Last year, before the pandemic hit, and subsequent lockdowns, I had been hoping to enter the fantastic Macmillan Prize for Illustration for those in education. Unfortunately, it was cancelled last year. I then graduated the following Summer. I was disheartened, believing this would mean my chance to enter was up. Fortunately, the Prize has reopened this year and is accepting entry from last year's Graduates!

I knew I absolutely could not pass up the opportunity to enter. I have, however, been concentrating on other projects in the intermediary, including finding a full-time job (which I landed) so I've not had as much time to work on the project as I'd like. I begin my new job in about three weeks, so I've decided to dedicate my time to completing my entry as best I can in that time. Any extra time I have while working (evenings/weekends) I hope to apply to polishing it up before ultimately submitting in April!

I'm so excited to get creating. Below, I will document my progress and development, beginning with exploration sketches, moving onto the picturebook structure and narrative, and then the final piece!

I've known from last year, that I want the picturebook to be set in Scotland (Which is the beautiful country I've known all my life, and call Home!) I know some of the base characters I wish to include, that I explored last year, and some Narrative points. One thing I was set on from the beginning, but had not explored much, was the key location of Mysterious Castle Ruins rumoured to be home to an illusive Unicorn.

Last year, I explored the picturebook using traditional materials, more specifically; Pencil and Paper. While I enjoyed the method, and loved the look, I decided to opt for more digital work while using textured brushes and effects. Below are examples of an etching brush, three (two are very similar) different splatter brushes and an Ink brush (I think).

I wanted to create texture, and even mistakes. I'm hoping to explore different avenues to the background aesthetic of the book, and bring out the rough, wild side of the natural Scottish terrain.

One of the main characters has always been the Kelpie! I love Kelpies, as I do most Celtic Myth and Legend. In traditional legend, they're very dangerous creatures that attempt to drown those who dare to come close enough to pet the ominous horse. While I love these darker tales, I wanted to create a version that embraces the essence of the Kelpie, but is a surely friendlier version. I am a little worried about watering down the Myth, but if I take the essence of a Kelpie (A water spirit) then I believe it still maintains it's Scottish heritage and general concept. My particular aim of this Picturebook is to introduce traditional Scottish (and Celtic) Myth and Legend to Children. When I was growing up, I barely heard any of my Country's many folk-tales. It was only as I reached adult hood that I began to learn about them, and sorely regretted not knowing more before.

I'm really having a lot of fun with this scene...maybe too much. I'm figuring out exactly how to have certain elements appear i.e: The Kelpie's lower body and legs. Additionally, turns out working straight through into the wee hours while staring at a screen can lead to some lovely headaches - as if I didn't know!

Still, it's great fun. I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning as I'm booked into a virtual talk held by Penguin Books about how they create their book covers. I'm going to be working on this while listening to that as book cover design is something I'm really interested in. 

During the Penguin Books Cover Design conference, I got a little bit of work done on this image. I think I'm pretty close to being finished, or at least to setting it aside for editing later.