How Poppy and Quinn began...

When I first decided to write 'This Way Up' I knew there were to be two characters, a boy and a girl. It seemed natural for this to be, maybe because I used to play with my two cousins, Carley and Andy. Poppy was to be the oldest, like my cousin Carley, then Quinn the younger would be like my cousin Andy.

After this was decided, I visited a local Primary school and sketched the children there, to see what characteristics made them look 'young'.

Pig-tails for the girls hair, and a floppy fringe seemed favourite for Poppy, as when the little girls with pigtails ran, they flew behind them like floppy ears, almost with a character of their own.

Quinn, like the boys I was drawing would also have floppy hair, whisping around his face.

Both characters too, would have large heads.

All the children at the school seemed to have large heads. It also helped make the character look younger.

Next I made basic models of the characters from wire and modelling clay, so that they became more 'real'. I could also play about with angles and lighting with the 'real' characters in front of me.

After this I started sketching the characters with biro pen onto cardboard. Originally, the characters would stay in back and white in 'reality' in the story, and turn into colour, in their 'imagination'.

During adjustments with the publishers, we decided to make Poppy and Quinn colour throughout the book, to keep a bright fun feel to the story from start to finish, which I think works well.

We also decided to use pencil for sketching, rather than biro ink, to keep a 'softer' organic feel to the artwork. Construction lines were lost, and a friendlier, curvier face developed for Poppy and Quinn, with more expression in the eyes and colour in the cheeks.

And this is the Poppy and Quinn you see today! I hop[e you like them as much as I have enjoyed creating them.

You can check out their very latest adventures on www.poppyandquinn.com