Book a FREE Zoom school visit with Paul

virtual authors.com

contact Paul - hot.frog@me.com

Or contact me direct for in-person readings and craft events. See my events page too.

This is where you'll find loads of fun, froggy crafts and exciting activities. 

Christmas promo 2023

This didn't cost as much as the popular Christmas videos on TV, but hope you like it just as much! 

Brand new video added

AMAZING FROG FACTS #1 CAMOUFLAGE

LOOKING at FROG STAGES DEVELOPMENT in my Garden Pond

Maybe you're looking for

  Resources for schools & home schooling  

or

  Videos of Paul reading the book  

Videos on How to Make & How to Draw

  Make and eat your own edible bugs (really!)  

  Or even edible frogspawn!  

  Video trailer for the book  

Read a sample chapter

  Make a forever-folding booklet  

Short video showcasing ALL the resources

Scroll down this page for lots more free stuff. Then when you've done exploring also check out the tab links at the top of this page too. Have fun!

  LATEST NEWS  

Froggy Rescue shortlisted for award

I am so very pleased and proud to share the news that Bug Belly Froggy Rescue has been shortlisted with 3 other amazing titles for this year's Lancashire School Library Service Brilliant Book Awards (BBA). What an honour! And and what excellent titles to be rubbing shoulders and book spines with. Look at these brilliant titles. Good luck everyone and fingers crossed for Bug Belly!

Grid sketching resources sheet added

Draw like a professional illustrator by copying what you see in the bottom picture into the grid squares above. It's a great method to practice drawing. You could even GO LARGE and make a giant copy of the exact same grid, and then make a giant copy of Bug Belly and pals on the lily leaf. 

Frogspawn sightings moving up the country.

MAKE SOME TREE FROGS - SAVE THE FROGS DAY

Let's celebrate our more than 8,400 frogs and toad species by learning about these colourful little tree frogs. I've created these fun FREE frog models for you to download, colour, cut out and assemble. Each frog comes with full instructions plus there's also a video available.

all the details here

•For World Book Day

Why not curl up with a copy of Babysitting Trouble and challenge yourself to Bug Belly i-Spy!? Can you find 30 images that are scattered throughout the book. Some are easy some are really tricky. How many can you find?

Two new free downloads now available.

Bug Belly i-Spy #1           Bug Belly i-Spy #2

•The BIG news is that the second book in the series will be published later this year. BUG BELLY FROGGY RESCUE has all your favourite characters, plus a few different baddies! It's an exciting and dangerous rescue mission. More details coming soon.

  TURKISH PUBLICATION  

Say Merhabe (hello in Turkish) to Koca Göbek. Bug Belly has been published in Turkey and it is quite appropriate. The original idea for Bug Belly came to me in a game I played with my nephew in Bodrum, Turkey. Here's the cover and an inside spread. Doesn't it look great in Turkish!?

All images strictly copyright © Paul Morton

Lots of Bug Belly videos now available

Christmas promo 2023

This didn't cost as much as the popular Christmas videos on TV, but hope you like it just as much! 

Video #16- How Many Drawings for Froggy Rescue?

Video #15- How Can Bug Belly Fly?

Video #14- Bug Belly Froggy Rescue book trailer

Video #13- Paul reading the new Froggy Rescue part 1

Out on July 1st the second adventure in the series. This Bug Belly story tells of the dangerous and daring mission to try and rescue Splodge who has been snatched by Magpie. Will Bug Belly make his most daring and cleverest ever rescue plan to try to bring back poor Splodge?

Video #12- Learn how to draw the BADDIES!

A short video with step by step instructions for changing the expressions of your characters. Make them sad, happy, surprised, angry and finally ... WICKED! With a bonus section on adding textures to your baddies.

Video #11- Make a magical never-ending, forever folding Bug Belly Booklet

An amazingly simple piece of paper folding magic.

First of all watch the video above to learn how to make it.

Then download the printed instructions.

Finally choose one of the FREE BUG BELLY ARTWORK TEMPLATES.

So far there are 2 to choose from.

booklet#1-Bug Belly's kit bag

Kitbag artwork front       Kitbag artwork back

booklet#2 is new. Frog/spawn life cycle

Frogspawn artwork front       Frogspawn artwork back 

printed instructions

Video #10- Make Bug Belly's top ten favourite bug snacks - and then EAT THEM!

Watch the video and then download the recipes in FROGGY GOODIES.

Video #9- Paul explores his own pond to find some real taddies and froglets

Video #7- Great tips for getting good ideas for your stories. Then try Paul's Summer Reading Story Writing Challenge.

Video #1- Paul reading from Bug Belly Babysitting Trouble part 1

Video #2- Paul drawing Splodge and making a frog wobbler

Video #3- Paul reading from Bug Belly Babysitting Trouble part 2

Video #4- Paul reading from Bug Belly Babysitting Trouble part 3

Video #5- Drawing Splash, painting water and making a Splash wobbler

Video #6- Paul reading from Bug Belly Babysitting Trouble part 4

Video #8- How to draw Bug Belly

MAKE BUG BELLY'S FAVOURITE BUG SNACKS 

AND THEN EAT THEM!!

If you've read right to the very last page of Bug Belly Babysitting Trouble you will know that Bug Belly has some particular favourite bug snacks. Lava Pops and Worm Whirls are just two for example.

How would you like to make some of Bug Belly's favourite bug snacks?.. and then EAT THEM?? You can if you follow these delumptious edible bug recipes. The first three are available for downloading now, Worm Whirls, Chrysalis Candies and brand new FLY FUDGE! and all the rest to follow later.

WORM WHIRLS RECIPE

CHRYSALIS CANDY PART 1

CHRYSALIS CANDY PART 2

FLY FUDGE PART 1

FLY FUDGE PART 2

.

THE MAKING OF A BUG BELLY ILLUSTRATION

For Babysitting Trouble I produced well over 1000 drawings. From the rough early thumbnail sketches, numerous progressive sketches to the final artwork (on each of the 96 pages). These following images show how a typical illustration was created, from sketchbook to final printed page.

Any story that I'm working on starts in my sketchbook, well actually, appears in my mind first of all, and then I put it down into my sketchbook. I see my sketchbook as my 'extra memory', like Dumbledore's pensive. Repositories for storing lots of extra ideas and images.

When the text is completed it's chopped into page spreads by my editor and book designer. They are looking for pace and page turning drama. I already know by now roughly what image I'm planning for each spread. So I can refine the sketch over and over until I feel I've captured the spirit of the story incident and the liveliness and accuracy of the characters. I'm not looking to mirror what is said in the text, but to add to and expand upon the words.

These sketches get pasted into a mocked up full 'finished' dummy book and are submitted to get approval from editorial and publisher.

 Then it's time to buckle down to the artwork. I love working in these rich black Polychromos pencils. The only downside is that if I make a mark I'm not happy with it can't easily be erased. So I redraw the scene over again. That, or digitally erase those bits after scanning the image into Photoshop.

 And it's in Photoshop, or ProCreate, that I digitally paint in the extra textures over my pencil work. I've created custom brushes that enhance the natural pencil marks. 

 These early reader books are printed in black with one extra colour. This is also added digitally and then pre-print separated before handing over to my book designer for getting print ready.