Please note: this contest is suspended. The publication of the book is postponed to a later date (the drawings received are kept)

Drawing competition. Title of the book: Shut up and row! Tais-toi et rame ! 

Volume 2 of Cécile Meslin. Renaissens Best seller.

Design the cover of the FIRST PUBICATION of the year. The book will be referenced in all bookstores in France

Deadline for submission of your drawings: March 19, 2023

Important: the publication scheduled for December has been postponed. You still have time to submit your project. 

All the projects received in December for this competition are kept but you can send one more. 

Please mention your age.

Title: Shut Up and Row!

Book summary 

It's summer. Pétronille (the heroine of Cécile Meslin's 1st volume Don't worry about the brand of the bike, pedal!), receives her 3 disabled friends at her home in Fréhel (seaside, Brittany. Be careful there are no palm trees in Brittany but pink sandstone, sand wet by the tide, kelp, seagulls, see photos opposite).

The four girls (in their forties) who met at the rehabilitation center (note), make fun of their illnesses and their after-effects for the duration of this reunion. They are disabled, and then what? This does not prevent them from laughing and having a good time.

Note: none of the girls has a prosthesis or a wooden leg, none has a cane or a crutch, only one is in a wheelchair. No more is said about their disabilities.

Description of the characters

Pétronille (former nurse), blonde, long curly hair, big blue eyes and devastating smile, a few extra pounds, drives the same little pink Fiat, still walks with difficulty but without a cane. Its particularity is to often stand on one foot, like a flamingo (this position relieves its left leg).

Daisy (former nurse), forties, blonde, curly hair, bob haircut, freckles on her nose and cheeks, a little plump, always sitting in her wheelchair, very cheerful, never stops joking.

Charlie (writer), very reserved, brown hair, slightly curly, square cut, slim, elegant. She drives an old Renault 18 crumbling brown.

Feather (journalist – press card), brunette, shaggy hair, thin. She always travels on a scooter (mechanical, which is pushed with the foot) on which she has pasted the "disabled" pictogram. She wears high-top Convers sneakers in a flashy color, bright orange shorts and a neon yellow t-shirt. She is more tanned than the others because she lives in a sunny corner of France.

Here are some moments you can take inspiration from. It is also possible to mix the sequences:

1. Facing the sea (dune, beach, low tide). Daisy is sitting in her wheelchair. Pétronille pushed her from the road (she uses her friend's chair like a walker so that we don't see that she herself has trouble walking). Plume follows on his scooter marked with the handicap pictogram and the fragile Charlie. The four friends move towards the sea until the armchair and the scooter get stuck in the sand. They then decide to stay on this valiantly conquered territory and contemplate the sea (all standing, except Pâquerette). Their beautiful faces shine in the sun, their hair flutters in the wind. Determined, the eyes of these fighters pierce the horizon. Petronille stands on one leg, like a flamingo, leaning with one hand on one of the armrests of the wheelchair and the other on Charlie's arm, so frail. As for Plume, she grips the handlebars of her scooter tightly, which, half buried in the sand, seems to keep her body vertical. Daisy cries of joy to be so close to the sea. She would like to take off. She tells her friends about it. And why not equip your wheelchair with a propeller to fly over the steep paths of the Brittany coast?

2. Fancy Dress Party: Daisy wears a unicorn costume with a bell bracelet attached to one of her ankles. She is sitting on the sofa (her wheelchair is nearby). She laughs looking at her friends. Pétronille donned the clothes of a disco singer: red wig, silver jacket, pink miniskirt, and green glasses; all enhanced with a necklace of very conspicuous shells. Plume wears a traditional dark Breton outfit, consisting of a Peter Pan collar blouse and a long pleated skirt embellished with a white apron. On his head a gigantic Breton headdress (a bigoudène 30 cm high). A pair of clogs completes her adornment. Charlie is disguised as a magician, with a cape and a black top, neon orange pants, round Harry Potter glasses and a magic wand. She plays the transverse flute while Plume swings her apron and Pétronille sings, a microphone in her hand. On the table hot pizzas.

3. A picnic is organized in front of the Saint-Michel islet (note! see photo, it is not the famous Mont Saint-Michel). The four girls are at the edge of the path which overlooks the beach and whose stones are pink (willingness). They are sitting or lying on a blanket on the grass. Pâquerette's wheelchair carries the groceries (bottles, fruit, cheese, sausage, baguette, etc.). The seagulls fly above them, trying to steal some food from them, either on the blanket or on the wheelchair.

READ THE TECHNICAL INFORMATION CAREFULLY,