A wonderful whitty seasonal poetry book demanded a wonderful whitty book cover to match. And that's what I think we ended up with.

The author, Stephen Williams, contacted me having seen all this amazing work here on my website. He particularly liked the work I do for the Cumbria Magazine. So, the style was sorted and the poem Stephen choose as inspiration for me was, 'The Shepherd's Tale'. The poem is on the right of this page, next to the finished illustration.

Stephen was keen to know how I drew the illustration. I admited that I am still abit 'old school' yet 'new wave'! I draw the black line work on paper, scan it in and colour on the computer. That way the illustration is easy to edit, so that I can arrive at perfection!

When it comes to book covers, I do try to make the final design dramatic and eye-catching. It needs to be visual enough for the reader to notice it, in what is a very competitive industry.

Anyway, another satisfied author.

Check out Steve's facebook https://www.facebook.com/jiggerypoetry/

Check out the book yourself. It will be for sale on Amazon very soon!

A Shepherd’s Tale
 
Even by the dim light of the candles in the stable,
I could see I'd made a terrible mistake.
A plethora of gifts lay by the baby in the cradle
While Joseph and his wife ate Christmas cake.
 
Expensive looking boxes, shiny paper, fancy ribbon
Shimmered by the manger in the cold.
A jar of oily stuff and a tub of frankincense
Leant against a massive stack of gold.
 
But Christmas Day’s a joke round here, as all the shops are shut
And the weather where I live was turning nasty.
So I legged it to the garage and bought the baby what I could:
A pack of Mini Eggs and a pasty.