I didn't illustrate the book, but worked on the digital colouring of the backgrounds. It's a beautifully bound retailing of the classic Aladdin story, and being a huge fan of Philip Pullman, working on the project was a real pleasure and it's out in November. Eeek.

Like every year, this year I asked for a Unicorn for my birthday. But this year, dare I say, I received something equally as good - The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Laura Carlin. As a child it was one of my favourite stories, and this new version is stunning. The illustration sets a lovely sombre tone for such a sad beautiful story. Other things I've loved recently are Ribbit Rabbit by Candice Ryan, illustrated by Mike Lowley, and Foxley's Feast by Owen Davey. Both are lovely fun stories accompanied by fantastic illustration, not that they make me jealous or anything. Grrrrr.

Hmmm...  you need to be passionate and believe in what you're doing. You'll get knock backs, and you need to learn to never take these personally, and that sometimes you're just not right for a particular job. Keep on top of trends but never feel too pressured to change your style. Trends come and go, and as long as your work has your voice, it'll normally find a market. Oh and also network. Twitter, Facebook, websites, etc. All these things are instantly hugely important in marketing yourself even if you have an agent. OR... go back to University and do a real degree like accounting, become rich enough to wear chinos and a cravat and shop in Waitrose.