New cover for my Alphabet book

My Alphabet Book

And Tiger tangoes…

Bear on the beach

This one is for a book I’m currently working on, though the style is not going to be like this.

Meg

Another book that will never see light of day!

Pingola the Grumpy King

This is the cover of The Grumpy King, it has been published by Ladybird. The story – not written by me- is about Pingola a very very grumpy king who was always worried and grumpy. He made too many laws and tried to force everyone in his kingdom to follow the laws – bedtime at 9, everybody must always do their homework, no eating sweets, no parties, etc. The king himself had to check everyone’s report cards to make sure they were all studying hard. The only saving grace was the king’s son, Singola (!!) who tried to make his father understand there can be no life without fun…But in vain.

One day the king woke up in the night to find everyone celebrating. He found out that they were celebrating his death! And try as he might, he could not make them see that eh was not dead. It was a nightmare! Finally when the king actually woke up, he decided to abolish the old rules and make new rules! Like school till 3 in the afternoon only, weekends for fun and parties, etc. The people were happy and they lived happily ever after.

Well I’m not too fond of the story myself, but apparently the book was pretty popular with children (and their parents!) I met a lady who said that her daughter really loved the book, and thought that she was the grumpy king! But alas, the shelf life for these books are very less… by the time I met her daughter, my book was passé, and she was playing video games instead

Funniest folktales

BTW, this book is available at schools and Scholastic outlets across India. But I only did the cover.

You choose

Here are some style options for a children’s story book. The brief is cute and friendly but fresh. So which option do you think I should go with?

Option 3

Option 2

Option 1

Please post a comment and help me choose!

The Snooty Kitten

This is one book that may never get published.

There was once a very snobbish kitten who lived on a farm. He considered himself too good for the rest of the animals so he never used to make friends with them. He thought the hens and the rooster were too noisy, the cows too docile and the goose too stupid. One day while walking near the pond, the kitten got entangled in a fishing net left carelessly and fell into the water. He struggled hard to free himself, but only got more and more wrapped up in the net. All the other animals stood around and watched. None of them wanted to help the unfriendly little kitten. Meanwhile the kitten was slowly going under. Suddenly the goose jumped in, and with his long beak he managed to free the kitten from the net, and bring him to the edge of the water.
The kitten realised that friends are the ones who help when you really need them.

I co-authored this (childish and simple) story one afternoon with a guy called Paul.

Happy Anteater

This happy anteater will be part of an alphabet book I’m working on. Drawn with crow quill and ink wash.