A last look at James Foley Unmasked

Bidding reserve: Highest Bid So Far: $150

The Jubilant James Foley

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The mask that James’ made

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‘Asteroid B 612′

The mask before James worked his art magic on it.

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James on his mask making.

“When Isobelle told me the theme I immediately went into cartoonist mode. As a kid I loved reading my dad’s collections of political cartoons, and I still love the way that good editorial cartoonists can summarise a complex issue into a succinct visual metaphor. I think in cartoons; painting a cartoon on my mask seemed natural to me.

“I was thinking about how the planet supports us humans, and how we take that for granted. It is literally our life support system. I sketched a little man with a breathing mask plugged into a tree. Developing this idea I sketched the man standing on a miniature planet; this reminded me of the iconic illustrations from The Little Prince. I mucked around with that idea for a bit. I considered showing a dead planet where amongst the tree stumps and barrels of nuclear waste lays the skeleton of the Little Prince; I realised later I was getting a bit too dark and obtuse.

“After trying a few other options I came back to the idea of the tree with the breathing mask attached, but rather than a tube coming straight out of the trunk, I thought a little sealed dome might make more sense. That way I could also show the contrast between the last patch of green and the grey, dead surface.

“The title is, of course, the name of The Little Prince’s home planet.”

– James Foley

About James Foley

James is a children’s author and illustrator. His hilarious book In The Lion was selected for the International Youth Library’s White Raven list in 2013.

The first time I really got to know James was when we were both invited to speak at The Literature Centre in Fremantle. James made me laugh so hard when he read out his Dead Bunny Book- that sounds sick, but you have to read it and see him to understand. Kids love him, and not only kids. The Last Viking won the 2012 Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Crystal Kite Award, the 2012 WA Young Readers’ Hoffman Award, and a 2012 Children’s Book Council of Australia Junior Judges Award. It was shortlisted for a further four awards.

James’ interests include comics, film, psychology, science, history (anything nerdy according to him), as well as yoga and social justice.

Most illustrators will tell you they’ve been drawing for as long as they can remember. James started his career in primary school, drawing cartoons for the school newspaper. In year 7, James won third prize in a State-wide ‘Make Your Own Storybook’ Competition. He later worked on a regular comic strip for his high school paper, political cartoons for a Curtin University paper and a full-page comic for Notre Dame University’s ‘Quasimodo’ magazine.

James began has professional career in 2003, drawing cover cartoons for Western Australia’s weekly Quokka newspaper. By the time he finished in 2010 he’d drawn nearly 300 full-colour cartoons. He has also worked as a freelancer, creating cartoons and illustrations for publications, promotions, events and corporations.

James’ favourite part of the job is presenting workshops at schools and libraries. He is always amazed at the natural enthusiasm children bring to drawing, especially, “…when they draw just for themselves and don’t care if it’s ‘good enough’ or not.” James enjoys working in pen and ink, pencil, charcoal and watercolour. He uses digital tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint and a Wacom graphics tablet.

Teamed with award-winning author, Norman Jorgensen, James illustrated his first picture book, The Last Viking in 2011. It won the 2012 Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ (SCBWI) Crystal Kite Awards – an award where writers and illustrators vote on their favourite title for the past year and it was also nominated for other awards, including being short-listed for 2012 CBCA Picture Book of the year for Early Childhood.

The sequel The Last Viking Returns was published in September 2014, and James’ book In the Lion, which he both wrote and illustrated, was released in August 2012.