Castlemaine Book Signing

Come and join me for a signing and possibly even a reading of Alpha Monsters on Saturday 2nd July. Have a day out in the 'Maine!

Alpha Monsters Book layout. Rough first draft to final version

Before I started to produce Alpha Monsters I mocked up the entire thing first, using little thumbnail illustrations. This helps me plan the book ahead of time and rearrange the pages, decide what text goes where and so on. Originally the book was only supposed to be 24 pages long, but (being my first book ever)I forgot to take into account things like Title pages (those extra pages you often see at the start of books) and "Imprint" pages (that's the page that has all the babble about where it was printed and who published and where).

 In the end the book was 32 pages and it ended up being quite different from the first layout I had in mind. The extra pages meant there would be a lot more room to explore the Alpha Monster's world.

Anyway this morning I came across the very first rough layout I made and also the final version where I replace the rough sketches with the final artwork. This is very satisfying thing to do, as you see the book grow before your eyes and it gives you a good sense of where you are in the books production. You'll have to click these for a larger view, but I hope you enjoy seeing the two very different stages of the books life.

So here is the very first version I created. There are a few differences from the final version you'll notice. Obviously the story was cramped into a lot shorter format. Meaning a lot of the Monster spreads were a bit squashed. A couple of these pages ended up being taken out as the didn't really serve the story and it meant more space to draw MONSTERS! Which is really what the whole things is about :)

And this is the final layout and is almost exactly what you will see when you open the book (one page needed a little tweaking to make it right!). As I said, I would drop in each final page into this layout the moment I finished it, and slowly the book would come to life before my eyes.

I hope you enjoy looking at this process, and if you haven't got a hold of the book yet, hopefully it gives you some idea of what to expect :)

Get Ahead Kids Book Review

I found this short but sweet review of the book online. Click the page for full page. Also click here to read what other people are saying about Alpha Monsters :)

Open publication - Free publishing - More communications

Alpha Monsters Promo Video

Alpha Monsters Promotional Video from Chris Kennett on Vimeo.

For a little more info about the book. Check out this video Scholastic Australia and I put together. It's aimed at little ones so don't be put off by the Play School style narration.

I supplied all the little animation bits. I didn't have much time to work on them but I'm pleased with the result for a rush job.

Enjoy :)

Happy Easter from the Alpha Monsters

Its that time of year again everybody. All the Alpha Monsters wish you a very Happy Easter! Om nom nom!

Alpha Monsters Back Cover

All to often the poor old  back cover illustration gets overlooked by the flashy, in you face Front cover. Relegated to an existence of "not being seen quite as much". Sometimes a curious browser (often a parent) will flip it over and read the blurb, giving the back its moment in the sun. But that's about it.

Well today I'm here to set that straight. Here's the BACK!!! (minus the blurb and bar-codey bits)

ABC you later

Alpha Monsters Book Signing Photos

On Saturday (9th April) I had the great pleasure of signing copies of Alpha Monsters for the lovely people of Bendigo. There was always that fear in the back of my mind that no one would show and I would be left sitting awkwardly in the corner, twiddling my thumbs.

Turns out I needn't have worried, as for 3 solid hours I signed, chatted and drew monsters for a constant stream of kids, parents and grandparents all there to support the book. It was a fantastic morning and I would like to thank each and every person that took time out of their day, to wait in line and meet me.

Annoyingly my camera battery was as flat as a tack but thankfully a good friend managed to grab a few snaps on her phone. Thanks Nic :

The free lollypops were a hit. Yes a little bit of bribery doesn't hurt every now and then

The line quickly grows and Dymocks staff are happy at the amount of queue induced browsing

Everyone got their own monster

no signs of slowing down

Another inside display and once again the lollypops keeping the little ones busy

everyone young and old likes the Alpha Monsters :)

Once again thanks to everyone to showed up on the day and of course to Dymocks for doing such a great job at short notice. I had a great time. Would I do it again? Absolutely! Might need a little nap first though.