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Man who can’t use his limbs illustrates entire children’s book using his mouth


Ian painting (Picture: Ian Parker/Mouth and Foot Painting Artists)

Every day, Ian Parker sits in front of an easel and paints intricate pictures.

But Ian’s style is very different from most artists – because he can’t use his hands.

Each of his paintings is completed by holding a paintbrush in his mouth.

After years of painting pretty scenes and Christmas cards, Ian, from Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, took on his biggest challenge yet two years ago.

And after months of hard work, all 34 of Ian’s paintings have finally been published in a children’s book.

Danny’s Dream, written by Victor Margiotta, tells the story of a little boy who was the fastest runner at his school until he has a terrible accident and he thinks his dreams of achieving an Olympic Gold are over but he ends up going on a life-changing journey.

It’s the first time a disabled artist has been involved in creating a children’s book with a disabled child as the main character.

Ian tells Metro.co.uk: ‘It’s an inspiring story with some challenging subjects about disability. The idea is that you can still achieve your dreams if you are disabled, even if it takes a variation.’

Ian was born with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC), a condition that means his joints do not move and he cannot use his limbs.

The cover of Danny’s Dream (Picture: Ian Parker/Mouth and Foot Painting Artists)

He says when he was a child he always wanted to draw things and throughout school, he worked to study art, learning to control the paint and improve his skills.

After GCSE and A-Level art, he went to university to study Fine Art, completing the course in 1993.

Since then, he has worked for Mouth and Foot Painting Artists – a group which employs 33 artists in the UK.

Ian explains: ‘MFPA is a cooperative so we work on images throughout the year and they are sold through them.

‘Most of what I do is for Christmas cards so even if it’s blazing hot outside, I’m thinking about snow and robins.’

But in 2016, Ian was asked if he wanted to illustrate the book, being sold through MFPA.

Danny at school before his accident (Picture: Ian Parker/Mouth and Foot Painting Artists)

Ian adds: ‘I’d never done anything of that magnitude before but I really didn’t have to think twice. It was a challenge but it was something completely new.

‘It’s always good to try to do something different.’

The words were written by Victor and it was up to Ian to draw what was happening in the story. He admits that it led to some challenges he wasn’t used to with the rest of his work.

‘The thing with a book,’ he says, ‘is that the whole thing needs to not just have a theme, but also remain consistent in look throughout.

‘You need character development and to just make sure that the character on one page looks the same on the next.

‘It took two years to nail down things like the wheelchair. The whole thing took a lot of back and forth with the writer to get to a point where we were happy but it was worth it.’

Danny in his magic chair (Picture: Ian Parker/Mouth and Foot Painting Artists)

Initially, Ian and Victor were hoping to complete the project within a year but it ended up taking two and a half years as they wanted to ensure everything was right.

The book launched last week and is being sold on the Mouth and Foot Painting website for £10.

Ian adds: ‘So far, the feedback we have had from children has been really good, which is obviously what we wanted.

‘The idea of the book is you can have a gift but you still need to work at it and I see that in this book.

‘It’s been a real team effort – there’s my drawings but the words are by Victor and behind me I’ve had my wife and two daughters and the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists.’

Ian is now back to completing Christmas card and calendar designs but says that he would like to do another book in the future.

‘I think if you had asked me at the end of the book, I would have said no because I was absolutely exhausted, physically and emotionally,’ he says.

‘We completed most of the work in March and it’s only just coming out so looking back now, I think I would do it again in the right circumstances. Now that I have the experience, I would know how to approach it.’

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