Jane McGuinness
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janemcguinness.bsky.social
Jane McGuinness
@janemcguinness.bsky.social
210 followers 110 following 31 posts
Scottish illustrator and author based in Brum. (she/her)
(my handle was janelikesyou on the old birdy place)
Shy but earnest. I like trees. 💚
https://www.janemcguinness.co.uk/
Repped by the Catchpole Agency
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janemcguinness.bsky.social
Jane McGuinness @janemcguinness.bsky.social · Nov 17
Intro post--
I'm Jane, and I illustrate picture books, especially ones about wildlife & nature! 💚 I really love to draw narrative non-fiction, but this year came the release of the first Funny picture book I've worked on (WE ARE THE WIBBLY by Sarah Tagholm), which was incredible fun to be part of 🐸✨
The front cover of We Are The Wibbly, a picture book by Sarah Tagholm and Jane McGuinness. It's green with bubbles/frogspawn and tadpole characters swimming all around the title. The book sits on a blue backdrop with lilypad and toy frog decorations around it. The front cover of Find Out About: Animal Camouflage, a picture book by Martin Jenkins and Jane McGuinness. It shows a snowy scene with Arctic hares and an Arctic Fox curled up asleep. The front cover of What's Next?, a picture book by Timothy Knapman and Jane McGuinness. It shows a baby badger character in front of the moon, looking up curiously, surrounded by flowers, animals and stars. A black and white photo of Jane McGuinness. She's wearing a black hat and a dress with a lace collar. She should probably take a new photo soon but this one has done the job so far.
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
edwardross.bsky.social
Hey, I know your mental health is probably in the gutter right now. If you're a creative freelancer (or even if you're not!) you might find some useful advice in this comic book guide I wrote for the @societyofauthors.bsky.social, with stunning art by a bunch of amazing creators (tagged in thread) 👇
edwardross.bsky.social Edward Ross @edwardross.bsky.social · Nov 14
With the creative community growing on Bluesky, I thought I’d reshare this resource on Mental Health for Creative Freelancers!

Written by me, illustrated by some extremely talented artists. It covers everything from money worries to imposter syndrome to burnout: societyofauthors.org/2022/11/12/v...
Visually stunning comic launched to help creative freelancers with their mental health - The Society of Authors
Designed as a practical guide to surviving the ups and downs of freelancing in the cultural sector, Mental Health for Creative Freelancers is a comforting antithesis to run-of-the-mill mental health a...
societyofauthors.org
February 19, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
harrywoodgate.bsky.social
Authors, illustrators, screenwriters, poets etc. Please sign this open letter regarding the recent UK Supreme Court judgement on trans peoples’ rights to legal recognition. 🏳️‍⚧️ docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
An Open Letter of Solidarity With the Trans Community from UK Writers
NOTE: THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT TO PRESS AND RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC ON TUESDAY - UNTIL THEN, PLEASE ONLY SHARE WITH SMALL GROUPS AND TRUSTED INDIVIDUALS. The UK Supreme Court ruling of 17th April 2025...
docs.google.com
April 19, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
switchboard.bsky.social
We know today may feel especially heavy for our trans and non-binary siblings.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or affected by the UK Supreme Court’s decision, please know you’re not alone. We’re here for you every day from 10am to 10pm.

#TransRights #Trans #NonBinary #SupremeCourt #Gender
April 16, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
drfernriddell.bsky.social
‘Transgender’ people have been with us for over 100 years, and what we would recognise as trans identities are found in our archives - in the UK alone - reaching as far back as the medieval era.

1/
April 16, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
mothcub.bsky.social
The baguette is the key.
Three panel comic. In the first panel, a bunny looks at baguettes on display and says, "mmm... breads". In the second panel, the bunny holds a baguette above its head and says, "I'll take this one". In the third panel, the bunny sits on the floor with the baguette, and says, "ahhh... now I have it all".
March 31, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
cartoonbrew.bsky.social
From teeny little super guys to animated dogs: Indie animation legend & Sesame Street animator Paul Fierlinger has died at 89. He carved out a singular path in animation — one marked by a distinct visual voice, a relentless work ethic, and a deep emotional honesty. Read his obituary here:
From Teeny Little Super Guys To Animated Dogs: Paul Fierlinger Dies At 89
Fierlinger carved out a singular path in animation — one marked by a distinct visual voice, a relentless work ethic, and a deep emotional honesty.
www.cartoonbrew.com
April 8, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
sarahmcintyre.bsky.social
A message to the UK government:
please respect our copyright 🙏

#MakeItFair
#HandsOffOurCopyright 1/2
February 25, 2025 at 4:23 PM
janemcguinness.bsky.social
Bluesky, will you ever let me post a pic? I seem to get an error message every time... 🥲
February 25, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
nicolakent.bsky.social
IT'S THE LAST DAY TO DO THIS! Takes 20 mins with this help from the AOI which is easily adapted to others not just illustrators.
nicolakent.bsky.social Nicola Kent @nicolakent.bsky.social · Feb 23
TWO DAYS left to respond to the UK Govt consultation on Copyright and AI. The AOI has created a brilliant guide to help with this - the consultation is onerous but their tips make completing it quick and easy for any creator, not just an illustrator. PLEASE ADD YOUR VOICE: theaoi.com/news/the-cop...
The Copyright and AI consultation - how to respond as an illustrator – The AOI
The Copyright and Artificial Intelligence consultation was published by in December 2024, and we are encouraging illustrators to submit a response to the consultation to demonstrate the negative affec...
theaoi.com
February 25, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
alcs.co.uk
The Government is siding with big tech over British creativity.

Today is the FINAL chance to respond to their consultation on AI and copyright.

Let's make sure creators' voices are heard. Guidance below 👇 #MakeItFair #PayTheCreator

www.alcs.co.uk/news/your-ri...
February 25, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
nicolakent.bsky.social
TWO DAYS left to respond to the UK Govt consultation on Copyright and AI. The AOI has created a brilliant guide to help with this - the consultation is onerous but their tips make completing it quick and easy for any creator, not just an illustrator. PLEASE ADD YOUR VOICE: theaoi.com/news/the-cop...
The Copyright and AI consultation - how to respond as an illustrator – The AOI
The Copyright and Artificial Intelligence consultation was published by in December 2024, and we are encouraging illustrators to submit a response to the consultation to demonstrate the negative affec...
theaoi.com
February 23, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
harrywoodgate.bsky.social
This is a brilliant (& urgent) explainer of the current UK consultation on the use of copyrighted works in the training of generative AI - read, share, and pester your MPs using the links at the bottom of the post!
February 10, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
sarahmcintyre.bsky.social
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)
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
February 12, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
emmaillustrate.bsky.social
URGENT 🚨 Our UK copyright is under threat.

The MOST important thing we can do is encourage every author & artist we know to respond to the consultation itself - this post breaks it down so it's easy to do!
Complete before 25th Feb!
againstthebox.substack.com/p/time-to-ha...
#kidlit #kidlituk
February 10, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
cbnnetwork.bsky.social
Writers!!! Don’t miss this fantastic event hosted by Seven Stories in Newcastle on 26th February 18:30pm, free entry 📚
February 7, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
rspb.bsky.social
Today is #ReverseTheRedDay, uniting people worldwide to fight species decline.

from UK wetlands to remote islands, conservation efforts are making a real difference, and proving that species recovery is possible.

Here's 7 species we’re fighting for and why action matters...🧵
A striking close-up of an Atlantic Puffin against a vibrant green background. The bird holds a fresh sprig of green leaves in its colourful, triangular beak. Below, bold text reads "Reverse The Red Day" in white and red, followed by "Seven threatened species we’re fighting to save."
February 7, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
nicigregory.bsky.social
www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/lee...
Badgers Are Go Workshop and Drawalong with Susannah Lloyd and Nici Gregory at Room 700, Leeds Central Library
Tickets are now available for Badgers Are Go Workshop and Drawalong with Susannah Lloyd and Nici Gregory at Room 700, Leeds Central Library, Leeds on Thu 20 Feb 2025 at 1:00PM. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!
www.ticketsource.co.uk
February 6, 2025 at 11:15 AM
janemcguinness.bsky.social
Actually me, if I don't put that magical Avon Skin So Soft spray on in the summer
February 2, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
debbiefong.com
Happy Year of the Snake! 🧧🐍

I’m including this limited edition postcard print with all shop orders for the next few weeks (or until they run out)! Go get your own Coupon for Prosperity: www.pommopress.com
January 29, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
galegalligan.bsky.social
drew this last july for a very delayed, currently-still-unreleased issue. be someone's moment
Page 1/4 of a short comic essay by Gale Galligan. Black and white with cool gray tone. PANEL 1 Gale sits at a drawing desk. Gale: Oh, hello there! I'm Gale Galligan, illustrator of this issue's cover. Caption: Quick Facts: *they/them *Asian-American *adapted four Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels *next book: Fresh Start (Jan 2025) *Read Animorphs at a formative age PANEL 2 Librarian hands child-Gale a book. Caption: I was probably nine when I read my first Baby-Sitters Club book. Librarian: You can keep this one. Gale: what PANEL 3 Gale reading. Caption: It was a random volume from a library giveaway. I gave it a try, and had to flip back when I realized - PANEL 4 Child Gale reading in a chair, eyes wide, hair floating. Caption: Claudia's like me!!! Caption: Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic (pub. 1992) PANEL 5 Closeup of the cover of Claudia and Mean Janine. Caption: This was the first time I'd encountered an Asian-American character in a book. It was the first time I realized that was possible. Page 2/4. PANEL 1 Child Gale reading in bed. Caption: That librarian didn't know if any of the books she gave me would open my world or show me myself or change my life, but she believed that they could. Gale: what if I wrote a story? PANEL 2 A teacher handing a paper back to Child Gale, who is sitting at a desk. Caption: Every book, every librarian, every teacher could be that moment for someone. Teacher: Creative ideas here. Keep it up. PANEL 3 Same as the final panel of page 1 - the Claudia and Mean Janine cover - but with scribbles where Claudia and Janine used to be. Caption: So to think of kids like me, reaching for a shelf where they might find themselves for the first time, and finding it empty because the adults have decided they don't belong - PANEL 4 Waves of darkness, with floating book covers: All Boys Aren't Blue, Gender Queer, Melissa, Flamer, The Hate U Give. Caption: To think of kids like me, dreaming of telling stories but not believing they can because there are no authors like them on the shelves -- PANEL 5 An empty space within Panel 4. Caption: And to think of authors like us, wanting to reach back to those kids and pull them up, to share our histories and struggles and successes, to say you matter only to have author visits cancelled or books pulled from libraries schools book fairs or never have those books published at all. CAPTION: It is heartbreaking. But you know this. Page 3/4. PANEL 1 Present-day Gale peeking out from a comic panel. Gale: If you're reading this in Voices from the Middle, you are probably an English teacher in the United States. PANEL 2 A montage, in light lines, of protest signs (Freedom =/ Censorship; No Book Bans) and news headlines (The Fight To Ban Books, The post-2020 surge in calls for banning books, visualized). Caption: it is very likely that you have been watching the rising challenges facing our books all across this country. You may be fighting them in your school or district right now. PANEL 3 Gale in line to vote, turning back to face the viewer. Gale: So what you probably don't need is a cartoonist explaining book bans to you. You know what's happening, you know the stakes. Gale: But! PANEL 4 Gale leaning against a wall next to a potted plant. Gale: Maaaybe there's a blank space on your wall? One that feels a little lonely? Gale: Well~ Gale: I can help with that! PANEL 5 Gale drawing at desk; a cat peeks over their chair. Caption: Thanks for hanging out with me for these four issues! See you at the library!! ♥ Gale Galligan 2024 Caption: How To Use 1) Turn the page! 2) Photocopy a mini poster! (Or cut it out! No rules!!!) 3) Display and discuss! Poster titled BANNED and CHALLENGED GRAPHIC NOVELS Caption: Graphic novels are a popular target for challenges because... PANEL 1 An astronaut in space. Astronaut: Comics can convey complex ideas in accessible, entertaining ways. PANEL 2 Person holding a comic. A prose novel sits on a pedestal with an ostentatious caption pointing to it saying "Real Book". Person: Their educational value isn't as enshrined as other art forms. PANEL 3 A person in a chicken costume addresses the reader. In the background, a critic yells at them. Chicken: It's easier to take an image out of context than to read a whole prose book. Critic: CHICKEN COMIC PANEL 4 Caption: Stories have power. Three drawings of authors follow, featuring attributed quotes for each. Maia Kobabe, creator of Gender Queer, Borrowed & Banned interview, Nov 30, 2023: I do wonder sometimes whether one of the reasons my book in particular is being targeted is the fact that it shows this kind of very gentle, easy coming out story, and it shows that coming out can be quite celebratory... Jerry Craft, creator of the New Kid books, NPR's Morning Edition interview, Dec 28, 2022: I hated reading books as a kid because - who were my heroes? The Black kid in Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn? There was no kid who looked like me that I was proud of. Mike Curato, creator of Flamer, Banned in the USA Spotlight, pen.org: I wrote this book because I want to help young people who are in the vulnerable place I was when I was their age. PANEL 5: FUN FACTS! Caption: * Three of the ten most challenged books in America in 2023 were graphic novels. * Comics have been weathering censorship and challenges for decades. In the 1940s, people held public comic book burnings. PANEL 6: FURTHER READING -- CBLDF: History of Comics Censorship "I Made the Most Banned Book in America" - Maia Kobabe for The Nib, Sept 1, 2023 Addressing Comics Challenges Toolkit - ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table PEN America's How to Fight Book Bans
January 30, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
rachelsanson.bsky.social
Also if you are an ✨✏️ILLUSTRATOR✏️✨ pleeease take two minutes to fill out this AOI survey on AI copyright laws and their impact on our careers.

If nothing else you can click the options furiously and let some of that rage out 🌩️

rb.gy/hzrz6b
AI and Copyright Consultation Survey for Illustrators
Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.
rb.gy
January 28, 2025 at 2:52 PM
janemcguinness.bsky.social
Describe your in person social skills with a GIF.
A GIF from the TV sitcom Frasier. Niles Crane looks apologetic, saying "She exhausts easily under the pressure to be interesting."
January 28, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
chloeillustrates.bsky.social
creativerightsinai.eaction.org.uk/MP
If you've not already emailed your mp about the AI consultation, use this. It takes seconds.
#kidlituk
Safeguard Creative Rights in AI
creativerightsinai.eaction.org.uk
January 27, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
rspb.bsky.social
Did you take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend?

Tell us what you saw! 👀

You've got 'til 23rd Feb to submit your results: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...
A Nuthatch peers out from behind the textured bark of a tree, its sharp beak pointing upward with a crumb of food still clinging to the tip. Its sleek blue-grey back and warm buff underparts contrast beautifully against the soft green background. With an alert expression and a slight tilt of its head, it looks as if it’s waiting for something- perhaps a gentle reminder to submit your results!
January 27, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Reposted by Jane McGuinness
animalphotorefs.bsky.social
GenAI has polluted image search results, especially for animal pics. It’s now basically impossible to find accurate art references.

Enter this: a repository of open-access, AI-free images of wild & exotic taxa. Artists creating *without AI* have blanket permission for derivative/transformative use.
Exotic Animal Photo Reference Repository
www.animal-photo-references.com
January 27, 2025 at 9:45 AM