For me, illustration MAKES a good children’s book....whether it’s the cover that initially grabs someone’s attention or the interior drawings and sketches that keep the plot bouncing along with enough amusing or – in many cases – breathtaking additions to the text.
I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the most gifted illustrators in the field.Bob Lea brought the Illmoor Chronicles and Davey Swag to life with his vibrant portraits of my oddball characters, while James de la Rue managed to install SO much action into the Gladiator Boy books that the readers regularly told me they felt like they were ‘living’ inside the arena!
This time around, my subject is a grim one: Undead Ed. The story of Ed Bagley and his inhuman friends was always going to be a tricky one to illustrate, mainly due to the fact that lots of the humour is dark and some of it downright vomit-inducing. Nevertheless, Hodder Children’s Books AGAIN came up with a winning artist...this time in the form of Nigel Baines.
I’ve never worked with Nigel before, but his zany, comically disgusting interpretations of the zombies, werewolves and vampires inhabiting the town of Mortlake made me regularly roar with laughter. There’s not many folks who can draw a flesh-eating clown.....but Nigel pulled it out of the hat.
The truth be known, the best part of writing books for most authors is the day when that email arrives with the first piece of art – usually the cover – and that moment when you get the initial picture of what another human being sees inside your own head.
It’s an incredible, amazing – and often scary – feeling.
David Grimstone
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Undead Ed, Illmoor Chronicles, Davey Swag and Gladiator Boy books are published by Hodder Children's Books.
Many thanks to the lovely Hodder Marketing Manager, Gemma Green, for the images, and to David Grimstone for this great guest post!
