We start week 3 of the A to Z Challenge with a trip to Laurel-Eye Castle. I’m continuing the illustration theme, and focusing on Victor the First’s trip to the Rhinelands in book 6, Bravo Victor, where he gets embroiled in a complicated piece of deception!
My ten 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.
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The A to Z is a blog hop, so do go to other people who are doing it. You can find the links here.
Victor’s trip to Laurel-Eye
This is another drawing where I surprised myself. It was based on one or more trips to see my friends in Mainz, a German city on the Rhine, south of the bend in the river around the edifice called the Lorelei. The Lorelei are nymphs or goddesses in German mythology with a taste for shipwrecked sailors and gold.
So most of Bravo Victor (book 6 of the Princelings series) concerns Victor’s journey to investigate the disappearance of Prince Engineer George, and to help the Realms’ chief undercover agent, Sundance, to uncover and prevent a dastardly plot involving smuggling. It involved new pictures for nearly everything, and I think many of them are very nice. You’ve already seen some of them if you’ve been working through my A2Z this month. There are plenty more illustrations, based on things I did on holiday (like wine-tasting), and my vague memories of the scenery.
More ELLustrations
Here are a few more things beginning with L.
The top row has a flying boat on Lago Major, where it has been flown for a meeting with the manufacturers. Then the doorway to the Library at Castle White Horse, and the Lightning Tree on the marsh at Castle Marsh.
Bottom are some sketches from my February art group event: the prompts were Lunch (the first where I went straight into colour) and Lights, (the prompt just after Victor the Red died). These two and the tree were done on my 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 again. At present I’m using the iPad from scratch, using the Tayasui Sketches app with my iPen.
These come from books 5. The Talent Seekers, 6. Bravo Victor, and 10. Princelings Revolution.
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.
I recognized that castle immediately, Jackie. I didn’t see it from the Rhine (that would have been nice) but I visited it on an excursion from a meeting in Germany.
I like that candle. I usually have a candle or two burning here at home.