Rebecca Ashdown

Rebecca Ashdown

@familyofbeasts.bsky.social

Award winning children's book illustrator & author. Seeks beauty in chaos. Represented by Millie van Grutten at RCW Literary Agency.

697 Followers 62 Following 21 Posts Joined Nov 2024
3 months ago
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I've just updated my Etsy shop with cards for the festive season! ➡️ www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4...
NEW! A Dorset trio featuring views of Colmer's Hill, a Frost Fair scene & a set of 10 semi-abstract Cotswold landscapes featuring places I love.

Do have a browse & share if you have a moment. Thank you!

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8 months ago

Thanks you, Jill!

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8 months ago
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COMPETITION TIME for anyone who's purchased or pre-ordered a copy of The Hug Button! 🎉 @naomijones1.bsky.social To enter:

Email proof of purchase/pre-order of The Hug Button to tradepublicity.uk@oup.com
Use subject line 'The Hug Button Competition' in your email
T&Cs www.instagram.com/p/DLWtdxpuyPh

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9 months ago
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✨🐦 KERFUFFLE BIRD is out this week!!! 🐦✨
Illustrated by Gwen Millward @oxfordchildrens.bsky.social

Huge thanks to Gerry Smith for the FAB Kerfuffle Bird song 🎵 & to @imogencarter.bsky.social @familyofbeasts.bsky.social @marcelafwrites.bsky.social for the reviews 💗💛💚

Available to pre-order now! 😍

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1 year ago

We have some at Oxford Children’s including Thunderboots by @naomijones1.bsky.social and @familyofbeasts.bsky.social (Dyslexia), Cloud Boy by Greg Stobbs (ADHD), Bear-Shaped by Dawn Coulter-Cruttenden (Autism), & How to Bath a Giraffe by Sarah Horne (boy with cochlear implant, incidental to story)

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1 year ago

It was fab! 'I've got an elf called Trixie' was one of my favourite quotes of the day. Like you I was too busy to take many pics! 😁

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1 year ago
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I've got my box of tricks ready for #WorldBookDay to celebrate the WONDER OF BOOKS! Have a great World Book Day everyone @naomijones1.bsky.social @oxfordchildrens.bsky.social

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1 year ago
Dear Mr Stride, can you please help me and other UK children’s book illustrators?

The governing is considering AI policy measures that would make us, as copyright holders, ‘opt out’ if we don’t want tech companies breaching our copyright to train their systems. The big companies then use our own art in competition against us.

The UK ought to be proud of its children’s book tradition. Our artwork is exported all over the world, and by giving it away free, we’re ruining the industry. Children will be poorer: there’ll get dumbed-down, mechanical books that have no real person thinking hard about each aspect of them. 

My colleague Steve Antony described it:
“It’s like allowing someone to break into my house and steal my belongings so that they can research, recycle and resell them, unless I stick a label on each and every one of my belongings that says ‘DO NOT STEAL’, even though the objects are clearly not theirs and clearly within someone else’s house. That house bring my copyright. It’s absolutely ridiculous, makes no sense, completely destroys existing copyright laws and insults every single one of us.” 

Please, could you stand up for us and out copyright? If you could mention our concerns to Feryal Clark, Minister for AI & Digital Governent, and to Chris Bryant, Minister for Creative Industry, Arts & Tourism, I’d greatly appreciate it. 

Warmest wishes, Sarah McIntyre,
Illustrator & Author, Bovey Tracey

A handwritten letter on my illustration work desk to my local MP, Mel Stride, asking him to help UK children's book illustrators keep our copyright during the current AI policy consultation ✍️

@mrsteveantony.bsky.social
@alcs-uk.bsky.social
@societyofauthors.bsky.social
(Typed out in the alt text)

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1 year ago
Covers of Thunderboots, The Last Boy, Feather, and Darkly

Our new blog: https://buff.ly/4hkoCPx
📗 Thunderboots @naomijones1.bsky.social & @familyofbeasts.bsky.social
📘 The Last Boy @evemcdonnell.bsky.social @everywithwords.bsky.social
📙 Feather by Manon Steffan Ros, @fireflypress.bsky.social
📕 Darkly by Marisha Pessl, Walker Books
#ReadingForPleasure

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1 year ago

So excited for this, Naomi! 🤗⭐❤️

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1 year ago
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It was so exciting to spot my new book illustrated by @familyofbeasts.bsky.social in the @the-bookseller.bsky.social Children’s guide.

The Hug Button publishes in July - not long to wait now! @oxfordchildrens.bsky.social

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1 year ago

It was such a pleasure chatting to you both! 🙏🏼

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1 year ago
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Words and Pictures with Rebecca Ashdown Award winning artist, author, tutor and creative soul

It was such a joy talking to my picture book making partner @familyofbeasts.bsky.social about creativity, her inspiration and the teaching work she does.

You can watch the whole chat over at Words and Pictures:

open.substack.com/pub/naomiand...

@oxfordchildrens.bsky.social

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1 year ago
Book launch invitation for All The Ways I Love You by Helen Docherty and Daniela Sosa - 29th Jan, 6 - 8 pm, The Alligator's Mouth, Richmond

Join me and Daniela Sosa on 29th Jan at the wonderful @alligatorsmouth.bsky.social for a celebration of our new book 💗All The Ways I Love You💗 and the chance to buy a signed & dedicated copy for the little ones in your life! 💗

@scholastic.bsky.social #booklaunch #picturebook #love

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1 year ago
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I'm a little bit obsessed with these trees and the way they grow in the winter months. They possess character and life. Potential of what's to come, despite the harsh chop.

#trees #canal #pollard #stroudcanal #stroud #a3 #sketch

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1 year ago
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Sunrise 🧡💙💜

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1 year ago
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It's 3 weeks until ##LibbyandtheEgyptianEscapade illustrated by @beckamoor.bsky.social publishes. Thanks to Helen Peters for this fabulous endorsement
Signed & dedicated copies available exclusively via @rshipbshop.bsky.social
#TheTravellingSchoolMysteries
rocketshipbookshop.co.uk/product/libb...

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1 year ago
A Christmas tree model made out of a variety of green resin shapes and copper wire

Festive greetings fellow travellers 🌲
#merrychristmas #happyholidays #blueskychristmas

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1 year ago

Lovely Lenny, we shall all miss him ⭐

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1 year ago
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Here's to longer days ☀️

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1 year ago
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All stories matter Why we need diverse voices

The schools events I did with @familyofbeasts.bsky.social at Derby Book Festival really made an impact on me.

This is why...

naomijones.substack.com/p/all-storie...

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1 year ago
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I will never, ever get over this.

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1 year ago
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Free picture book mentoring For an underrepresented writer

I'm offering 3 hours of free picture book mentoring for a UK based writer whose voice is underrepresented in children's publishing.

Please help me spread the word by sharing this post.

Full details of how to apply are here:

naomiandjamesjones.substack.com/p/free-pictu...

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1 year ago

Being kept waiting - often for months - for contracts and payments to come through is incredibly stressful, especially when you're supporting a family 😟 I'm sure many other #writers, #illustrators, #artists and #creatives feel the same way. But what can we do about it? #selfemployed #stress

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1 year ago

😂

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1 year ago
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My next #picturebook, All the Ways I Love You ❤️ (beautifully illustrated by Daniela Sosa) is coming out Jan 2025 🎉
We're hoping to hold an evening book launch 📚 🍷
#London people, who'd like to join us? Any #teachers or #librarians? All welcome! 🥰
Thanks for your support & for spreading the word! ❤️

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1 year ago
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1 year ago
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Hello there #kidlitartpostcard day!
I am Children’s Book Illustrator.
This illustration from Let Me Call You Sweetheart written by Mary Lee Donovan and published by @greenwillowbooks
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#kidlit #kidlitart #childrensbooks #writershouse #childrenillustration #childrensbookillustration

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1 year ago
Me with my four picture books published in 2024: Superwolf, The Green-Fingered Witch, Someone Just Like You (paperback edition) and All The Things We Carry

I'm so proud to have had FOUR picture books published in 2024! 📚 🥰 Illustrated by four equally amazing #illustrators: #DavidRoberts, @brizidamagro.bsky.social, @thomasdocherty.bsky.social & @stevenlenton.bsky.social ✨✨✨✨
These would all make great #Christmas #gifts, just saying 😉💖 #picturebooks

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