Sunrise over Nevermoor

I decided to draw this after the launch party for the paperback of ‘Wundersmith’ by Jess Townsend (thank you Hachette Children’s books …

Eisenhorn

  inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn facing off against a chaos dreadnought, inspired by the short story ‘Thorn wishes Talon’ – part of the …

Cat fight

A return to Nilanjana Roy’s ‘The Wildings’. The author very kindly sent me some source material to base illustrations on after seeing …

Teke the Smiling One

One of Dan Abnett’s very memorable villains, and a really great variation on the usual Chaos Astartes archetype.

Tobias Maxilla

My first Warhammer 40K inspired illustration for a very long time. I’ve been re-reading Dan Abnett’s Inquisition novels and felt like giving …

The Green Knight

The Green Knight invites himself to Arthur’s new year’s feast.

Merlin imprisoned

This was a return to a more symbolic piece rather than a literal scene similar to the ones I’ve been working on …

King Pellinore and Arthur

Arthur is given a much-needed lesson in humility by King Pellinore. This was quite a tricky composition – I had considered drawing …

Field of battle

I had intended to take a break from the Arthurian drawings, but here we are again. I think I’ll just keep going …

Guinevere and Lancelot (colour)

  My second take on the Lancelot/ Guinevere romance and I wanted to keep Guinevere in control of things. It’s the beginning …

Into battle (colour)

A colour re-working of an earlier silhouette piece in the style of my digital watercolours using Rebelle3. This composition translated well – …

The Sword in the Stone

“No one shall wield Excalibur… But me.” The scene from Boorman’s Excalibur where Uther – wounded and dying – thrusts the sword …

Arthur

I’m in two minds whether this is the onset of winter, or a bleak spring at the beginning of Arthur’s tale. The …

Merlin and Nimue

  Fairly bleak autumnal overtones going on here, though it’s about this time that Nimue betrays the wizard. The mist reminds me …

Yellow king

Not intended to be the The King in Yellow – I’m working my way through the colour wheel in Rebelle3 and reached …

Uther

High King Uther, in his prime, but close to his fall. This was another digital sketch that inspired me to create another …

Mad Eye

I was influenced by – of all things – a Warhammer 40K painting for this image. I wanted to do something a …

Knight

A ghostly knight from mythology.

Railhead : Snow and ice

Inspired by the second book in the Railhead series, Darklight Express. My intention with this painting was to keep the colour scheme …

Railhead : Into the unknown

This was directly influenced by a scene in the book, though it’s been over a year since I read it –  and …

Railhead : Cityscape

Railhead builds quite a fascinating sci-fi world. It’s a long way from Reeve’s Mortal Engines steampunk, it feels more like a classic, Asimov …

Railhead : desert planet

Learning to use Rebelle 3 brought me back to Railhead by Philip Reeve. I had a plan for a short animation with …

Howl’s Moving Castle

Binding design for Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, for the House of illustration Competition 2019. This was my third concept …

Flowers in the waste

He swung out an arm and his black sleeve disturbed several hundred blue butterflies feasting on a bush of yellow roses. Howl’s …

Magical combat

But almost as Michael and Sophie arrived, the clot of magic took on the shape of a misty bundle of fighting snakes. …

Catching a falling star

The bright shape was coming down slowly now, and it looked as if Michael might catch it. Howl’s Moving Castle. For the …

Holding Wunder

  “Morrigan felt panic creep in. it had all felt so right, just a moment ago. She was holding Wunder in the …

The hunt and the bonesmen

  “The huntsman waited, perfectly still, hand outstretched. Not a threat. Not a command. An invitation.” From Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend Photoshop …

Wundercats!

“He leapt from her arms a yowling cub. But by the time he had landed on the ground he was a towering, …

Nimue

A Rebelle 3 sketch that I later realised fitted in well witsome of the Arthurian myth pieces I’d been working on. I …

Riding the Brolly Rail

This is my first colour illustration based on The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend – the second Nevermoor novel. It’s …

Winter temple

My new year’s resolution is to bring some more colour to my work. I’ve found that just adding colour to my black …

Morrigan Crow (and brolly)

A quick drawing inspired by Wundersmith  – the second Morrigan Crow book by Jessica Townsend which I was given for Christmas. It’s …

Merry Kittenmas!

This was day 4 of the SCBWI-BI advent calendar competition! The rules were black and white plus one colour on the theme …

The Phoenix and the witch

There’s a story in here somewhere… Now that I’ve finally got a new laptop, I made a point of giving digital colouring …

The Hobbit : Smaug

My design for the front cover of The Hobbit. I’ve re-used Smaug’s wings for Arthur’s cloak in another drawing – for this …

The Hobbit : Gollum

Gollum was my choice for the rear cover design for the Hobbit, though I may shrink him down a little to allow …

The Hobbit : Beorn

Working in pencils (on what turned out to not be the best choice of paper), Beorn was my second choice of a …

Into battle

I’d never intended to follow the medieval romantic aesthetic of the Arthurian tales – at least in terms of costume design. Certainly …

Arthur and Mordred

  I’d already drawn the aftermath of Camlann but really wanted to draw a scene from the battle itself. I’ve been developing …

Tristan and Iseult

The classic Arthurian tragedy, though not originally part of the saga. I wanted this to be anunpleasant, tragic romance, but not brutally …

Guinevere and Lancelot

Certainly a bit more YA than my usual illustrations, but myths and legends are all sex ‘n’ violence. The sword symbolism and …

Crow’s Dinner

Crow’s Dinner is a short story written for my daughter by my Dad that I’ve illustrated. It’s a rather grim tale with …

Jim Hawkins and Israel Hands

Another memorable scene in the book and an obvious choice to illustrate – I’m not sure if this scene would be allowed …

Blind Pew

Blind Pew always left an impression on me – as a villain, he’s a brilliant and quite understated character and probable the …

Treasure hunting

I hadn’t done a ‘framed’ piece for a while and this seemed a good opportunity seeing as I couldn’t get Flint’s skeelton …

Meeting Long John Silver

An experiment in a character-driven piece rather than an action scene, as well as allowing me to play with creating distance using …

Confronting the hunt

The last of my Hunt of Smoke and Shadow series, this is an illustration from the closing chapters of Nevermoor and I …