Book Cover Characters: Mary Poppins

Here are some Mary Poppins characters I illustrated for HarperCollins’ reissued versions of the classic children’s series.

The covers were designed by the lovely Hannah Marshall at HarperCollins - I was commissioned to create silhouettes of the iconic character. These were then framed by Hannah using Shutterstock illustrations around each cover. Thanks as always to my agents at The Artworks!

Book Cover Designs: Harlequin Books

I thought I’d share a really fun book cover series that I worked on for Harlequin Books; Molly MacRae’s The Highland Bookshop Mystery Series.

laura-barrett-illustration-murder-mystery-book-cover

The series is set in a bookshop in the idyllic (but rather dangerous!) Scottish town of Inversgail. I’ve loved reading these cosy crime novels and trying to bring something new to the composition for each cover. A big thanks to Art Director Tara Scarcello and to my US agents Mendola Artists.

Creative Process: Illustration Timelapse

Here’s a short timelapse video I created to show my illustration process in Adobe Illustrator.

I create silhouettes using a small Wacom tablet- starting with a pencil sketch, I’ll then draw all of the elements separately digitally- characters, background details, etc, before piecing them together and layering them up- almost like playing with the stage set of a shadow theatre. I love hiding really small details in my work and will often find that I’m working on an area of an illustration for ages, before zooming out and realising that it’s only the size of a postage stamp!

Creative Process Timelapse

This illustration was created for Kamila Shamsie’s Duckling, part of the Fairy Tale Revolution series published by Vintage Books.

Vintage Fairy Tale Book covers of Blueblood, Duckling and Hansel and Greta
Duckling picture book illustration of the ugly duckling swans and a crane in a river with water and ferns.

Vintage Books: A Fairy Tale Revolution

I was thrilled to be commissioned by Vintage Books to illustrate 3 fairy tales that have been given a feminist spin by 3 bestselling authors; Malorie Blackman, Kamila Shamsie and Jeanette Winterson. The tales were Blueblood, Duckling and Hansel and Greta- all modern takes on classic tales.

A photo of the book covers for the Fairy Tale Revolution series, Blueblood, Duckling and Hansel and Greta

I created the interior illustrations for the series to go alongside another title by Rebecca Solnit- Cinderella Liberator, which used original illustrations by Arthur Rackham- one of my illustration heroes. It was a real honour to illustrate stories by such well respected authors that I’ve long admired.

A fairy tale book illustration from Duckling by Kamila Shamsie of a duck sitting in her nest with her baby ducklings hatching around her
2 fairy tale book illustrations from Duckling by Kamila Shamsie of ducklings and the ugly duckling swimming in the water. A farmyard artwork scene with the duckling flying over fields with a barn and tree in silhouette by moonlight
A book illustration from Blueblood of a woman's portrait in silhouette inside a decorative frame border
Two book illustrations from Blueblood of a couple in several scenes. On the sofa, climbing up a set of stairs and in the kitchen
A fairy tale book illustration from Hansel and Greta of a cabin in the forest with portraits of Hansel, the woodcutter and the aunt
A fairy tale book illustration from Hansel and Greta of a cabin in the forest with portraits of Hansel, Great and the woodcutter planting seeds in the forest through the changing seasons.

Working with book designer Friederike Huber, there was a lot of freedom to work out which parts of the text to illustrate. After reading through the tales several times, along with their original counterpart tales, I noted what I thought were the key scenes and very loosely created sketches for them. Then Friederike created the layouts and, with the team at Vintage, decided which illustrations would fit best. For Duckling, I took a walk around the local lakes in my area for inspiration on the setting, and looked over old photos from trips to forests in the UK and Germany for Hansel and Greta. For Blueblood I looked at a lot of fashion and interior design magazines.

A book illustration from Blueblood of a man and a woman in a library or office. He is nervous. There are books, a desk, a lamp and tools in silhouette

I worked with a wonderful team at Vintage- senior designers Julia Connolly and Kris Potter, editor Charlotte Knight plus Friederike. It was one of those special projects where the working relationship was particularly creative and productive, with lots of ideas being bounced back and forth. The book covers were designed and illustrated by cover designer Anna Morrison- I was tasked with creating silhouette characters to be dropped into her beautiful designs.

The series is published today and available to buy from Waterstones, Amazon and all good bookshops.