Book Illustration - Tumblr Posts

Two more illustrations for The Spook’s Apprentice. Yet more fun with foreshortening, which is usually my mortal enemy. I think I’m slowly getting the hang of it.

Are the illustrations scary enough? Or... too scary? Probably not the second one!

Here are the last two illustrations for The Spook’s Apprentice. We’re firmly back in my comfort zone with ‘scary old ladies’, but the last one was probably the hardest to do with the thicker hatching. I’m still not entirely sure it works on that one.

Found these brilliant illustrations on Pinterest but they’re originally from a really cool comic book series!

Back to Tumblr after years away (hi folks!), so I guess I’ll share the cover art I painted for THE JADE SETTER OF JANLOON by Fonda Lee!

This is a wraparound cover for Subterranean Press’ limited edition of the novella; I got to do the title lettering too:

When coming up with ideas, I wrote a mini brief for myself: balance, power, mystery, family ties. The jade setters' neutrality is central to the story and a counterpoint to the clans’ power. (Alternative brief: make it jade as fuck.)

Figuring out the composition was tricky—the piece's rhythm has to work not just when viewed as a whole, but also in smaller sections like the back and front flaps. And while the novella introduces new characters, the Pillars and Horns still loom large as symbols over Janloon...a nod to both their power in the city as well as how readers would be coming off JADE CITY or JADE WAR  familiar with the Kaul family or Mada and Gont Asch.

While reading the manuscript I jot down ideas as they flash by. The seed for this cover can be seen in the top left of this sketchbook page:

I then develop each thumbnail into a very rough colour sketch and put them together with reference images to send to Fonda and Bill Schafer at Sub Press. Sort of a combination of moodboard and thumbnails:

Got the go-ahead to develop thumbnail D, so I make a more detailed sketch of the full composition, with two options for characters’ gestures on the front cover:

And then it’s off to paint! I sneak in little references to the story where I can. The mansion is based on the Straits Eclectic architectural style of shophouses in Penang, where I live, while some of the buildings in the city are based on Hong Kong. Many hours of painting and finagling later, it’s finished, gets sent to the publisher, then the printers, then to Green Bone fans everywhere.

I recently turned in the cover for JADE SHARDS, a short story anthology that’s my favourite Green Bone Saga title so far, and I can’t wait for everyone to see it when pre-orders open next year! Don’t take my word for it: https://twitter.com/FondaJLee/status/1574248123463266304

Fonda’s also posted a peek at the signature page over on her Instagram, showing a crop of Shae and cormorants from the cover art. It’s been a real honour and pleasure getting to draw for a world I’m a fan of :)

Map illustration for ‘The Foxglove King’ by Hannah Whitten, Orbit Digital, two-page spread 12 x 9.25" (2022) Described as a lush gothic fantasy, this series called for a map that would reflect the opulence of the world that the protagonist, Lore, finds herself in. I knew right away that I wanted to explore stained glass as a style here—more specifically, taking inspiration from the work that illustrator and stained glass master Harry Clarke was doing in Ireland in the early 1900s. I’ve been obsessed with his work ever since I got to see some pieces in person!

The map is framed by the Bleeding God and the Buried Goddess, the two deities whose story sets up the current stakes in the novel. Imagining that this is an actual stained glass window somewhere in the citadel, I also incorporated various symbols mentioned in the book: the candle, roses, sun and crescent moon, golden and silver threads for spiritum and mortem respectively.

Here’s the sketch I sent in for approval, with annotations explaining the visual choices:

Thanks to AD Lauren Panepinto for the creative freedom and also the help with the typefaces!

The book comes out March 7 in the USA. You'll enjoy it if you're a fan of palace intrigue mixed with dark magic and religious institutions. The regular Orbit hardback has the map in black and white while the special Barnes & Noble edition has it in colour on the endpapers. Prints available in my INPRNT store with white and dark backgrounds!

The dragon has three heads ✧.*

I absolutely love drawing the Conquerors and all the details that go into them. Aegon's design is heavily inspired by @/tumbledrylow___ on TikTok!

Here's this messy doodle of Cersei in what I imagine to be her nightgown

Book one Daenerys design

I suppose sort of like a reference sheet, so I know how to imagine her. She still has no piercings here and overall looks a little younger.

Vest is heavily inspired by @/shebsart's design

Oberyn Martell and the eldest three Sand Snakes. Quick sketch on my phone

Book two Daenerys design

Here she already has her piercings, switched most of her jewelery to gold and looks a little older. I think the shorter hair is what ages her a bit too.

I haven't thought of any particular reason for her switching the color of her jewelery other than just experimenting with her personal expression, which is a layer of realism I like to see characters have. The same goes for her still wearing those shoes. I don't know if that's an unpopular opinion, but I love to see characters repeat outfits. I think that also makes them feel more real and relatable in the sense of mundane things.

Visenya Targaryen

Not my typical style, but I was trying something new...

Aemon, Baelon, Alyssa and Jocelyn

A couple of traditional portraits just to define how I imagine them

The Queen who Never Was

Rhaenys Targaryen

Just a sketch of these three again

Rhaenys, Visenya, and Aegon Targaryen

A sketch of Ghost from a while back

Evil

Just a quick sketch. Never drawn Aemond before, but I've seen people draw him curly, and I love drawing long hair so...

Daenys the Dreamer

Honestly enamoured by divine, slightly uncanny targaryen women. I love them.

"Wherever Prince Aemon went, whatever Prince Aemon did, Prince Baelon would not be far behind."

I love drawing happy women, so here's one I did of Laena, Rhaenyra, and @77empest 's oc Besyana. Since the ocs at this point are so intertwined with the story that they're practically canon

An older incomplete piece, kind of an attempt for a back cover of a book. I may revisit it in the future… I do like the colors and the intricacies here.