Horses

A behind the scenes peek at some development work I'm doing for Templar Publishing. The drawing and shading is all done on various hue/saturation layers, which informs how the colours, when they eventually arrive, will appear underneath.

The Evergreen Archive - "Shocking Yarns"

These were part of a delusional, market-oblivious attempt to pitch myself as a greetings card artist many, many years ago. Must have been 1997 or thereabouts - I'd not long moved down to Brighton and was feeling all energetic and enthusiastic about, ooh, everything, if not remotely clued-up about any of it. One of my many doomed schemes from the time was a huge batch of 'funnies', all carefully rendered in pen & ink with zero colour, because, well, badly drawn, colourful greeting cards seemed to be incredibly popular, so obviously what people must really have wanted was some well drawn black and white ones. Erm, heh heh. They didn't have the desired effect, of course, but god it was fun doing them. Most were surreal, silly gags - for these three I wandered off down a more specific side road (the title being a big obvious tip of the hat to Michael Palin and Terry Jones's 'Ripping Yarns').

4.2.3 Poster

Here's the determinedly monochrome version of my poster for 4.2.3, a short film by Ryan Colucci.

A few colours were added "in-house" for the final image. I'd had a few cracks at it myself, but hated the sight of them, and gladly handed it over to be finished elsewhere. I still think the 'pure' one work better, to be honest. It's a bit classier, to my eyes. You have to be careful about adding yellow and brown to white... it can be somewhat suggestive of a bed of snow that someone's done their business in!

Evil Vampirical Thing (Again)

Just had a good tinker with this long neglected portfolio piece, which I'd thought was finished until looking back at it this afternoon. Lordy, what was going on with her head? Serious cranium issues there! I think sometimes I forget whether I'm supposed to be doing cartoony or realistic, and end up with these characters who are just plain misshapen. Anyway, everyone at least appears to be roughly the right shape now, and hopefully the style's a little richer than it was.

A Tale Dark & Grimm - Process

Great experience, this. And a firm reminder of an illustration basic that can all too easily go astray in the heat of a job requiring a fast turnaround, ie: get the pencils at least 80% right before proceeding to the finals! You'll see what I mean...

The client wanted something quirky and Coraline-ish, nothing too realistic; exaggerated proportions with a dark, bloody atmosphere. But not too dark and bloody. So I just thought: Stylistic Big Head. Instant gentle cartoonishness. Trouble is, if you're not careful, this can make the characters look younger than they should be...

Hansel and Gretel do actually age a good few years throughout the book (which, in a neat sort of way, is reflected in how they evolve from the rough at the top there to the finished piece down at the bottom). But do you depict them as the unfortunate babes in peril they are at the start of the book, or the much more rounded, life-or-death-decision making young adults they've become by the end..? Or somewhere inbetween? Unconsciously, I think I went for somewhere inbetween. Best of both worlds, you know?

Ooh it's a minefield...

Anyway, the initial rough was approved with the proviso that the characters needed to look older and exude plenty of extra attitude...

This being a bit of a rush job, as well as my first proper book cover, my brain was totally focussed on the finish. It has to look great.  No room for ineptness anywhere...

So although H & G's faces have evolved somewhat from the rough...

...maybe I've been getting sidetracked by the rendering.

It's certainly not floating the client's boat just yet. Too young? Lacking in quirk and attitude? Let's try this...

No? Ah.

Gretel's not bad, but Hansel looks like Morten Harket's evil younger brother. I'm somehow just not getting it, which doesn't often happen. It's starting to feel like stage fright.

Swap them around. Give Hansel the sword and Gretel a dagger. Make him look more aspirational...

No..? Okay...

Let's abandon the computer for an hour, pick up a pencil, grab a piece of paper and draw...

Yes...? Excellent.

And there we have it. Looking back, I really like all the different takes; it feels like there's an appropriate version for each section of the story.

Anyway, 'hope this made for an interesting insight into the rollercoaster world of cover illustration! As mentioned previously, on this blog and in reviews all over the universe, this book is a blinding read, so if lashings of blacker-than-black humour and dark, breathless adventure are your thing...

A Tale Dark & Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz, published in the UK by Andersen Press.

Adam's site.