The Whistlers in the Dark
by Victoria Williamson

Scotland, 158 AD, is a divided country. On one side of the Antonine wall, thirteen-year-old Felix is trying to become a good Roman soldier like his father. On the other, twelve-year old Jinny is vowing revenge on the ‘metal men’ who have invaded her Damnonii tribe’s homeland. At the Damnonii’s sacred circle of standing stones, her planned attack on Felix goes badly wrong, awakening a legend that threatens to bring fire and destruction down on them all. Can Jinny and Felix overcome their differences and soothe the stones back to sleep before it’s too late?

The Whistlers in the Dark is an historical fantasy for Middle Grade readers. Set at the Roman fort in the author’s hometown of Kirkintilloch, it tells the story of friendship overcoming the desire for revenge and leading to forgiveness. Based on the historical records of the Antonine wall and the tribes of Central Scotland, it brings these together with Scottish legends of standing stones going walking at night to weave a tale of courage and adventure. – from the Scotland Street Press website.

This was an incredibly fun project to work on. I love history and fantasy and being able to mix those two ideas up was really exciting and I hope to get more projects like it in the future! I did both the illustration and the lettering for the cover (the authors name was added after the final image was submitted). The book was released in September 2023.
Read the Scotland Street Press interview here!
Thumbnails for the cover of The Whistlers in the Dark. I came up with 20 alternative ideas for Scotland Street Press to choose from, playing with various locations, ideas, imagery from the book.

When I get a project like this, I read through the brief and the manuscript and make notes about what might be useful to include on the cover. The Roman spike pits, for one, (although that might be a little dark), but the woods, the stones, the legion's eagle.

I try and get rid of the obvious compositions and solutions first when I start thumbnailing and try and come up with creative posing, layers, imagery that allude to the contents of the book and the story the author is trying to tell.

Thumbnailing is pretty fun! I actually ended up with more ideas than I included here.
The final two covers before we moved onto the color comps and the final artwork. You can see I already had a direction for Jinny and Felix, although I needed to do some more research on clothing for the time period.
Character sketches to develop the look and feel of their personalities. Jinny (in the tartan) and Felix (in the chiton).
Final scanned pencil drawing before digital clean up and color.
The final sketch of the lettering for the cover of the book.

The Golden Hours - A Literary Salon's Anthology

The Golden Hours was the Edinburgh Literary Salon's second anthology project. I worked on the first anthology Lost, Looking, and Found as a master's student (2020-2021), and when they approached me to work on this one I'm glad I said yes.

This cover was more painterly than illustrative like the Whistlers. It was a fun experiment and I really enjoyed combining the pencil drawing buildings and the digital sky.

When we met to talk about what we wanted for the cover, we talked about recognizable Edinburgh buildings and skylines. The title had already been decided and the Salon knew they wanted that time of day reflected on the cover.

I took notes and made some sketches and ended up going with exploring the idea of Edinburgh at sunset. What does it feel like and what might it look like in a memory, as opposed to an exact replica of the city, building for building.

I really love how this cover came out and the Salon did as well.
Thumbnails for the cover of The Golden Hours. I came up with 10 alternative ideas for the Salon to choose from after our talk where we talked about imagery and ideas that the authors had explored.
Full completed art for the Salon prior to any text.

Julia
Julia was a personal and still ongoing project for a middle-grade age magazine for young girls. I have vague memories of flipping through my older sister's magazines and being a bit enamoured, and a little confused, about some of the content. It didn't stop me from reading them though!

A bit of a combination of 'Highlights' for older kids, and a bit more creatively aligned in theory, and a little touch of the 'Jugend' magazine covers, 'Julia' would be a magazine for a younger girl entering the world with an international expanse and a bit more of a focus on academics and the world around you.

Accepting of essays, prose, and poetry, along with written articles like the examples on the cover to the left, 'Julia' would release quarterly with the seasons.
'Julia's' logo was entirely handlettered and drafted by myself for the sole purpose of this project. Inspired by more nostalgic fonts, I wanted to go for a classy look that was still distinctive enough on its own.
The original sketch pages for the concept of the magazine (and an as of yet unreleased cover), and the logo as well.

I knew fairly early on what I wanted out of the logo, but it's always good to get a few other ideas out!

Even if you end up scratching them out...
The original (read: final) draft of the 'Julia' logo before I dropped it into illustrator. I think I have about twenty-odd pieces of paper, just going over the lines again and again to make sure they were perfect.
The colors and style of a mock cover for the magazine paired with compositional sketches and the style I want to achieve for a 'summer' edition of 'Julia'.

Writing everything out helps me gather my thoughts around a piece and allows me to ask what I'm trying to achieve with it in terms of emotions, feelings, style, composition, and whether it's going to challenge me artistically.

I've been experimenting with colored pencil and digital color and this project has allowed me to think about color in new ways that I had never been able to before.