The Old Man in the Library

I like posting some of my illustrations from years ago.
This was one I well remember doing as a portfolio piece in those difficult months just after I leaving college.
In terms of subject matter I can only say that it was heavily influenced by Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books.
Back in those days I was still trying to develop my own technique and I was using a very dominant black ink line over which I would apply watercolours.
I'm still very fond of this illustration.

Illustrating Peake

Here's one of those articles I was talking about.
I was delighted to be chosen to illustrate "Boy in Darkness" by Mervyn Peake when this lost fragment from Gormenghast was rediscovered a number of years ago. When the book was published Books for Keeps magazine asked me to write about the process.

And here's another of my sketches from the book.

Mervyn Peake, 1911-1968

Saturday 9th July 2011, marked the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the great author and illustrator, Mervyn Peake.
If you are unfamiliar with Peake's work, there are some great publications and exhibitions happening now to coincide with his centenary.
And the BBC are doing a new Radio presentation of Gormenghast which you can listen to on the BBC iPlayer.
I was fascinated by Peake and Gormenghast since I was given a gift of the trilogy of books when I was a student. Years later, I was thrilled when I was selected by the Peake family to be the artist who would illustrate Boy in Darkness, a novella described as a "fragment from Gormenghast."
Below is my cover artwork for the book.

Flay, first Servant of Groan. The Gormenghast Trilogy

This blog has been a great help to me in taking a look back over the period that I have been working as an illustrator.
I did this piece as a calling card for art directors when I had just left college, 'round about 1985 I'd say.
At the time I had just read the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake, and I was fascinated by his truly fantastic vision of a an ancient castle kingdom inhabited by a collection of unforgettable characters.


Flay, the old family protector, creeps around the corridors and passageways of Gormenghast keeping watch over the more sinister elements that might threaten the status quo. His presence is betrayed by the loud clicking of his knees.
When I did this picture all those years ago, Flay would have seemed ridiculous and purely comical to me.
I have become more sympathetic to him in recent years.
I particularly think of poor old Flay when, each morning, I descend the stairs to the kitchen with a loud clicking from each knee.
Flay's solution was to wrap strips of material around his knees to silence the sound.
I think a bit more cycling might help in my case.