• Frankenstein's Legions - Scots Guard
  • Frankenstein's Legions - Grande Armee
  • Return to Firetop Mountain
  • Bloodbones
  • Frankenstein's Legions - Hussar
  • Talisman of Death
  • Film visualization stuff
  • Blue Mouse Blacksmith
  • Lycanthrope
  • The Tank
  • Legend of Zagor
  • Frankenstein's Legions - French Grenadier
  • Gnome
  • Mirabilis - Jack Ember
  • Diabolist
  • Angry Mob
  • Blue Queen
  • Spellbreaker
  • Film visualization stuff
  • Vampire Hunter

GALLERY

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About


Hello, I'm a freelance illustrator based in the UK.
I was born in London, and started out in illustration with work for fantasy & horror small press magazines in the '80s, in particular the H.P. Lovecraft-devoted Dagon. My first professional commissions came from Games Workshop for their magazine White Dwarf, and this began a long relationship with the company, illustrating lots of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay publications and the very first Warhammer 40,000 book, as well as many other GW books and boardgames. I've also done game-related material for other publishers, including covers and internal illustrations for twenty-two (I think) of the Fighting Fantasy series from Puffin Books/Wizard Books, and card art for Magic: The Gathering from Wizards of the Coast.

I've also produced artwork for various publishers around the world including Scholastic, Time-Warner, HarperCollins and Oxford University Press, illustrating popular authors such as Anne McCaffrey, Raymond E. Feist and Harry Turtledove, as well as some classics including Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and The Silver Sword. I was fortunate enough to receive the British Fantasy Award for Best Artist.

I illustrated the book accompanying the album release of Misterstourworm & the Kelpie's Gift, an orchestral work based on stories and characters from Scottish legend. My artwork was used as large-scale backdrops for live performances of the work by The Orchestra of Scottish Opera, with narration by Lord of the Rings actor Billy Boyd.

As an author, I've written some books about digital art including Digital Fantasy Painting Workshop and Digital Horror Art, and edited Fantasy Art Now published by Collins. In addition to work in publishing, I occasionally do concept and production art for computer games (following two years as an in-house artist at Eidos Interactive), and film and television productions which have included the BAFTA-nominated The Magician of Samarkand for the BBC, and most recently Gulliver's Travels for 20th Century Fox.

Currently: October 2015: My latest picture book The Crocodolly was published in hardback by Scholastic last month, and is available in Australia, New Zealand, and soon to be released throughout Asia in English, also with a translation into Chinese. The Crocodolly is something of a companion to my earlier picture book The Octopuppy which has been doing pretty well internationally -- more info at www.theoctopuppy.com  Right now I'm working on my next picture book; so most of my energies have been directed towards my books for children. But I've also just finished another album cover for Axel Rudi Pell, which is the fifth sleeve I've done for his records.  I've also been doing a little bit of work on the Game of Thrones computer game.

martin@martinmckenna.net 

  • List of Published Work
  • List of Clients
  • Merchandise at Wardrobe Of Terror
  • The old martinmckenna.net
  • The Octopuppy
  • Prints at ArtPal
  • Artwork Archive at Flickr
  • News

    Faeries Artbook


    Nestiveqnen Editions of Provence have published Faeries, a very attractive hardback collection of fantasy art.  Yes, it's got a load of faries in it, but there are lots of other things too... let's have a look... ooh a pirate lady with hardly any clothes on (by Clyde Caldwell), a feller what looks like Elric on a horse with horns (by Wei Chen); all sorts of non-fairy goodness.  Oh look there's a Mummy.  Anyway I'm in there with a bit of artwork, as well as in a photo, gurning.



    • reddit.com

    Gothic Art Now


    Gothic Art Now includes a wee bit of artwork from me.  It's edited by Jasmine Beckett-Griffith and published by Ilex Press, and features lots of heavy eye make-up, stripy stockings, and weeping.  Plenty of nice, disturbing pics.  Buy it here.



    • reddit.com

    Exhibition in Denmark


    My artwork has been featured in an exhibition at the Kroppedal Museum in Taastrup, Denmark.  The exhibition Moon included my Howl of the Werewolf image as part of the display.




    • reddit.com

    L'univers des Dragons


    Bit of artwork of mine appears in the second volume of L'univers des Dragons published by Galerie Daniel Maghen. Both books are really attractive productions, and are packed with lovely pics from all sorts of talented bods including Paul Bonner, Aleksi Briclot, and Angus McBride. Very tasty.



    • reddit.com

    Fantasy Art Magazine tutorial in China


    Old news!  China's Fantasy Art magazine featured a four-page tutorial on the creation of my Talisman of Death pic.  The same issue, whichever one it was, features stuff from Jim Murray, Kerem Beyit, and lots of others.  Anyway here's a picture.



    • reddit.com

    Fighting Fantasy Relaunch


    In September the Fighting Fantasy books are due for another relaunchfrom Wizard Books, repackaged with new cover designs across the series.



    Here's a mock-up for the first release The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, with artwork cobbled from my Return to Firetop Mountain cover.  I've just finished the actual artwork to go on this cover, which I'll whack up here shortly.

    • reddit.com

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