JACK & THE ALIENS

In 2000 or 2001 I had the good fortune to meet a well-respected fellow, Kerry, who just happened to have good connections within the publishing industry through his position as proof-reader, book reviewer, and book judge, etc etc. I met him through a mutual friend. It was at a time when I didn't know what on earth I was doing, and had not the slightest clue about getting my foot in the door with publishing. I didn't even know if book illustration was what I wanted to do. Nonetheless, I was in the process of doing up my art portfolio, when a friend of mine mentioned Kerry. I decided to send him a copy of my portfolio, which at the time was just a mess of paintings and crazy sketchbook crap I'd accumulated over the previous 5 years, and my one published book, THE SHIKKER COLA COWS. Before long I received a phone call from Kerry, and I was thrilled and encouraged to hear his enthusiasm about my work. Consequently, he put me in touch with and the editor at Lothian Books, and author Mark Svendsen...

Kerry also advocated an emerging new publishing company in Brisbane, Word Weavers Press, which was dedicated to creating books aimed predominantly toward young boys with their 'Quick Reads' series. He put me in touch with the two friendly ladies who ran the show. They seemed to like my work, so they sent me a text "THE LITTLE TIN GOD", later renamed JACK AND THE ALIENS, written by science-fiction author Damien Broderick.

This was the last book I did in biro. Again, there was problems with reproduction. I'm not going to delve into the science of it all again, but this time around it was my own fault. I should have employed a bolder use of line for such a book, ie. cheap paperback, but I got it right for the sequel. It still looked adequate though.

If I remember correctly, the aliens from this story were loosely described as having spots and 5 legs, and drooling "snouts", not much else. So I was free to imagine them how I pleased. I had a few carnivorous plants sitting on my window sill at the time, including Pitcher Plants, so I thought these in particular would be a great starting point on which to base my designs...

These aliens also remind me of those "YEP, YEP, YEP YEP YEP YEPYEPYEPYEP..." martian puppets from Seasame Street, which were my favourite.

As for the rest of the designs, costumes, etc,  I can never go far past 50s film and pulp sci-fi as inspiration...

These books are now out of print. I have a very very limited supply of JACK AND THE ALIENS and JACK AND THE SKYHOOK, if you want a copy let me know (whackthechook@internode.on.net).

Other books by Damien Broderick:
 Outside the Gates of Science: Why It's Time for the Paranormal to Come in from the Cold