The Giant has awoke! Stone Giant – Michelangelo’s David and How He Came to Be, written by Jane Sutcliffe, has been my biggest illustration project of the last year. Although the book was commissioned from the US, the first version to hit the shops is in Japanese – in order to tie in with a major exhibition of Michelangelo’s work at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, Komine Shoten have fast released their edition of the book in advance, it’s now on sale throughout Ja

Here’s a sneak preview of some of the drawings from the book. One of the most interesting things about working on historical fiction is researching the period. I’ve always been fascinated by history, I often think if I wasn’t an illustrator I’d have become a researcher or archaeologist, nevertheless I have to admit my knowledge of 1880’s Colorado was limited. Nowadays the internet is a great help in finding accurate period references, but the publishers also kindly sent me a

My next book out in America will be Family Reminders. Written by Julie Danneberg and published by Charlesbridge, with black and white illustrations by your’s truely. Mary McHugh has a nearly perfect life in the frontier town of Cripple Creek, Colorado, but all that changes when her father suffers a serius mining accident. He no longer whistles, plays the piano, or carves the intricate wooden “Reminders” that mark the milestones in the family’s life together. Mostly he sits i