I just finished inking in! And yes, it’s from Jack and the Beanstalk as many people soon spotted. This is the scene where Jack ignores his mother’s pleading and ascends the beanstalk for the third and last time. The brooding clouds and tossed leaves are to suggest the trouble that lies ahead. Can you spot something unusual about those clouds? It looks quite flat at the moment, but the clouds, drawn in thinned ink, will blend into the watercolour washes, while sharper colours

Finally catching up with things after the exhibition. Here’s another illustration blog,ILLUSTRATION ART, a sharply observed insight on the lost craft of technique. It got me thinking. (Here we go, another grumble…) It’s been suggested that the two world wars basically destroyed the skills of finish and technique for illustrators, (you know, the “craft” part of Arts & Crafts), though the 20th Century was pretty much of a helter-skelter for creativity even without two titanic s

Recently I’ve been reading Malcom Yorke’s fascinating biography of author/illustrator Mervyn Peake (1911-1968), one of my illustration ‘heroes’. In 1947 Peake was interviewed on BBC Radio and waxed lyrical on the subject of book illustration. His ideas are so close to my own opinions on the subject I can’t resist quoting the great man’s words here: For a book illustrator “above all things there must be the power to slide into another man’s soul. The power to be identified wit

One thing I always have to be careful of in illustration is having line details swamped when it comes to adding colour. For example this pic. I actually prefer the B/W pen and ink underdrawing to the finished art. Publish Post The colour version is how it appeared in the final book. It’s an illustration to Hans Andersen’s story “The Flea and the Professor”. #childrensbooks #illustration #technique