ploughing on with new things. New things mean new characters, which are always exciting. It means I get to draw a multitude of faces, working out who’s going to be who.

I like the process of brainstorming faces – watching films for features I like, doodling face shapes and seeing what works for a character.

I’m not going to talk about these characters as the story – a novel – is something I’m keeping close to home for a while. I’m rarely secretive about stuff, but this story warrants it I think. Still, that doesn’t mean I can’t show studies and doodles, does it?!

Learning from Tove Jansson and the Moomins

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I’ve spent the past few evenings attempting to recreate a Moomin illustration from Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson. This is part of my self-imposed study schedule of the greats of ink illustration, which has taken me from Tenniel to Peake. It’s probably my last of these for a while, but it’s definitely not the end. (There’s a reason for me doing all these, by the way, but I’m not going to explain for a while!)

Any way, the illustration I chose is a full-page plate, which is quite different from most of the Moomin illustrations. It’s possibly my favourite, and it’s the only one I can think of where the chiaroscuro lighting allows for the full 3D shape of Moomintroll to be described.

Once again I drew it in ink with a paintbrush, forcing myself to not make mistakes and do it without under-drawing. And crikey, what a lot I learnt. Starting with Moomintroll, the greatest lesson to be had is the direction of the pen marks, and the use of the highlights.

Tove Jansson was a master of using stark contrasts, and by leaving the band of white inside the outline, Moomintroll’s belly really pops out!

Another example of the line direction can be had in the window.

Again, the white is as important as the strokes, but the swirling effect of the lines brings out the beauty of the moonlit night. It also provides a contrast against the vertical strokes that colour the wall.

The method of shading the illustration is also of massive importance. There are some huge areas of pure black, and some huge areas of pure white. It’s a surprisingly brave thing to do, but never once do they take your attention away from the subject. The composition is perfect, as is the lighting.

And finally, the best thing that I’ve taken away from attempting to draw like Tove Jansson, is how time-consuming and patient you need to be to create work like this. I don’t know the size of the original, and it has a far better use and economy of line than mine, but the work involved in creating a piece like this is exceptional.

I admire Tove Jansson now more than ever!

Drawing Harold the Hamster

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I’ve been drawing a lot of late – in bed, on the trains, in school staff rooms. Obviously, this drawing is extra to yetis book 3, which I’m very pleased to say is nearing completion. The scribbles and doodles seem to revolve around my hamster friend, Harold, as well as many vikings.

Harold is one of those characters that appeared almost fully formed, and yet also out of a need for a foil for Pigsticks the pig. Pigsticks needed a friend to get up to stuff with, and Harold arrived on the page without much trouble. His attitude is just perfect for a sidekick to the energetic and super-positive pig.

The more pictures I draw of Harold, the more I love him, and the more situations I want to put him in. I love to see how he reacts to things, and I’m currently enjoying making him look after a load of baby hamsters.
Baby hamsters don’t have any features other than eyes and a nose, in case you were wondering.

And here’s Harold again, covered in the little monkeys! He’s fast becoming overrun with them!