I haven’t done an Illustration Friday piece for quite a while, but here is a little scratchboard hobbit for this week’s topic Hero.
Illustration Friday: Hero
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Cuckoo Song – Frances Hardinge
My latest book cover for Utz Books’s editions of Frances Hardinge’s novels (previously: The Lie Tree). This is for Cuckoo Song, a strange, wild, kind 1920s tale of fey creatures, family, and urban planning. It is available for pre-order from Utz Books here (I understand). But if that is not your language, I recommend tracking this book down in one you can read. It’s a delight.
The process, from thumbnail sketches to detailed pencils to cut paper silhouette, is shown below. The details on the original are very small — the whole piece was cut from a sheet of A3 paper, but a lot of room was taken up by vines at the bottom/top.
Locus Interview – Raised by Wolves, & ABC interview
When I was at World Fantasy in November, I was interviewed by Liza Trombi of Locus Magazine. The interview is out in this month’s edition, and look at that line-up — I respect all these artists hugely. Charles Vess is one of my artist heroes and inspirations and his interview is online: Narrative Impulse (the Singer Sewing Machine story always sounds like something out of O’Henry).
And before I left, Rhianna Patrick of the ABC interviewed me for her segment, and that is online here (full disclosure: I’d just thrown out my back and was on painkillers).
January Calendar: Keys
Welcome to the first calendar page for 2019! Here, for January, is an assortment of keys, brought to you as ever by my wonderful patrons (should you wish to join us, there might even be some new Dalek comics coming in the new year).
These are of course highly improbably keys, some suggested by existing stories (secret gardens and labyrinths, and “Rumpelstiltskin”, some searching for their own tales, and several just highly improbable. The dual music-box key is my current favourite, although I had fun with the puzzle key above it, too.
Because I am such a decisive person, there are three printable colourways for this month (and patterns to come on Redbubble items and Spoonflower fabric in due course — but there are many other designs up there in the meantime).
And I’d also like to include a shout-out here to one of my two favourite purveyors of magical keys (the other doesn’t have a web presence — yet!). Spike Deane makes enchanting glass keys, and other fairytale art, and is also on Patreon.
You can access the designs to save and print at home by clicking on the images below. And if you’d like to get calendar designs earlier, as well as sneak-previews of other projects, printable stationery, and many other things, those are available at my Patreon page — even $1/month helps these pictures happen!
Alice’s Tea Party
Last year’s Alice in Wonderland design is now up on Redbubble! (And as of the time of posting, there are about 12 hours left to put in Christmas orders, and a discount code for 20% off: LASTDAY).
Be Bold: Small Art for a Big Cause
Light Grey Art Lab, as well as its many other marvellous exhibitions, is currently exhibiting and selling Small Art For A Big Cause, featuring many of their regular artists. You can find the images on their Instagram (always worth following in any event) under #smallartforabigcause or on their website, and framed prints can be ordered from the Light Grey shop.
My piece, Be Bold, was inspired by the heroine of “Mr Fox”, and other fairytale ladies.
It began, of course, as a silhouette:
With colour added subsequently.
It is available for a limited time through the Light Grey shop.
World Fantasy Judges!
The 2019 World Fantasy Awards Judges have been announced, so if I seem to be quieter either online generally or about my reading, specifically, this is why!
The judges are:
- Nancy Holder (USA)
- Kathleen Jennings (Australia)
- Stephen Graham Jones (USA)
- Garry Kilworth (United Kingdom)
- Tod McCoy (USA)
Details on submitting works for consideration are here: https://locusmag.com/2018/12/2019-world-fantasy-awards-judges-announced/
The judges will be reading and considering eligible materials until June 1, 2019. All forms of fantasy are eligible, e.g. epic, dark, contemporary, literary.
Qualifications: All books must have been published in 2018; magazines must have a 2018 cover date; only living persons are eligible.
The award categories are: Life Achievement; Best Novel; Best Novella (10,001 to 40,000 words); Best Short Story; Best Anthology; Best Collection; Best Artist; Special Award: Professional; Special Award: Non-Professional.
