James McLean, Illustrator

I wish I could be one of those people who can regale dear readers with rich, vivid, memories of yesteryear. Such storytelling skills would be handy in recounting the tale of Quarry Grove, but sadly, I’ve not got that sort of clever brain.

Was it 2008? I remember Quarry Grove being a particularly fragmented time of my working life. Lots of projects, working weird hours… dates didn’t really stick. Dates? I just didn’t need them. So, I think that was around 2008 I met Clive. Or maybe it was 2007? Again, dates – such a pest.

What do I remember? I remember meeting Clive Tandy for the first time in Blackpool at their environmental hub, The Solaris Centre. It had a small, pleasant café, and I had done some work for the centre (but that’s another fragmented story), so it was familiar ground.

I remember treating the meeting with suspicion, as I do with most human beings. I don’t recall how the meeting happened. Had someone put us in touch with each other? Had he reached out to me? I genuinely can’t remember. I’v not met someone like Clive before, and I was fairly confident I’d met most types. Clive is an excitable fellow. He’s got a twinkle in his eye and always has an idea in his pocket. He embraces life, enjoys experimenting and pushing himself. We couldn’t really been much more different. Well, we got chatting, he told me the tale of a nearly successful deal to sell Quarry Grove. Along with this colourful tale, he had some old illustrations of Hicky Caterpillar by an artist he’d worked with some twenty-odd years before, back when I would have been just a lil youth.

Why did I get involved in Quarry Grove? Honestly? Honestly, can’t remember entirely, but illustration can be a lonely life, and the energy of Clive Tandy can be quite intoxicating. The eagerness of the project would have been a major factor – and the opportunity to work with someone as equals, rather than a client on a Skype call would have been a draw. I think I went back, did a few drawings, sent them to Clive and he liked them. So, we agreed to work as partners on the Quarry Grove project.

I did many art projects around that time that were all over the proverbial shop. There storyboard work for a Star Wars game, in-game assets for a Disney game, an editorial for the Times, a couple of DVD covers for an old, animated television show. Aside from a couple of London meetings, these all were done from my home, at a desk. Quarry Grove, thanks to Clive’s drive and business savvy, had us in all over the place, promoting this story of quirky mini beasts. We drove across the UK to schools to do workshops on drawing and writing using Quarry Grove. We would do book-signings where I would draw for the kids as Clive told them about the characters. It wasn’t the best time for creative work as the world struggled with a global crisis, but Clive pushed on (and I kept drawing). We pitched comic strips to local newspapers, ways Quarry Grove could help educate on energy with power companies, and I recall there was the interest of now-sadly departed Amy Winehouse in the book. It was a weird, unpredictable artisan experience. See, we’re both very different people. I’m a cynical introvert, while Clive as a people-person, an optimist, and a ball of energy. Without his drive, none of those experiences would have happened, and while my memory is a mess, those memories of long Waterstone events, carried by caffeine, or the mayhem of classroom workshops, stick like glue.

We worked on the second book, Crusty Pie from Mars as we promoted the first. Clive had already written the book, and I, in my youthful arrogance, felt I could help tweak it. By that time, I’d got very familiar with the characters, both in character and design, and with the second book being a bigger story, it seemed a good idea to try and embellish it. I recall being very keen on Percy the Worm being even more self-serving and unpredictable, I think that was probably my contribution - making Percy just a little bit more awful! It was an odd time slaving over the manuscript. It was tough for both of us, but I think we were happy with the results – words and pictures.

Eventually life took us in different directions, and it became hard to keep working on Quarry Grove. I did a few illustrations for Clive at a distance for a third book, but without a café to meet in, the project slowly faded away. I’ve not looked at Crusty Pie from Mars in over a decade. I have no idea how it holds together, and how much I was a benefit (or as I suspect these days, a detriment) to Clive’s writing. But that’s me – I am, and was, the worrier – always worried that people would take offense to the story, or not understand it, but Clive was the opposite. He just did what he thought was funny - and he was right. The kids did enjoy it, the parents enjoyed it, and from what I’ve heard, still do.

I had forgotten Quarry Grove, and was surprised (but, I suppose, being Clive, not surprised) to find he’d pushed on with Crusty Pie from Mars. And I am happy. It’s always good when any project gets finished. That’s a good feeling, but more importantly, it has unearthed some old memories of some very quirky times. The tale of two mis-matched men on a journey of storytelling, teaching, and entertaining young minds. Well, that’s probably worth a book in itself.