Books / Duncan Beedie
‘I cannot wait to see how things pan out’: Duncan Beedie on new books, collaborations, and a stage show adaptation of his work
Bristol children’s author and illustrator Duncan Beedie has been characteristically busy.
Aside from attending the Idles Block Party in Queen Square this summer, the self-styled “writer and drawer of bears, beards and badgers” is continuing to juggle a number of projects.
His growing list of authored and illustrated published books now includes Oof Makes an Ouch, Molly’s Moon Mission, The Lumberjack’s Beard, The Last Chip, Heavy Metal Badger and the award-nominated ‘bear’ series that began with 2017’s The Bear Who Stared.
Some of Duncan Beedie’s picture book titles – image: courtesy of the author
In recent years, Beedie has also illustrated a number of picture books by other authors, from Angela Woolfe’s Agent Llama series to Zanna Davidson’s Politeness for Penguins and Wendy Meddour’s Stefano The Squid: Hero of the Deep.
The latest of these is Hank Meets Frank, a newly released picture book written by Maudie Powell-Tuck, with illustrations from Beedie. The sequel to 2024’s Hank Goes Honk, it takes the youngest readers on another warm and funny adventure, with added geese.
Joining Bristol24/7 in the week of publication, Beedie shared some insights about his process, as well as what he has in store for the coming year.
Can you introduce us to the world of Hank, and the success of the first book, Hank Goes Honk?
“Hank Meets Frank is the follow-up to last year’s Hank Goes Honk – featuring the eponymous goose who likes to ‘HONK’ at every given occasion. In the first book we saw him try to learn to be more thoughtful and considerate towards his chums, with varying success. This time, his seemingly sweet-natured cousin Frank has come to stay and a war of one-upmanship ensues.”
Cover for Hank Meets Frank, by Maudie Powell Tuck, illustrated by Duncan Beedie – photo: Little Tiger Press
What instigated your collaboration with Maudie, and how does the process work?
“Maudie Powell-Tuck wrote the first book whilst also editing at Little Tiger Press. I had worked with her before in an editorial capacity, but it was great to finally get to illustrate a story direct from her fervent imagination.
“The tone in the Hank books is spot on for an illustrator like myself who enjoys drawing characters with an underlying mischievous side. We don’t really confer during the book creation process, which is a surprise to most people, but that’s fairly normal in children’s books. I receive the fully formed text, then the art director and I put our heads together to establish the visual style.”
How does your illustration practice change when you return to characters over a series of books?
“The good thing about working on a series is that by book number two you can hit the ground running. The characters are established, so there isn’t the same amount of development work needed. That said, the character development side of things is a hugely enjoyable part of my job.
“I often take a bit of a deep dive into pop culture references when establishing the look of a character – creating visual mood boards featuring TV and film characters and curating playlists to listen to whilst working on a particular character. Initially, Hank was going to boast some serious Michael Douglas in Falling Down vibes, but we ended up ditching the tie and flat top haircut for a ski hat instead.”
Duncan Beedie – photo: Charlotte Knee Photography
Are you able to share more about your own books, and what you are currently working on?
“I have just put the finishing touches on my fourth ‘Bear’ book for Templar Books. This one is called A Holiday For Bear and, unsurprisingly, is about Bear going on holiday. That one will be out next summer.
“I am also writing and illustrating a new title for Little Tiger about an insular crab called Carson who is very reluctant to leave the sea bed. He’s going to be partly based on Ella Purnell in the post-apocalyptic US TV series Fallout.”
Summer 2026 will herald the opening of the very first stage adaptation of your work: Heavy Metal Badger: The Musical. How are you feeling about seeing this project develop?
“The musical adaptation of Heavy Metal Badger will be premiering at The Pleasance at the Edinburgh Fringe next summer. I’m still at the ‘pinching myself’ moment even though I first learnt about this nearly a year ago.
“Jam Jar Theatre are at the helm and they are busy creating a suite of original rock songs and various puppets and costumes to relay the story on stage. I cannot wait to see how things pan out and I am especially excited to see the Badger costume in all its rock and roll glory.”
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Hank Meets Frank by Duncan Beedie is out now, published by Little Tiger. Follow @maudiepowelltuck and @duncandraws77 for updates and events.
Main photo: Duncan Beedie (illustrator); Little Tiger Press (publisher)
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