Illustrating Stories - The Ugly Duckling

In 2018 I was approached by Elspeth of Purple Pomegranate Press to illustrate one of her “send a story as a card” books. The contact came because she’d seen my cards in the fabulous Sam Read Booksellers in Grasmere which just goes to show how important cards can be for artists!

Elspeth asked me to make illustrations for her retelling of The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson, the books would also be published by Story House Press as part of their Story House Classics series, designed to teach English as a foreign language. Will from the bookshop took the photo below on their stand at the London Book Fair.

I had no training in the technicalities of illustration so it was a massive learning curve for me. The deadline and amount of work to be done was terrifying but it was so exciting to be working on a “real” project for someone, rather than being my own boss.
Looking back I would have done some things differently and I wish I’d been on the wonderful Picture Books week at Moniack Mhor BEFORE I started but overall I found the whole experience really encouraging and Elspeth was lovely to work with.

A page from the Story House Press version.