The Odd Dog

by Claudia Boldt

Helmut is an odd dog. He doesn't like bones, but instead he loves apples. The only problem is that Helmut thinks that his next-door neighbour Igor might be plotting to steal the apples from his tree. But when the best and juiciest of all his apples falls into Igor's garden, Helmut is in for an unexpected surprise.

This simple story about sharing and friendship is transformed by Claudia Boldt's light-hearted, witty illustrations which bring her quirky characters to life. Stylishly designed spreads in a palette of ice-cream colours convey a nostalgic, retro feel, but ultimately it is Boldt's surreal sense of humour which will make this book irresistible to young readers.

Publisher: Jonathan Cape

Claudia Boldt

Claudia Boldt was born in Germany but now lives in London. She attended the Glasgow School of Art, and then Kingston University, London, where she graduated with her Masters in Illustration in 2007 - the same year she founded Cloud Cuckoo Studio with fellow illustrator Katharina Koall in London's East End.

Already with two books to her name, UUGGHH! and Star Gazers, Skyscrapers & Extraordinary Sausages (both Child’s Play), Claudia loves to write and illustrate fun and slightly absurd comedies for four-year-olds, which are as equally entertaining for adults.

Cloud Cuckoo Studio clients include The Savoy Hotel and Waterstone's Books Quarterly. Claudia's work has been exhibited in London, Zürich and Berlin and has been selected to show at the illustrators exhibition in Bologna.

She received a Booktrust Best New Illustrators Award in 2011.

Illustration Technique

Claudia studied product and graphic design and started illustrating during her Illustration MA at Kingston where she started her first picture book, Star Gazers. She began with screen printing and linocuts as she liked the texture but couldn’t get the effect she wanted.

She then found a way to combine indian inks and line drawing by scanning them into the computer and building up the layers like a collage in Photoshop and adding colour. She said that you can try things out on the computer more easily but likes the edges of her drawings to be natural so doesn’t cut them out on the computer. She often has 20 versions of an illustration after this process and has to decide on which is the best one.

Claudia Boldt