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Newsletter May 2026

Alexis Deacon originals


One of the masters of earlier and more complex graphic novels is Alexis Deacon and by looking at the original art and also the page in its' printed form, you might begin to understand just how much work there is in producing a complete book.
From the initial writing of the script and concept, the visualising of the characters and settings, the design of the pages and the complex illustrations – right through to the lettering and the colouring up, it is a lot of work and involves many skills.

I have a small selection of Alexis's originals from his series 'Geis', originally known as 'Curse of the Chosen'. In their raw form, they are a joy.

Emma Rogers has commented on his books in 'Just Imagine' here. And you can buy the books from Amazon.
I also have a handful of his originals produced for children's books and I rather love the work for Roald Dahl's poem from James and the Giant Peach.

Grahame Baker Smith


Grahame also knows a thing or two about graphic novels. His work is produced digitally so I don't have any originals for sale but he has written and illustrated a remarkable book which tells the story of the evolution of the horse through history. Within it he also spins a story about a young girl and her own horse. Very nicely done.
The book will be published later this year and in the mean time you can see more of Grahame's work here.

John Howe and the Tower of Fantasy


It was many years ago that John Howe was commissioned to illustrate all the Tolkien covers for Harper Collins to celebrate Tolkien's centenary. And a few years after that he was tracked down by New Line Cinema who wanted to film Lord of the Rings and had spotted this cover. This was to be their Gandalf.
Together with his hero, Alan Lee, John has become the visual voice of Tolkien's work, and he's carried it off with enormous aplomb and skill. He's produced a huge amount of work for books and films, much of which took him away from his home in Neuchatel, Switzerland.
However, he's now deeply involved with a museum in that very town which showcases his work. A haven for Tolkien fans, there's much to be seen there, and John takes part in events too. This is a rare story about an artist who had a passion and whose life followed that passion so profoundly. Hooray for you, John.

Shakespeare – and Photography
We are thrilled that The Folio Society's edition of William Shakespeare: The Complete Plays illustrated by Neil Packer has been awarded first prize in the Literature Category of the British Book Design and Production Awards. It is beautiful work and you can see all the plays together here. Signed prints are available.
An artist with great breadth, Neil is also preparing an exhibition of his photographs in Italy later this month. Struck by the beauty of the Euganean hills near his adopted town of Este, not far from Venice, he has explored ancient canal systems and been unable to resist photographing this overlooked world of ancient volcanoes and astonishing colour.

And finally


We've watched with great anticipation the development of the science fiction museum in Singapore. We've called it The Imaginariad but now to see more about it you can follow them on social media through 'The Portals Experience'. 

There's much to see, including a large selection of John Harris's work some of which is previously unseen as it was commissioned specially for the museum. From 1st June to 2nd September you can visit it at the new cultural hub, the Fever Exhibition Hall, in central Singapore.

There are a few new sketches of John's here.
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