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A while ago I was contacted by Kate Bush to provide some visuals for an idea she had beautifully storyboarded, an animated video to accompany her song ‘Snowflake’. Difficult to convey how surreal and exciting that moment was, pure happiness crystallised. Like many others I have grown up in a world interwoven with her creative output, to say she is an inspiration for millions is an understatement. You cannot exist in the arts without feeling the pull of her influence, like a bright star in the sky that so many of us navigate by. Even more wonderful was discovering just how friendly, compassionate and beautiful a person she is. I was in a really bad place when she contacted me, and she lifted me out. My only regret is that I was so rusty, and really struggled to draw. I really wanted to give my best.

Anyway, I provided some concept pieces to help give a bit of atmosphere and character to the project. The really hard work was done by Kate and the animators at Inkubus, a mountain of work in fact.

It was a huge privilege to be involved with this. Please watch the film and read about Kate’s project on her website https://www.katebush.com/news_article/meet-little-shrew/

Also please take the time to donate to the charity, even if it’s just the price of a coffee, anything in fact will be gratefully received: https://www.warchild.org.uk As you read this children are being unnecessarily killed, maimed and orphaned in conflicts across the globe.

Thank you again Kate, and thanks for taking the time to read this everyone. Jim Kay

(All rights to visuals owned by Kate Bush)

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I’ll be honest, life since leaving Harry Potter has been extremely difficult. I’m in the very privileged position of never having to work again, but I didn’t realise just how bad my health was until I pulled out of the series. I tend to work to avoid problems, and for 10 years I worked insanely hard, pretty much seven days a week to the neglect of everything around me. Since then I’ve hardly drawn in three years (the exception being work for Kate Bush). I really want to get going again, and so started looking at my own children’s stories that I’ve been mulling over for years. Ultimately I just want to produce something I’m actually happy with, even if nobody ever sees it! The story I really want to execute is set half in the east, half in the west. I wanted to travel to somewhere east that was completely alien to what I’m used to, and so for inspiration and research I went on my own to Hong Kong.

I’ve never been to a city that has felt so ‘alive’, just an incredible vibrancy to it, and the colour there is phenomenal. I took thousands of photographs for reference material.

The temples are truly beautiful, the sense of timeless tranquility a stark contrast to the chaotic modern traffic outside.

I walked for around 7 hours a day photographing everything I could. The ‘wet markets’ are both gorgeous and tragic at the same time. I saw so many species of fish and crustaceans, the majority still alive, some suffering terribly. I found some of the scenes a bit upsetting, I saw several threatened species for sale, some food being prepared while still alive. I realise however there’s hypocrisy in my thinking, as the greatest threat to any species is climate change, to which I added by flying to Hong Kong. I agonise over this a lot, I so rarely fly (I did my tour of Germany by train), but I’m guilty of exacerbating the problem. You do get the sense of life and death in this city, an ever shifting balancing act.

The colour in Hong Kong is exceptional. The light is perfect, and everything from the advertising and produce to the buildings and the people sings with beautiful tones. It’s without a doubt the most colourful and busy city I have visited, and the people are exceptionally friendly. I can recommend it to any lone traveller, it is both welcoming and safe. I think it was the best money I’ve ever spent as I am itching to get drawing again now. I’m always going to have to battle with depression while working, but for one blissful week in Hong Kong I seemed to escape my own thoughts. I will post images of my progress when I have things to show.

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It’s been a long time coming, but Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is finally out. I could never have completed the book without the help of the fantastic illustrator Neil Packer. An extra special thank you to him and to Bloomsbury for getting this book finished when times were very hard. Sadly, my mental health has been problematic over the last few years, and I’ve had to step away from Harry Potter in order to take a break and fix things. I’ll still carry on with my own work and the odd commission, but with regards to Potter I leave the final two books in the safe hands of Bloomsbury and a new illustrator. It’s crushingly disappointing to say the least, but it is what it is. Meanwhile, thank you for all your support over the years, it means a great deal. See you all soon I hope. Jim Kay

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This is Dottie, wearing a jumper Louise knitted. Just a quick post to wish everyone a happy Easter. On that theme our garden is full of baby rabbits, which is both very cute and extremely frustrating – watching them eat everything I’ve spent months growing :). Hope you are all staying safe and healthy.

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I know – it’s super late coming out. It looks like it might emerge in 2022 now. As I’m writing this the owl is hooting outside, it’s deep midwinter and the ground is locked in ice. I’m currently working flat out trying to get this finished. It’s a whopping book, and the scale of it will probably limit the number of illustrations that can appear. The text, as I understand it, will be very slightly reduced in size, but there’s no way of avoiding the fact this will be a heavy book. One of the problems is that there’s SO MUCH I wasn’t to illustrate in this book, I’m spoilt for choice, but it’s great that this is a slightly darker book, and the children are getting older. This is getting more into my comfort zone now. I really struggled with the first two books.

It’s strange that when I started illustrating Phoenix I was living 160 miles away in Northamptonshire, and the world had never heard of Covid19. I’ve received messages from a number of illustrators and particularly illustration students that are struggling right now with the isolation. I really feel for those in education as this is not the way you imagine spending your college/university life. One of the most frequently asked questions from students is ‘how do you get motivated to work?’. All I can say is that for myself, I had to go back to what made me want to draw, what made me itching to get down to scribbling ideas. It was seeing people actually in the act of creating something I found inspiring. As a student working in a studio with others – that was easy, but once I was freelance and sat on my own at home, I turned to various ‘making of’ books, blogs, and DVD extras. It’s the closest I can get in lockdown to that ‘studio’ feel, watching people muddle through the creative process. The internet has proven really helpful for this too. I’m desperately trying to improve my skills all the time, there’s so much to learn. I still haven’t a clue how to go about using watercolour or apply colour theory, but i’m trying to learn during this weird period of lockdown

Publishing has, in general, been ticking along ok during the pandemic, and people have found escape through reading, which is one positive we can cling to. Meanwhile I will do my best to get this book wrapped up, and I am very grateful for your patience, and for the patience of the publisher Bloomsbury, who always support me when I have a wobble. J

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We have been in East Sussex for a little while now, and I’m in love with the place. We are trying to make the garden more biodiverse, and have added two large ponds in the last 17 months. We have already seen regular visits to the ponds from grass snakes, and there is a very healthy population of dragonfly larvae in the water. We have created large compost heaps (We discovered over 70 hatched grass-snake eggs in one!) and a wildflower meadow. Slow worms regularly turn up while we garden here. I’ve planted just over 250 native trees for hedgerow. The next aim is to get as many food plants for moth and butterfly larvae in place, and a sandy area for ground nesting bees and wasps. It’s going to look a mess for a while, but now we have fully restored the house we can concentrate more on the outside. I think it will take five years to get the gardens roughly into shape.

The garden is everything to us, it informs our work, and supplies endless reference material for Harry Potter. During lockdown it’s been the one thing that made me think positively about the future. With a garden you have to think between one and ten years ahead, and with bipolar disorder this is a big deal, because usually it’s about just trying to make it though the day. It’s the only time I can truly ‘plan’ when I’m in the garden. J.

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A while ago we travelled around Argentina, and in particular, Patagonia, which is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary places on earth. The light and the colours are not like anything I’ve experienced before, and the blues in particular, are exceptional. I have never had a journey like it, and we want to thank Clive, David and Tim for being such wonderful friends and company. The people of Argentina are extremely welcoming and kind, and effortlessly cool too. Here’s just a few pictures from our travels. Jx

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So this is the new studio Louise and I work in (Louise is camera shy by the way……blimey look at my hair), which gives us a bit more space, and it’s separate from the house – so no more messy kitchen. I’ve already started on the Order of the Phoenix, but we have lost around 6 months to all the problems with moving and fixing up a new place, and Louise is tied up with renovations for the next couple of months. As soon as I’m back after the promo tour, I will really have to get cracking.

So I’ll be talking about illustrating the Goblet of Fire and signing books at various events in the UK in October. For full details go to the link here

Looking forward to seeing you!

Check out Creepy Scrawlers on Instagram too for pictures and stuff

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Louise and Jim have relocated to the South Coast of England, just outside Rye in East Sussex. We have been bowled over by the wildlife here already, we have badgers, foxes, rabbits, stoats, even ravens passing through our garden. Gardening is a key part of our work, as it informs Louise’s millinery, and Jim’s illustrations. Our aim over the next five years is to create a garden that offers diverse habitats for invertebrates, amphibians and birds, and record what we find.

We will keep you updated on our progress. Been a very busy few months.

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The charity Booktrust have asked 26 illustrators to draw/paint/scribble something on a postcard to raise money for their ongoing work to help children develop their love of reading all across the UK. Here is my effort! If you’d like to see the wonderful works by illustrators such as Levi Pinfold and Alex T. Smith, or indeed if you’d like to bid on these works of art then click here after 6pm today. It’s for a good cause!

I also painted on the reverse of my postcard, just in case you wanted to send it to someone, I even painted a stamp for you.