We spoke to Danny, the Senior Editor on Adventure Park, to see if we could get some extra insight into how this series was brought to life. Why not peer into his head and learn a bit more about the publishing process...

Us: What sort of things do you have to consider when briefing the artwork for a series like this? (for primary readers, with heavy reliance on illustrations to enhance the story)

Danny: With this series and Snow-Man I spoke with the authors about how we saw each of the main characters and the environment they were in. After that you can flesh it out a little more and start to talk about what adventures they would go on and who they were likely to encounter. The comedy has to be there right from the start. If it is not you can't just throw a custard pie on the words and hope that the comedy sticks.

The artwork had to be the opposite to some of the stuffy, old fashioned illustrations you see in some libraries. It had to be contemporary and something that our readers would enjoy looking at. If we didn't enjoy working on them then the readers would probably not find them very interesting.

Us: Are you happy with the visuals for this series?

Danny: Extremely. Abby was a new artist and had never worked with the Badger team before. She has taken in Cavan's words and spun them into amazingly beautiful, funny and engaging images.

Us: How did you go about choosing the artist?

Danny: It was surprisingly easy. I had seen Abby's online portfolio before and Cavan had also said he had worked with her before on a previous project. I went back again and looked at her latest work, which all looked fantastic. After a few emails and a few draft sketches it was obvious that she was the artists for this series. She leapt upon every email and always came back with sketches or ideas on which way to turn.

Us: Do you have any insights into why specific artistic decisions were made, like why Jacob and Emily look the way they do?

Danny: Emily was drawn with three different hair colours. After looking at the options we all agreed that she should have fiery red hair. We haven't had a good redhead female character in literature since Minnie the Minx or Pippi Longstocking. Jacob was easier. The only request I had in was that his top be the colour red. Red is the colour of Bristol City's kit, which also happens to be the football team Cavan supports.

Us: Why does Albert have a speaker in his hat?

Danny: Fundamentally it would be used to talk to large crowds who are eventually due at the park once it opens. For now he just wears it to show off.

Us: Do you have a favourite image from the series?

Danny: I love the covers! I can't pick a favourite as that wouldn't be fair to Emily, Jacob, Frank and Albert. What I will say is I do love these illustrations, the bigger the better, and that is why I loved it when I could find space in a title for a nice big double page illustration! Abby would always fill up both pages with an amazing scene, showing off the height of all the action.

Hopefully reading this has made you even keener to see the finished titles, out in less than three months!