P is for Picnic #atoz2025 #booksky

The first P I thought of for my A to Z Challenge of illustrations, was a picnic in number 3 of my Princelings books. I’m doing illustrations as a theme mostly in those books, but some in my ones for younger readers. I also add some from an art group challenge if the letter fits.

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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.

And … the A to Z is a blog hop, so do go to other people who are doing it. You can find the links here.

The Picnic at Buckmore Castle

Well, it’s not exactly at Buckmore castle, but by a river which runs through a bit of woodland a few minutes’ walk from the castle. It’s close enough that people can walk out and join them at the picnic, or they can see people arriving. It is all part of the plot. This is where George reveals the big twist in The Princelings and the Lost City, which may still be my favourite book of the series…

The illustration is based on a view of the river I used to live next to, and specifically where it ran through a very small bit of woodland on the route of a bird survey I did. So I nearly always saw it early in the morning, in spring and early summer, when the light was fantastic. It was a lovely spot, and deserved to be remembered.

This is an early picture, done from memory by hand, and possibly quite small, so that enlarged the lines look thicker than I remember. It’s quite dainty in the paperback and on an ereader screen.

More Illustrations: Presents and Protests

I don’t have many illustrations on the theme of P, not even Princelings. But I also have Presents, which are sometimes a good standby when nothing else happens during a chapter. The first is a little drinking glass for wine tasting, that Victor got in the Rhinelands and gave to Queen Kira on his return. Then there are Liska’s beads, which may not all be presents for her birthday, but she does say that her Uncle George gave the green stones to her at some stage.

I also have the Protest, although I showed it (smaller) for the interior of Castle Marsh (letter M). The banners read things like ‘Freedom for Tyranny’ and ‘Out with the Despots’. I had fun with those! These are in Princelings Revolution, as you might have guessed, so these were done from scratch on the iPad.

I start by using pencil (Derwent Cassell HB or 2B) on paper. Then I use an inkpen over to create the line drawing (I have a set of three Pilot Drawing pens, nos 01, 03, and 05). After that, I usually erase the pencil. By book 9 I was doing all my illustrations on the iPad, and I could take a JPEG copy of a hand-drawn castle, and amend it, or change it about a bit, rather than start from scratch.

These come from my Princelings books 3. The Princelings and the Lost City, 6. Bravo Victor, and 10. Princelngs Revolution