What I'm up to - Part 3

Sorry for the gap in blogging but I've been Busy.

Here are a few samples of the work I have been doing on the illustrations for George R R Martin's "A Clash of Kings" for the Subterranean Press edition.  I have cropped in on them so I don't give everything away.

A detail of the color sketch for the cover painting to Volume 1

Part of the ink drawing of Dagmer Cleftjaw.

 I drew penciled remarques on all the signature pages for the limited lettered edition.  Below are a couple of samples of the kind of drawings I did.

 Below is  an early drawing for Tyrion's chapter heading.  This one is not being used.

What I'm Up To

I am currently working away on some of the 60+ black and white illustrations I need to create for the Subterranean Press edition of George R R Martin's "A Clash Of Kings". Not only do I have to pick interesting images from the book to draw up, but I have to make sure that they are evenly spread throughout the volume.

This is a working sketch for a pen drawing.

 Additionally I feel an internal pressure to try to show images of people and occurrences that are important to the story, although there are many vague references to less important details that suggest very interesting drawings!  In looking at great illustrated books by Golden Age illustrator I am struck by their choices of subjects to depict. Not always the most dramatic scene as we were taught to pick when doing paperback book covers. My favorite quote from N C Wyeth addresses this.  Andrew Wyeth quoting his father: 

" I never paint a subject, an illustration from a story that’s described by the author. I take something he hasn't described, but maybe hinted at, and so I enrich the book."

A sketch for an illustration of Samwell.

The Direwolf "Ghost"

Where my final drawings will end up?  Who knows?

What I'm up to

For my first post I thought I would tell you about my current project.

I am working with George R R Martin and Subterranean Press on the massively illustrated, limited edition of “A Clash of Kings” book two of George’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. This will contain (when I finish!!) around 70 black and white illustrations of various sizes and formats and 6 full color images including two wrap around covers.

Here is a shot of the first cover painting in progress.

And the second cover painting.

Working with George (when I can tear time away from his hectic schedule) is stimulating and challenging. Like any proud father he is very protective of his creations and especially their appearance. Some of my sketches have hit the mark right away while others have needed numerous sketches to work out.

A drawing of Catelyn that George liked right off.

George is quite forthcoming with information from his fertile brain about what things should look like, and this sometimes includes details that he has thought of, but never actually written down in his books. (More on that in a future post). That is what makes the work so fascinating. I get the chance to learn things that others don’t know yet, until I illustrate them or George writes them down.

As the project develops check in here for more comments and images of the work in progress.