Word Hunters Trilogy
This book started a couple of years ago. A friend, Nick Earls approached me to ask if I would like to join him on a book project. He ran through the idea to which I got very excited about.
Over time we developed a pitch document containing a draft and some sample illustrations. Then off it went to publishers.
It was like letting your child go to school for the very first time and that feeling of who will take care of it, will it be ok. Will it be accepted.
Thankfully it did. UQP came up trumps. I have to say, it has got a lot bigger in scope.
Word Hunter review from Maxwell Freedman
A review has just come through from 11 year old Max Freedman. It’s a great review and he formatted it all himself. He gave me permission to put it up on my site for everyone to read.
Available for purchase from 27/08/2012
Some images from Word Hunters
Because of the style of the book being history, time travel and gadgets, I wanted to adopt a slight Jules Verne look without being too over the top. I grew up with films like Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Chitty Bang Bang which have that mad inventor/Victorian style, this is also known as Steampunk.
I did some research into the golden age of children’s books.
Word Hunters has adopted a few styles mixed with a modern twist. Rackham style silhouettes can be found in the book along with a style shading that is very Beardsley. Below is a Beardsley image called ‘The Baron’s Prayer’ 1895.
This is an image from the Word Hunters – The Curious Dictionary.
Leon Benett was another artists I looked at (image below). His high detailed cross hatching was amazing. He also played with breaking outside the borders of his illustrations which I liked a lot.
An image from Word Hunters.
It was great to incorporate the style of the Victorian illustrators which added the nostalgic feel to the whole book.