The A to Z Challenge kicks off today with an Assortment of illustrations by me.
I’m Jemima Pett, author, blogger, illustrator and guinea pig wrangler. My interests are in fantasy, environment, science (inc. fiction) and thrillers, to name a few things. This is my nth AtoZ Challenge. Mostly I talk about books. This time I’m talking about something I do without much thinking about… my illustrations.
The Princelings books and the two for younger readers, Messenger Misadventures and Cavies of Flexford Common all have illustrations. Most are chapter headings. Cavies is designed for younger readers (c 7 yrs old, Key Stage 1 in UK educational parlance). That has illustrations throughout.
This month I’m picking out one or more illustrations each day to talk about. Except Sundays — we skip Sundays in the A to Z Challenge. Some will be from the books, some from other sketching projects.
Feel free to comment below!
And … the A to Z is a blog hop, so do go to other people who are doing it. You can find the links (and join in until 5 April) here
An Assortment of As
Aros
My first thought: the Bridge of Aros. This is featured in Messenger Misadventures and also in the Princelings of the North (Princelings #8)
The bridge of Aros carries the coast road from Tobermory into Salen, on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. It’s the outlet of Glen Aros onto the east coast of the island. I did this from memory. I have no idea whether I checked whether those hills in the distance on the mainland are representative or not. Although, it’s just along the road from a photo of where I stopped to give the guinea pigs a break after their long journey from mid-Scotland and across on the ferry.) I had five holidays on Mull. Not all my photos have made it through the various computers they got stored on.
I started this using pencil (Derwent Cassell HB or 2B) on paper. Then I used an inkpen over to create the line drawing (I have a set of three Pilot Drawing pens, nos 01, 03, and 05). After that, provided I remember, I erase the pencil. In some illustrations you can find bits I’ve missed! This was my standard procedure until book 9 of the Princelings series, when I went to using iPad full time.
Assortment of things beginning with A
Ambience and Airplanes
All were done in the same way as the Aros picture. These come from books 6 Bravo Victor and 7 Willoughby the Narrator.
The bridge is really nice.
You know I love your drawings!
All of these drawings are stunning you are very clever Jemima 💜💜
Great to see the illustrations again, and amazing how much they spark memories of the books!
I’ve fallen away from A to Z, but maybe I should do a little looking around to see if there are others I’d like to follow.
Last time I looked (at the weekend) the list was a manageable length!
The fireplace with the two chairs looks so cozy. And the fireplace alone, I can almost hear the crackling.
Thanks, Kristin. Btw I have been trying to fix the problem with the newsletter sign up which you kindly pointed out. It’s driving me mad.
Sorry!
The Bridge of Aros leapt out at me — so detailed!
Ronel visiting for A-Z Challenge Ammit the Devourer & My Languishing TBR: A #AtoZChallenge2025 #Books #Bookreview
What a delight to see your art!
https://deborah-weber.com/a-logophiles-ludic-musings-a/
Definitely multi-talented! These are great.
Fun and beautiful illustrations!
I apologise for my wonky comment form. I’m signed in everywhere else, but it refuses to recognise me here! I have to sign in for every comment on my own blog!
I envy your talents, Jemima! I always wished to be good at art but I’m just basically terrible at it lol!
Suzy x (joining the challenge this year!)
The hatchwork on the black-and-white work is really nice shading. – Erin Penn (erinpenn.com)
Hi Jemima, I love the Bridge at Aros – I started out as a watercolour painter but when I sketch landscape with pen or ink, ?i too like this loose but nevertheless detailed style…
Just catching up… Great to see you’re getting on well. Love all your writings and art. Hope the Guinea pigs manage to pop by and say hello again this year.
They’re not doing the A2Z this year… down to two and Ludo may not last long now, maybe one more summer for him (age 6, with arthritis and a heart problem).