Why I Don’t Illustrate My Own Books

4/12/2025

Welcome to my brand-new series: Why I Don’t Illustrate My Own Books. This in-depth exploration of my artistic style is ABSOLUTELY necessary in answering the above question.

First and foremost, as a serious artist, my craft is very personal and it is not something I believe I can rush for the sake of deadlines. For example, below is my interpretation of a Roald Dahl character you may not have heard of (which is the only explanation as to why you might not recognise him)… meet Willy Wonka:

A very poor drawing of Willy Wonka. He is wearing a purple coat, yellow shirt, green trouser and a top hat, while holding a wooden cane. His hair looks like whiskers growing out the side of his head.

I’ve sat on this masterpiece for a while because I didn’t want to be accused of sabotaging Sir Quentin Blake’s career but enough is enough… I’m done hiding!

I am often asked when exactly my extensive artistic ability made itself known and I am pleased I can confidently say that it was when I was as young as five when, like many five-year-olds, I embarked on my first foray into still life drawing. Behold, as my teacher helpfully labelled, an 'observational drawing of a daffodil’:

A very simple pencil drawing of a flower coloured over. It has a huge thick green stem and yellow flowerhead. An adult's handwriting beside it says 'observational drawing of a daffodil'.

If you are speechless, well, all I can say is that I get that response a lot. But it's so nice to know observation has always been a strength of mine!

While you recover yourself let me tell you about Ayesha L. Rubio who is the talented artist responsible for the stunning cover design and chapter head artwork for Wolf Siren.

The cover of Wolf Siren shows the girl looking unfazed, surrounded by three huge wolves in an autumnal woods. The title, WOLF SIREN is written in large red letters, woven between the tree branches. Above the girl's head are the words 'Inside every good girl is a wolf'. The name Beth O’Brien appears at the bottom in white text.

Framed black and white print showing a girl in a long cloak riding on the back of a wolf through a forest.

Not only that, she's designed the cover for my second book, Feather Vane - an adventure that follows a brother and sister on a quest to brew a difficult potion in a land full of magical creatures - many of which appear on the front and back cover, just saying!

Image shows the cover of Feather Vane by Beth O'Brien - two children (one girl with long red hair, one boy covered in blue feathers) stand beside a glowing cauldron, adding ingredients. Other than the title and author name, text reads: Mixing up magic always leads to trouble.

I recently finished my copy edit on Feather Vane which (among other things) is where someone with better grammar than me tells me how to use commas. The next stage is proof reading and waiting excitedly to see the chapter headers for Feather Vane which, you'll be delighted to know, will also be the wonderful work of Ayesha L. Rubio!

When I have more to share, subscribers to my newsletter are the very first to know, so why not go and sign up below!*

*(Rhymes were initially unintentional but then I noticed and decided to run with it!).

0 Comments

Writing Rambles