ILLUSTR8 - The Art Of Christopher Gibbs

The Capture of Cerberus - new audio book cover.

2011-06-24T17:29:00.005+01:00

A little update for you as I don't seem to have much time to blog of late.

Just completed a new cover for BBC Audio books for the Agatha Christie series.

Now this cover - The Capture of Cerberus - had a few changes, below you can see the 3 stages. I thought it may be interesting to see them all. Firstly you have my original concept sent as a rough ( a highly polished rough mind you)....

Then the word came back that they did not want to be dog specific, so hence the next cover...with no dog...where I used parts of the story to begin to hint at the form of prison bars (the German gun, then the dog lead)....as a character was in a mental asylum (I know how that feels) :

The word came back that a gun was not required...... so had to remove that, and hence the final image which may be in your book stores and online shops sometime before Christmas:

Still like the original, still like the gun..... but 'changes' happen.

Anyway, just a quick congrats to all the graduating Illustrators at NUCA 2011, been a pleasure to see your work over the past couple of years and wishing you all the best in the future.

Elidor - Radio Times editorial

2011-04-06T16:05:00.002+01:00

So.... not much time for blogging of late, not much time for much other than a series of covers I'm working on, but I did manage to somehow fit in this quick editorial for the Radio Times.

Completed in 2 days from start to finish ( including a few hours on the train to and from Norwich while lecturing).

The 13 Secrets - trailer

2010-12-02T19:36:00.007Z

Wow, how cool is this!

In the build up to the release of Michelle Harrison's final part of the '13' trilogy, this is the trailer from Simon and Schuster for 'The 13 Secrets' published early February 2011. Nice to see the 3 covers all together at the end of the trailer.

If you double click on the screen above, it should take you to the direct youtube link so you can see the whole screen, rather then the 3/4 on my blog.

The first title in this dark faerie series, The 13 Treasures, won the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize in 2009 and the series since has gone on to sell over 100,000 copies, which is amazing.

Well done Michelle, and good luck for the release.

New Cover : Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

2010-12-02T19:29:00.002Z

Just out in lovely hardback from Bloomsbury U.K. is the fantastic 'Revolution' by Jennifer Donnelly. Jennifer's debut novel, A Gathering Light, won the Carnegie Award in 2003. One of the many covers completed in recent months.

The 13 Secrets - book cover

2010-08-10T11:55:00.002+01:00

Apologies for the lack of blog recently - things here have been pretty busy and I'm saving lots of the latest work for my new website. However, I have recently finished the cover for 'The Thirteen Secrets', the third (perhaps final?!) book in the Treasures/Curses series by the fantastic Michelle Harrison, and thought I should share it with you.

The Filigree inside the '13' probably took me about 4 or 5 days of solid work, then with seperate layers in Photoshop I could select certain elements, drop shadows and add highlights. I have to say, I think it's possibly my favourite cover of the three titles, each one seems to have got progressively more refined. The designer, Nick Stearn at S&S has done a great job as always, so thanks for this commission.

The Thirteen Secrets is due to be published in the U.K. by Simon & Schuster on the 3rd February 2011. Keep up to date with the award winning author at her website : http://www.michelleharrisonbooks.com/

Radio Times - New Editorial

2010-03-26T16:12:00.002Z

Fresh upon the U.K. shelves this week, this editorial is in the back of the BBC Radio Times magazine (radio section). Huge thanks to Ped at RT, always a pleasure working with you.

Night of the Solstice - new cover

2010-03-12T11:34:00.002Z

Here is a new cover produced for the L.J. Smith's (author of the 'Vampire Diaries') 'Night of the Solstice', due to be published in paperback by Simon and Schuster July 1st. The book's release sort of co-insides with the t.v. series of 'Diaries' here in the U.K., as such the deadline for this project was about 7 days from brief to final image.

It was a real challenge..... a couple of sleepless nights, digital painting and some fairy dust thrown in for good measure. The following week I completed the cover for the sequel, with about the same amount of time.......the week after that I had a good sleep :-)

Thanks to Nick at S&S for the project.

New Editorial

2010-03-12T11:28:00.004Z

Hey, sorry for the lack of posts of late............ it's been a busy time, plus I managed to break my camera in the mix of it all. Gutted.

Here is an editorial image produced about a month ago for the lovely people at Woman's Weekly (fiction special) - the final version was revised to have the character looking less sinister, and the removal of the woman, but I still like the original, so here it is.

And blog posts are like buses.......... nothing for ages, then two come at once.......

The Time Machine - H.G. Wells - new cover

2010-01-05T17:38:00.003Z

Hey everyone long time, no post.......

Originally only intended to do this blog thing for a year, 2 years down the line it's not as frequent as it used to be but it's still alive... it's been a crazy time of late, got some great commissions in and been very busy..... and let me take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year wherever you may be.

Just before Christmas, I got this lovely commission in from the Masterworks series.......... a chance to do a new cover for the 'The Time Machine'. I can't tell you how much this meant to me, personally as I am such a fan of this author. It was like a dream commission, that's all I can say. I put in some serious over-time on this cover, muchos blood sweat and tears, but I am very happy with it, so here it is :

The heartbreaking news for me is the publisher has altered my image, and the cover that is coming out has been changed to fit in with the rest of the re-releases of that genre......... I guess that makes a great set for you guys, and for them - but personally gutted my 'vision' wont be seen. In the words of the Pope, 'bugger'.

The Evolution Of A Book Cover - Victoria Holt

2009-10-06T16:47:00.006+01:00

I thought it may be fun to post how a cover 'evolves' through the vision of the image maker and the art director.

A few weeks ago I was asked to come up with a cover concept for Victoria Holt's 'On the Night of the Seventh Moon' for St Martin's Press over in NYC. My agent informed me they liked the cover I did for 'Half Broken Things', but would like something slightly simpler, with less panels etc........so, instead of repeating myself (which is actually sometimes what clients of course want you to do) I came up with the rough below, which I sent off.

While this was a detailed rough, it wasn't the finished article by any means (the castle turrets would need more work, the face a bit more manipulation/painting etc).......but I liked the way it was heading, with the strong diagonal which I was hoping would allow some exciting ideas for the type placement.

The art director decided they wanted to go with something a little more straight forward. I guess, obviously they are looking for the cover to appeal mass market, the whole idea is of course to sell books! So they wanted a straight panel........ they had a stock shot of a woman they would like to use on the cover, so I integrated that within the image and, basically the cover was 'art directed'.

Below you can see the finished layered image I sent off on the left, and after some slight tweaking by the art director, the final cover on the right.

On a side note - some 'people' have a real problem with this, it's very easy to get precious about the image making process and of course, in and ideal world, we would all love our illustrations to be our 'baby's'. For me though, the reality is that I want to make my clients as happy as they can be first and foremost - we are trying to solve a problem - TOGETHER. An art directors job is to 'direct' the artist, sometimes a vision wont get through due to marketing decisions, editors opinions, authors thoughts etc etc - it can be a minefield - but if the art director and illustrator communicate well together, all problems can be solved in my opinion.

This is my living - illustration/image making is what I have always wanted to do, and ultimately I am very grateful people come to me for my help and expertise - I am lucky enough to make a living from this and never, ever take this for granted. I know too many talented people that unfortunately have not been as lucky as myself.

Below you can see the other Victoria Holt title I have just finished, completed with the same process.

Huge thanks to Jeanette for allowing me to post about this process.

New Cover - Map Of Marvels

2009-09-29T16:12:00.002+01:00

This is the cover (front, spine, back) for ' The Map of Marvels' by David Calcutt, due to be released by Oxford University Press around May 2010 (according to Amazon). This was a hugely challenging brief, so I hope to have done it some justice.

Commissioned and designed by the always 'marvel'-ous Molly Dallas at .O.U.P.

I also had the pleasure of doing a couple of other covers for David Calcutt, 'Shadowbringer' and 'Crowboy', both of which can be found elsewhere on this blog.

13 TREASURES - SPARE PRINT FOR SALE

2009-09-27T18:00:00.009+01:00

Hey,

So a while back I had a giclee print of the cover for 'The Thirteen Treasures' made for the author Michelle Harrison, and as back up I had another print made, which I've decided to let go of in case anybody who likes the book (and my work) would like it. I really don't know why I'm hanging onto it.

It is signed and dated - though my signature on artworks is generally a block caps spelling of my name - executed using a pencil. Wow!

It is on 180g German Etching paper (unframed), is limited edition (2 of 2) as of now but I do intend to start selling some prints of certain artworks later on down the line (when my new website is finally finished, hopefully before 2015) and will be sent recorded delivery in the U.K. Not really offered anything like this before, so this is kind of a test I guess.

45 quid first come, first served (cheques, postal orders, cash sent at senders risk)....... drop me an email if you are interested - chris@christopher-gibbs.com

New Agatha Christie audiobook cover : Towards Zero

2009-09-24T18:29:00.002+01:00

Here is a new cover for BBC Audiobooks, another Agatha Christie title (the 42nd, 43rd I have done?!) 'Towards Zero' should be in your local bookstore or Amazon in the very near future.

Huge thanks to Dick at the BBC for being so patient.

Note to self - don't digitally cut out tennis racket strings ever again.

Agent update

2009-09-24T18:25:00.004+01:00

Hey, little time to blog of late - huge apologies, but somehow I'm still alive and all is well.

My fantastic agents, Arena, have updated my page on their site...... please go to www.arenaworks.com, show some love and check out their other fantastic illustrators!

The 13 Curses - new cover

2009-07-02T14:51:00.003+01:00

Here is a sneak preview of the cover for 'The 13 Curses', the sequel to Michelle Harrison's 'The 13 Treasures' which won the Waterstone's Children's book prize earlier this year.

Having illustrated the cover for the first book, I really wanted to push this one and try to make it better - it's certainly more intricate with lots of detail, but I'll leave it up to you to see if you think it measures up.

I think the background may end being a foil, to make it more eye catching on the shelves/racks..... and I'm sure the designer, Nick Stearn at Simon & Schuster, will do a fab job of that (thanks for the low-res Nick).

Here's hoping that upon it's release it is as successful as the first book, I'm sure it will be equally fantastic to read -so keep your eyes peeled at your local bookstore.

Tom Scatterhorn 2 : The Hidden World paperback

2009-07-02T14:31:00.003+01:00

Hey Everyone

Here is the paperback artwork for 'The Hidden World', simpler than the hardback version and in the same vein as the paperback for 'The Museum's Secret'.

'The Hidden World' is out in it's hardback via from Oxford University Press in September.

Go get your pre-order on at Amazon/Waterstone's etc!

A Madness of Angels

2009-06-28T11:32:00.004+01:00

Here is a another cover I created recently.......the sequel is due out in the coming months, so I'll post that cover soon too. This one was made working closely with the designers ideas - A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin is out in all good book stores now!

New cover - Ghost of a chance

2009-06-27T15:04:00.009+01:00

Here is a new cover for 'Ghost of a chance', by Rhiannon Lassiter, to be released by Oxford University Press at some point in the near future.

I also did the 'Bad Blood' cover, and the rights of passage trilogy for the same author, so go check those out too. Huge thanks as always to the brilliant and lovely Molly Dallas at O.U.P.

Apologies for the lack of 'blogging' of late, it's been such a busy time.......but I'll be posting a few bits this week in between more work and a bit of Wimbledon. Go Andy Murray!

New Radio Times - Tough Love

2009-04-27T09:27:00.002+01:00

Well, amongst the current book cover madness I managed to fit this illo in for Ped at Radio Times (thank you sir). 'Tough Love' is a radio play that focuses on a mother and her decision to kick her heroin drug addict son out.....so, if you have a look at my illustration, 'you get the idea of that' as Harry Hill would say.

Commissioned last Friday at 5:30 pm, artwork finished 7:00 pm the next day.....delivered Tuesday morning as was busy on the Monday and had the Sunday off, yay!

Tom Scatterhorn 2 : The Hidden World

2009-04-03T10:44:00.004+01:00

Just finished the cover for the sequel to 'The Museum's Secret'.

'The Remarkable Adventures Of Tom Scatterhorn : The Hidden World' by Henry Chancellor should be in bookstores around September 2009, published by Oxford University Press. A paperback of the first book (for which I did a slightly different cover to the hardback, see below) should be out in May as a build up to the sequel I guess.

So much digital painting and collage in this one..........the 'beetle cogs' were a real challenge, but together with the design by Molly Dallas, and the calligraphy by Carol Kemp, I'm pretty chuffed at how this turned out.

New Cover : Tennyson

2009-04-02T16:38:00.004+01:00

Just got this proof in from the U.S.A.......

'Tennyson' by Lesley MM BLume, is coming your way via Random House.

I think the book is out with this cover soon, though it is currently published with a different image on the cover.

The First Commission

2009-02-26T12:01:00.003Z

So, just over 10 years down the line from my first ever commission, here I am doing this blog thingy. It's been a hell of ride so far........

And this piece, a record cover for DJ Noize's album 'The Whole Mess Part 2' is how it all started in the 'real' world (post art school).

It was the summer of 1998, and after shopping my portfolio for a year, I had taken a 'normal' job.......in fact, I had taken a normal job, left it for another job in Kuwait, and gone back to the 'normal' job.... but that's another story. I was pretty disillusioned with the whole illustration world at this point........I mean I had left Norwich with a first class honours, got my Masters and art directors said they liked my work, but no one was willing to take a risk on my newbie ass.

In retrospect, I put this down to 2 things :

1. It was hard to see how hand made, three-dimensional sculptures could be used within the practical everyday use of illustration. For example, if an editorial deadline was 5 days, and it took 7 days to make the thing, it's just not going to happen, let alone the cost of shooting the piece, and the impossibility of scanning it. This was way before the days of digital camera's, emailing work etc.

2. It was not a healthy time for illustration in general. In fact I remember many people saying illustration was dead.

Bugger of a time to graduate I tell ya!

Anyway, through a series of bizarre events I somehow crossed paths and became friends with DJ Noize's manager. Being a hip hop fan (this was back when hip hop was still good) I had heard of Noize - the current world champion of the hip hop dj'ing circuit. In fact, I think I had his first ep. Anyway, it seemed like a dream come true and indeed it was.

I did the job, got paid and felt very proud - probably the first time I actually felt this whole gamble might work. It had only taken 2 years from my B.A.!

The piece itself was H-U-G-E. Something like 4ft x 4ft.........made from wood, paint, actual vinyl records, actual bits of mixers, slipmats, speakers, wires, tape, paper, emulsion, glue, nails, scissors.......and possibly the kitchen sink. I got my mate from art school to help me shoot it as he was a photographers assistant at the time in the city. Carting this thing on the underground, across London, up and down escalators was not fun!

Anyway, within month's of finishing this piece it was accepted into the Association of Illustrators 'Images' annual, and requested to go in their show at the R.C.A. (BUT IT WAS TOO BIG TO HANG!). Soon after that I managed to get a job at the Arena Illustration Agency where I would get to learn about the business side of Illustration and meet some fantastic people that would shape my career...........but I'll save that for another post.

THE 13 TREASURES wins the Waterstone's Children's book prize 2009!

2009-02-21T15:53:00.003Z

Huge congratulations to Michelle Harrison for winning the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize for her debut novel ' The 13 Treasures' this week.

What a fantastic achievement, I was lucky enough to have done the cover which I'm sure you can find in a previous post here.

A few weeks ago I sent Michelle a good luck message via her website, and she kindly replied and sent me a lovely signed copy of the book (the print will be with you shortly Michelle - promise).

Anyway, do yourselves a favour and go and grab a copy......you can find out more here :

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/navigate.do?pPageID=1185

And visit Michelle Harrison's site for more info and perhaps some news in the future about the sequel!

http://www.michelleharrisonbooks.com/

New Editorial

2009-02-18T15:39:00.003Z

Hot off the press this week is this quick magazine illustration for Woman' s Weekly.......'The Bottle Dungeon'. Big thanks to Jane at WW.

Busy as usual here, working on (amongst other things) the book cover for Tom Scatterhorn book 2. Yay!

When roughs attack!

2009-02-13T16:26:00.003Z

Decided on something a little different this time - to post a rough that I sent to a client a while back.

This was kind of a work in progress (it was a rough), so much was yet to be resolved within the image, and basically the idea was rejected before it went any further as it was seen to be too dark. Hey, you can only try right?

The cover did however go ahead, and the final image looks completely different to where this one was heading, which was a shame but you have to keep the clients, marketing people, editors etc etc happy.

One day I'm going to get something like this through.

Borderland - new cover

2009-01-16T16:10:00.004Z

Wow, no posts for a month, then 2 in a day.........

So, those lovely people at Oxford University Press have just commissioned me to do the covers for a forthcoming trilogy by Rhiannon Lassiter - author of Bad Blood, which I also had the pleasure of doing. I think these have come out before, but now they have spanking brand new covers! (I'm not sure how covers would 'spank', but I'd love to watch).

So this is the 'Borderland' cover (sans type), the first of the three, due to be released in May I believe. As per usual, a mix of photography, digital paint, textures, castles, calligraphy, magic, spells and 3 zillion layers in photoshop - FACT! Commissioned, and to be designed by the fantastic Molly Dallas, copyright O.U.P.

Hello, hello, hello.........

2009-01-16T15:56:00.005Z

Hey - finally got a chance to blog (thanks to all the lovely art directors/publishers out there keeping me busy - you know who you are!).

So, as I grab a spare 20 minutes.............here is a 'spot' illustration I recently handed in to EBF magazine over Christmas to accompany the main article. This was basically used to describe investments in medicine, and when/if there was a good time to invest funds in pharmaceutical companies (just before a chemical weapon is dropped I'd imagine...... hopefully someone would be left around to pick up the cheque).

Anyway........eyes and clock faces, a winning combo in the eye of the 'Gibbs'. Thanks to David at European Business Forum.

BBC Music Magazine cover, January 2009

2008-12-10T17:17:00.002Z

AT LAST - back with a new post.....things have been a little busy here of late, apologies for no updates for a month or so. Anyway, hot off the press is this cover, featuring Handel for BBC Music Magazine. I did an interior too - woohoo - which you can see if you buy the magazine (or have a peek inside it).

A huge thank you to Dav @ the BBC for the commission and for passing along a low res of the cover with type on.

I'll be popping a few updates on the blog this week.

Editorial no.3

2008-10-01T15:28:00.003+01:00

Hey.......... hot off the press is the third part of the editorial series I have been working on (amongst 4 book covers, arrrghhh - STRESS!). 3 days of photoshopping / photopainting - thanks to Lorna and Woman's Weekly for another series. Hope you like it!

Editorial no.1

2008-09-26T14:39:00.003+01:00

Here is an illustration I handed in last week, the first part of a trilogy of stories for U.K. magazine Woman's Weekly...........I'll post the others when they are done. Big thanks to Lorna. Again, I'm holding of from posting quite a bit of stuff at the moment, but I imagine there will be about 4 posts in the coming fortnight of some new work. Just a quick thank you to everyone who leaves a message here, your thoughts are always appreciated.

Shadow Bringer

2008-09-01T19:40:00.006+01:00

This new book cover 'Shadow Bringer', for Oxford University Press, is the sequel to 'Crowboy' which I also did the cover for last year.

Designed and commissioned by the fantastic Molly Dallas at OUP, it consisted of about 93 layers in Photoshop and took about 2 weeks to complete. I'm guessing it will be out some time next year.

On another note, I've been saving some new pieces for my new website - which I'm hoping will be finally up and running for Christmas. Right, I'm off to get some sleep, been up since 4a.m. working on a project..........

Art School

2008-07-21T14:50:00.010+01:00

So, thought I'd do an overdue post on some of my background - I get a few emails from students asking me this kinda stuff from time to time.

All of the obvious stuff led me to take an Art Foundation course in High Wycombe after finishing A-Levels, and then I chose my degree course at the Norwich School of Art based purely on 2 things:

1. I wasn't impressed by the desk space at St.Martins at the time (early 1990's), and
2. An illustration student at Norwich had a Sheffield Wednesday team poster in the studio - it was a sign I tell ya!

The first year of my degree was pretty bland, but it's interesting (I suppose) to see that my tight arse drawing style was already beginning to show strained attempts at 'assembling imagery'. The drawing below was done in 1994.

In the second year of my course, I began to specialise in Illustration under the tutorship of course leader Rob Mason. It was, however, my personal tutor and visiting lecturer/printmaker/artist/art director and all round life mentor Susan Aldworth that really inspired me and opened my eyes to everything illustration could and should be. We joke now that we share a brain, though to be fair she did have it first.

She bought to my attention the works of Tapies, and from there Cornell........then my own path took me to Witkin, Hiscock and many others. Through exploration of texture, materials and composition I began to create 3-dimensional collage, hand made pieces - the most successful of the early pieces being 'Gemini' (1995) below, entered for the Elle horoscope competition. Did I win?..........err, no.

I then took this work into more elaborate (sometimes hinged/folding) pieces such as 'Bosnia' (1996) in my third year - see below.

Other third year work included 'Calendar' (1996), and a series of images entitled 'Icarus' - stripped down in colour - and photographed from made illustrations.

I graduated in 1996 with a first class honours, spending the summer shopping my portfolio (and not getting one commission I may add), before embarking on my M.A. in Brighton and a year of soul searching and regression - thinking no one was ever going to commission this 3d work that took me at least 2 weeks to make and couldn't be scanned.

I learned so much in 2 years at Norwich - it was the most creative time of my life - surrounded by superb illustration/photography/animation students and artists such as Angela Haslam, Matt Hunt, Tim Ashton, Peter Kempton, Ceri Llewellyn and Akin Akinsiku. Also with great tutors such as the aforementioned Sue and Rob (alongside Elaine Cox).

I had the pleasure of going back as an occasional visiting lecturer for 2 years from 2005-2006, and was pleased to see the course was still run in the same way by Rob (albeit with more students and less resources for visiting lecturers). The course has since changed leadership, and while I can't say if it's better or worse..........I can't imagine it would be any better, if you get my drift.

The first commission, early pro work and getting an agent I'll do in another post..... oh, and if any art directors fancy using some of my older collage/3d stuff (obviously this was all done in art school and not used for anything) - I have high res photo's of certain pieces lol!

TO BE CONTINUED...............

THE 13 TREASURES - Michelle Harrison

2008-07-19T10:39:00.008+01:00

Just finished this book cover for Simon and Schuster childrens books here in the U.K.

The 13 Treasures, by Michelle Harrison, is due out in paperback in February 2009 - to give you some idea of how early some of these covers are done - and it looks like it will be a good read.

The concept was the designers, Nick Stearn (and perhaps the authors, but I don't know), and I think he may be putting a nice gloss on some of the elements (the bracelet, charms etc). For some reason, this cover took me a while to get right (being a bit overbooked didn't help the thinking process) - but we got there in the end, so thanks to Nick at S&S.

I've also added a few little details below, as you can see - a lot of digital painting in this one.

Update

2008-07-18T16:46:00.005+01:00

Hey.......... so I just found out the German cover posted below for the book by Emma Clayton (Shadows/Roar) will not be used. A shame after all that work - and she even took time to stop by here and leave a nice comment - which was very much appreciated (THANK YOU). It may find another life at some point - that's one cool thing about digital files.

Sometimes, things like this happen......it's a business like any other, and there are a few people involved in the decision making process, not just the artist/art director. Other things you may not know :

1. Illustrators don't always make the decisions on what goes on covers (in fact, of the last 10 covers I have worked on, about 3 have actually been my idea). So if you see a cover, and think 'meh' - it's possibly not the illustrators fault.

2. Sometimes, when you work on a cover, and then have to re-work it, and then change it again, and then again...... you'd probably get a better hourly rate stacking shelves at your local supermarket.

3. I'm not bitchin', I still feel very lucky to work on all these projects.

4. I am very excited about the new Batman film......

Shadows : The Golden Turrets a.k.a. Roar book cover

2008-07-14T10:56:00.002+01:00

Just completed for Ravensburger over in Germany, this is their book cover for the U.K. title ROAR by Emma Clayton. I think they are calling it 'Shadows: The Golden Turrets'. I'm not sure when it comes out, quite a while yet I would imagine. I don't usually do the whole straight 'city' thing, but this and 'the wingless boy' both have come about this year.

I made the city in a really basic 3dmodel, rendered it in a perspective view..... then transformed the perspective in Photoshop, and then added loads of digital painting on top. Big thanks to Beate for the opportunity and challenge.

Real Business magazine - Credit Crunch

2008-07-04T16:39:00.004+01:00

Somehow, amongst the book covers I'm currently working on, I managed to fit in this quick editorial illustration.

It's basically about the credit fallout from the USA, the copy went on to say ''nearly everyone has forecast that the full impact of the credit crunch is yet to come here. Everyone is bracing for it…it’s kind of like the earthquake has happened and now SMEs are waiting for the tsunami''.

So, I guess the above illo says all of that (at least I hope it does!)

Big thanks to Gary at Caspian.

On a side not, speaking with my agent earlier ( hello Caroline!) - this is the second 'credit crunch' commission they have taken this week...... it's all a bit scary really.........

Poison Pen cover

2008-06-30T08:37:00.004+01:00

This a cover I did a few months back, showing the start of the image making process, the final image and then the final cover. This is the first part of a new forensic handwriting mystery by Sheila Lowe, and is already out in the U.S.A. I've also done the the second cover 'Written In Blood' which is posted below.

I guess to some extent, these are quite commercial by some of my usual standards, but hey.....that's the name of the job!

Extracurricular

2008-06-29T11:49:00.006+01:00

Occasionally, I get asked to rework something a publisher has already been working on.

I don't really see this as a problem.........it's kind of a little bit of bread and butter work - but also, it's not really my work, in a sense I'm just re-touching another person's painting/image (but it my own little way), which is essentially what lots of designers do every day.

I was handed the original (quite fantastic I may say) photo/painting that you see on the left, added a little colour, a bit more intensity, some texture etc and made it into the middle image, then the designer, Cherlynne Li, added the design and came up with the final cover that you see on the far right. Once again, to re-iterate, I did not paint/shoot or come up with the image on the left.

The Wise Woman sits along a few other Phillippa Gregory titles over in the States that have seen a teeny bit of my manipulation.

Endless Night - Agatha Christie audiobook cover

2008-06-20T14:51:00.003+01:00

Hey.......so I promised a series of updates, and this should be the first of a few in the coming week. It's been a manic time over the past few weeks, I think I've been juggling 9 commissions or something, leaving no time to blog.........

Anyway, this is the latest Agatha Christie audiobook/cd cover that I handed in yesterday.

'Endless Night' was a bit of a surprise to me - no Marple, no Poirot and a little bit spooky and supernatural - I prefer that kind of story personally!

Thanks to Paul and BCC worldwide.

Update

2008-05-28T16:09:00.005+01:00

Has it really been over a month since my last post here?!

Needless to say things have been very busy here, so I apologise for that. I'm almost as disappointed with myself myself for not having time to post than I am with the new Indiana Jones movie..........note how I say 'almost'.

Expect quite a few posts in the coming weeks, lots and lots of new things to show, it's been a challenging time with regards to the old illustration world.

Anyway, thought I would post this editorial illo created a couple of weeks ago to keep the blog moving.........pink and texture, a winning combination.

Verdigris Deep

2008-04-18T11:38:00.009+01:00

'A wholly original modern classic in the making, with a great, new paperback look'

Not my words, but the words of pan macmillan themselves who are due to publish this new look cover for Verdigris Deep on 02/05/2008. I thought the old cover was cool anyway, but hey, I'm not going to turn down work.

I haven't got around to reading it yet (this was one rare occasion that I didn't get a copy of the manuscript, as the publishers were pretty certain of what they wanted on the cover), but according to many reviews it's a fantastic read from award winning author Frances Hardinge.

I popped the cover design low res above, with my actual artwork (front/back/spine) below.....hopefully you can see how the spine text and blurb on the back all should fit in the nice dark spaces and cracks of the floor tiles.

New Cover

2008-04-01T12:28:00.013+01:00

Just finished this new image for an as yet untitled book. This is the follow up post to the 'WORK IN PROGRESS 2'.

The sequel cover will follow on underneath, so the images should line up....... a 'heavenly' city, with an earthly 'hell' city underneath.

LOADS of digital painting in this one, and a lots of reference from Gothic / Baroque architecture. It actually all started as a really basic 3d model to give me a lighting guide and base. Thought I'd share a few of these stages below. Big thanks to Laura for this one...... it's in the post today!

The Summoning

2008-03-18T19:27:00.002Z

Hot off the press (well, my mac to be precise), is this book cover for 'The Summoning' by Kelly Armstrong, coming soon from Little Brown here in London. Created with found/made textures, Photoshop and a bit of a 3D model.

Spectrum 15

2008-03-15T11:41:00.007Z

Just found out that 'The Man In The Ceiling' artwork has been accepted into the Spectrum 15 illustration annual. Pretty chuffed, as not only is this annual probably the 'best' of all the contemporary collective art books out there......but I really like this piece. Plus it's the second year I have been lucky enough to get in, so thanks to the judges.

You can see a full list of the artists included in the next volume here (so much talent in there) :

http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/full_content.php?article_id=737&full=yes&pbr=1

Students (there is an unpublished section now I believe), other illustrators etc should think about entering for next year's book, as it's not only great kudos to be in there (look again at some of those names again, dammit!), it's actually free (apart from the small entry free) unlike Images, Contact, The Art Book etc. Bookmark the site and I think next entries are probably due early January 2009.

Work In Progress 2

2008-03-13T20:17:00.004Z

Wow - is it March already?

Working on lots of things recently, which have left little time to 'blog', so apologies, again, but there will def be a couple of posts next week, maybe even three! In the meantime.......

The above are tiny selected bits of a cover I have been working on for some time........ basically, this cover concept has been rejected, so this version wont see the light of day. I may, perhaps, post the entire image - as far as it got anyway - when I post the new finished cover. Sometimes this happens, and as a creative you try and look around the corner, pick yourself up, get some fresh inspiration and let battle commence with a new image. In fact, this would happen all the time if I were just creating pictures just for 'me'....... it's just a bugger when you book time in and around other jobs and all things seem to have a knock on effect.

Some questions seem to be constant in picture making regardless of medium or context, such as when is an image finished?

The answer (for illustration jobs) is usually when the deadline is up..... but personally, sometimes an image is never finished or fully resolved. It's an art just to know when to leave something and let it breathe. In the same way, it's easy to overwork pictures and loose all the 'feeling' that initially made it interesting to work on in the first place.

Update

2008-02-21T11:49:00.005Z

So, not much bloggin' going on this month so far - needless to say things have just been busy, simple as that.

It's an odd life as an illustrator - you either have not enough, or too much on - and the state of the industry right

now means that you take on lots when you can, as wages don't seem to have increased at all over the past 12 years. In fact, some wages have gone down - but more on that in a future post. Everything else, of course has just gone through the roof - house prices, bills etc.

But I am grateful to have work, so it's a good problem to have. So it's feast or famine as my old course leader Rob Mason used to say (Hi Rob, if you're out there).

Here is an image I just handed in for our friends at EBF.

Divine Inspirations - BBC Music Magazine

2008-01-29T00:21:00.001Z

Here is a piece I handed in today (well, yesterday now I guess).

Again, thought I'd show it in context as the art director gave me the layout (shown here, hence the type mock in places). Went for that stained glass feel in places, mixed in with the usual collage/textural approach.

The Evolution of a book cover - The Traitor Game

2008-01-28T12:24:00.000Z

Above you can see 3 images. The first on the left was the initial concept worked up (to a fairly high standard) following the briefing. The second the development following the art directors feedback, and the third image is the final front cover, simplified in places, with a few extra tweaks.

I guess 'The Traitor Game' will be out sometime over summer, if not before. It probably took about 2 weeks, but stretched almost over a month and half as you wait for feedback from cover meetings/ author comments/trying to fit that around your own work schedule.

Massive thank you to Kate and Alison, I am glad we got there in the end.

The Legend Of Redenta Tiria - Book Cover

2008-01-11T10:29:00.000Z

This is a book cover I just handed in today for 'The Legend Of Redenta Tiria'.

The image above includes the spine area to the left (where the end of the olive twig is and the hinge) and some bleed all around, but the whole image includes the back and flaps for the hardcover (not shown). It was pretty tricky to integrate the type with the tree branches, belts/buckles and nooses, but I got there in the end.

This image actually went through various incarnations to reach this point, and the above wasn't my personal favourite, but it works pretty well. I'm not not sure when the book hits the shelves, but it was a refreshing read.

So many layers went into this one, possibly about 400, not that it looks that way. Thanks to Justinia for her patience and understanding.

New Editorial Series - Part 3

2008-01-10T10:00:00.000Z

Third part in the current series for Woman's Weekly. Part one was published in this week's edition on the shelves now.

Thanks Lorna.

Work In Progress - Written In Blood Cover

2008-01-09T21:57:00.000Z

Hey. Thought I would post this work in progress for the book cover 'Written In Blood'.

This is basically a rough/concept I handed in the other day, and the publisher thinks it has too much of a 'horror' feel (which I can understand - though I like where it was going), so the next stage will look pretty different from this, and I may post that when it's done so you guys can compare. I will probably re-cycle this in some format somewhere else down the line.

Mac User Interview

2008-01-05T09:40:00.001Z

The new edition of Mac User comes out this week, and has an interview with me in the Twenty /20 section. Hopefully, if you click on the above image, it will become large enough to have a read. I didn't get my Masters from Brighton, that was my B.A. (but the rest is true, like training with Bruce Lee, lending my records to Kool Herc and teaching Leonardo Da Vinci how to draw).

Thanks Camille.

New Editorial Series - Part 2

2008-01-04T10:18:00.000Z

Part 2 of the current series for Woman's Weekly.

Big thanks to Lorna, and Happy New Year to you all!

New Editorial Series - Part 1

2007-12-19T17:29:00.000Z

Here is job I just handed in a few moments ago.

Be My Baby is a four part serial run by Woman's Weekly here in the UK, and this is the illustration to accompany part one of that story. Hopefully the image wont need much explaining and you should get the idea. It's a delicate subject matter - a female police officer, who desperately wants a child with her partner, hunting down child abductors/kidnappers and discovering a child selling operation amongst fraud and deception.

These jobs have quite a quick turnaround (a week per image approx), which can be tricky working with other jobs at the same time (plus all this Christmas stuff!)

Anyway, hope everyone is well and looking forward to the holiday's, I know I am!

Mixtape cover

2007-12-11T11:57:00.000Z

Hey

Thought I would post this........ I don't usually do work for friends, but when they are as talented and dedicated to music as DJ Kingstun, I made an exception.

In the midst of madness and stress, I have been playing with this image in my spare time (like, yeah right......I didn't even go to bed the other night) for the front cover of his latest mixtape (cd). 'Food For Thought - session 2' is the latest in a series of mixtapes from DJ Kingstun, host of the The Original Main Ingredient radio show and member of the Crate Invaders crew. It's got the latest tracks from greats like Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Dilla...... and new guys Termanology and Guilty Simpson. In fact, it's 38 tracks deep!

The usual mix of textures, virtual paint, photography and procrastination.

The Remarkable Adventures of Tom Scatterhorn

2007-12-08T18:08:00.000Z

I received this proof yesterday for the book cover of 'The Remarkable Adventures of Tom Scatterhorn - The Museum's Secret'.

I am really pleased with the way the type works with the image - the Designer (Molly Dallas) and myself worked pretty hard to get it all to work during the image making process, and the calligraphy (by Carol Kemp) is just marvellous. As usual, Molly does a great job with the design. In the above image, you can see the front cover (far right), spine (middle) and back cover(left). You wont be able to see that gloss finish on the insects etc, but it looks really cool in the 'flesh'.

It took a while to complete (my trip to Australia fell right in the middle of it), and as usual is a mixture of digital paint, collage and photography.

The book is part one of a trilogy I think, and should be released sometime in the near future by Oxford University Press, so keep a look out in your local book store!

The Man On The Ceiling - Book Cover

2007-11-30T09:37:00.000Z

Just completed for Wizards Of The Coast over the in States, this is the cover for 'Man On The Ceiling' by Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem.

Really enjoyed making this book cover, it was so nice to produce something a bit 'braver' and experimental (in places). I'm so glad they went with this, so big thanks to Matt for the vision and for pushing it through.

Radio Times Christmas Edition - M R James

2007-11-29T19:42:00.000Z

Here is a new commission I'm handing in tomorrow.

MR James (1862 -1936) was the finest writer of ghost stories England ever produced, influencing the likes of Lovecraft, Campbell and of course Stephen King. Many of his tales were penned as Christmas Eve entertainment and read aloud to gatherings of friends. On Christmas Eve, Radio 4 are presenting 5 of these stories introduced by Derek Jacobi.

It's kind of cool and a bit of Kudos to be in the RT at Christmas..... thanks Ped.

This image was created using Photoshop and a bit of digital painting. It took about a day and a half - a long day and a half. I mentioned before that these editorial deadlines can be pretty intense - I think I was briefed Monday, rough for Thursday, artwork Friday - with another job going on in between.

This blog thing isn't quite working as planned, but with 1800 views, I guess it must be providing some use somehow. Apologies, I'm not going to make 8 posts this month, but promise a new bit tomorrow.

The Piano Teacher

2007-11-25T16:46:00.000Z

Hey.... sorry for the lack of updates recently, been really up against it with deadlines.

I'm hoping I can show most of what I've been up to recently here soon, just waiting for copies of the book covers with type to turn up to show you what I've been up to. Most of the images wont make sense without the titles on them.... pretty integral or complimentary to the illo.

In the meantime, here is another editorial that I will actually be handing in tomorrow, so you guys get to see it first :-)

I get to have a break in a weeks time as I finish off another cover, then already have 7 commissions booked in over Crimbo period and New Year.... so a good start to 2008 already!

‘EBF’ wins ‘Best use of illustration’ award

2007-10-30T15:02:00.000Z

I just found out EBF magazine recently won the category of ‘Best use of illustration’ at the Magazine Design and Journalism Awards held recently. While I can't claim this award (bugger) as I don't design the magazine at all, the art director Gary Hill had commissioned me for 2 pieces in one of the 2 magazines that were submitted for consideration.

So at least I was partially involved in the illustration bit.

Congratulations to Gary and the team at EBF, whom I have been lucky enough to provide work for. I have to say that the spreads I have seen have a really high finish to them - the use, and placement of illustration is superb, and the general design excellent. They really should be applauded for their continued support and use of illustrators.

On that note, here is piece I handed in to them last week.

Radio Times

2007-10-22T18:44:00.000+01:00

New piece handed in to the Radio Times about 5 minutes ago.

'The Wire - I Can See you' is a radio play which takes a look at the pleasure and pain of being mixed race in Britain. I guess it will be in print and on the shelves late next week. Big thanks to Hazel at the BBC.

The Painter's Wife

2007-10-19T17:36:00.000+01:00

New editorial handed in today.

Things here are very busy........3 deadlines to finish over the weekend which I will show next week on the blog, a new cover to post here but not enough time, and then straight back into creating a new book cover after giving a talk on illustration on Tuesday the 23rd at the Swansea Institute Dynevor Centre for Art, Design and Media .

Plus, I gotta do a transfer on my fantasy football team as Robin Van Persie has twisted his knee!

It don't get much better than this..........

Work In Context

2007-10-12T15:36:00.000+01:00

Thought it would be good to show one of my editorial pieces in context (i.e. in the format it appears in the magazine). If you click on the above image, it should become H-U-G-E as a pop up.

This job was completed just before I left for EBF magazine, and deals with VW and the Chinese market. Thanks to Gary for the chance to do another piece.

Kinokuniya

2007-10-12T15:26:00.000+01:00

Apologies for a lack of activity, I have just returned from a well deserved break in Sydney for a friends wedding.

Congratulations to Kelly and Ben!!

I fell in love with Australia during my trip..... mainly because of the Kinokuniya book shop.

Never have I seen a large wall section dedicated to illustrators, not in London or New York, or anywhere else for that matter. If you get the chance to visit Sydney, check out this book store. Kinokuniya, Level 2, The Galleries Victoria, 500 George Street. Great selection of Graphic novels, manga and art books.... not to mention Japanese toys and a great kids book section thrown in for good measure

New Christie Cover for BBC - Crooked House

2007-09-17T13:06:00.000+01:00

Just when I thought I had done them all, another one comes up.

Crooked House is neither a Marple or Poirot, so something a little different this time, and is the 41st, 42nd, 40 something cover I have done for them?!

Thanks to Dick at BBC Audiobooks.

God is in the details

2007-09-17T12:59:00.000+01:00

For a change, thought I would post some details of a recent editorial job rather than the whole image. I can get quite carried away with the smallest bit of texture in an image, spend hours on it only for it not to really show up in the final piece when printed.

Apologies for the lack of updates recently, things here have been very busy. I'm currently finishing what will, I think, be the best cover I have done this year. I will be able to post that in a month or so........

The look of change

2007-08-21T11:32:00.000+01:00

I thought it was too good to be true.

Had to change the Swastika's..... this after an initial phone call to see if it would be OK before I started the illo........after the rough approved.............and after the artwork delivered. This decision had nothing to do with the Art Director.... I guess it illustrates the point that they, the art director or person commissioning you no longer has the final say on an image to be used and published.

Sometimes, these things happen, and I can partly understand why. For me though, the sad thing is you have an idea, it works visually, it adds an edge to the work, and you've tried to be a bit daring in the image making process. Sadly, someone doesn't see it that way, and you have to make a change. Onwards and upwards.

Walter Rathenau

2007-08-13T08:01:00.000+01:00

Just completed for Gary at EBF magazine.

A while back I posted a detail of business magazine illustration I had done, and mentioned I would like to do more/explore this field of illustration. I always remember falling in love with the great Brad Holland's work, and am a great fan of those illustrators who continue that conceptual business illo. Many of those images, and the devices used within them, have now really become cliches, but I think that is because they worked so well. In essence, I think they are perfect for the job in hand.

So I had another chance to ply my hand at this, put a Gibbs twist on it and I LOVE THE RESULT. The concept was to illustrate an article on Walter Rathenau who developed the theory of separation and ownership of control. A homosexual Jew with a wealthy background, he was assassinated by the 'early' Nazi Party, but played a key part in the country's economy and developed ideas and theories that are still used today in modern business. Who says Illustration isn't 'edukashunall'?

I didn't want to to do a straight portrait...... so here is the Eagle, the symbol of the Weimar Republic, struggling to separate and own the control of Germany's economic system. One eye of the eagle is Rathenau's, the other claw above the manipulated portrait of him. I love the way I used the Swastika for the tail feather pattern........ It's a sad story and unfortunately a warning for the horror's that were to come in the future. I'm going to develop some stock imagery along these lines at some point.

New Cover - Cyrano

2007-08-13T07:47:00.000+01:00

Just finished for Molly at OUP, this is the cover for the re-telling of the classic Cyrano story.

As with the Bad Blood cover, a little more graphic than usual in places, but it is to appeal to a younger market.

The publishers had a very strong idea of how they wanted to go on with this one, even to the basic colour scheme to use, trying to make it stand out from the crowd. While my initial reaction wouldn't have been to use these colours, I have to say they work pretty well. It's actually nice to do something a bit different too and to test myself. The design on the cover (which I haven't got to show yet) is also really lovely and compliments the whole feel.

For some reason, I seem to be having a lot of request for quills at the moment.

'Cyrano' by Geraldine McCaughrean will be released by Oxford University Press sometime in the near future.

Commissioned by and Designed by Molly Dallas.

New Cover - The Magic Cup

2007-08-01T11:22:00.000+01:00

Hot off the press, 'The Magic Cup' is the first cover I have done in the 'fantasy' genre.

It's very photographic in places, some may even say commercial, but I tried to add some Gibbs magic with the textures etc. Some things I found out during this job :

Irish Wolf Hounds are pretty hard to find.
They also have the most amazing faces.
Costume hire is REALLY expensive.
Models are too - so it's best to find nice looking people and offer to pay them less.
It helps that American clients pay a bit more for their covers.
The exchange rate sucks.

The Magic Cup itself was a pretty basic 3D model made in MAX, and then painted up and textured in Photoshop. I have included a rendered image of this in max, and then the painted version next to it. Same goes for the arrows, which I have included in the details.

Massive thanks to Seth, Alan, Hannah and Steve.

New Cover - Will You Marry Me?

2007-07-30T10:54:00.000+01:00

New book cover for an American client.

Simple texture background, type to sit over the yellow/orange texture.

This was worked up from a mock up the client supplied - I am very happy to help out this way as well as providing all the answers myself( especially during busy times!).

This was made from an old Indenture, book cover and feather, the wax seal and insignia were created digitally.

New Radio Times - 'The Woman In Black'

2007-07-25T16:41:00.001+01:00

Completed in a couple of days last week, just out in this weeks BBC Radio Times magazine (radio section). As usual with RT jobs, very quick turnaround from brief to final artwork (Thursday afternoon 'briefed', Tuesday artwork delivery date).

Very gothic/graphic piece, which suits the title and ghost story that is 'The Woman In Black'.

The Citadel - New Cover

2007-07-24T10:30:00.000+01:00

New cover just finished for the A.J. Cronin book 'The Citadel'.

Bit of a retro look on this one, but then it would be I guess.

Apparently, if you live with a doctor - it's a great read.

Harry Potter / Royal Mail - Part 2

2007-07-19T12:44:00.000+01:00

As promised, a couple of the many interior pages/slips for the Harry Potter Royal Mail presentation pack.

There were probably around 8 or 9, all variations of the same theme.

Harry Potter / Royal Mail

2007-07-18T11:57:00.000+01:00

Out yesterday here in the U.K. - Harry Potter Royal Mail mint stamps Presentation pack

This presentation pack was completed a couple of months ago for the True North Design Agency, and was the secret job I was on about a while back. I had to sign a piece of parchment in blood assuring I would tell no one about it. Honest.

It was a great opportunity, and I'm hoping for some good exposure from this commission. The pack folds over, and it was tricky getting the illo to work in this nature.... but I'm happy with how it turned out.

It was tough to keep the art director happy (well, not really - Ady was great) but it was tough to appease Warner Bros, Royal Mail and Bloomsbury - there were some nice things that we couldn't put in/do which were in the original roughs.

None of this existed in the sense that it is laid out and composed 100 per cent digitally........ some things were photographs, other bits 3d models, other bits hand painted.... all in all about 300 or so layers per image.

I will post some more of the promo pack images tomorrow.

A.O.I. Gold Award

2007-07-10T11:40:00.000+01:00

Last week I picked up a Gold Award from the Association Of Illustrators for the Puccini's Ghosts book cover I created last year for an American Client. It was such a great feeling. Thanks to the A.O.I, my agents (Tamlyn, Caroline and Alan for all their support over the years), Jamie at Bantam for having the vision and of course the judges for having such excellent taste.

On a side note, I must apologise for the lack of activity here recently - I have had no internet access thanks to B.T. Apparently some 'gypsies' stole 300 metres of cable from down our road which resulted in no phone/internet for 2 weeks.

What next - Elves stealing shoes from cobblers?

Fairies stealing illustration jobs from photographers?

New Agatha Christie Cover for BBC

2007-06-12T17:27:00.001+01:00

Just completed yesterday for BBC Audiobooks. 'Dead Man's Folly' should hit the shelves in about 3 months.

The Medici Curse

2007-06-05T17:46:00.001+01:00

Out in your bookstores now, is this cover I did for Faber and Faber a while back - The Medici Curse. I've included their pdf info for a change - CLICK on tha bove image to read about it - apparently it's a great book. Thanks to Mandy for the opportunity.

New Editorial

2007-06-05T17:41:00.000+01:00

Just completed for Womans Weekly. Thanks to my Agents and Jane at WW for the job -and for the record - I don't like apricots.

The Art Book

2007-04-26T10:06:00.000+01:00

'The Art Book' is another Illustration annual, similar to 'Images' and 'Contact'. Artists pay a page rate, then these books are sent out to people who are supposed to give us jobs.

I remember mentioning in an earlier post that you are never sure if people look at these things, and if you ever get your money back from them in terms of a contract. Well, this is one image in 2007's Art Book that lead to the secret job I'm currently working on.........and interestingly enough it was part of the same series as the Spectrum piece.

It put my mind at rest over the expense of these annuals.

Detail

2007-04-26T10:01:00.000+01:00

Guns and texture. Nice.

New Cover

2007-04-26T09:55:00.000+01:00

Here is another book cover, completed last week amongst all the current madness.

Not sure when it is released, probably in about 5 months or so. Space all around for the type, title, author and strapline as thought it would be nice just to show the illustration. Big thanks to Molly for another job.....this is 'Crowboy'.

That Spectrum piece

2007-04-25T22:26:00.000+01:00

This is the piece that got into Spectrum 14, an editorial job for a magazine here in the U.K.

Still madly busy here on the 'secret' job, hopefully post some more info soon.

Busy, busy!

2007-04-17T17:34:00.000+01:00

Wow. So busy here right now.

Working on something real 'big' that for the moment I can't tell you about it. Legal stuff and all that. Luckily I escaped the studio for a couple of hours yesterday to catch up with some friends and watch 'The New One Armed Swordsman' at the NFT in London (I'm a big martial art movie fan).

But you're not really interested in that, are you? As I can't post anything I'm working on right now, here is another promo piece, created with the help of a very beautiful young lady and Photoshop. Take care of yourselves, and each other.

Spectrum 14

2007-04-01T14:23:00.000+01:00

Just found out I have been included in Spectrum 14 - an American annual which showcases the best in CONTEMPORARY FANTASTIC ART. Some amazing names as usual in this annual, so it's a real honour to be chosen - out of something like 7000 entries. Not sure which piece it was yet, but will update the blog when I find out.

For a full list of the artists included, go here: http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/artist_names.html

Natural Mandala Project

2007-03-30T11:32:00.000+01:00

A while back, I was lucky enough to get a commission for a book called 'Natural Mandalas' from Duncan Baird Publishers. This is the largest project I have done to to date. 30 full colour interior illustrations (one used for the cover) in a very short timescale.

I think the final deadlines worked out at something like 2.6 images per week, week after week.

This was an extremely tough task, as you were having to produce roughs for the next images, while finishing off the current ones. All I remember was getting up at 7 every morning, and going to bed at about 11pm, 6 days a week for about 3 months. Fitting in other jobs where I could. It was an intense time. I wish I had had longer to do some of the images, but it is what it is I guess and I look back and am fairly proud of what I achieved.

It helped to work with an excellent, friendly, Spurs supporting designer called Justin at DBP. This title can be found at amazon.com and decent book stores across the land.

Work In Progress

2007-03-30T11:29:00.000+01:00

Something I have been working on for a while when I get 5 minutes spare.

Not yet finished, but almost there.........

New work

2007-03-29T13:28:00.000+01:00

Here is a detail of a recent editorial piece I provided for EBF magazine(European Business Forum). I don't usually do this kind of business/metaphor imagery, but have to say I enjoyed it and it gave me inspiration to do a few more promo pieces along these lines (to follow at some point).

Bad Blood - book jacket case study

2007-03-29T12:58:00.000+01:00

Thought I would post a recent book cover I produced, Bad Blood, with images showing it's development.

The first image was just getting a feel for the job. The client wanted the 'Bad Blood' title incorporated within the image, with thorns, plants etc entwined within. Also the large country house that was so important to the story. I placed a source photo of a house in the image, with the intention of making this design in a 3d program later on.

This image then came back, asking for a smaller house and some scissors in the image (I don't always make these decisions), and to make it slightly warmer, so then came along image 2. The house had begun its life, but no colour or texture had yet been added to it.

The client then wanted a simpler house, so again, modelled in a 3D program and texture up in Photoshop. They felt it was a little too refined for their market (teen, young adult), so I made some of the corner and edge patterns larger........and generally more 'graphic'.

I had produced quite a bit of work with red in it at this time, so was keeping clear of that lovely colour until I was asked to use it again. So, all in all 2 detailed roughs, a final image and a happy client and illustrator. Over a period of about 5 weeks (that included waiting for feedback from meetings, other jobs and about 300 layers in Photoshop).

I have included a detail of one of the books on the cover, which was an idea I am glad they let me keep in the final design.

Favourites - Part 2

2007-03-29T11:52:00.000+01:00

Here is a piece I produced for the Radio Times radio section over Christmas for a Charles Dickens story. I hope you are enjoying these 'favourite' posts - it's a good chance for me to show work that wont be included on or in any website/illustration annual.

The Radio Times has a great history with British Illustration, and while the deadlines are tight (approx 5 days from brief to rough to final artwork), and the money not as good as you may imagine, there is a certain amount of Kudos to be included within its pages.

I would advise any good young/aspiring illustrator to go and see them, especially if you're looking for those first commissions!

Favourites - Part 1

2007-03-22T10:48:00.000Z

Real busy here at the moment, lots of new things to show soon - in the meantime, thought I would post the first of a series of recent work from the last year I was really happy with. This piece was part of an editorial called 'Freedom'.

The Collector

2007-02-28T10:41:00.000Z

Every now and then, when I get time, I try to create a promo piece. It could be an image that's been in my head for a while, or an idea that came from another job.... in other words, a moment of freedom with no constraints. It is possible bits of this may emerge later in a commission, or I may continue tweaking.... but for now, here is 'The Collector'.

The Posioned Crown

2007-02-28T10:20:00.000Z

Out any day now in the grand ol' U.S. of A is this cover for Amanda Hemingway's 'The Poisoned Crown', sequel to 'Greenstone Grail' and 'Sword of Straw' (I was lucky enough to do the cover for Sword too, see left).

Black Dog - Editorial

2007-02-15T18:24:00.000Z

Here is another job just completed for a magazine, 'Black Dog'. The story revolved around an ageing woman, who kept seeing a black dog in her garden through her window (a metaphor for her depression), despite no one else being able to see the creature. Her life now fragmented, with married children and a busy husband, she begins to question her purpose (I chose to depict this fragmentation with the break up of her face, partitioned in the window).

I created 3 images for this piece, and gave the art director the choice - I am pleased to say she made what I thought was the right decision. Thanks Jane! Created in Photoshop and Painter, in about 2 (long) days.

Agatha Christie covers

2007-02-03T10:32:00.000Z

As 'Dumb Witness' recently hit stores (top image), thought I would give a little info on this massive job I undertook about 3 years ago.

I think I have completed about 40 covers for the BBC Audiobooks Agatha Christie series. At some points, I had plenty of time to do the images (however, I recall a time I had to do 5 in about 2 weeks amongst other jobs!). Naturally I have my favourites, Mrs McGinty's Dead, A Pocket Full of Rye and Elephants Can Remember - all on the left.

I thought I would include a photo of the actual brief (bottom left) I was given by the BBC. As an illustration student once myself, I often wondered what these mystical pieces of paper contained. Nowadays, you will probably get them on email, some are short and to the point, some are heavily art directed even before you've started (this object exactly here, this one exactly there and no animal bones please). Usually they contain the measurements, title, contact numbers, fee, dates for roughs and finished artwork.

The brief I received from the BBC was relatively simple and fell into the wonderful bracket (we're looking to you for ideas, Chris). The only issue was that each cover had to fit 3 formats (CD, tape and inserts - hence I have shown the full artworks above, next to the front cover versions). They wanted to update the look of the covers, and the general feel of the franchise. Then came the tricky part - the company that owns the Agatha Christie catalogue had done loads of market research and had their own brief. It was about 25 pages long (bottom right) and contained things such as Agatha Christie is - Murder, challenging, a puzzle etc, and what Agatha Christie is not - aggressive, fantasy, forensics and my personal favourite, slaughter.

It was a real honour to be chosen to do these covers, and they have a massive fan base. The company that owns the rights to her stories obviously have a huge responsibility to make sure the images are right for the fans, shareholders etc etc, and you, as the illustrator, bear this responsibility. It was tricky at times, because imagery I would have loved to have used simply would not get approved (bullets, for example, were rejected). Add to that the space you had to leave for type, the fact that they didn't' want to have the characters on the covers unless manipulated somewhat (in shadows for example) and it was a real challenge. Apparently, most readers like to make their own mind up of what the characters in the story look like. Ultimately I created a few of my favourite pieces, thanks to the guys at BBC Audiobooks.

I hope this post may have been helpful to other young illustrators out there, if so, let me know in the comments section, and I can do more like it.

Things Bad Begun - Part 3. Editorial.

2007-02-03T10:28:00.000Z

Here is a new piece I handed in yesterday for U.K. magazine Woman's Weekly (here comes the interesting bit for illustration students) :

There are a number of differences between working for book covers and magazines. The first is the time you actually get to complete the image. This was a 3 part story, running consecutively for 3 weeks, so I had seven days (including weekends) to complete each image.... that's from brief - to rough - to changes - to finished article. With book covers, you get anywhere between 2-4 weeks approximately. The second difference is the amount you get paid. For these pieces, it was 400 U.K. pounds each, so 3 x 400 is not too bad (some magazines pay more, some less). Book covers can pay 6 times more.........but then you may have to work much longer and harder, so it's all relative. I guess part of this pricing scheme is related to product shelf life. A book can stay on store shelves for years, then onto library shelves for decades, then into charity shops and finally your grandmother's book collection.....whereas a magazine, especially a 'weekly', is on the shelves for 7 days max (then, possibly into your dentists waiting room).

This timescale issue brings us to what I think is the best difference..... the turnaround is so quick, that you can often get away with much braver imagery, and there are, in theory, less people to please - the art director and editor (rather than the author, marketing department, fan base etc). There simply is not the time to make major changes to a piece, so you retain your vision.

On that note, a big thank you to the art director for pushing this one through - my favourite of the 3.

Puccini's Ghosts accepted for Images annual

2007-02-03T09:54:00.000Z

The book cover 'Puccini's Ghosts' that I created for Bantam in New York has been accepted into the Association of Illustrators annual for 2007. This is actually the second cover I have done for the excellent author Morag Joss (the first being Half Broken Things).

It was created in Photoshop with some found elements, some drawn imagery and a whole lotta love. It went through numerous rough stages before the final image, which I believe will also be published in the annual. Another image I created for Duncan Baird publishers has also been included.

There a few Illustration annuals around. The idea behind them being the illustrator pays for a page, and hence the books are then produced and sent to art directors for them to flick through and pick the right person for the job. They can be an expensive...'Images' charge approximately 500 of your hard earned pounds for a full page (non member rate), The Art Book around 750. Their effectiveness is actually difficult to judge, however I guess you have to be in it to win it - and publicity is no bad thing.

Ink : The Book of All Hours 2

2007-02-03T09:51:00.000Z

Fresh out on the shelves today is this book cover creation, 'Ink' - the sequel to Hal Duncan's 'Vellum:The Book of All Hours'. I just saw it myself in Waterstones bookstore while out buying some Gesso ( just in case you begin to think everything here is done digitally).

Quite an abstract piece I guess, but I was very happy how it turned out....... all surface texture, pattern and scratches - and it's printed on fantastic paper too, thanks to Macmillan.

Welcome to ILLUSTR8

2007-02-03T09:48:00.000Z

This is the illustration blog ILLUSTR8. The concept is to post 8 times a month, approx twice a week (ILLUSTR8 - Geddit?!), in an attempt to document a year in the career of U.K. illustrator Christopher Gibbs. It should contain previews of new/current work, information on the business/reality side of creating artwork and the 'ups and downs' of the trade (hopefully more 'ups').

As my website - www.christopher-gibbs.com is currently down for re-design, it should also serve as outlet for my creations alongside my agents website www.arenaworks.com. Drop a comment, ask a question and I will get back to you as soon as I can. From time to time I may post old artwork too, some college work, promotional work and the odd story behind the work. Did I say work?

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