Monday 17 June 2013

The Art of Magazine Fiction

Detail from Andre Leonard's
illustration for my story Forever Together
in My Weekly







My thanks to Andre Leonard for his fabulous illustration to the first part of my two-part story, Forever Together, in this week’s My Weekly. It’s uncanny how Andre how depicted the heroine, Nicola, exactly as I imagined her, even down to her ponytail which I always pictured her having but never actually described in the text. How spooky is that? And how appropriate for a tale full of weird, spooky goings on at a creepy old theatre?
Andre has illustrated my previous serials Fairground Attraction and A Life Of Loyal Service and it’s such a pleasure to have my work illustrated so classily.
I interviewed Andre for Writers’ Forum last year and was surprised to learn that his beautifully detailed ‘oil paintings’ are actually produced digitally, with a program called Painter.
“It requires the use of a graphics pad - I use a Wacom as it’s the best - and a digital pen or stylus,” Andre explained. “Unlike the ones used on phones they are pressure sensitive and can be programmed to mimic the actions of various types of brush.
“I usually do all my sketching off the computer, then scan the final sketch for painting. The advantage of digital illustrations is the ease in which alterations can be made and the speed of delivery. Re-works used to be a nightmare but now alterations can be done and the job re-sent within hours.”
I can’t wait to see the picture for the second instalment.

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