She was alive
Morrigan Crow following her leap from the Deucalion roof. Still in progress – my initial draft is below. I really wanted to …
Step boldly!
A work in progress, as on the dawn of the new age, guests at the Hotel Deucalion leap from the roof, umbrellas …
A last supper
A last meal at Eventide while Morrigan awaits her imminent death, eating lamb, parsnips and minted peas. Meanwhile, her stepmother discusses her …
Poor kitchen cat
Another tragic death in the Crow family. Morrigan didn’t kill Kitchen Cat, not that this fact stopped everyone blaming her.
Announcing a tragic loss
Corvus Crow announces the sad loss of his daughter to the waiting crowds. I based the look of Morrigan’s father on Christopher …
A strange meeting on the balcony
Morrigan encounters the enigmatic Mr Jones in a deserted wing of the hotel whilst chasing down a missing shadow…
The arachnipod
Bluffing their way into the free state. This scene gave me an opportunity to properly draw the arachnipod. I’m currently taking advantage …
Escape in the arachnipod
Another reworking of an earlier Nevermoor drawing, this time the escape up the clock tower in Jupiter’s arachnipod. I prefer the composition …
Jupiter North
Jupiter North introduces himself at Crow Manor, after giving suitable warning as to his outstanding gingerness.
The chase trial
Morrigan rides Fenestra in the chase trial, and Cadence takes a tumble… I’m going to continue working with limited colours on these …
What time do you call this?
One of my favourite scenes from Nevermoor – when Morrigan first arrives at the Hotel Deucalion and is greeted by Fenestra the …
Morrigan and the Wundersmith
My earlier take on this scene was ‘Confronting the Hunt’ (link below). I’ve been playing around with styles and this is my …
Shadow puppets
“I’m… gonna make…” Hawthorne said, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he bent his fingers into a complicated, …
Not quite ‘doing a Thanos’
Hasn’t Thanos worked his way into the public consciousness recently? His callous wiping out of a seemingly random 50% seems to have …
On a hidden island
A sneak preview of the artwork for the 2020 Tower Hamlets Creative Writing Competition that will be used as a poster design …
The sword in the stone
I should stop referring to this sword as ‘Excalibur’ as the majority of the re-tellings feature Arthur breaking this sword in his …
Find that sword!
This was one of a pair for another SCBWI competition. I didn’t win but I enjoyed revisiting Arthur’s Britain for a little …
Teacher’s book blog
A big part of my work with the Tower Hamlets Schools Library Services is recommending and evaluating books. My colleague started a …
The trickster in the tree
I seem to be inventing a fantasy world that I should give a name to so that I can properly link all …
Dustwalker
Partly inspired by Dune, and partly by wanting to draw a desert scene.
Mermaid
I’m not sure why I got the inspiration to draw mermaids – I was doodling before a training session at work …
Bowed but not broken
Worn out by too many battles and hopeless quests…
City leviathan
I’m not entirely sure what to call this creature. I’d imagined it to be a bit like Philip Reeve’s traction cities, just …
Shadowtooth
I fancied a change, so I went back to monsters – I may have been inspired by the cats I was drawing. …
Morrigan and the Baz Charlton Five
Morrigan finds that life in the Wundrous Society isn’t all fun and games, facing off against bullies. With throwing stars.
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 …
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 …
Farage shake
I’ve no idea where this one came from. Manbaby Farage Milkshake. Yummy.
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 …
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 …
The Mighty Thumbslurp returns…
…well, I hope it does. I was inspired to (finally) get around to finishing off the revised manuscript for You’re a pest …
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 …
A lovely email
Cheering me up on a grey, rainy day, ‘Wildings’ author, Nilanjana Roy emailed me asking if it would be okay if she …
SCBWI Undiscovered Voices Interview
https://www.wordsandpics.org/2019/03/undiscovered-voices-interviews-jacob.html Has it really been a year since the UV 2018 launch? This interview was actually completed last July but it’s only …
Creative writing workshops
The day job has recently involved an awful lot of work making sure that the annual creative writing competition goes off without …
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 …
