• Blue Queen
  • Curse of the Mummy
  • Film visualization stuff
  • Blue Mouse Blacksmith
  • Cyborg
  • Lycanthrope
  • Frankenstein's Legions - Grande Armee
  • Frankenstein's Legions - Scots Guard
  • Vampire Hunter
  • Orcs
  • Wizard of Rondo
  • Return to Firetop Mountain
  • The Tank
  • Removal Giant
  • Temple of Terror
  • Bloodbones
  • Gnome
  • Mirabilis - Big Ben
  • Frankenstein's Legions - French Grenadier
  • Film visualization stuff

GALLERY

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About


Hello, I'm a freelance illustrator based in the UK.
I was born in London, and started out in illustration with work for fantasy & horror small press magazines in the '80s, in particular the H.P. Lovecraft-devoted Dagon. My first professional commissions came from Games Workshop for their magazine White Dwarf, and this began a long relationship with the company, illustrating lots of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay publications and the very first Warhammer 40,000 book, as well as many other GW books and boardgames. I've also done game-related material for other publishers, including covers and internal illustrations for twenty-two (I think) of the Fighting Fantasy series from Puffin Books/Wizard Books, and card art for Magic: The Gathering from Wizards of the Coast.

I've also produced artwork for various publishers around the world including Scholastic, Time-Warner, HarperCollins and Oxford University Press, illustrating popular authors such as Anne McCaffrey, Raymond E. Feist and Harry Turtledove, as well as some classics including Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and The Silver Sword. I was fortunate enough to receive the British Fantasy Award for Best Artist.

I illustrated the book accompanying the album release of Misterstourworm & the Kelpie's Gift, an orchestral work based on stories and characters from Scottish legend. My artwork was used as large-scale backdrops for live performances of the work by The Orchestra of Scottish Opera, with narration by Lord of the Rings actor Billy Boyd.

As an author, I've written some books about digital art including Digital Fantasy Painting Workshop and Digital Horror Art, and edited Fantasy Art Now published by Collins. In addition to work in publishing, I occasionally do concept and production art for computer games (following two years as an in-house artist at Eidos Interactive), and film and television productions which have included the BAFTA-nominated The Magician of Samarkand for the BBC, and most recently Gulliver's Travels for 20th Century Fox.

Currently: October 2015: My latest picture book The Crocodolly was published in hardback by Scholastic last month, and is available in Australia, New Zealand, and soon to be released throughout Asia in English, also with a translation into Chinese. The Crocodolly is something of a companion to my earlier picture book The Octopuppy which has been doing pretty well internationally -- more info at www.theoctopuppy.com  Right now I'm working on my next picture book; so most of my energies have been directed towards my books for children. But I've also just finished another album cover for Axel Rudi Pell, which is the fifth sleeve I've done for his records.  I've also been doing a little bit of work on the Game of Thrones computer game.

martin@martinmckenna.net 

  • List of Published Work
  • List of Clients
  • Merchandise at Wardrobe Of Terror
  • The old martinmckenna.net
  • The Octopuppy
  • Prints at ArtPal
  • Artwork Archive at Flickr
  • News from June 2012

    What's On?


    Here's a sketch I did of less-than-ideal flatmate, Dr John Watson, another design for the Infamy Miniatures range of steampunk-styled literary characters. It'd appear that Watson's perhaps broken his Hippocratic Oath, since he's now busy slicing bogus Victorian people up a treat. People who are probably wearing top hats and welder's goggles with bits of clocks stuck on their trousers and eyebrows, so who can blame him?



    Anyway, here's the excellent sculpt by MIKH, based on my drawing, and below that a couple of photos of the 32mm model fully painted by Javier Gonzalez. Below that is a pic of the resin models of Holmes and Watson together. Rathbone and Bruce must be looking down in bemusement. Get all your Watson model news at the Infamy site.




      



    • reddit.com

    Sherlock Holmes - the return of


    The sketch that I did of a steampunk Sherlock Holmes for Infamy Miniatures, as featured in a previous post. The model has now been released, so here's a look at the finished, painted miniature based on my drawing. It's been sculpted at 32mm scale by MIKH and painted here by Javier Gonzalez. It's available to buy as a high quality resin model at the Infamy site.



      

      

    • reddit.com

    The Gift - a first glimpse


    A couple of photos of an unbound test printing of The Gift, received today. The Gift is a thirty-two page picture book I've illustrated.
    It's a complete departure for me; not a rotting corpse in sight. This test printing gives the first physical impression of what it's going to be like when it's an actual, finished book, and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. I'll show more of what's within its pages, as well as other info about the creation of the artwork, in due course.

    The delightful, poignant story is by award-winning children's author Penny Matthews. The book will be published in hardback and paperback by Scholastic imprint Omnibus Books in the autumn.





    • reddit.com

    The Lonely Tumbling Waters


    My friend Ken Griffin has written a book recording his memories of growing up in the Highlands of Scotland and a career stalking on the Applecross Estate, where he still lives. The Lonely Tumbling Waters is an entertaining, evocative memoir and can be bought on Amazon.

    Artwork by Andrew Warrington

    "From infant memories in a heavily bombed post-war naval city, to the sudden upheaval and arrival in a resin-scented, traditional Highland glen, the boy experienced a steep learning curve. It was, however, to quickly become a part of his nature as he wandered alone, observing and empathising with the wild creatures then engaging in the manual skills of survival where technology was still a distant idea. Biddable in behaviour because of childhood and army training, but a rebel by nature, the author wanders through his life experiences which would make Health and Safety quail and the politically correct throw up their hands in horror, but he has recorded the way of life in order that his grandchildren will have a history. You are invited to join."

    • reddit.com

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