Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas, everyone!
The characters are here, and the book is underway... Are you as excited as I am?!

Sneak Preview!

This section of page is roughly 5.5cm x 7.5cm - actual size

Dream sketches

Here are some sketches I've been working on but can't quite get to finished stage. I'm finding a motif of pagan-esque imagery in my work lately, and drawings in this vein are creeping about in my subconscious.

This one is an image I had in a dream:










































































I'd love to make a series of these landscapes - if you want to see more feel free to commission me! In the meantime, the Lion of St Andrews looks like this:


















Nearly ready to start making pages ... As always, I'll be keeping you posted!

Juxtapoz article

One of my favourite illustration magasines Juxtapoz has an article about my work on their website!





























See the article here - written by the very talented Laura Hines

Back from St Andrews

St Andrews was lovely!
Beautiful and sunny (with just a smirr of rain). Very excited to start work on the book in October. Drawings at this stages are mostly quite boring functional notes on details, such as below ....
























.... but I should have some photographs coming soon.

In the meantime, here's a picture of little Red Riding Hood!

New book project!

Some excellent news to announce this week - I am soon to start my very first children's book!

I've been approached by Scottish publisher Serafina Press who I first came across at the London Book Fair in April. They are an independent Scottish book publisher which "aims to publish art-driven children's books. These will have a local flavour, with stories to appeal to children anywhere."

Their previous titles are delightful - here's a photograph of my collection:


















The books have a strong focus on local legend and traditional stories, while maintaining a contemporary, detailed style of illustrations. (Which, as you might know, is right up my street!) Each book is set in a different Scottish town, meaning I'll be part of a really unique series which has gained the affection of locals across the East coast of the country.

The new book I'm going to work on is called 'The Lion of St Andrews'. It's early days yet, but here are some sketches and concept drawings for the curious!:

MiddleBoopMag article

Illustrating maniac Murray Sommerville has written a most excellent article about me for MiddleBoopMag:

Have you seen ... Katie Coulton?

High compliments from the hand that produced such wonderful madness as this:





































































You can find more of his punk-style comics and zany 2am drawings at http://cargocollective.com/murraysomerville and http://murraysomerville.blogspot.com/

Also, keep an eye out for his custom label Becks bottles, out today!

pigoens and ducks

Back to basics - drawing birdies in the park.

Spring (Summer and Winter still to come!)

Back home

Well, what can I say?

My residency is over and what a wonderful way to spend a month! The artists I met, both my lecturers and classmates, were a simply a huge fountain of inspiration. We all met in New York but are now sadly scattered across the globe again. I feel very privileged to have worked alongside such creative and enthusiastic illustrators.

But, luckily for us we are all living in the age of the internet! The SVA Summer 2011 alumni are currently working on a new project together, so I may be a member on another blog pretty soon! Stay news for more exciting news on this subject ...



Here's some pictures of the Open Studio (photos courtesy of Luisa Possas):















































And some outcomes from the 5-week course:



























































There is of course a whole sketchbook full of drawings from the trip but it's simply too much to put here! In fact these sketchbooks are starting to build up and I'm currently researching the best way to display them on the web... If anyone has any tips on this, I'd love to hear it!

Kt.

PS. I suppose, now is as good a time as any to announce my other big news - I am now represented by Advocate Art, an illustration agency specialising in children's books. Expect to see lots of cute kids book illos coming up soon!




http://www.advocate-art.com/

Exhibition on the 30th

If any of you just so happen to be in New York this week, you are invited to the Open Studios!




















Come along and see illustrators from across the globe displaying their work (including fresh stuff from me!) And there will be some Fine Art to see too, of course.

Exciting times ...

Halfway there!

It's the halfway point! And it's stormy in NYC ...




It's unfortunate that I don't have a proper camera, since too much has happened to write it all down. I've also been to some wonderful exhibitions, openings and studio visits, but I might be able to get some photos of these eventually. Meanwhile, here's some sketches instead:


In week two we went to go draw at the Brooklyn botanical gardens...























As you can see I've been using more colour than usual in my drawings. And this week (on my birthday) we went to Redhook by the harbour, where the need to paint became ridiculous.


















And next week it's off to the Central Park zoo! Hopefully I can work some more on my tapir story there, which is now in full formation. I have a working title - 'A New Arrival at the Zoo' - and here's some sneak preview sketches and a first piece of artwork.






































































Stay tuned!

Summer residency in ....

... Yep, you guessed it, next month I'm heading off to the School of Visual Arts in NEW YORK. I'm very excited about this as it has produced some of my favourite illustrators, including...

















You Byun



















Yuko Shimizu (she actually lectures here now...)





















James Jean (... him too!)




























Sam Weber

I'm participating in their summer residency programme this June. I have always admired the unbelievable work-ethic and technical brilliance that American-educated illustrators seem to possess in abundance. So to have the chance to study at one of the best art colleges in the USA is a dream come true, frankly -

and might even ...*gasp* do some painting!

Website is up!

My website is finally finished!!

http://www.katherinecoulton.com

Keep an eye out for updates - there will be lots of sketchbook images added soon (in the process of scanning my large collection!)

Banner

A little piece of news: this banner is going to be featured on Art and Design site lost at e minor.
Keep an eye out for it - it's on rotation!

Other blogs

Since I am busy working on my very own home-made website (which is KILLING me and using up lots of valuable drawing time) I thought it would be a good time to share some more of my latest inspirational finds.

Sadly, my favourite gold-mine for book illustrators, picturebookreport, has recently closed down but I highly recommend a trawl through. Such brilliant contributors include:

Sam Bosma
http://sambosma.blogspot.com/























I especially like him, as he is illustrating "The Hobbit", just for fun. That's my kind of nerd.


Chuck Groenink
http://nietveelsoeps.blogspot.com/























I would look out for the "Neverending Story" illustrations in particular.


Paolo Del Toro
http://magichairball.blogspot.com/


















He's not on picturebookreport, but he is illustrating a book of short stories based on his dreams.


And last but not least - http://50watts.com/ - Full of weird and wonderful images...
(formerly http://ajourneyroundmyskull.blogspot.com/)

Tapirs!