The Highland Cowgirl is Published!

The newest book I’ve illustrated, is out in the world, here’s a peek at some of the pages …..

Louisa MacDougall , author of The Highland Cowgirl, and I ‘met’ on twitter thanks to The Searchlight awards competition , to read more about that story, check out my previous post .

The Highland Cowgirl , published by Foggie Toddle Books is , very excitingly, out in the world. It’s a story about a girl called Hanna, who lives in the big city, but dreams of becoming a cowgirl. When her class go on a school trip to the farm, she is very excited, but little does she know that all her Cowgirl practice is about to come in very handy! A story about perseverance and resilience, which was a joy to illustrate.

I thought you might like to see some of the final pages. I like to illustrate using a mixture of gouache, with coloured pencil on top, I find this creates some great textures and colours. Then I tidy it up and add some extra shading using the amazing Procreate.

Here’s the cover. I wanted the main characters to be center stage, and also give a feel of the wild Scottish highlands too.

I decided to make the home scenes in cooler colours, but her dreams to be more vibrant and bright, including the poster of Calamity Jane on the wall in this opening scene. These oranges and yellows also linked well to the highland cows!

The farm is unfortunately not the dreamy experience Hanna expects, to begin with. Here’s the first glimpse of the Highland Cows, which were so fun to draw.

To begin with, the mama cow wasn’t in some of the illustrations, but after the first sketches, Louisa asked for her to be added in. I think it was a great idea, as I liked creating the relationship between her and her baby and how concerned she is. It was also fun to have the contrast of the shorter curlier coat of the calf with those long flowing locks the adult highland cows have.

This little series of drawings really shows Hanna’s determination, and how all that cowgirl practice at home, finally paid off.

I’ll leave you to find out how the rest of the story goes…. You can get a copy of the book from Foggie Toddle Books, or from your favourite local bookshop.

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to never give up on your dreams.

Yeee- Haaa!