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Unused Mousehunter story and illustrations

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I’ve been having a clearout and I uncovered a stash of rough illustrations for a new short story featuring Emiline and Portly. I wrote a bit of it, but I think yetis or some other work got in the way.

And so here it is, all messy and unfinished, but I thought you might like it.


Emiline stepped over the slippy rocks and slid down onto the narrow beach. The rain was easing and the dark grey clouds moving on.

‘I love summer,’ she muttered unimpressed, tightening her jacket.
She shook her shoulder-length blonde hair in an attempt to dry it, and let her pet mouse Portly out of his Mousebox. He ran up to her shoulder and stretched out tall, breathing the fresh sea air.

‘Not much of a day off, is it?’ she said, walking towards the sea. Portly squeaked happily in reply.

In amongst the large rocks that scattered the beach, the damp sand was deep brown and glistening, still soaked from the recent downpour and the retreating tide. Emiline paced around a pool of water, her footprints leaving shallow, crisp impressions behind her. To balance herself she clutched a tall cluster of rocks, some up to her waist in height. Portly suddenly leapt from her arm onto a rock and squeaked loudly. Emiline stopped, turning her head to see him sniffing the air.


‘What is it?’ said Emiline.

Portly sniffed a few more times and then vanished behind the rock. Emiline leaned over and found her mouse sat on top of a large crate, built of wonky wooden planks. There was another crate alongside it, and Portly crawled slowly across both of them, his nose pressed to their surfaces.

Emiline noticed that one of the crates had the word ‘Mouse’ painted on its side in thick brushtrokes. She gasped in excitement, and as she did the crates started to squeak. There were mice inside…

…

If anyone wants to finish this story, please, feel free. I’d love to know what type of mouse was inside the boxes.

Learning from Tove Jansson and the Moomins

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I’ve spent the past few evenings attempting to recreate a Moomin illustration from Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson. This is part of my self-imposed study schedule of the greats of ink illustration, which has taken me from Tenniel to Peake. It’s probably my last of these for a while, but it’s definitely not the end. (There’s a reason for me doing all these, by the way, but I’m not going to explain for a while!)

Any way, the illustration I chose is a full-page plate, which is quite different from most of the Moomin illustrations. It’s possibly my favourite, and it’s the only one I can think of where the chiaroscuro lighting allows for the full 3D shape of Moomintroll to be described.

Once again I drew it in ink with a paintbrush, forcing myself to not make mistakes and do it without under-drawing. And crikey, what a lot I learnt. Starting with Moomintroll, the greatest lesson to be had is the direction of the pen marks, and the use of the highlights.

Tove Jansson was a master of using stark contrasts, and by leaving the band of white inside the outline, Moomintroll’s belly really pops out!

Another example of the line direction can be had in the window.

Again, the white is as important as the strokes, but the swirling effect of the lines brings out the beauty of the moonlit night. It also provides a contrast against the vertical strokes that colour the wall.

The method of shading the illustration is also of massive importance. There are some huge areas of pure black, and some huge areas of pure white. It’s a surprisingly brave thing to do, but never once do they take your attention away from the subject. The composition is perfect, as is the lighting.

And finally, the best thing that I’ve taken away from attempting to draw like Tove Jansson, is how time-consuming and patient you need to be to create work like this. I don’t know the size of the original, and it has a far better use and economy of line than mine, but the work involved in creating a piece like this is exceptional.

I admire Tove Jansson now more than ever!

Learning from Mervyn Peake

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I’ve been practising my ink work of late by attempting to draw like my favourite illustrators. Mervyn Peake’s illustrations for the Hunting of the Snark are wonderful, and in many ways quite similar to Tenniel’s style.

Peake’s line work is a little looser, and without the prim Victorian aesthetic, as you’d expect. But it’s quite evident that they both love grotesque characters, and the stretching/squashing of human shape and form.

Any way, here’s my attempt at one of my favourite illustrations of his.

Learning from Tenniel

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I’m forever on a quest for artistic improvement, particularly where ink and drawing is concerned. I’m very much from a fine art background and tidy artwork doesn’t come easy. I don’t necessarily want to be tidy, but it’s nice to know how!

And so, with that in mind, I’ve been doing more ink work of late, looking at some old masters. Last night it was Tenniel’s turn, and I thought I’d have a pop at drawing like him in Alice mode. There’s no rough drawing underneath, it’s just pen straight onto the paper – the best way of learning.

Honestly, the moment I ditched pencils in my sketchbooks and turned to the permanence of pens was the moment I really started to improve and understand line work.

Any way, here’s my five of spades. (I should also add, I’ve now ditched pens and draw with a rigger paintbrush.)

Pop-up Festival 9-10th July

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Last week I took part in the fabulous Pop-up Children’s Book Festival, which is running loads of school events plus a festival weekend in London on the 9-10th July. Just have a look at that line-up!

I was lucky enough to get to run my event at the British Library. I don’t spend enough time there, and for anyone who’s never been, you’ll be blown away by things such as Jane Austen’s writing desk, the Magna Carta and Captain Scott’s notebook (I was almost in tears reading the “I may be some time” entry).

There’s also a smart Sci-fi literature exhibition running at the minute, which my event was twinned with. It’s mostly made up of a selection of books and covers and, annoyingly, everything is behind glass. It’s like being led into a sweet shop and not being allowed to touch the sweets, let alone eat them! But that’s by the by. It’s simply great to have a timeline of sci-fi in book form.

If there’s one thing that makes it imperative that you visit, it’s the typed first page of the Day of the Triffids. I love seeing the workings of a writer, and this is brilliantly revealing, as it’s missing its most amazing first line:

When a day you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.

I’m not sure if that line can ever be beaten.

And so, without further ado here’s a picture of Harold the Hamster. This time he’s dressed as Miss Marple.