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 April 2012
SFX Special Edition
Saturday, April 21, 2012
To celebrate thirty years of Fighting Fantasy, SFX Fantasy: The Ultimate Celebration (SFX Special Edition 55) features a twelve-page article by Jonathan Green entitled The Legacy of Firetop Mountain, or how Fighting Fantasy gamebooks conquered the world. It's illustrated with lots of artwork from the books, including quite a few of the covers done by me. The magazine is full of lots of other fantasy doings, including Game of Thrones and Mary Poppins.You can buy a copy here.
Character Design & Model Release
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Here's the sketch I did for the character of Henrietta Jekyll, for Infamy Miniatures.
The model based on my drawing is the first release in a range of steampunk figurines I've done the concept designs for. The sculpture is by Sebastian Archer, and the photos show a model fully painted by Stephan Rath. To purchase this first release and find out more about the forthcoming range visit the Infamy Miniatures site.
"Infamy Miniatures is a new company producing high quality 32mm scale resin models. From concept to sculpt, casting through to painting, some of the very best artists and craftsmen around ensure that each Infamy miniature is totally bloody awesome. Alongside the miniatures, we are developing the world of Infamy and a skirmish game set within it. Opportunistic rabble-rousers, crime lords, kingpins and undesirables battle for supremacy in a steampunk-styled alternative London that you can be a part of."
The Calamitous Queen
Sunday, April 15, 2012
The cover I did for The Calamitous Queen, the fourth book in the Grim and Grimmer series by Ian Irvine published by the excellent Omnibus Books, an imprint of Scholastic.
A rough of the figure, above, en route to getting her look sorted. She needed to appear imperious yet vulnerable. A couple of earlier rough doodles, below.
The back of the book features a silhouette of our hero Ike, this time imploring our heroine Mellie not to clear off in a dirigible powered by a whisk-action propeller.
Blog Interview
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Saturday 14th April is Martin McKenna Day over at ace author Jonathan Green's blog. Head over there and join in the celebrations. There's a Watney's Party Seven! Long eggs! Margaret Dumont singing! Dancing girls, ha-cha-cha! Joyous cries and tumultuous cheering! Thunderously crashing cymbals! Some old ladies applauding! The old bells of the cathedral pealing forth! The birds on high filling the air with their purest rhapsodies and the flowers below opening their very blossoms in sweetest celebration! And some properly embarrassing old stinkers from my artwork archives that Jon's decided to dredge up and show everybody. Hooray!
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Links
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