0:00:11 > 0:00:12"Dear Shirley Hughes,
0:00:12 > 0:00:17"I have loved all your books that I have ever bought
0:00:17 > 0:00:20"but Alfie ones are my best.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24"I like them because they are funny and nice to read."
0:00:30 > 0:00:33"I'm going to write a book review about Dixie O'Day,
0:00:33 > 0:00:37"which I can read to other children to encourage them
0:00:37 > 0:00:38"to read your book."
0:00:38 > 0:00:39Oh good.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45"I write half on the bed and half on the table.
0:00:45 > 0:00:46"Where do you?"
0:00:49 > 0:00:52"I love them" - in big letters.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54"Please write more."
0:01:14 > 0:01:16I pride myself most on the letters that I get
0:01:16 > 0:01:19saying, "We liked your books."
0:01:19 > 0:01:24Or, you know, "I remember Dogger when I was little girl
0:01:24 > 0:01:26"and now I'm reading it to my kids."
0:01:26 > 0:01:30That's lovely. Cos, of course, I've gone through a whole generation.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Dogger was a one-off story, of course,
0:01:34 > 0:01:40about the terrible moment when Dogger is lost at bedtime.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45I don't use real models for my children in my books,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49but I do use real models from toys.
0:01:49 > 0:01:55And Dogger is very old, I mean, he is an absolute icon, Dogger.
0:01:55 > 0:01:56I mean, he's been...
0:01:57 > 0:02:02He's been on show in museums but he's retired now from these.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04He's sick of the celebrity circuit.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07He just lives quietly in this box.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10But, as you see, he belonged to my elder son.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12He was given by...
0:02:12 > 0:02:14He had him when he was about three.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19When he first arrived, his ears were correct, like that.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23But he was slept and, of course, as one does, pressed against.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25So this ear got forced upwards.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27And there it is.
0:02:27 > 0:02:28There's Dogger.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56When my working day begins,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00I get up, do a few exercises,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05have some breakfast and then I go upstairs to my workroom
0:03:05 > 0:03:08to get ready for the day's work.
0:03:12 > 0:03:13So...
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Starting off at the drawing board.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20It's a moment I always look forward to.
0:03:22 > 0:03:23Get my drawing apron on.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29And I use gouache colour.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31It's got quite a lot of body in it.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34It isn't so fragile as watercolour.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36This is quite fun squeezing out, you know.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38The moment of promise, really, when you think,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41"This is going to be the colour of the day."
0:03:41 > 0:03:42Hooray.
0:03:43 > 0:03:44So, it's a lot of fun.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46It's very tactile, this, you know.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51And then I'm ready to start.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06This is an Alfie book, of course, which I'm working on.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09You know, there are many Alfie books out there.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16What I am doing is translating a rough
0:04:16 > 0:04:18into the finished artwork.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27And I think one of the great challenges
0:04:27 > 0:04:31is to get that freedom of the rough, which you've done at great speed
0:04:31 > 0:04:33and in a high state of excitement,
0:04:33 > 0:04:35and here, of course, I'm slowing down
0:04:35 > 0:04:38and I've got to do this very meticulously.
0:04:41 > 0:04:47This is the very last illustration of a book I'm just finishing.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52And it's all about Alfie and Dad.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54They have a very close relationship.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57And this one is about a little lost cat
0:04:57 > 0:05:00and they take in this little lost cat,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03and their cat, Chessie, gets very jealous and cross.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08It's all about him and Dad and how they resolve the situation.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16If you have a character that everybody knows already,
0:05:16 > 0:05:17it's a great help.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19And Alfie, he'd be...
0:05:19 > 0:05:22What? 24 years old now...
0:05:22 > 0:05:25SHE LAUGHS ..if he was in real time.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28But of course he's still a perennial preschooler
0:05:28 > 0:05:33up against the terrible battles, the very serious things
0:05:33 > 0:05:35that they have to battle with, which mean a lot,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38like getting your shoes on the right feet,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42going to a birthday party without your security blanket,
0:05:42 > 0:05:43all that kind of thing.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45It's very important to a small child.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57I'm checking the colour of his sweater
0:05:57 > 0:06:00and the fact he's got a check collar. I've got to remember that when I put...
0:06:00 > 0:06:03You keep repeating it, you see, and we've got to have continuity.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06It's like a little play. He can't come on in a different costume.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Here's the cat, Chessie, looking very, very upset.
0:06:39 > 0:06:40Black.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44I'll put it on with paint.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54All the skill of the storytelling is in the drawing.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58And I was taught to draw. I did a lot of life drawing in my time.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Thank God.
0:07:01 > 0:07:02You know the way a hand works,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05you know the way little fingers stretch.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09And the source of everything is keeping a sketchbook.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23The text says, "'I think Dilys is a much better name than Tibbles,' said Alfie.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26"I wonder if she'll ever come back and visit us again?
0:07:26 > 0:07:27"But she never did."
0:07:31 > 0:07:33I get a lot of inspiration, of course,
0:07:33 > 0:07:38from things that happened in my own family at that age.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40We did have a Dilys who went...
0:07:40 > 0:07:43She was terrible. She kept disappearing and hearts were broken,
0:07:43 > 0:07:44and then she'd turn up again.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48And she'd got two people on the go, she'd got two homes on the go.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50That's where this story came from, actually.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03I always end with a picture
0:08:03 > 0:08:06and I will have... the final bit of text will be up there.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08A little bit of conversation, just above there.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Right, I think I'm going to have a breather now.
0:08:19 > 0:08:20It's a lovely light today.
0:08:22 > 0:08:23Marvellous.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31We came here in 1954, I think it was.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37We moved here when my elder son was a baby, a tiny baby.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40And my other two children were born while we were here
0:08:40 > 0:08:43and we've been here ever since.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45It's a lovely place to work.
0:08:45 > 0:08:46Very quiet, you see.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Been terribly happy here, you know, all the time,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54John and I, while John was alive.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57And now, you know, I'd hate to go anywhere else.
0:08:57 > 0:08:58Hate to go anywhere.
0:08:58 > 0:08:59I love it here.
0:09:02 > 0:09:03Hopefully here till I pop my clogs.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05SHE LAUGHS
0:09:11 > 0:09:15I knew that my own books were going to be rooted in reality
0:09:15 > 0:09:18because I had this feel for drawing young children, I suppose.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22Alfie has a mum and a dad
0:09:22 > 0:09:26and a little baby sister who is only just beginning to walk and talk,
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Annie Rose.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31And he has a perfectly ordinary family.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34He's got a best friend, Bernard, who's pretty cool, really.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Somebody once said to me, of course, when they're 16,
0:09:39 > 0:09:40Bernard's going to get the girl.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Poor Alfie will be a bit more...
0:09:46 > 0:09:50This is about the moment when Alfie gives the door a big slam,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52just like that.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55"'Open the door, Alfie,' said Mum.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59"Alfie didn't know how to open the door. He couldn't reach the catch."
0:09:59 > 0:10:01A lot of the time, you're trying to pretend
0:10:01 > 0:10:05that that gutter, where the sewing is down the middle, isn't there.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07You flow across it.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10But in this case, I used it as part of the story.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Of course, I was thinking of the old silent-movie trick, you know,
0:10:13 > 0:10:15where they had a split screen
0:10:15 > 0:10:17with those Marx Brothers films and everything.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21You could see one person inside and the other person outside.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23I mean, a book is a wonderful piece of technology.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Absolutely superb.
0:10:27 > 0:10:28I mean, you can do anything with it.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33And even the tiniest child knows that this is outside, here.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36And he's inside.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39And all I had to do was draw that line there.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42They can look at pictures long before they learn to read.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46And that's what's so nice about being an illustrator.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57The thing about a picture book, of course, is it is a little theatre
0:10:57 > 0:11:00except you've got complete control over everything.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02You're the lighting,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04costume designer,
0:11:04 > 0:11:06stage director, the lot.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13I want children to learn how to look, how to linger over a picture
0:11:13 > 0:11:15and not rush through,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17flicking from page to page.
0:11:17 > 0:11:23They have a lot to cope with in terms of having to be quick reactors
0:11:23 > 0:11:26and I think the enjoyment of art
0:11:26 > 0:11:30is something that you enjoy just by looking carefully
0:11:30 > 0:11:32and looking as long as you like.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41One of my great heroes was Arthur Rackham.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44He was one of the classic illustrators
0:11:44 > 0:11:46from another era, of course.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49And I really pored over these.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52These were colour plates, you know.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55They have a text and then you turn this tissue paper
0:11:55 > 0:11:58and there was this lovely colour plate.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Wonderful illustrator, he was, very classic.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05There's Peter Pan. He's flown off out of the window
0:12:05 > 0:12:07and he's gone into Kensington Gardens
0:12:07 > 0:12:10and having a conversation with a crow sitting in a tree.
0:12:10 > 0:12:11And there's some mice down below.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15Complete contrast would be Edmund Dulac.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Fairy tales, Cinderella.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Look at that.
0:12:20 > 0:12:21Beautiful illustration.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25You read the text and then you came to this wonderful moment
0:12:25 > 0:12:26you got the colour plate.
0:12:28 > 0:12:29So, it's a lot to look at.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31I mean, you're looking at the main scene,
0:12:31 > 0:12:35and you're also looking at all these people aghast in the background.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39I used to try and learn something from them.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45A tremendous influence on me, of course, were comics.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48We had very nice little comics,
0:12:48 > 0:12:52you know, Tiger Tim and the Bruin Boys and all that.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57And then suddenly the moment came when I was in the Second World War,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59and the GIs arrived in Liverpool
0:12:59 > 0:13:02and with them came the American comics.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06And of course, these were for adults.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11I was in my late teens, really starting to look at art.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13It's an amazingly funny...
0:13:13 > 0:13:14But look at that.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18I mean, just one picture with the little silhouette of the city below
0:13:18 > 0:13:21and there's somebody floating off in a bath tub, then whoosh!
0:13:21 > 0:13:24They're all coming out and woke up in bed.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26It's a dream, of course.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28Oh, they were such good artists.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Full of ideas.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33You learn about line but most of all you learn about telling a story.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Which is what I'm doing, in a different sort of way.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Of course, the whole emphasis in this picture
0:13:54 > 0:13:57is that Alfie's legs are too short.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59His legs are just dangling.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01His little legs don't reach the ground.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03That... SHE SIGHS
0:14:03 > 0:14:05Dad's got to look very relaxed.
0:14:17 > 0:14:18There we are.
0:14:18 > 0:14:19Oh, we've got his mug.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21I thought we'd have the old trad.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23Blue and white stripes, I think.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Then we've got a bit of a glow, a bit of shine on the mug.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42So, there's Dad's cuppa.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Of course, all the interest of the story
0:14:49 > 0:14:53and a lot of the story is told, particularly to the non-reader,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55is in the expression on the faces.
0:14:55 > 0:14:56This has got to...
0:14:56 > 0:15:02Their faces have got to express a sort of real contentment
0:15:02 > 0:15:07and happiness that it's all come off right in the end.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16I do lick my brush, I'm sorry to say.
0:15:18 > 0:15:19Bad habit, really.
0:15:24 > 0:15:25OK.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Now, the final thing is to have a very sharp pencil.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35And just crisp up all the detail,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38particularly important on the expression.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Because where I've put a little bit of the paint
0:15:40 > 0:15:43may have covered up a little bit of the expression
0:15:43 > 0:15:45and I have to bring it back up again here.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57This is the finale.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00This is the end piece. So, of course,
0:16:00 > 0:16:02they've achieved what they hoped to achieve.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06The stray cat is now restored to its owner,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09and Alfie's got his dear Chessie back...
0:16:10 > 0:16:12..on his lap,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14so they are very relaxed and pleased with themselves
0:16:14 > 0:16:16that it's all worked out so well.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22So, this is a lovely moment where, like at the end of the film,
0:16:22 > 0:16:23you leave the happy ending.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31OK, that is the last...
0:16:31 > 0:16:32There he is.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34There is...
0:16:34 > 0:16:36There it is. Finished.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40There we are.
0:16:40 > 0:16:41Last brushstroke.
0:16:45 > 0:16:46And there they are,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48happy at the end.
0:16:48 > 0:16:49Happy ending.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53And for me, the end of about nine months' work.
0:16:55 > 0:16:56Good.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15So, my hat on.
0:17:15 > 0:17:16I always wear a hat.
0:17:17 > 0:17:18They say...
0:17:19 > 0:17:21..if you want to get ahead...
0:17:22 > 0:17:23..get a hat.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33I think I'll go down the market now.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41I've never held down a regular job.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44SHE LAUGHS I can't write an office job.
0:17:44 > 0:17:50I can't write a sort of Mad Men-type story, can I, really?
0:17:50 > 0:17:51As much as I might want to.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56I just write family stories because that's what I know about.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05It's a marvellous day.
0:18:05 > 0:18:06Perfect weather today.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13I mean, I walk about a lot and I wander around in the afternoons
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and sometimes ideas come to me.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20MUSIC: All That Meat And No Potatoes by Fats Waller
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Hello, there. Here I am again.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38- So, we have this one...- This one's all right, yeah, I'll have this one.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41- Yeah?- That's great, yeah. OK, wonderful.
0:18:41 > 0:18:42Thank you very much.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03In earlier times, I used to go to Italy a lot with John,
0:19:03 > 0:19:05with my husband. He was an architect.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07He did a lot of architectural drawing
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and he was a very good photographer. I can't use a camera.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15So, I was always sitting around, just drawing the people.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20I just have done a lot of life drawing,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23a tremendous amount of observation.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25I don't take photographs.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28I do look very hard at people
0:19:28 > 0:19:30and I've done a lot of sketching.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57These books are for what you call, I think they call, emergent readers.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59It's like the moment when you...
0:19:59 > 0:20:02you've enjoyed picture books
0:20:02 > 0:20:06and you start to move on to something
0:20:06 > 0:20:08which you read to yourself.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14- Hello, darling. - Hello, how are you?
0:20:14 > 0:20:16- I'm fine.- Good, good. - Come in, come in.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18The sun is shining.
0:20:18 > 0:20:19Clara, my daughter.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23We together got this idea about the Dixie O'Day stories
0:20:23 > 0:20:25and I knew from the start
0:20:25 > 0:20:29that I was completely unable to illustrate these myself.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32I can't do cars and all that stuff.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34I haven't got the right comic feel.
0:20:34 > 0:20:40You need to go through the proofs and check with one last eagle-eye...
0:20:40 > 0:20:42- Yes.- ..before they get sent off to the printers.- Yes,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46- because they're going to go off soon, aren't they?- They're going to go off, so we'll do that.- Yes.
0:20:51 > 0:20:52This is the new one.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55- Yes.- I really do like the way you've done the bike.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59- Thank you very much. - It was a bit of a masterstroke. - They're really hard to draw.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02- The spokes, the pedals, the whole thing.- A nightmare.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04- That's why I... - It's very challenging.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07But it's a specially adapted bicycle.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10- Yes.- For Percy's little legs. - Yes, it's good, isn't it?
0:21:10 > 0:21:11This is all looking fine.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Yeah, it's looking...
0:21:13 > 0:21:15That, I love that.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17As it's a summer book, he's in his warm tweeds.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Yeah, and he's got his tweeds on!
0:21:19 > 0:21:23They've got good helmets which allow for the ears to come through.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26That was the big question we asked ourselves, wasn't it?
0:21:26 > 0:21:28Ears out or ears in the bicycle helmets?
0:21:28 > 0:21:32- And I'm glad we opted for out. - I do, because the ears are rather expressive.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38- They're good. Dixie's ears streaming back, Percy's ears perkily out. - SHIRLEY LAUGHS
0:21:38 > 0:21:40I think the next one really
0:21:40 > 0:21:43is going to be Dixie O'Day On The Move.
0:21:43 > 0:21:51- On The Move.- Yes.- That's fantastic. - He thinks he wants to go and live in this new place and leave his home
0:21:51 > 0:21:54- and start up there in a beautiful house.- Mmm.
0:21:54 > 0:21:55What was it called?
0:21:55 > 0:21:57- We called it...- Windy Ridge.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59- It's very remote.- Yes.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02There's a lot of going away
0:22:02 > 0:22:04and finding you don't want to be where you are and coming home again
0:22:04 > 0:22:09- in these stories, isn't there? - Yes, I'm afraid that's rather my childhood experience.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11I didn't like going away from home much.
0:22:11 > 0:22:12Neither did you.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14No, neither did I.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17I always remember when you were little, fetching you from places.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19- Yes.- Where was it you had to go to?
0:22:21 > 0:22:25- Oh, the horrid residential music camp.- Residential music camp. THEY SIGH
0:22:27 > 0:22:30- Right, let's get some lunch. - Lunchtime.- Lunchtime.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32I think we need something to eat, don't you?
0:22:32 > 0:22:35So, this is very smelly cheese, is that all right?
0:22:35 > 0:22:37No, it smells good.
0:22:37 > 0:22:38- Lovely.- Yeah.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42She was the one that always knew she wanted to be an artist, you know.
0:22:42 > 0:22:43I used to...
0:22:43 > 0:22:44I didn't teach her.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47I didn't teach her anything. She used to watch what I was doing.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49But one thing I did do was,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53when I had the paints left in my palette at the end of the day,
0:22:53 > 0:22:56I used to leave them there for her.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58And she used to come and use my brushes
0:22:58 > 0:23:00and she did her own painting.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02It was rather like scraping the icing round the bowl
0:23:02 > 0:23:04when you've made a cake, you know.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06You give it to your kid to scrape the bowl.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10She was using up my paints.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14I don't know whether you deliberately or accidentally
0:23:14 > 0:23:19put us into your books when we were young.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21- Put our faces into your pictures. - No. No.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25- You didn't put our stories into your stories?- No, no.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29I didn't particularly want them to be you or Ed or Tom. Mmm.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33- But when I look at Annie Rose... - SHIRLEY LAUGHS
0:23:33 > 0:23:38- ..with her round face and her reddish brown curls...- Yes.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40..I'm sorry, I've got to challenge you
0:23:40 > 0:23:42because I just think...
0:23:42 > 0:23:44I just see myself in that little face.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46I do. I just...
0:23:46 > 0:23:48- I just do.- Yes.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51Alfie is very patient with Annie Rose, really,
0:23:51 > 0:23:53- cos she can be a bit of a pain.- Mmm.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57So, I'll see you at the weekend.
0:23:57 > 0:23:58- Saturday or Sunday?- Yes.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01People always ask me, are the children in your stories...?
0:24:01 > 0:24:04Is Alfie one of your own children at that age?
0:24:04 > 0:24:07And I say, the answer to that is absolutely not.
0:24:07 > 0:24:08He's not.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12He's a pure figment of my imagination.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Right.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Well, I'm just going out in the garden.
0:24:41 > 0:24:42I've got my sketchbook.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46And I'm going to see what's happening out here.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58Drawing is terribly important.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03I mean, the memory of the real sketchbook work I do all the time...
0:25:04 > 0:25:08..feeds into the work that I do when I'm trying to imagine
0:25:08 > 0:25:11what Alfie's looked like when he's running...
0:25:11 > 0:25:15very excited, or standing where he's looking rather unsure of himself.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17You know, all that is...
0:25:17 > 0:25:19That comes from observation.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21So, I sit around with a sketchbook...
0:25:22 > 0:25:25..and draw real children.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27The emotion comes from observation of people.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31You go out into the park
0:25:31 > 0:25:35and there are all these children playing, you know.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38They are actually... Their gestures, it isn't just their face,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41it's the way they crouch, all crouched down together
0:25:41 > 0:25:44when they're looking at something very intently
0:25:44 > 0:25:48and then they all jump up and run off like a flock of starlings,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52you know. Or the way they stand when they're rather unsure of themselves,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56and somebody's playing and leaving them out, you know
0:25:56 > 0:25:58and this kind of thing. And all those gestures.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01The way their feet go when they're a bit nervous, you know,
0:26:01 > 0:26:03and then when they're wildly joyous
0:26:03 > 0:26:06and they're flinging themselves into the air.
0:26:06 > 0:26:07It's lovely.
0:26:11 > 0:26:12Can I see your writing?
0:26:12 > 0:26:14- Yeah.- That's good.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Yes. Do you like it?
0:26:16 > 0:26:18I'm drawing Thomas. He's been very patient.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Do you want to go and stand in the picture?
0:26:22 > 0:26:23We've got two now.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26In olden days, you know, if you've ever been in an art gallery,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29you see these little princes and princesses
0:26:29 > 0:26:32in terribly posh clothes and they stood there for hours and hours.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Without moving for hours.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38SHE CHUCKLES
0:26:47 > 0:26:49I think it's done now.
0:26:49 > 0:26:50- Can I see?- You can.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53Do you want to come round and have a look?
0:26:53 > 0:26:56So, when I'm next drawing a book in a story in a book,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58I won't have any models at all.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00But I will look through my sketchbook
0:27:00 > 0:27:03and I'll see this picture of you and I'll see the way you're standing,
0:27:03 > 0:27:05and, you know, I might just work it in somewhere.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08- So, that's how I do it.- OK. - That's what illustrating is about.
0:27:08 > 0:27:13- So, like, you get your ideas from your sketchbook? - Yes, that's absolutely it.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15- Thanks so much, boys.- Bye.- Bye.
0:27:18 > 0:27:19Crikey.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27I can't imagine a life without drawing.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30And you're touching wood when you get old like me.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Your sight... My sight's OK.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34Yeah.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46I think there's another Alfie book on the way.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Yes.
0:27:48 > 0:27:49I keep thinking maybe I'll come to the end,
0:27:49 > 0:27:51maybe I won't be able to think of one,
0:27:51 > 0:27:53but I think there is an idea at the back of my mind.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56But I'm not talking about it the moment. SHE LAUGHS
0:27:59 > 0:28:02If my imagination dried up, then I'd have to retire, wouldn't I?
0:28:03 > 0:28:04But it hasn't yet.
0:28:06 > 0:28:07I'm glad to say.
0:28:09 > 0:28:10Fingers crossed.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15MUSIC: My Very Good Friend The Milkman by Fats Waller