Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife 


I have been revisiting the Tudors with a series of illustrations which I am just beginning to colour. They are to be part of a simple timeline, but also work nicely as stand alone illustrations.

Poor Anne of Cleves, upon meeting her, Henry decided that she was not as attractive as he had been lead to believe, and the marriage was annulled not long after. However, at least Anne escaped with her head, and remained on relatively good terms with Henry which is more than can be said for some of his other wives!

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Sneak Preview of a Work in Progress: The Tomb of Tutankhamun 




Here is an illustration I've been working on recently, it's still a work in progress as is part of a much larger piece, so I'm hoping to be able to show the finished article before too long.

This artwork shows objects in the antechamber of the Ancient Egyptian 'boy king' Tutankhamun, at the time of its discovery by Howard Carter in 1922. I am working on an illustration showing the entire tomb and the artefacts within, but it is proving quite labour intensive, since I am keen to make the illustration as accurate as possible which is requiring considerable research. Luckily Howard Carter was meticulous in his excavation, and all the artefacts have been numbered, photographed and catalogued.

I will keep you posted!

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Revamped & Enlarged Castle Howard Riddle Trail Signs 


Castle Howard recently got back in touch with me, asking if I would enlarge and make some small changes to the Riddle Trail signs which I had previously designed as part of their new Children's Riddle Trail.

The original signs were A5 in size with hand lettered text and the Geoffrey the Lion character. I enlarged the signs to A4, and added some paw prints to break up the blue background. Castle Howard requested that some questions/activities for children be added in a speech bubble coming from Geoffrey the lion, but I was able to suggest that we added some relevant characters from the map i.e the peacock to ask the questions, but still have Geoffrey the Lion at the top of each sign.I also make the text bolder by changing the colour to white and adding a shadow.

The new signs are much more fun and lively, and using extra characters from the trail really links the new signs in to the trail map itself.

The new signs will be in place at Castle Howard in time for the school summer holidays, and in the future you will be able to buy merchandise featuring my artwork and Geoffrey the lion at the Castle Howard Gift Shop.

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The Battle of Flodden, Recoloured Illustration 


I have revisited, recoloured and cropped this illustration of the Battle of Flodden, which I originally drew as part of a series of illustrations for a timeline of Tudor history. I have made the colours brighter and think it now has more impact.

I am also currently working on a fascinating new project, I am drawing a historical reconstruction of the tomb of Tutankhamun at the time of its discovery by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon. I will put images on the blog as soon as I have them, I am working on the drawing at the moment.

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Museums & Heritage Show 
Last Thursday I visited the Museums & Heritage Show at Earls Court in London. It was a great opportunity to meet people who work within the Museums and Heritage sector, and particularly to meet designers and design companies who provide work with heritage clients.

I have booked my own stand at the Museums & Heritage show for next year, and am already looking forward to it. It will be a great opportunity to publicise my historical & educational illustration, which is particularly relevant to Museum & Heritage clients.

EM Illustration works with heritage clients, providing illustration for interpretation, learning resources, information panels, exhibitions, maps, and family trails. Please see my 'Historical' portfolio for details.

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