Everything I draw ends up wearing a bow-tie

My old piano teacher, Roger Shelmerdine, is a great guy and writes songs! He often organises events with choirs, and he very kindly asked if I would illustrate some selected sections of lyrics for a concert (which was held yesterday evening and went very well) for this year’s Remembrance Day and the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI. Apparently the kids from the primary school choir, who did a fantastic job, really liked these, so hopefully you will too!

The last one with the boy and the gun is a song based off a real story about a boy called Sidney who lied about his age and entered the army at the age of 12. I wanted the size of the gun and the hugeness of the hand to sort of describe how obvious it must have been and how eager the adults involved were to overlook it all. Part of the song goes like this-

“An officer am I, and recruitment is my aim,

I’m paid the sum of ‘two and six’ for ev'ry single name.

The more that sign the dotted line, the more that I can earn-

and so I turn a blind eye to every 'age’ concern.”