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Just to show, it's not all fantasy and horror round here.

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Another illustration by yours truly.

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I'm rather pleased with this image.

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Here's another of my Altered Images.

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The original photo was taken at one of the Tolkien weekends, a few years ago. Edited to remove the background kids eating ice cream cones.

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I've had another go at drawing, using charcoal pencils and oil pastels. Then I scanned them into Photoshop and had a little play with them.

Then I had a go at drawing a monster -- you'll probably guess the inspiration for this beast. I did the Photoshop jig on this picture, too. But I'm not sure it quite works.

Sketching away

I like to draw and paint although I never seem to have time for either (pause while I wipe away the tears). I recently bought some charcoal sticks and spent a mucky hour sketching away (charcoal dust everywhere!). The above is the only one passable.

Olde Horrors

I’d almost forgotten about this: back in the 1980s I decided that the BFS should produce an art portfolio and who else to highlight but Jim Pitts. Jim was a mainstay of the BFS, both as a fine artist and as editor of some of its earlier publications. So I asked Jim and he obliged with six A4 B&W plates illustrating classic horror tropes: Frankenstein’s Monster, Mr Hyde, Nosferatu, the lycanthrope , the resurrectionists, and the Jamesian ghost. The plates were presented in a blue card folder (with three further illustrations including Jack the Ripper) with an introduction by Stephen Jones, titled “The Pitt and the Pendulum”. Olde Horrors, produced by me, was published by the British Fantasy Society in 1989 in a limited edition of 500 copies.

It’s a pity that the society didn’t produce further such art portfolios, championing the best of UK illustrators. Anyway, I gather that they are quite rare, now. You can obtain a copy of this fine publication here for £12.00 – but I have seen it for over £20 on Amazon.

Artwork...

Here's an illustration I did in 2009 for a story in New Horizons, edited by Andrew Hook. It's based on some of my photos ... but zapped through Photoshop. Illustration (c) Peter Coleborn