"Once upon a time, and a very good time it was too"

I had fun looking through some old work for a painting for a forth-coming group exhibition of Irish picture book artists that will take place in London next month. Looking for something with a particularly Irish flavour I chose my first illustration from The King Of Ireland's Son by Brendan Behan, which I illustrated for Andersen Press back in 1996.

Behan has a wonderfully funny and yet poetic turn of phrase throughout the story.

"Once upon a time, and a very good time it was too, when the streets were paved in penny loaves and the houses were white- washed with buttermilk and the pigs ran round with knives and forks in their snouts shouting, ‘Eat me, eat me!’ there lived a King of Ireland and he had three sons named Art, Neart and Ceart......"

From "A Bag Of Moonshine"

Here are a few pictures from my very first book, "A Bag Of Moonshine" by Alan Garner.
It only sold a few thousand copies so not too many of my blog visitors will have seen it.

The North Wind

I've been illustrating a lot of stormy seas recently for the book I am doing now for Candlewick Press.
It's a subject I am continually drawn to.

Here's one from an earlier book of mine, "East O' the Sun, and West O' the Moon".

It shows the North wind carrying the "Lassie" to the castle that lies East O' the Sun, and West O' the Moon. 

You might  just be able to see the Lassie on the North wind's shoulder.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Here's another one from a year or two later. It represents the wicked Queen who was Snow White's stepmother admiring herself in the magic mirror.
It was published in the Candlewick Book of Fairytales and was used on the cover of one edition of that book.

Two More Covers from the Chronicles of Prydain

I have found another couple of those covers I did for  the Chronicles of Prydain  by Lloyd Alexander.

I'd love to find the images I did for the boxed set.

The Chronicles of Prydain

While I'm sharing a few illustrations from my early days as an illustrator I thought I would show these covers I did for a set called the Chronicles of Prydain  by Lloyd Alexander.
They are a very enjoyable series of books written about fifty years ago in a fairly Tolkienesque style.
There were five in all and I also designed a box for the set. I'll see if I can find some more of those images next time I am down in the vaults.
I don't have all the titles to hand, but the first of these is The Black Cauldron which was turned into a movie by Disney.

A Boggart with a Bag of Moonshine

Here's another from the same period when I had just left college and I was using a strong black ink line to define my forms. It was a technique inspired by the wonderful art of Arthur Rackham and others working during the Golden Age of illustration at the start of the twentieth century.

This was in fact the cover image from my very first book, A Bag of Moonshine  by Alan Garner.

I was very fortunate with that book as it won me the Mother Goose Award and it very much set me on my way as a young illustrator.

The character above is a Boggart, which is similar to a Goblin but a little bit nicer. Below are some of my Goblins that I did when I was considering illustrating The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.

The Light Machine

Here's another early piece from my portfolio that I have always been very fond of. 
This one is called "The Light Machine".
As in the previous post the technique involved painting in watercolour over a pretty detailed ink line drawing.

Some Ink Line Illustrations

I rarely get the chance to do ink line work these days.
These are a few from quite obscure books of long ago that I found when I was hunting through some old folders.

"Oscar Wilde; Stories for Children" at No 5

Many thanks to my friend Flora who sent me this photo from Hodges Figgis showing that Oscar is climbing even higher in the bestsellers this Christmas.

The Salmon Cariad

This was from my very first book,"A Bag of Moonshine" by Alan Garner.
I was delighted to find that I still have the original painting.
Cariad is "sweetheart" in Welsh, and after a pretty unpromising start, when she tries to drown him, these two end up living happily ever after.

The Princess and the Goblin

Here are another couple of finds from the studio clear out.
I did these very early on in my career when I was in discussions with a London publisher about illustrating The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.
MacDonald was a very interesting writer, and it's a bit of a shame that this was another project that never got beyond the drawing board.
I had fun with the Goblins though, and will certainly revisit them at some time.

Digital Jigsaw

Feel like a puzzle?
It's a digital jigsaw of The Old Man in the Library, one of the first portfolio pieces I did after leaving Art College.
I picked the idea up from Milan's blog, Paper Fables.

The Light Machine

I'm enjoying looking back at my very earliest illustration work.

Here is another one that also shows the influence of William Heath Robinson.

It shows that mischievous, and even cruel sense of humour that I occasionally let show through.

I could get away with it then as my technique was that bit more cartoonish.

I originally did this as a portfolio piece, but since then it has appeared in a calendar and on a book cover.

At some point I'd like to develop this kind of idea into a whole picture book. 

When will I ever fit it in?