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 of …

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 …

Escaping the hunt

What do you need most in an emergency? How about a giant clockwork spider powered by magic to escape in? Yep, that …

The Hunt of Smoke and Shadow

Nevermoor : The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend has been a recent source of inspiration for me. The Hunt of …

Hotel Deucalion

One of my illustrations inspired by Nevermoor : The trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend. I completed a couple of silhouette …

Airship

I followed up the Northern Lights drawings with this digital piece. Based on the airships in the story, I wanted an excuse …

Drawing Excalibur

I’ll be writing a longer blog post in regards to Undiscovered Voices, but this is the work that got me to the …

Camlann

I completed two pictures from the Arthurian legends for Undiscovered Voices 2018, and this was the companion piece to my competition entry. …

The stone table breaks

My second Narnia piece and another painted silhouette. I’ve toned down the bright yellow in the sky and I’m glad that the …

Edmund and the White Witch

Drawn – appropriately – over the Christmas holidays, I’d originally planned to illustrate scenes from Voyage of the Dawn Treader which is …

Lyra

I returned to Northern Lights because it gave me an excuse to try a silhouette and cityscape combination – another experiment at …

Iorek Byrnison

An evening holiday drawing that earned enough good feedback to make it into my portfolio. I got some praise for the pen …

Toad hog!

My second Wind in the Willows piece. As well as captuing the action, I also wanted enough static detail to expand on …

Ratty and Mole

A departure from my fantasy work, this was one of a series inspired by the first Undiscoverd Voices 2018 brief. I wanted …