Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween folks
I thought I'd share an oldie with you today. Even the Apple Tree Pirates like a bit of Halloween fun

Don't forget you can follow the Apple Tree Pirates on Patreon as well help support them to become a real life childrens book!!

Scary But Exciting

Hi everyone I thought I'd give you all a little update on whats going on here in the pickle jar. 
Crazy times are ahead because I only have a week left at my current job before I leave to become freelance again. I'm sure some of you will think it's a bit of a hair brained idea and why would I give up a perfectly good job, believe me I've been having all these thoughts myself.
So why do it then I hear you ask. Well good question. As you may know I used to do this several years ago but as is always the way life likes to throw stuff in the way which meant I had to stop. As much as I loved my subsequent job however and it was a god job, it wasn't the same. There was always something gnawing at the back of my brain telling me I had unfinished business, projects that needed to be made real. In itself this was enough to make me think about how to start up again but on top of this I had my first major dealings with mental health. Obviously I've been aware of people having mental health issues for a long time and I guess deep down I knew there was something inside me too, but like a lot of people and especially men I buried it down deep and put on the stiff upper lip us Brits are famed for. In hind sight this wasn't such a great idea. 
I realised that anxiety and depression were very real and that my life was causing me to get worse by the day. I was working all the time which caused relationships to break down and limited the amount of time I could spend with my daughter. So after having a little bit of a breakdown my mindset changed. I needed to be in charge of my own destiny, captain of my own ship. This invariably led me to the decision to resurrect the Pickle and do exactly that. I'm not naive by any stretch of the imagination so I realise that these next few months/years are going to be incredibly hard but at least it won't be a Christmas in retail. If you've never experienced it it's hard work believe me. 
So there we go in a nutshell, that's why I'm going freelance again. My plan now is to illustrate like I've never illustrated before, and to blog my journey through this. I'll be blogging about my passion for the artwork I'm producing, the trials and tribulations of going freelance and also how important  mental health is on a day to day basis, and yes it is fine to admit that you have problems, It's the first step to getting yourself better. 

Commissions for Christmas

Hi everyone
It's the build up to Christmas and I'm sure a lot of you are starting to think about pressies to get friends and loved ones. Well if you're looking for something different then you've come to the right place. Check out my Etsy page to see whats available or if you'd prefer something a little different then commissions are available. 

I can do my light up bunnies in pretty much any character as well as the normal ones from the Etsy store. I'm experimenting with some really cool ones at the moment too so watch this space.

There are single page LIA's (Literary Art Invasion) or hand drawn book page art from £10.

Then there are the bigger ones. LIA's in pretty much any size, made from multiple pages spliced together and either framed or on a canvas. Prices dependant on size and complexity. If any of this looks like the right gift for you then drop me a message and we can make a truly unique Christmas present.

It's Nearly Comic Con Time

Well It's come around pretty quickly but Saturday is Nottingham Comic Con and I can't wait!! This is the first con I've done in about 3 years so It'll be good to get stuck back in to it all. 
I've been busy over the last few weeks building up stock and have made what seems like millions of bunnies as well as the LIA's (Literary Art Invasion) which is basically hand drawn book page art.

Bunny Madness

LIA examples

This year I'll be set up on the upper level next to my mate Beano illustrator extraordinaire Steve Beckett which you can see in the map below. So if you're in the area or looking for something cool to do then pop along and say hi, it's going to be a brilliant day.