GALLERY
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.
News from February 2012
Headless Highwayman
Sunday, February 12, 2012
The cover I did for The Headless Highwayman, the first book in the Grim and Grimmer series by Ian Irvine published by the excellent Omnibus Books, an imprint of Scholastic.
The back of the book features a silhouette of our lanky young hero Ike being pursued by an imp. Originally I was thinking of showing Ike more fully and here are some roughs. He's a bit of a wimp, but has a magic pen which he's seen wielding here.
The final cover is nicely glossy with shiny red foil to the titling and horse's eye.
Wolfback
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Werewolf fan Jake, from Washington state, has had a tattoo done of my Howl of the Werewolf artwork. It's a big 'un! I'm delighted he likes the pic so much. Seen here glimpsed through his bloody shirt as part of a Halloween costume.
Werewolf fest
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Not having posted it at the time, here's a pic of the T-shirts and posters featuring my werewolf used to promote the Pounding Metal Fest in Madrid.
The Crest
Saturday, February 11, 2012
I did the artwork for Axel Rudi Pell's album The Crest. It was especially good to see my artwork appear on a gatefold sleeve vinyl album, one of those things I'd always wanted to illustrate but thought I'd missed the opportunity in these days of music downloads. It was the first of three albums I've illustrated for Axel, and I'll bung details of the others here in due course.
The vinyl edition:
The limited edition deluxe CD:
The German TV spot:
Horror bits
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Some recent titles featuring interior artwork by me. The Monster Book of Zombies from Metro Books, New York. And Il Grande Libro Di Dracula and Vampiri!, both from Newton Compton Editori, Italy. Bargain bin!
Legend of Zagor on the telly
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Here's a TV ad for the Legend of Zagor boardgame from Hasbro/Parker which I illustrated back in '93. Hear Patrick Mower's voice and despair.
And a version of the ad that appeared on TV in Greece:
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