Creating Professional Characters: Develop Spectacular Designs from Basic Concepts is an inspiring and informative exploration of how popular professional character designers take the basic concept of a character in a production brief and develop these ideas into an original, high-quality design. Suitable for student and professional character designers alike, this book focuses on how to approach your character designs in ways that ensure the target audience and production needs are met while still creating fun, imaginative characters. This visually appealing book includes twenty thorough tutorials guiding you through the design and decision making processes used to create awesome characters. Replicating the processes used in professional practice today, this book demonstrates the types of brief a professional designer might receive, the iterative design process used to explore the brief, the influence of production feedback on the final design, and how final designs are presented to clients. This detailed, enlightening book is an excellent guide to creating incredible imaginative characters suitable for your future professional projects.

'Funny, original and moving' The Sun 'Pick of the Week' December 2022 The perfect festive story for readers aged 8 to 8,888! Meet the HUMBUG Family! Christmas Elves, but not as we know them... The Humbugs aren't the kind of family you see on sparkly wrapping paper, or in snowy storybooks about Santa's grotto. You won't see them on the front of Christmas cards, and they definitely won't be knitted on your grandma's favourite festive jumper. Those happy scenes are only for the likes of the workshop elves and certainly not the Humbugs. Nope! They manage a much less glamorous part of Santa's factory, the RPD Department... That's Reindeer Poo Disposal to you and me. YUCK! But when a mince-pie-related-mishap combined with an unfortunate letter-losing-incident sees them exiled from their home, the Humbugs - together with their clumsy Reindeer, Blister, and wheelie-bin sleigh - go on a great and daring adventure, where they discover the true meaning of Christmas, and the real heroes who make it special! "A perfect Christmas stocking present - a very funny, festive page-turner." - Jacqueline Wilson, author of The Story of Tracy Beaker "Humbug is that rare book: funny, original, thought-provoking, and an instant classic." - Francesca Simon, author of Horrid Henry "An exquisite Christmas story, full of imagination and heart. For the whole family to read year-after-year!" - Amy Huberman, author of The Day I Got Trapped In My Brain "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll need a mince pie - a new Christmas classic!" - Steven Lenton, author and illustrator of Genie and Teeny A hilarious, huge-hearted hug of a book; perfect for all ages. For fans of Matt Haig, The Christmasaurus, and Elf on the Shelf. With a touching and thought-provoking message to key-workers who tirelessly toil behind-the-scenes to make everyone's lives better.

Turn "Ho ho ho" into "Ha ha ha" with this zany Christmas picture book featuring Santa, Bigfoot, Little Red Riding Hood, unicorns, dragons, and more! In Once Upon a Christmas, the Three Bears' Christmas party gets off to a rocky start: Bigfoot can't stop photobombing, the dragon burns the fruitcake, and Jack Frost inadvertently triggers the storm of the century-knocking Santa's sleigh off course and straight into a lake! A soaked St. Nick finds eager helpers in the partygoers, a varied cast of mythical creatures and familiar fictional favorites. The unlikely team rescues the sleigh, just in time to continue the festivities and get Santa on his merry way. Humorous twists and action-packed illustrations will make this story an instant family classic for the Christmas season.

Harm reduction is the single most effective approach to drug and alcohol problems because harm reduction uses pragmatic, evidence-based strategies that work. This book is the first comprehensive compilation of harm reduction strategies aimed specifically at people who drink alcohol. Whether your goal is safer drinking, reduced drinking, or quitting alcohol altogether, this is the book for you. It contains a large and detailed selection of harm reduction tools and strategies which you can choose from to build your own individualized alcohol harm reduction program. There are many practical exercises to help people change their behaviors, including risk-ranking worksheets, drinking charts, goal choice worksheets, and many more. There are also innumerable practical tips from folks who "have been there" and have turned their drinking habits around for the better. This book exemplifies the harm reduction principles of "meeting people where they are at" and encouraging people to change in ways which they choose for themselves. This book can either be used as a self-help manual for people working on their own or by people who are participating in a harm reduction support group. BETTER IS BETTER

Study Speaking is for intermediate level and above students who need to speak English in connection with their academic work. It is intended primarily for use on language programmes preparing learners of English for study at university or college. The course is designed to improve students' speaking skills by: * activating and extending their linguistic competence * increasing their confidence in using spoken English * developing their ability to analyse and evaluate spoken performance * sharpening their strategic competence in face-to-face interaction. Study Speaking is part of a the Study Skills series.