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Children’s books
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Morrigan and Corvus
I decided to return to Nevermoor (or Jackalfax in this case) as a break from my poetry-illustrating gig. I also wanted to have a shot at a different illustration technique. […]
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A Ghostly Hour…
Whilst I’m really enjoying Hollowpox, as I’m doing these largely for Instagram, I’m finding it tricky to choose scenes that are fairly ambiguous and don’t spoil things. That said the […]
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Lady Kraken
Another illustration from Malamander. The reclusive Lady Kraken using her Cameraluna to spy on the town of Eerie-on-Sea.
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Boathook Man
The Boathook Man from Malamander by Thomas Taylor. I posted this on Instagram and got a thumbs up from the author which was great.
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In the Elders’ Hall
Starting off another Nevermoor piece – this one from Wundersmith. Morrigan waits in the Elders’ hall surrounded by some very strange statues. The Wundrous Society always seemed a bit dodgy, […]
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She was alive
Morrigan Crow following her leap from the Deucalion roof. Still in progress – my initial draft is below. I really wanted to capture the early morning light and the warmth […]
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Step boldly!
A work in progress, as on the dawn of the new age, guests at the Hotel Deucalion leap from the roof, umbrellas in hand.
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Poor kitchen cat
Another tragic death in the Crow family. Morrigan didn’t kill Kitchen Cat, not that this fact stopped everyone blaming her.
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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 of the Covid19 lockdown to illustrate the whole […]
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Jupiter North
Jupiter North introduces himself at Crow Manor, after giving suitable warning as to his outstanding gingerness.
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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 scenes – my choice for this one was […]
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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 magnificat.
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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 second Krita drawing on my new (old) EliteBook […]
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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, unrecognisable shape, “…a dragon.” Another illustration from Nevermoor, […]
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Mermaid
I’m not sure why I got the inspiration to draw mermaids – I was doodling before a training session at work and found myself drawing tails on characters.
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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.
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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 for the invite!).
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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 recently. I decided to have Nimue rather than […]
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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 them mid fight with Arthur’s sword breaking, but […]
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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 while I’m feeling inspired. I imagined this as […]
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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 – I’m not sure how some of the more […]
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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 into the stone is a memorable one. I […]
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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 great thing about silhouettes is that it’s so […]
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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 the design of ‘Drawing Excalibur’ with the […]
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Yellow king
Not intended to be the The King in Yellow – I’m working my way through the colour wheel in Rebelle3 and reached the yellow palette. My original intention with the […]
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Uther
High King Uther, in his prime, but close to his fall. This was another digital sketch that inspired me to create another series of portraits from the Arthurian saga.
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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 for the castle – I wanted it to […]
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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 Moving Castle. House of Illustration competition 2019
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Magical combat
But almost as Michael and Sophie arrived, the clot of magic took on the shape of a misty bundle of fighting snakes. Howl’s Moving Castle. House of Illustration competition 2019
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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 House of illustration competition 2019. Of all of […]
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Holding Wunder
“Morrigan felt panic creep in. it had all felt so right, just a moment ago. She was holding Wunder in the palms of her hands, as if she was […]
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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 and Rebelle 3 I keep on having to […]
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Wundercats!
“He leapt from her arms a yowling cub. But by the time he had landed on the ground he was a towering, terrifying beast, grown strong on Morrigan’s own uncontainable […]
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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 piece I wanted something that was both decorative […]
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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 for more blurb space! The sepia paper allowed […]
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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 subject for my Hobbit drawings that I wanted […]
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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 explicit, even though our hero is about to […]
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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 a lot of humour – rather like a […]
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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 in a modern children’s book, even if Jim […]
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Blind Pew
Blind Pew always left an impression on me – as a villain, he’s a brilliant and quite understated character and probable the nastiest character in the book. I’ve edited this […]
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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 marker quite right.
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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 smoke and creating depth with height – it’s […]
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Abandoning the Hispaniola
I bought a pad of sepia paper on a whim and decided to use it to add an extra layer to my silhouette work. Thebrown seemed to suit ‘Treasure Island’ […]
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The Hobbit. Journey to Rivendell
I’ve just moved back to colour pencils and it’s been one of those “where have you been all my life?!” moments. When I studied art, colour pencils were never really […]
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Railhead – The Damask Rose
I’m still kicking myself that I met Philip Reeve and completely forgot to bring my copy of Railhead along to get signed. The sillhouette piece of the Damask Rose was […]
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Expecto Patronum!
I returned to Harry Potter for an action based scene to illustrate. This one gave me the opportunity to play around properly with rendering specific areas light and dark. I […]