SAWHORSE BOOKS: Fall, Mule and Souvenir
Fall
Chris Odgers was born in Cornwall in 1977, where he grew up and still lives. After graduating in illustration from Falmouth College he freelanced before joining an NHS design department. In 2002 he returned to full time illustration and published his first book Fall, the story of a boy who wakes up on Halloween to find a jigsaw-shaped piece missing from his body. Picked up by Atlantic Press Books, who helped publish it, this became a platform to set up his own label Sawhorse Books in 2004. The first release Mule, about two old hillbillies who are caught up in a flood and forced to take refuge on a coffin complete with corpse, was followed in 2007 by Souvenir, the fateful tale of a friendship between a curious scarecrow and a crow. He has also worked with various publishers, newspapers, bands, and on private commissions. He is influenced by traditional illustrators such as Norman Rockwell, Arthur Rackham and Wallace Tripp.
“… this illustrated talk will cover the basic ethos of what I do/the reasoning behind it, the history of Sawhorse Books and it’s publications. Illustration by definition: freelance and self publishing, the process of designing and illustrating a book, the techniques I employ and the collaboration between words and pictures. To the printing process, how a publishing house is set up and marketing the publication, how technology has made this such a viable path to take.”
Chris Odgers (yes really)