OK. Those of you that follow me on Twitter and Facebook may already know about this project that I have been quietly working on over the past few months - Toe Fluff. Toe Fluff is a children's picture book that I have been working on, and now I am at the stage whereby I am sending my first manuscript to a publisher for consideration. I know how tough it can be to break into the world of picture books, but this is ultimately one of my goals. Many of my illustrations derive from my own story ideas and imaginary worlds. Toe Fluff is no exception. The Toe Fluff come from a world that consists of everything foot orientated. It's a fun look at how you can make an entire imaginary world out of something so small, hidden in your feet. In my story you will lose yourself in a world of socks, shoes, feet and Toe Fluff. Here are a couple of snippets from the story: Tucked away in ten smelly toes are eight bits of Toe Fluff, so cover your nose! The Toe Fluff Wise Wizard lives in an old boot, along with his fluffy big owl called Hoot. He spends every day searching for spells to make the worlds most horrible smells! The Brave Toe Fluff Knight from long, long ago saved Princess Sock from Evil Lord Toe. A statue of him made out of cheese blocks stands proud in The Kingdom of Socks. And here are some of the illustrations: And the amazing Felt Mistress turned one of the Toe Fluff characters into a plush toy, as you can see at the top of this blog post. So Toe Fluff is one of many story book ideas! Once I have sent off my first manuscript for consideration, I will start on my next book idea - based on a character I recently exhibited at the Cardboard Shelter expo. PS. I still find it totally amazing that my town, little old Swindon, has been officially twinned with Disney Land!

As a Swindon artist that is crazy about character designs, I am real excited about this news! I love Disney and Disney Land. As a kid I was really inspired by Walt Disney! Who would have thought that my home town, Swindon, would be the first town in the WORLD to be twinned with Disney Land! This is all thanks to mortgage adviser, Rebecca Warren! Rebecca was named as the winner of a national competition to compete for the official status of being twinned with the world's most famous theme park! This means that good 'ole Swindon will soon get new signs stating that we are now twinned with Disney Land. This also means that Swindon will now be featured in the United Kingdom Pavilion at the World Showcase at the Epcot theme park for the whole of next year! Well done Rebecca, and well done Swindon! As stated in our local paper, the Swindon Advertiser, "The Walt Disney Community Relations team will also embark on a community outreach programme with Swindon Borough Council officials, following the official twinning in January." Read the full story here at the BBC. I suddenly feel inspired to draw a picture of Mickey Mouse being introduced to all of my character designs, but instead here is a sneak peek at a picture book that I have been working on, which I have sent away to a publisher for consideration. The amazing Felt Mistress turned one of these in to a plush toy (below).

And just because it's too cute not to mention, check out this uber cute egg Felt Mistress made Jon Burgerman for Christmas HERE. And I also want to thank everyone for your characters that you have e-mailed over for ILikeCharacters.com. As you can see they are all appearing on the site! I have a load more to publish later this month and in January. Great characters! Keep 'em coming. I will also soon be featuring a cute little creation by the founder of Gleepark. OK that's a wrap. I am off to go work on next week's Bruno and Qunicy strip for Swindon's Frequency Magazine. Yay for Swindon and Disney twinning!!! Here is Rebecca Warren's video that won us the twinning.

HI.

I figured I would video myself for my bio rather than write it all out (for my main art site - www.steverack.com). It took a few takes to get it right because my cats kept making weird noises in the background! The big cat, Merlin, is loud when he uses the litter tray! Anyway...

Check out the video here on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywOlt1UzztU&feature=player_embedded

Cheers. :D

Introducing the Silly Squares! The Silly Squares were made especially for the Lielow & Sketch art collective's ‘Square Route’ exhibition (details on the flyer at the bottom of this page). I figured I would have some fun with this. Creating the Silly Squares reminded me of my trading card collecting days as a child, and I wanted to dedicate a site to the Silly Squares, so I created a blog: www.SillySquares.com, where the characters appear(ed) daily for the duration of the above mentioned exhibition.

All together, 32 Silly Squares were initially created for the exhibition, but due to popular demand, I am creating personalised Silly Squares (for a limited time only) for £10.00 each. So, now you can base a Silly Square on yourself, a friend, a family member or even an imaginary friend. If you would like to request a Silly Square, please visit this page.

Here are just some of the Silly Squares.




There are 32 all together. They each have a name visit www.steverack.com or www.sillysquares.com :D

ABC sung by Alphabot

Music by Playsoundz

Video & Art by me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUNhVsObBQ&feature=player_embedded

:D

Can you find your way through the maze?



www.steverack.com/shop/tees

Hi fellow myspacers!

My online shop is now open over at:

http://www.steverack.com/shop

Lucky badges - Limited Prints - Tees - Original Art - Zines


:D

http://www.steverack.com/home

2 more days until my shop opens! www.steverack.com



Here is a really cool vid that Banshee TV surprised me with!!

3 more days!

http://www.steverack.com/shop

4 more days until you can get your mitts on some of my artwork - something that has not been available online in a shop until now.

October 1st is the grand opening:

http://www.steverack.com/shop

Check out this video that Banshee TV kindly put together in celebration:

Thanks Banshee TV!

Just a sneak peek as to what to expect in my online store, which opens on the 1st Oct.

http://www.steverack.com/shop