pen & ink

The Secret of Castle Belfrage

A digital pen & ink illustration showing two men in an ancient subterranean ruin, with two megaliths decorated with spiral patterns and a pool of water underneath.

Here’s my favourite illustration from Aegeon #10, a two page spread for the short story ‘The Secret of Castle Belfrage’ by Brendan Heard. I’m sure Keen observers have spotted the Piranesi ‘homage’ in this one. I’ve recorded a time-lapse of me drawing it and added some voice-over, if you’re interested:

The Return of the Prodigal

A digital pen and ink drawing showing a monolith carved with spiral patterns, casting a shadow. Next to it is a shadow of the observer of the scene.

It’s been a long time since the last Aegeon, but now that the special, extra-thick issue 10 is out, I’ll be posting a few of my images from it. This one’s for a very poetic short story ‘The Return of the Prodigal’ by C.P.Webster.

I’m also working on the second part in the Dullahan quadrilogy, but that’s not going to be out for a while yet.

Polybius

A digital pen & ink illustration showing an old-school arcade cabinet with a Polybius marquee and screen text

This one’s for my own story, inspired by the legend of Polybius. No, not the Greek historian, but an urban legend about a fictitious 1981 arcade game designed by the US government. If you’re so inclined, you can read about it in Aegeon #9.

The Duelists

A digital pen & ink illustration showing a dogfight between two biplanes.

As the era of manned military aviation is slowly drawing to a close, it was nice to reminisce about its beginnings, thanks to a story by C.P.Webster I had the privilege of illustrating. And since Aegeon stories usually involve an aspect of the fantastical, you know it’s not just about WW1 and biplanes.

The Three Gods of Art

A digital pen & ink illustration showing 3 monsters dubbed 'The 3 Gods of Art' from the book Dullahan - Samhradh.

This is possibly the weirdest illustration I made for Dullahan – Samhradh, and the last one I’m going to post here. To see the others, you’ll have to buy the book! It shows the three monstrous ‘Gods of Art’ who came out of the underworld to reclaim magical instruments that were stolen from them. Charming fellows.

Have a Drink

A digital pen & ink illustration showing a man sat at a table opposite the viewer, with a living severed head a goblet, a mug, and spilled wine on the table.

Here’s Devlin, one of the main characters from Dullahan – Samhradh, demonstrating a concept by spilling perfectly good wine. Pig, the living severed head, is probably thinking ‘What a terrible waste. I wish I still had a stomach, I could really use a drink right now.’