Needle Felt Dog Illustrations | Creating 3-Dimensional Children’s Book Art

“Schnüffeln, bellen, Pipi machen, lauter tolle Hundesachen”, published by Penguin Junior on November 6, 2024, is a German-language children’s book written by Regina Schwarz which—being all about dogs—I was absolutely thrilled to illustrate! It was hard work, with so many different breeds to bring to life, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process and picked up new skills along the way.

Schnüffeln, bellen, Pipi machen, lauter tolle Hundesachen, Spread 2-3

The biggest challenge was space. Working from my tiny London living room meant I couldn’t step back far enough to capture a wide perspective with my camera. In the end, I had to stitch together photos in photoshop for the double-page spreads—an unexpected lesson in problem-solving. That’s London living for you!

Schnüffeln, bellen, Pipi machen, lauter tolle Hundesachen, Page 5

Schnüffeln, bellen, Pipi machen, lauter tolle Hundesachen, Page 12

I also had to get inventive with the scenery, building houses from cardboard, laying down faux fur fabric for grass, and adding touches of papier-mâché here and there. The mix of textures, carefully crafted details, and the soft glow of specialty lights created visuals that feel playful and unique.

Schnüffeln, bellen, Pipi machen, lauter tolle Hundesachen, Page 13

Want to join the adventures of these playful pups? You can order your copy of Schnüffeln, bellen, Pipi machen, lauter tolle Hundesachen from Penguin Junior here.

Illustrating Dieses Buch ist LEER | Needle Felting Picture Book Art

I loved illustrating Dieses Buch ist LEER (This Book is EMPTY) by Daniel Fehr, published on October 26, 2022, by Penguin Junior. It is available in German.

The premise involves twelve hamsters hiding in what initially appears to be an empty book. However, it soon becomes clear that there is something else lurking within its pages.

Initially, I planned to make puppets that could be posed differently for each scene, but ultimately, every hamster body was newly crafted, reusing the heads to preserve character likeness. This approach enhanced the storytelling by allowing for unique poses and gestures that would not have been possible with puppets.

What I enjoyed most about this brief was the opportunity to create my own narrative alongside the authors, with the hamsters doing their own thing, oblivious to the text. As a result, the book features many noisy, playful hamsters drawing attention to themselves. I won’t reveal who they are hiding from inside the book—that’s for you to discover by reading it!

If you’d like to buy Dieses Buch ist LEER, you can find it here.

New York Times Feature

Look closely enough and you’ll see one of my bears has photobombed this gorgeous picture! Seriously though, what a pleasure it was to be part of The New York Times T: Style Magazine’s feature on felted animals. It’s exciting to see needle felting getting mainstream publicity as more than a craft but a valid art form!

Asian Black Bear by @umeumezoozoo, Fox & Mouse by @thegentlemanfelter and @sprawlingpuppy, Raven by @neddism, Birds, Tiger, Stag, Peacock and Japanese Monkey by @kiyoshiminofelt, Black Bear On Wheels by @lindseythomasmakes, Pigs by @pipingploverlove and Tortoise, Meercats and Octopus by @yvonnesworkshopfelts

Needle Felted Giraffe

Colossal asked me to time-lapse my next make for their Instagram story, something I’ve been meaning to do for a while but put off due to the fact that sitting at a desk for the entire process (several long days for this chap, bleedin’ spots!) is far from my usual modus operandi! Normally I flit from room to room trailing more fluff than my cat Jarvis in full-on moult mode. Anyway, I made it through and only faultered at the final hurdle when it came to fixing the giraffe to the tricycle and sewing him a neck ruff. Enjoy!

Needle Felted Animals On Tricycles

Barry the bear, Ping the panda and George the gorilla with his reluctant sidekick Ginger the cat; the first of the trikermals (animals on tricycles).

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Funny Little Cats

When I started needle felting the first thing I made were animals of the feline variety. This was naturally because I am cat obsessed, like a lot of us are, and I wanted to capture in wool a particular character they have which you might recognise!

I know, I know, but as a CATerpillar he insisted he has every right to be here, so who are we to argue?