I’m particularly excited to share this month’s blog post because it focuses on the work of Angelo Rinaldi, the breathtakingly talented artist behind the cover art for both Dragon Daughter and Rise of the Shadow Dragons.
When I do school visits, children often ask me about the artwork and how it was created. Angelo kindly agreed to do a Q&A interview with me, so now we all get to hear the answers.
LF: I love the images you have created for Dragon Daughter and Rise of the Shadow Dragons. How did you compose each image?
AR: The starting point for any illustration is the client brief. For Dragon Daughter and Rise of the Shadow Dragons I was given quite a specific brief in regard to the overall composition. The dragon's head was to be the primary focus, and fill most of the cover, all other elements were to fit around it.
For cover one the process of composing the image was fairly straightforward. I wanted the dragon's head to be perfectly symmetrical and emerging from shadow. All the other elements in the image sort of fell into place.
LF: The characters look so alive - how do you imagine the characters and capture that energy and personality?
AR: Once I know the position I want the characters to be in, I find models and photograph them. I then work from the photographic reference and this helps to give them the sense of realism which makes them seem so alive.
{I was so delighted with this detail – I love that there are real children out there who have stood in to act as Milla, Jowan and Winter in these covers.}
LF: What media do you work with?
AR: I paint digitally using Photoshop. It's just like traditional painting, except the canvas is on a screen and the paintbrush is a tablet and stylus. The paint is digital which is so much easier than using traditional media. Some of the colours I use digitally are almost impossible to find using traditional paint. I worked for almost 20 years painting with oil paint on canvas but I'd never go back, digital painting is more forgiving.
LF: What are the stages of creating the art?
AR: The first stage is a quick thumbnail sketch, then I work up a more finished monochrome sketch. From there I produce a colour sketch and finally I produce the artwork. I never start a new stage from scratch, I work on top of the previous stage. So the thumbnail is worked on to become the sketch and the sketch is coloured and so on. Each stage is approved by the client and can involve many changes.
LF: What is your favourite style to work in? Are there themes or motifs that you are drawn to?
AR: I think fantasy is my favourite, particularly if it involves animals. I love painting animals with lots of movement.
LF: How do you choose which commissions to take?
AR: I try to take on every job that comes my way. I just hate to turn any job down, especially if it's a new client. I had to turn down a Michael Morpurgo cover in the summer because I was just too busy. That still hurts!
LF: How did you get started in your career?
AR: I showed my student portfolio to my now-agent. They gave me plenty of advice about how I could improve it. After I graduated I moved to London and worked on my portfolio for a whole year and then started showing it to publishers. In those days you had to take your portfolio into the publishing houses to show designers and editors. After lots of great feedback but no commissions, I decided to let an agent do the walking and talking for me. Once I joined my agency, I had my first job within a few weeks and haven't really stopped. That was 1994!
What advice would you give to a young illustrator or artist?
You have to get to grips with working digitally but you also have to build your core skills which have never changed. Good drawing, composition and understanding how to use colour are the foundations to good image making.
LF: What do you like most about working as an illustrator?
AR: Doing a good job and making the client and author happy. I also love it when an image looks great in print, sometimes it doesn't, even when it looks good on the screen. I'm still figuring that one out! Oh! Not having to commute to work is pretty great too.
Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer these questions. You can view Angelo’s portfolio online here.
Rise of the Shadow Dragons, with this beautiful cover art by Angelo Rinaldi, interior black and white illustration by Paul Duffield and design by Alison Gadsby, will be published on 7th May 2020. Pre-order your copy here.