I've been working on a lot of pretty imagery over the last year so it was a nice change to get to draw a skull in flames & also draw up some lettering for Jacqueline Seewald's Harlequin Books Mystery series selection, "The Inferno Collection." It's not everyday you get such fun subject matter to work with.

"When a friend asks Kim Reynolds if her library is concealing an inferno collection, she denies it. Why would a university library keep books hidden from the public? But Kim's friend Lorette is being threatened by someone who believes the secret collection exists. Then Kim finds Lorette's body...."   scary, I know.

It was a lot of fun working on this with art director Kathleen Oudit as you can see by all the scary variations I came up with. I was really inspired by pulp book cover with their vibrant colours and bold illustrations. If you like, you can buy a copy of the book on their site.

This illustration was painted with acrylic paint with touches of colour ink layered on top. Here's some of the process shots.

I usually start by blocking out bigger areas of colour and then I get more refined as I go along with the delicate linework as the final touch.

Glad to be working on another Harlequin Mystery book right now and I'll be popping that up here once it comes out. For more of my book illustrations please feel free to check out my site. Thanks!