Hello all, and welcome to my very first blog post! In this post I am going to tell you all about the story behind the development of Momo, from my first imaginings of him to creating the latest book, Momo and the Star. I hope you enjoy the story!
Momo the Dino first came about when I was very young. I’m not exactly sure when, but I believe I started drawing him whilst I was between 8-10 years old (all the way back in the 90’s!). I was fascinated with drawing – I learned to draw by practising drawing Sonic the Hedgehog for hours and hours. I drew hundreds of images until he looked like Sonic! I loved showing my work to my classmates and hearing them go “oh wow, cool Sonic!” From that point I was hooked on art, and began trying my hand at drawing anything and everything – dinosaurs included.
Momo’s main inspiration is the video game character Yoshi, who I am sure most of you will know as Mario’s loveable steed. I am a HUGE fan of video games, and the game that influenced me the most was Yoshi’s Island. I absolutely adored the level design of this game – it’s very beautiful, and it was a desire to recreate this that partially led to the idea of a children’s book – although at this point it was not a rhyming picture book!
Another inspiration has to be the wonderful Funny Bones, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. I loved the art style, I loved the stories. These are very charming illustrations and amusing little stories that will absolutely bring a smile to your face.
Finally, a source of inspiration for me were a couple of Garden Gang stories – by Jayne Fisher. Specifically, Oliver Onion and Tim Tomato. Not only did she write these stories – she drew the art for them too! According to the back of the book, Jayne was only 9 years old and was the youngest ever Ladybird author – I found this utterly fascinating and strove to come up with ideas of my own.
Thus, Momo was born!
His appearance hasn’t changed greatly over the years, although my art has improved somewhat. I will include some of my very first artwork in the gallery section of this website to show you how much he has come along over the years.
Although I haven’t been able to emulate Jayne and become another young author, I’m hopeful that children will get to enjoy my book regardless. My main goal is to create books that children enjoy and are entertained by, with memorable characters they love.
So there you have the source of my inspiration for Momo – join me next time as I discuss the development of the various books over the years!