Windows into Illustration: Chris Riddell

2014 has been another extraordinarily busy and successful year for Chris Riddell. In January Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse, which he wrote and illustrated, won the Costa Children’s Book Award, adding to his tally of prizes (two Kate Greenaway Medals, three Smarties Awards and the Red House Book Award amongst others). That was followed by the eleventh in the hugely popular Edge Chronicles, written with Chris Stewart, a brand new series also with Stewart, and a second Goth Girl story. His illustrations for Russell Brand’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin show him to be one of the finest draughtsmen working today while his latest collaboration with Neil Gaiman, The Sleeper and the Spindle, puts him firmly in the glorious tradition of British illustration that began with Tenniel and Rackham. Here he explains the technique and thinking behind those illustrations.

We were very taken with the way Chris presented his piece, so we’re reproducing it here in exactly the same way as you can see to the left.