Design Week has a fascinating article about how creatives use their sketchbooks. I tend to use scraps of paper whenever the urge to doodle or think hits me. I do have sketchbooks but they tend to be where I store these odds and ends. The books do get quite padded by this extra paper. I have a more formal leather pocket sketchbook, but its just a little bit too posh and small to do any really messy

If you live in the UK and you love illustration then you must watch this... BBC Four - Picture Book, Now We Are Six. It has Quentin Blake, Raymond Briggs and many other masters of illustrated children's books. Fantastic viewing, hurry though, its only available for 14 days.

Quentin Blake talks about his life as an illustrator to the BBC. He's currently backing an initiative to encourage young children to keep drawing and not be put off once they become aware of the world of art.

Designing a pop-up book kraken...

This will be no surprise to your average Bond fan, but a new title is about to hit the stores. Michael Gillette, on his blog Pencil Squeezing, shows us his cover work for the release of Fleming's classic books. I've got a couple of old paperbacks knocking around, must dig them out.

Not long ago I got the book Loads More Lies to Tell Small Kids as a present. It's great fun, well drawn, with plenty of great insights into what its like to be a parent. I found myself immediately giving my sons slightly untrue answers to their persistent questions after reading this. They swallowed them up wholesale! The author Andy Riley gets top marks.