October calendar: Cold hands

Fairy tales are famously hard on the feet (per Kelly Link’s “Travels With The Snow Queen”), but they aren’t kind to hands, either.

So here, for Halloween (and with the very excellent support of my patrons) is a collection of specific and general fairy-tale hands: spindle-pricked, scissor wielding, changed to silver, unlocking doors… (I’m including a non-blue-handed version, for those less spookily inclined, but the black-and-blue really does look rather like the colour schemes in Edmund Dulac’s fairy tale illustrations).

I also really like the underlay-colours here. Still want to work up a design like this without lines, but I keep getting distracted by detail. I should start with silhouettes.

I’ve also created a repeating pattern of this design, and it is now up on Redbubble on notebooks, dresses, etc (as part of my Halloween and Fairytale collections) (and if you like fabric by the yard, I’m waiting for test prints from Spoonflower). Incidentally, Girls Running From Houses (from last October) is now a repeating pattern and is on there too.

Edit to add: I’ve added the blue background (pink hand) version to Redbubble, too: Take My Hands.

The files below are for personal use and — as I mentioned — are done with the help of my wonderful supporters on Patreon (who also get sneak-peeks, variant colours, stationery, new Daleks, etc). If you’d like to join as a patron (from $1!) or otherwise throw a few coins in the tip jar to help the calendar keep happening, that would be very welcome — the calendar is fun, but takes a lot of time.

Note re links: I’m experimenting with affiliate links, which means I might get paid a small commission if someone buys something after clicking a link on my site. This is my first attempt, so I’m really just testing out the program links at this point!

Halloween edit

I’ve updated my Redbubble store to include a Halloween category, bringing together (and updating) a few old pieces, with some new bats and skeletons thrown in for good measure.

In particular, I’ve updated Girls Running From Houses to be a repeating pattern and put it on a few more items, including (by request) hardcover journals.

Stray Bats — a chapbook

Dachshund droids, sinister crones, shapeshifting children, a plethora of witches, dragonstalkers, familiars, slithering eels and, of course, bats, flit and fly through these pages, aided and abetted by Kathleen Jennings’s inspired pencil drawings. Stray Bats is a madcap miscellany consisting of fifty vignettes based on poems by Australian women. Lanagan delights in playing with language, rhyme, and rhythm.

This could be the perfect gift for that slightly otherworldly person in your life—or for yourself, when you need a moment of magic, a dip into darkness, a spark of light.

For the reader who would like to explore further, there are a list of poems that inspired the author and notes on where those poems might be found.

Small Beer Press have just announced this new chapbook, which Margo and I have been secretly working on — it’s so exciting that it will be a real book in the world in November! Pre-orders are open now on Small Beer’s website, and Margo and I will both be at World Fantasy in LA.

A Cover for Flyaway

My Australian Gothic novella Flyaway will be released in July next year — but Tor.com has now revealed the cover (fabulous design by Jaya Miceli, from a silhouette by me).

REVEALING THE COVER TO FLYAWAY, AN AUSTRALIAN GOTHIC DARK FANTASY DEBUT FROM KATHLEEN JENNINGS

It comes with some useful links (although I’ll let you know more about pre-orders as that becomes available) and a few lovely words from Kelly Link, Holly Black, C.S.E. Cooney and Brooke Bolander — authors whose way with stories I very much admire.

I am extremely delighted with this cover, for which the designer and art directors should get most of the credit (and I adore the typeface), and I can’t wait (I must wait!) for the book to be a real thing in the world.

September Calendar: Dragons!

Somehow — somehow — here is the September calendar. I hurt my hip badly and have been largely horizontal for over a week, which is more than inconvenient for a self-employed artist — if you’ve ever considered supporting the calendar through the Patreon (or the tip jar at Paypal.me/tanaudel) this would be an incredibly helpful time. Even better, there’s a backlog of stationery and stories on the way for supporters at those levels, once I’m on my feet.

But this afternoon I managed to prop myself up at a standing desk for long enough to ink a few dragons, and then sprawl over the bed to construct the rest of the calendar — and it isn’t even (quite) September yet!

Below — for personal use — are two versions of the calendar: pre-coloured, or to print and colour yourself.

I have… quite a few extra dragons to work out what to do with now!

The Power of Three

Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favourite (and formative) authors, and it was such a delight to be able to do this cover for her novel The Power of Three, for Utz Books.

Here are some of the preliminary sketches: reading the book again (a lovely twisty, funny, mystical plot, with that sliding-through of perspectives DWJ does so well), getting details right, working out how I wanted to draw aspects.

Then narrowing down the cover treatment — the format had to match other cover designs, which is both a challenging and liberating consideration.

Finally, developing and refining this cover and a treatment and style that would fit the other covers (similar textures, etc).

August Calendar: Woodland folk

Welcome to the August calendar! Brought to you, as ever, with the help of those of you who are patrons on Patreon.

This terribly busy design is what happens when I think I’ll do something quick and early, to get it out of the way before travel, and end up hiding out in Dartmoor colouring tiny bees (so many tiny bees) in between editing manuscripts.

But tonight, fairly unexpectedly, we went to see The Lord Chamberlain’s Men perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Killerton, and it was enchanting.

Below, for personal use, are the printable versions of the calendar — and if you do enjoy these and are inclined to support the calendar (for it does take a bit of time!), then support on Patreon or paypal.me is always welcome!

(I do plan to put together a repeating pattern from this once I’m home from this work trip).