We love to share new samples by our illustrators and this week it's the turn of Joe Lillington. These powerful and atmospheric pieces illustrate the classic children's fantasy novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea. Joe kindly answered a few of our questions about what inspires him and other things...

Which elements from the story most inspired your finished illustrations?

I really love the world of the Earthsea and the way magic and names run through the books, but for these particular illustrations I was drawn to the sense of light and dark that comes across in the story. Ogion using light to chase away the shadow, Ged spotting the light of the tower on Roke through the storm, I thought the drama these scenes could come across really well in black and white illustrations.

Take a look at more of Joe's illustrations for A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.

If you could illustrate the cover for any classic children's book which would you choose? 

I really love some of the classic fantasy books I read as a child, like Earthsea, The Hobbit and Sabriel and I also have a big soft spot for Fantastic Mr Fox. So any of those!

Can you tell us a bit about your illustrative process...and the materials you use. We'd also love to hear about your ProCreate brush selection and where other illustrators can access them?

I work fully digitally using Procreate at the moment, I find that using Procreate is the closest way to work digitally but not feel tied down to the computer because the iPad is so portable. Though I still do some editing and setting up files on the computer at the beginning at the end of the process. At the moment I’m trying to develop my way of working to bring in more texture and mark making within Procreate, especially when making black and white illustrations. To help with this I make my own brushes to use within the app so that I can get the feel and look that I want. You can get them on my Gumroad or Kofi sites!

What is the first step in the design process when you first receive the brief from your agent / the publisher? 

When I get a brief the first thing I do is read through it all, and check if there’s anything I need to clarify with the publisher. Then depending on the project I might start looking for reference images to inform my roughs or just jump straight into sketching around the idea to get a feel for how I want to approach the brief. I might start with the setting or the characters or whatever it is that I’m most drawn to in that particular project.

Can you tell us a bit about how you interact with the publishing house when working on a project like this?  

It varies, sometimes a lot of the communication is through my agent Caroline, especially if it's someone I haven’t worked with previously, for other projects I might email back and forth with the designer or art director to clarify, discuss ideas and get feedback.

What do you most enjoy about the research process? And where are your first ports of call for research? 

One of the things I like the most is adding little details and personality to characters and scenes. So finding visuals that inspire those is really fun, interesting fabric or clothes, ancient objects with strange shapes and designs, different patterns, landscapes and architecture. I really like finding all sorts of different imagery to draw from. I often start with just browsing Pinterest for new imagery or look at things I’ve previously discovered. I’ve also got quite a lot of old reference books with lovely old illustrations in which can be really inspiring themselves.

What did you enjoy reading as a child? 

I really enjoyed The Hobbit and Asterix!

Do you listen to podcasts? Which would you recommend?

The Adam Buxton Podcast, Hello From The Magic Tavern and In Our Time are always good!Do you have time to sketch for pleasure, where and what do you most like to draw recreationally? 

I always feel like a need to do more, but I manage to in bursts every so often and I always come back to sketching little characters for fantasy stories, exploring dungeons or going on quests. Though if I’m out and about the thing that really inspires me and makes me want to draw is landscape and nature.

Thanks Joe! You can find Joe on Instagram and if you are interested in working with him please email us at info@arenaillustration.com.

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