How Alfie was born.

As I was drawing in the museum I came across a sparrow (no 114). He stood out amongst the bigger and more colourful birds in the collection as he looked cheeky and chirpy, yet small and ordinary. I knew that children would relate to him as they can often feel small and overlooked, so Alfie was just right for the main character. Initially I wanted him to be called Solomon but it was decided that Alfie was much more child friendly. So that was how the character of Alfie began to develop...