Or There and Back Again (Again)
Just returned from a bit of a safari to rather colder climes, which made returning to Switzerland feel positively springlike. After several amusing episodes involving visas and border guards, missed planes and queueing in consulates, it’s good to be back at the drawing table.
The BAFTA ceremony was enormous fun, and watching a fantasy film like The Two Towers walk away with three awards was a tribute well deserved. I keep promising to post photos, and will promise again to post a few of the party afterwards. (As usual, watch this space.) I’ve received a CD of photos from the gallery show in Paris, so will sort those out first.
I also apologize for perhaps missing many questions on the forum. Please don’t think I’ve ignored any, it’s just that I have overlooked them, so do post again.
On the drawing board: A new Tolkien map, of Numenor this time around. Brian Sibley is doing the text, if HarperCollins can let him have a spare minute from the movie tie-in books…
Otherwise, a long overdue children’s book and a private commission are enough to keep me busy right now.
Coming up in the shops: The next in Robin Hobb’s Tawny Man series. I wish I could post the artwork, but must await publication. The limited edition of A Clash of Kings is in production right now; I’ll post news as I get it. You can also visit George R. R. Martin’s official site for a bit of a peek.
Last but not least, just acquired a handful of books from Poland with my covers on them, a couple of which certainly can’t be entirely legal. Which aptly brings up a topic that is an illustrators’ favourite – illicit use of cover artwork in foreign countries. I really appreciate those of you who live in lands I may never visit and who take the trouble to post images from local editions featuring my work on the front. Most of it is above board, and as I don’t always get copies, it is a real pleasure to get a glimpse. Occasionally, rights are sold by one editor to another, and the original editor “forgets” to let the artist know. Every now and then, though, editors in a hurry simply pick up artwork and hope the artist won’t notice.
Which brings me to my request: if anyone finds a piece of my work on a publication and thinks I may not be aware of it, please don’t hesitate to post it to the site. Naturally, given the relatively modest sums involved in sub-rights, it is not to prosecute the socks off errant editors, but simply to keep track of what is going on. Thanks in advance for your help!
See you next week!
