Monday 27 May 2013

The Forgotten Spell: Latest Illustration Project!!

Right now I'm very busy with an exciting illustration project, The Forgotten Spell - the first of a trilogy of  evocative fantasy gamebooks for Louisa Dent Pearce of Spellcaster Games.

In this first book, You (the reader) are snatched from the mundane world and thrust into the terrifying city of Suidemor, a vast, fantastic and twisted metropolis built by the Elder Fey in a hidden realm beyond the mortal world. Hunted by the malevolent Olcrada you must solve puzzles and use spells find your way, survive and find the Forgotten Spell.


I'm especially enthused by this project because it plays right to my strengths as an illustrator. The backdrop of the bizarre city of Suidemort with its crumbling ragtag maze of twisted streets and alleyways is like an exaggerated steampunk Victorian London built by spell-wielding malevolent faeries, full of atmosphere. The population are a myriad of fey creatures: Elves, trolls, goblins, fey of all kinds, no two alike...I have been free to let my imagination run riot here!!  Best thing is that for the first time in many years I have been able to plunge myself into this project as a full-time freelance illustrator, which means I can give these illos the time and care they richly deserve and show my full mettle as an illustrator. I'm pretty proud of the work I've done so far and this is only the first book!!






I had such great fun creating all these wierd creatures...here's a closeup:

  The illos have been created mostly in pencil, then scanned, modified and coloured using Photoshop. In each I've tried to achieve a depth of field. I want them to be images you can spend time to explore and spot new things.