Illustrating The Frost Goblin
And New York News
The Frost Goblin by Abi Elphinstone and Illustrated by me is out today in paberback, so I’m going to have a little look at the development of the illustrations…
When I read Abi Elphinstone’s first draft there were key moments that I could clearly visualise, that guided the way.
The story follows Bertie (seen above on the swing). In his noisy family, it can sometimes feel like there’s no room for a quiet boy like him. But when he meets a family of goblins on the night of the deepest frost, he has the most magical adventure with Ada the Frost Goblin, who helps him discover his own place in the world.
I always like it if I can get a grip on a wider thematic narrative that goes through a story, so that I can keep that in mind right from the start. I was interested in the story of transformation. Both with the magical power of frost to transform the world, but also the transformation of Bertie. It allowed a lot of scope to capture atmosphere and quiet subtle moments and also a chance to maximise the dramatic graphic potential of the story. (ie - my happy place!)
These are early development sketches of Ada below. It may or may not surprise you to know that I hadn’t drawn I goblin before (that I can recall!) and the thought of it was quite intimidating. This worried me at first, I wasn’t sure if I liked goblins, so my brief to myself was to create a goblin I did like! : )
To my relief my sketches of Ada formed pretty quickly and I started to feel I really knew who she was. I discovered I did like goblins, especially if they’re like Ada, who’s kind, fun and an incredibly wise character. She’s got all the goblin traits that were in Abi’s description, except I deviated a bit and suggested a frost inspired patterned poncho, as I was excited by the idea of the pattern and shape extending out when she’s shooting frost from her hands. (that ended up making it onto a spread and the cover!)
The other challenge was capturing a feel of the story through colour. All the clues for this were there in Abi’s text. Of course, I knew we would have green, because of the goblin flesh colour and this extended into the underground world where the frost goblin family live.
The blue outside world came from a magical description: “Rooftops rose into the sky like overturned ships, painted blue by the moonlight.”
There’s a lovely theme of hope in the story, and the touches of red represent the hope and joy seen in the Robin’s breast, berries and Bertie’s little hat.
I enjoyed finding a graphic way of visualising the chaos and noise of Bertie’s family life. These colours are used again when we see the whole family later.
As I said, Bertie goes through quite a transformation and I like to think of him having a bit of a super hero moment on his rooftop adventure with Ada. So I thought about his changing body language. Curled up, small and quiet at the start and becoming dynamic and brave later.
I’m happy to say that I went through a transformation too, I loved drawing Ada and am now a fully signed up convert to goblins! Especially if they’ve got a cape or dungarees on!
The Frost Goblin is out now.
Written by Abi Elphinstone and published by Simon and Schuster.
Abi and I also collaborated on The Snow Dragon, published in 2019. (This one deserves a post of its own one day!)
NEW YORK NEWS!
Exhibition and event
I was incredibly pleased that Silver Linings was selected for this years Society of Illustrators Original Art Show in New York.
This is the forth time that I’ve been lucky enough to have my work selected for the show, and each time we say, “maybe we’ll go next time”. And we decided that the next time is this time! So I’ll be there this November to see the array of work on display!
I’m looking forward to saying hello to fellow illustrators and authors at the Reception, give me a shout below if you’re also going to be there!
Society of Illustrators Event
I’ve been invited to host a Saturday Silver Linings family workshop at the SOI on 11th of November whilst I’m in New York.
All the info for booking a place at the Saturday Picture Book Spotlight is here, I’d love to see you there if you happen to be in the area!
This is an illustration inspired by my last visit to NY a few years ago. I’ve got quite a thing for water towers! : )
Thank you for reading another Woodcock Dispatch!
Enjoy the frosty season folks!
Oh it’s such a beautiful looking book! Thank you for the look at your development process!
Love the texture and the playful spirit in your illustration! :)