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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
At the bonfire
Another dark fantasy piece. This one was directly inspired by the Dark Souls series of videogames – itself inspired by the Fighting …
Brigand
My monster illustrations were a trip back to my childhood spent reading Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s ‘Fighting Fantasy’ series. The silhouette …
Red Riding Hood sets out
My final Red Riding Hood piece for now. This is close in composition (though it has fewer frames) to the drawing that …
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. …
Quidditch
The last of my Harry Potter images for now. This was another earlier piece that I drew to test out ideas for …
Perseus and Medusa
Intended as an interior book illustration, my intention with this was to play around with perspective using silhouettes. The scene shows Perseus …
