Pyramid Hunters - Bones of the Sun God

Had a great time doing cover #2 for the Pyramid Hunters series, published by Simon & Schuster's Aladdin imprint.

The series is like a kid version of Indiana Jones and I love getting to research and illustrate these ancient locations, this one set in the Mayan Temples of Belize.

Thanks to the people at Aladdin for being so great to work with, as usual!

Whatever Floats Your Boat...

Personal piece for fun...

Red Moon Rising

A cover for Red Moon Rising, a new middle grade cover coming out from Simon & Schuster. It was so cool to have the chance to get into the epic Sci-Fi Western inspired world that author K.A. Holt has created. The Art Director really wanted to capture how bad ass the main character Rae is and to show her rugged, frontier world on a far away space colony. Of course it needed to showcase the huge, blood red moon that inspires the book's title as well.

This was a breakthrough project for me... Not only because I had the chance to work in the Sci-Fi genre, but also because of the scope of the image - the character, horse, environment and bold colour scheme. It was a fantastic opportunity and a really, really rewarding project.

Pyramid Hunters: The Iron Tomb

Here's a cover for "Pyramid Hunters: The Iron Tomb" by Peter Vegas.  I grew up a huge, huge fan of Indiana Jones - and the movies piqued an interest in archeology that would continue to this day. Although I never did become the heroic archeologist/adventurer I wanted to as a kid... becoming an illustrator is a close second - and still requires a lot of research and taking the odd risk! I had an absolute blast on this one. Thanks to the fine people at Simon & Schuster's Aladdin imprint for being amazing to work with, as usual.

Hollow Earth: Book of Beasts Cover

Here's a cover for the fantastic "Hollow Earth" series  by John and Carol Barrowman, published by Simon and Schuster's Aladdin imprint. This is for the epic final "Book of Beasts".

The books are about two twins with the inherited ability to make their artwork come to life. Art and historic paintings play a big role in the books as well - how cool is that! For an epic finish to the series, I was inspired by the peak moment where the portal to "Hollow Earth" the subterranean realm where all the creatures of myth and fantasy are imprisoned, has been opened. The book's heroes are beset by the villain riding a black, winged stag with Hollow Earth's creatures emerging behind them.

Thanks to everyone at Aladdin for another amazing project!

Dead City: Dark Days Cover

The Dead City books by James Ponti, published by Simon and Schuster's Aladdin imprint, have been amazing to work on. Here's the cover for the final book in the series, Dead City: Dark Days. My first cover for this series was way back in 2011 and it was my first series for a major publisher, so it's a little bitter sweet to be wrapping up.

The story revolves around Molly, the teen girl protagonist who gets wrapped up in the Omegas, a team of Zombie fighters battling the hordes of Undead that live in an under Manhattan. The books are high action and bring the Zombie genre to a young reader audience in a really fun and smart way while weaving in New York City history and culture. Working with so much great material was an absolute blast. Wrapping up the series with the big finale on top of the iconic Chrysler building was a fantastic way to cap it off!

Thanks to everyone at Aladdin for being so great to work with!

Eremos

Here are the first images from a new series of works titled “Eremos”

“Eremos” envisions the mythological archetypes of tribal cultures living ages after the fall of civilization.  These Mask designs are early explorations into gods, spirits and motifs for this world.

I’ll be continuing to work on these masks along with more narrative images based on classical mythological archetypes and will post more as they come.

For future news and art, please follow me on twitter and tumblr as well.

Spectrum 16 and Mixed Bag Mythography

Well, it looks like I will have some work in Spectrum 16!

I was super surprised to make it in to say the least. I sent submissions in this year as a due dilligence kinda thing, with no expectations whatsoever of having anything accepted and I think I'm still in a bit of disbelief!
When I find out what piece or pieces got in and get an official correspondence from them it will probably sink in a bit more.

I am really, really flattered to be in a volume with so many incredible artists and I know that seeing my work amongst the many truly great pieces will be humbling but it will inspire me to work harder too. It's great to feel like the hard work and focus is paying of somehow, and I'm more inspired than ever to keep pushing myself, be more focused and work even harder. I've been looking up to the artists published in Spectrum since Volume 3, and this is a huge milestone for me.

So not to post news without art...

When I wanted to come up with a title for this blog, I wanted it to somehow relate to my personal work that is eclectically inspired and varies in subject a fair bit, but is still unified by my own influences and Personal Mythologies. I came up with Mixed Bag Mythography.

I wanted to make an illustration to serve as a visual interpretation of this title that would represent some of the inspirations and subjects of my personal artwork. I chose to personify the theme with a female character to represent creativity. She’s kind of a vagabond – wandering through the world much like how my inspiration will wander with no set purpose. She’s collected all kinds of trappings and artifacts, some of which represent my cultural background and inspirations, and others that I just think are cool and add interest.

All the pseudo-intellectual artistic descriptions aside: this is a character I thought would make a cool illustration for my Blog, with lots of interesting things to paint and opportunities to play with expression, colour, texture and lighting.

I hope you like it…



- Nigel