TheStuartLee

Book cover design for The War of the Worlds by H.G Wells, featuring spiky, red, alien weeds spreading over the text of the book title.

Here is my book cover design for H.G. Wells 'The War of the Worlds'. I avoided the usual image of tripods and heat rays, and focused on the red weed and it's "cactus-like branches" to suggest the growing menace of the invasion. #bookcoverdesign #bookcover #booksky #coverdesign #book #art #cover

Yes! 💎

Thanks!

The word "Ornate" drawn with elaborate, curly details.

Mixed feelings about this one but here it is anyway... another quick lettering for #inktober 17 - Ornate ✨
#handlettering #lettering #typography #art #procreate

Hand letting the words "Once upon a midnight dreary", with swirling mist in front of the moon

Hand letting the words "Once upon a midnight dreary", with swirling mist in front of the moon

Another #handlettering practice, with a quote from #edgarallanpoe #theraven
I did the yellow version first, but then I think the minty colour is my favorite.
✨
#lettering #typography #art #procreate #poetry #poe

The word "Heavy" drawn to look like sharp, heavy metal.

Trying again with this, the image upload was a bit broken before... Another quick lettering for #inktober 09 - Heavy 🤘
#handlettering #lettering #typography #art #procreate

Green text "Murky" on a dark, murky background

Some quick lettering for todays #inktober - #murky
🐸
#handlettering #lettering #typography #art #procreate

Hand lettering the song title "An Artist is an Artist" by Skunk Anansie. White & grey on black.

Hand lettering the song title "An Artist is an Artist" by Skunk Anansie. Black & grey on white.

Hand lettering the song title "An Artist is an Artist" by Skunk Anansie. Red on black

Hand lettering the song title "An Artist is an Artist" by Skunk Anansie. Green and yellow on black

Some hand lettering practice. The words are the title of one of my favorite recent songs by one of my all-time favorite bands #SkunkAnansie It's my warmup song to get me working in the morning! 🔥⚡
#handlettering #lettering #typography #art #procreate

A book cover for a short story called Implausible Ingredients and How to Harvest Them

Photograph of an iPad showing thumbnail sketches for the book cover

I made a book cover for a short story I wrote recently, inspired by the 'eye of newt, toe of frog' scene from Shakespeare's Macbeth, but from the point of view of the forest creatures. Like a Beatrix Potter story, but much darker 🐸🦇 #bookcoverdesign #bookcover #booksky #coverdesign #book #art #cover

I just found out that, although I didn't make the shortlist (top 8), out of over 22,000 entries I was in the top 150 in The Novelry's 'The Next Big Story' competition. Congratulations everyone who made the list! 🎉🏆 #thenovelry #thenextbigstory #amwriting #fictionwriter #booksky

3D mock up of my cover design for the book Slewfoot by Brom

Cover design illustration for the book Slewfoot by Brom

Calling this one finished now, so here's a mock up of my book cover redesign for Slewfoot by Brom. #bookcoverdesign #bookcover #booksky #coverdesign #book #art #cover

Hold a chicken in the air, stick a deck chair up your nose, fly a jumbo jet and then bury all your clothes🐤🪑✈️👕
Sorry, what was the question again?

It's nice to know that there is still sometimes some good news 🌞

Thanks! :)
I probably didn't make it clear enough, the book is one I read recently, and I'm doing a redesign of the cover to practice and develop my own work 👨‍🎨

photograph of a page from my sketchbook showing some book cover ideas

photograph of my ipad with work in progress illustration of my Slewfoot book cover redesign

Sharing work in progress is *the worst* but I'm always trying to beat the procrastination 'what if its not good enough' demons so sharing anyway... did a bit more work on my Slewfoot cover redesign, from sketches into Procreate to start illustration #booksky #bookcover #design #sketchbook #art

Photograph of my sketchbook showing some ideas for a cover redesign of the book Slewfoot by Brom

Photograph of my sketchbook showing some more ideas for a cover redesign of the book Slewfoot by Brom

Change of pace this week, started a cover redesign for a book I read recently - Slewfoot by Brom 🐐
Did some sketches to get the ball rolling...
Have you read the book? If so, which one do you think fits best? #booksky #bookcover #book #coverart #design #sketchbook #art

Photograph of a page from my sketchbook, with sketches of objects I saw at All Hallows By The Tower in London. Including a Caravaca Cross, a silver ornament of a chicken in a barrel with it's head, feet and tail sticking out of the barrel, a traveling communion set and a fragment of a tombstone with a man's head.

Finished very rough draft zero of my novel, read it and... didn't hate it! *thunderous applause* So now it exists I can start making it better! Meanwhile, here's a bit of sketchbook from last weeks visit to All Hallows by the Tower #booksky #writerWednesday #fictionWriter #amWriting #art #sketchbook

Photograph of me looking a bit windswept on Tower Bridge

Photograph inside All Hallows by the Tower - the oldest church in the City of London, showing one of the stained glass windows.

Photograph of me standing outside Liberty on Regent Street in London

Photograph of my favorite object in the V&A - Reliquary Head of St Januarius. A copper gilt sculpted head with a moonstone on his head. The head stands upright on makeshift feet formed of his hair and beard. It used to contain a relic of the saint's head, but is now empty.

Today is the 1yr anniv. of my moving back to England, so I took myself to a few of my favorite places in London. Very tourist but I ❤️ Tower Bridge! Followed by All Hallows by the Tower, a quick stop at #Liberty then on to the #V&A to visit my favorite object there! #London #dayout #museum 😎

Thanks very much! 😁

Thanks very much! 😁

a page from my sketch book showing some pen drawings of random objects including an hourglass, some ancient coins, a skull in a display case, a torch, a bird cage, a raven skull, a candle with wax dripping down, and a strange key with knotted snakes design.

Still working on first draft, so it's still too early to share any writing. Here's a page of random objects from my sketch book instead, which may or may not have some relevance to the story... 😉 #booksky #writerWednesday #fictionWriter #amwriting #art #sketchbook

This Week's To Do List, with small tasks ticked off including; organise my desk, rotate the plants, make sure the curtain loops are evenly spaced. The final To Do is: Write social media post about procrastination, with a question mark next to it.

Smashing it this week! ...maybe? 🤔 #booksky #writerWednesday #amWriting #procrastination

The original Half Life. Missed an important uni meeting because I was so engrossed in that all day! Many more since, but that's the earliest I can remember.

Photograph of a laptop and notepad on a desk in the reading room of The London Library

💡Realised recently, listening to someone talking intensely about their day job - you really get to know someone from their *hot topics*, and its a good way to add depth to characters. Figure out what they would have a lil rant about at a party - their Hot Topics. #writerWednesday #booksky #amWriting

Book List - What have I been reading this year? The midway review... The background is an illustration of some piles of books, with one on a table, next to a chair.

Full Book List: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell - Suzanna Clarke The Boy in the Dress - David Walliams Odd and the Frost Giants - Neil Gaiman Tom's Midnight Garden - Phillipa Pearce An Illustrated History of Ghosts - Adam  Allsuch Boardman Tinder - Sally Gardner The Great When - Alan Moore The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson Save The Cat - Blake Snyder The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller HP and the Philosophers Stone - JKR Goth Girl & The Wuthering Frights - Chris Riddell Coraline & Other Stories - Neil Gaiman SHORT STORIES & BOOKS Beatrix Potter series inc. Tale of Peter Rabbit William Wilson - Edgar Allen Poe Empty House & Other Ghost Stories - Algernon Blackwood The Collected Ghost Stories of M R James - M R James

MID-YEAR BOOK STATS: Total - 14 New - 9 Pre-owned - 1 Library - 4 Debut Novels - 5 Didn't finish - 1 Non-fiction - 2 Oldest Book - Tom's Midnight Garden - 1958 Oldest Short - William Wilson - 1838 Newest - The Great When - 2024

It's not a competition *AT ALL* but I did a little half-year review of what I've read so far. Surprised myself, with a total of 14 books! (not inc. shorts) 9 new, 1 already owned and 4 from the library. No favorites, all good for different reasons #booksky #reading #writerWednesday #novel

Oh nice, happy birthday! It was my birthday last week too 🥳 Also, coincidentally, I'm in the library just now and this is directly opposite me... 👀 🇮🇸

It's called Moondial by Helen Cresswell. Set in England, but has a fantastical element to it, with time travel and ghosts ⌛👻
What was the arctic/polar one?

"She began to hurry towards them, longing for human contact in this enveloping whiteness."
I think this was the inside of my head from last year, when I was still living in Sweden 😆

There is too much in London to narrow it down! Most of the big galleries are free, but super busy on weekends. I'd check @TheMuseumGuide on youtube. Also @JohnRogersWalks on YT, he does a lot of interesting walks around London. Also keep wallet/phone in zipped pocket🤐

🧵...Plus a few YouTube channel recommends:
The Inky Bookwyrm - some great videos & helpful free factsheet.
Ellen Brock and Abbie Emmons both have lots of great videos on a range of topics.
#booksky #writerWednesday #amWriting #book #plot