All the Colours of New York by Megan McKean

I love when personal projects turn into something bigger - and in the case of my new book ‘All the Colours of New York’ that is exactly what happened. The concept for this book started out as a small exploration for me personally, noting all the different colours that make New York feel so distinctive; the iconic yellow of the taxis, the bright orange steam stacks and subway seats, the famed Brooklyn Brownstones (as well as brown bagels, brown pretzels, brown squirrels in Central Park), and the very distinctive mint green of the Statue of Liberty that once you start noticing it, you’ll find it all over the city.

I started recording some illustrations and collating them together, making a little rainbow of New York. After looking at them all together I felt like they could become something more, and developed them into a book proposal. This proposal then went on to find a home with the excellent Smith Street Books in Australia, who saw the potential right away — and even wanted to expand the concept to a series, adding London to the lineup for double-release. Now here we are a year later, with two books just about to be published!