A great illustration is worth the proverbial thousand words and usually much more. It takes a clever mind to tell a story in one image. That’s why I consider good book illustration to be amongst the higher forms of commercial illustration. I’m not suggesting that my book artwork can be held in the same esteem as the great classics. I know that in the long run I tend to put more effort into a book image than most other types.

Inevitably the editors will have the final say. Their vision for a book may not align perfectly with mine and a compromise must be worked out. It is my job to tie all these loose ends together and make them work.

So a good book artist must be talented in the art of negotiation as well as illustration. They must be flexible and be willing to see other points of view but confident in their own ideas as well.

Most of the images shown here went through extensive changes when they were being created both at the concept and rendering stages.