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Macha Yao 🐯✏️🛹

@yaomacha

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🇫🇷🇬🇧 Children’s illustrator
🦄 Rep’d by the @plum_agency
🫟 Clients: Auzou, Bonnier, OUP
🛹 When I don’t draw I skate @longboardmacha
🐑 Leeds, Yorkshire

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Get ready to set sail on the adventure of a lifetime with The Othernauts by @poetclare and illustrated by @yaomacha! ⚓

This fresh, funny, and action-packed retelling of the classic Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts is perfect for readers who love a twist of wit and a splash of chaos! ✨

Meet Phoebe, 11 and bored of island life. Stowing away on the Argo, she joins a chaotic quest for the golden fleece. With unhelpful prophecies, dodgy shape-shifting, and ear-splitting siren songs, the Othernauts might just be the most unlikely saviours in Greek mythology! 💥

Coming June 2026!
Find out more at the link in our bio ➡️ by @yaomacha

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a year ago

Grumpy heroes ✅
Manipulative gods ✅
A stony-stared Gorgon ✅

THE OTHERNAUTS ARE BACK FOR A NEW ADVENTURE! 💥

When Perseus announces a new quest to defeat the fearsome gorgon Medusa, it's not long before Phoebe and Perry are swept up on a chaotic and epic new mission. From high up in mountainous lairs right down into the Underworld, and with a troublesome baby gorgon in tow (we'll explain later), things may not be quite as they seem.

Can the pair figure out whose side they are actually on before disaster strikes?

Find out February 2027 in @poetclare's THE OTHERNAUTS AND THE GORGON'S GAZE, illustrated by @yaomacha! ✨ by @yaomacha

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23 days ago

The Othernauts window, take two! After Leeds Little Boon Shop, I had a brilliant time time yesterday in London painting Waterstones Kensington window. I also had the pleasure to meet the fabulous author of The Othernauts @poetclare irl, as well as lovely Pippa from @piccadilly.press and the best agent on earth Lucy @plum_agency 💕

Thanks everyone for trusting me with this, I had a blast, despite feeling like a plant in a greenhouse hahaha

Hope to paint my more windows in the future, it's such a fun change from the iPad - giant canvas plus interacting with all the nice peeps and kids passing by was the best!

#windowpainting #childrenpyblishing #waterstones #theothernauts by @yaomacha

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3 months ago

We're thrilled to share some stunning photos of @YaoMacha's beautiful window display for @thelittlebookshops to celebrate The Othernauts! by @yaomacha

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3 months ago

After 27th takes and as many attempts to edit it, I decided to give up and just chose the one I laugh to my own joke.

The Othernauts, by the fantastic Clare Pollard was published yesterday, and it is the perfect gift for any young fan of mythology, old Greece or just in the look out for an epic adventure that will make them laugh too 💙

Thanks @poetclare and @piccadilly.press I'm so happy and proud to be sailing the Argo with you all 🌊🌊🌊
And thank you to the best agent a girl could ask for @plum_agency

Long Live The Othernauts!

Will show you more of the inside art next week :)

#middlegrade #publicationday #bookbirthday by @yaomacha

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4 months ago

OUT TODAY! ✨ ⚓

This is not just a book. This is in fact the translated, never-before-told and TRUE story of Jason and the Argonauts.

Did you know that, contrary to popular understanding, the fate of Jason and his epic quest for the Golden Fleece was driven by the efforts of three children? They go by THE OTHERNAUTS 🏺

Stowaway on a perilous and epic adventure with a heroic if slightly chaotic crew of legends, sung and unsung!

Find out more about @poetclare's witty, 'exuberant' and 'mischievous' book, illustrated by the supremely talented @yaomacha, at the link in our bio ➡️ by @yaomacha

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4 months ago

Hello dears! Sorry I’m a bit late for #kidlitartpostcard day!

Just getting my head out of my client work for a sec to show you something more personal I’ve been working on recently! A project mixing graphic novel and chapter book for early readers, starring Nox a Little bat who is in holidays at her grandma on the seaside, but there’s something fishy going on in the town 👀

If you’d like to hear more or to work with me on something you have in mind please get in touch with me of my lovely agent, Lucy @plum_agency.

By the way, I’m Macha, a French-British children illustrator based in Taipei, where I miss fish and chips (can you tell?).
Nice seeing you here! 🐟🍟🦇⛵️

#kidlitartpostcardday #kidlitartist #graphicnovelsforkids #graphicnovelartist by @yaomacha

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5 months ago

🇬🇧Congratulations to @catherine_avril_may and @auzou_suisse for the publication of this brilliant scary middle grade story I had the joy to illustrate 🥰

🇫🇷Felicitations pour la publication de ce super livre à @catherine_avril_may 🥰 / Publié aux editions Auzou Suisse @auzou_suisse / Editrice de choc : @editricegwen
C’est le second livre de la serie que j’illustre et c’est toujours un vrai plaisir !

Timelapse ➡️ storyyyyy

#bookbirthday #romanjeunesse #illustrationjeunesse #middlegrade #auzouromans

@plum_agency @auzou_romans @editionsauzou by @yaomacha

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6 months ago

Helloooooo, last but not least, my last cover for #vintagebookweek26 redraw challenge : Alice in Wonderland finds the garden of live flowers

Disney’s Alice movie crept me out soooo bad as a child, it’s not only me, right? 🫢 even drawing it spooked me a bit hahaha
Cause what’s more unsettling to think about than GIANT MOVING FLOWERS WHO CAN TALK 😂😂😂😂 (that said, I’m also scared of butterflies)
Alice agrees.

#bookcoverdesign #aliceinwonderland #kidlitart #childrenillustrations

This challenge has been such a big blast. A huge thank you to the hosts:
@geeksarecool
@artoflaurieb
@elizabeth.leyk.illustration
@le_facciotte
@moniquedong
@sarafandrey_illustrations
@valeriaillustrates by @yaomacha

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6 months ago

Hey peeps! So I’m still catching up on my covers for #vintagebookweek26 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️ - this is prompt 3 for you today !

Richard Scarry was my absolute favorite as a child, in fact, I have vivid memories of thinking I was living in his animal world, having picnics with Lowly the worm and Huckle Cat 😂😂😂 I still get a cosy feeling whenever I read his stories to my kids (and it’s also hilarious), it’s like being 5 again. It’s also my favorite way to feel close to my parents. Even though they’re no longer with us, those stories are like a direct line back to their love ❤️😊

Needless to say, I was a bit intimidated with the idea of a redraw of my childhood hero’s art (For this one he was only the illustrator, as the original story was written by Ole Risom)
But in the end, I enjoyed it so much! I kept it simple and had fun making the ladybird hard to impress. Their story would totally work as an early reader comic, don’t you think?

Also tell me, who was your favorite children books author or illustrator as a child?

#redrawchallenge #childrenbookillustration #earlyreaders #kidlitillustrator

Thanks to the hosts of the challenge:
@geeksarecool
@artoflaurieb
@elizabeth.leyk.illustration
@le_facciotte
@moniquedong
@sarafandrey_illustrations
@valeriaillustrates
Give them a follow they are all amazing 🤩 by @yaomacha

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6 months ago

Vintage book week - prompt 2 : Fun To Cook Book
Added a bit of mischief into this one ;)

Thanks to the hosts :
@artoflaurieb
@geeksarecool
@elizabeth.leyk.illustration
@le_facciotte
@moniquedong
@sarafandrey_illustrations
@valeriaillustrates

#earlyreaders #vintagebookweek26 #bookcoverart #kidlitillustration #illustration by @yaomacha

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6 months ago

Last week was #vintagebookweek26, a lovely initiative by a bunch of talented peeps, a kind ‘draw this in your style’ of old classics.
I’m a week behind schedule, but I love this challenge too much not to take part!

Cover 1 was Bongo the bear, made him slightly clumsy haha.

Hosts:
@geeksarecool
@le_facciotte
@elizabeth.leyk.illustration
@artoflaurieb
@valeriaillustrates
@moniquedong

#drawthis #bookcovers #kidlitartist by @yaomacha

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6 months ago