Fairy Secrets
“Some day you will be old enough to read fairy tales again.”
– C.S. Lewis
I am delighted to reveal the cover artwork and (some of) the interior illustrations for my very first fully illustrated picture book – Secrets From The Fairy World. This has been a mammoth project; the longest commission I’ve ever worked on! What began last September as a lovely email from Quarto Publishing, became a 64-page picture book celebrating the magic and wonderment of fairies. I knew when I read that email that the subject matter was right up my street, and luckily the publisher did too! I have loved fairy tales since I was little. I would read every kind of fairy story available to me; and gaze in awe at the incredible illustrations of Cicely Mary Barker, Arthur Rackham and Shirley Barber. It was quite a surreal moment to be commissioned to illustrate my own fairy book, written by Saskia Gwinn (and Evander Acorncup, of course).
The book is published this October by the Quarto imprint Frances Lincoln Children’s Books. It is a large 64-page gift book with lavish blue foil and embossed details on the cover, along with patterned endpapers and a silk ribbon marker. These little but important finishes really help to further emphasise the enchantment that is captured within this special book. The UK edition is finished with an orange border and scroll, while the US edition is adorned in soft pink and rose gold foil. As a person who loves shiny adornments, I can proclaim that this book will satisfy anyone’s inner magpie!
I’ve always loved highly detailed illustrations, even as a child. I would lose myself in the artwork of the pages I was reading; exploring each particle of visual information my curious eyes could discover. It’s this childhood wonderment that I wanted to instil within my own illustrations; and even though this was a lengthy project to work on, I knew I had to add as many magical details and narratives within my artwork. I wanted my illustrations to speak beyond the text. I imagined my childhood self wandering through the forests of the fairy world, and what I may discover on my adventures. I envisioned a fairy curiosity cabinet filled with luminescent bottles of colourful pixie potions. These are the things that spark a child’s imagination and to delve completely into the pages of the book.
I haven’t had the chance to count how many fairies I’ve illustrated for this book, but let’s just say me and the tiny winged folk could do with a little break from each other for a short while! I gave every fairy in the book their own personality, outfit, hairstyle, and activity. I hope that any child who reads the book can find a fairy friend that they can relate to. One of my favourite details to add were fairies chatting together over floral cups of tea, with stacks of books close to hand.
Here are a few of the objects and characters I created for the book. Many of these items are inspired by my own stationery and vintage collections, such as old postage stamps, wax seals, envelopes and nature finds. The fairies in this book are quite skilful too, such as the ‘Fairy Queen’ who is a ‘cloudologist’ (that’s her above in the blue dungarees). The world that Saskia writes about is so layered and divergent to how we usually perceive fairies from the tales of old. It was quite intriguing to illustrate a different kind of fairy world for this book; including the curious array of fairy animals – there’s even a fairy sloth!
It took me about 8 months to complete this book. It was very hard work, but of course these things are always worth it in the end; especially when I get to hold the book in my hands. It can be quite an emotional encounter. After seeing it on screen for so long, it can feel almost dreamlike to experience it in its physical form. I used Procreate to illustrate the book. Because the pages were quite large, and I use lots of layers, each of the 32 spreads could take about 20 canvases to complete. I counted over 340 canvases in total - that is a lot of layers! Each spread began as a blank page with text. It’s up to me then to create the vision; the world of the fairies and what each one looks like; including animals, foods, objects, landscapes etc. This constant generation of ideas for a book this big is quite immense. It can be mentally exhausting after a few months, but somehow the love of the book and its potential surpasses any fatigue. You can see a few more spreads in my portfolio.
Along with the interior illustrations, I also illustrated the cover artwork. As you can see, the cover can take quite a few rounds of roughs to get right! This is normal procedure, as the cover is of course what catches the customers eye; so it’s important to test as many ideas as possible. Not many people see what goes on behind the scenes of a book project. There’s editors, art directors, the author, the illustrator, the sales and marketing teams, the designers and the printing and production teams. There’s countless emails and video calls, meetings, sketches, revisions, deadlines, and working late into the night and through weekends and holidays. Everyone works together to bring about a physical piece of art and literature - a book which will excite and inspire a generation of children (and adults) to believe in a world of fairy magic.
Secrets From The Fairy World will be published on October, 22. I’ll have a YouTube video around that time showing my illustration process; from receiving the first brief, to receiving the book in the post. Stay tuned and subscribe to not miss out!
Thanks for reading friends, and I hope you’ll pick up a copy (or two). Enjoy! ~ Rachel x