Ghost Stories of M.R. James

I've been working on some new horror illustrations to beef up that section of my portfolio, so here are some illustrations for 5 ghost stories by M.R. James. Surprisingly most of his ghosts are more like monsters than an archetypal 'ghost', they tend to be solid and hairy.

I also noticed the impact of some stories is reduced if you don't share his pathological fear of spiders. Personally, I've found too many spiders in my hair over the years to be frightened of cobwebs.

In order, these are Canon Alberic's Scrapbook, The Ash Tree, O Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and The Tractate Middoth.

The Spook's Apprentice

I've been working on some book illustrations for a portfolio update, so I picked a few scenes from The Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, which is a book I really enjoyed. Originally I planned to do these in gel pen, but I realised I'm still very happy with the illustrations from The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray that I did in that style, so I tried something a bit different and went for thicker cross-hatching done entirely in dip pen. I also tried a few insets instead of sticking with only full-page illustrations, and experimented a bit with new compositions.

Of course, any kind of horror illustration is still firmly within my comfort zone. Up next, something a bit lighter and more child-friendly.

Sabriel

This is an illustration I did based on Sabriel, by Garth Nix. At some point I’d like to do a whole series, but I’d need to have a lot more free time.

I also realised after finishing it that I've managed to contradict the text, which is something I try very hard not to do. (Sabriel climbs steps on the way out of the valley, but not into it.)  I'm pleased with the light effects though.

poetry illustrations

Since a copy of the book arrived in the post just before Christmas, now seems like a good time to show you these!

These are a pair of illustrations I made for a Save the Children poetry book called Born to Giggle. I was assigned two poems, called Hair So Long Song and I Like A Wood. I thought they were both sweet, and I like having the chance to work without shading. I think the second picture is my favourite, but I'm pleased with both. Later I got given an extra one about a missing tortoise, so I got to draw a tortoise as well!

The Wolves of Whilloughby Chase

I've been trying to get into the habit of doing sketches from the books I'm reading, since book illustration is my main focus. (Not that you'd know from all the comics I've been doing lately!) So here are some doodles from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. There's a lot more books in the series, so you can expect more pictures!

The characters here are Bonnie Green, Sylvia Green and Simon (a boy who lives wild in the grounds, raising geese). Sylvia was by far the hardest, as she's never really described in any detail. I didn't really pin her down until I drew the girls by the fire.

This is a kind of technique I've used before, where I draw with a fountain pen using cheap, water-soluble ink, then spread it with water. I think it's good for me, since precision is really important to me, and this is a really unpredictable way to work.

Carver

Tada!  The last picture from Alaizabel.  It's supposed to echo the picture of Marey Woolbury from the start of the set.  I think it came out better than the other one, to be honest, the hatching is a bit tidier.

Also the cover, if you're interested.  It's an oil painting, which is a medium I have a lot of experience with, but not much skill (in my opinion).  It's supposed to be a bit indistinct, but I might have taken it a bit too far.  What do you think?

Also, singing to your plants.  Is this adorable, or a sign that you're a bit of a nutter?

Rawhead and the Wight

I saved these two for (almost) last because I'm very pleased with how they came out, despite some misgivings during the drawing process.  I'm particularly pleased with Rawhead, because I had to design him from scratch rather than relying on the mental image I had when I read the book as a teenager.  I originally confused him with another monster, Bloodybones, so I had to look up the description and follow it very carefully.

I used these for two of the postcards I made to take to the London Book Fair.

The Cradlejack and The Door

Two more Alaizabel illustrations.  The Cradlejack is one of the extra ones I did to improve the page multiple.  The door looks like a massive cop-out, right?  It's honestly not, when you've read the whole chapter that it's meant to fit in then it should be creepy.

There's only 3 more of these to go!

The Rooftop and The Wych-Dog

Two more illustrations for Alaizabel, both actually featuring the title character for once!  The wych-dog wasn't originally in my planned set, but I included to extra ones because I wanted a better multiple for printing.

The Hallow-Ghoul and The Gathering

I occurred to me that it might be a good idea to post more than one of these at once.  I like having a buffer of images so updates don't tail off if I'm too busy to scan things, but I'm making postcards and building a portfolio for the London Book Fair, so I don't think I'll be running out of scanned pictures soon.

Anyway, these are obviously still from Alaizabel.  The Hallow-Ghoul protects an old church and believes itself to still be alive.  The Gathering shows some members of the secret society that serves as the book's collective antagonist.

The church the Hallow-Ghoul is wandering is heavily based on my own church at home, if you're curious.

The Ceremony

This is from the penultimate chapter, and shows Thatch possessing the unfortunate Chastity Blaine, rather than Alaizabel.

Bone City

This is one of my personal favourites from my Alaizabel project, it's a vision Thaniel has of the future if they don't stop the plans of a secret society.

The Night Mare

Another Alaizabel illustration, this one is one of my personal favourites now that most of them are done. I do worry I may have made it a little too scary for a teen fiction novel, but Alaizabel is a horror story...

This took me 4 episodes of Criminal Minds and constant access to tea to complete.  Cross-hatching is a cruel mistress.

The Sanctuary

Another illustration for Alaizabel, showing two of the main characters (Thaniel Fox and Cathaline Bennet) performing a rite.  It's interesting how infrequently they appeared in the end, even Alaizabel is only in about three pictures out of 29.

Thatch

Another illustration for The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray.  This is actually the title character, Alaizabel, but she's possessed by a ghost called Thatch.  We only ever see Thatch possessing another body, Alaizabel for most of the book, an unfortunate girl called Chastity Blaine nearer the end.

Stitch-Face

This is another picture from my current project.  A Jack the Ripper style serial killer plays a supporting role in the story.  He drives the carriage with the white and black horses.

Marey Woolbury

Since I've spent all day messing around with the layout on here (again), I thought I should probably upload a new picture too.  This is one of the pictures for my current university project, illustrating The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding.  I'm still working on most of them, but I'm hoping to get about 15 finished (of 29 possible images).

More Poison

These are the three portrait illustrations.  One of my favourite things about them was the hatching on the backgrounds, but it takes so long to do that I haven't done anything in that style lately.  I should probably use it more.

Poison

I thought you might be interested in these, they're illustrations for Poison by Chris Wooding that I did on my art foundation course (2008).  They're still some of my favourites of my own work, even if the choice of 3 landscape, 3 portrait was ill-advised.  I'll upload the portrait ones later.

Snow White

These are from a project last year, illustrating Snow White.  They're a little gruesome, but I like them.