John Bowden

Jadis in London

This is an illustration of Jadis from the Chronicles of Narnia the Magicians Nephew by C.S Lewis. It is an illustration I did for my book cover project for my illustration module at Aberystwyth University. It is a depiction of the scene when Jadis is in London,( having followed Poly and Digory whilst trying to escape Jadis’s palace and world of Charn. Jadis accidentality being transported from her world into the woods between the worlds and then back to London.) after capturing a cabby horse and using a lamppost which she has lifted from the ground as a club to fight against the gathering police officers. (In the original story it is only a broken off part of the lamppost that Jadis has ripped off and is using a club. The lamppost having been knocked down by the cab after crashing into into due to the cabby horse being frightened by the violent queen Jadis. However, I thought at the time using artistic license that it would be more dramatic and obvious if I made a slight change in that she picks up the lamppost it bending violently as she carries it using it as a club) Jadis single handily battles the police and everyone who stands in her way for the conquest of planet earth trying to take it single handily. Meanwhile, Polly and Digory are underneath the horse accompanied by their Uncle Andrew the Magician, trying to grab hold of Jadis’s heal so that one of them can put on a yellow ring and transport her and them back to her world of Charn. There are a few other characters in the scene such as the cabby man behind the horse with his hand raised trying to calm it, and a few pedestrians running for their lives in the chaos.

This was one of my first attempts at drawing a horse, in retrospect the front legs are very short and the horse would not be able to support itself if it were standing on all fours instead of rearing up. Also the head is not quite atomically correct. However, I think that perhaps it gives the horse, a very important character in the story a bit of personality and style. My horses have gotten better since then with more practice. The story is set in the earth year 1900, and I researched clothing at that time, so that the characters would fit in with the London time period.

This illustration was painted in Acrylic paint and inked with Indian Ink on A3 mixed media paper.

Magians Nephew

This is an illustration of Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia the Magicians Nephew by C.S Lewis. It is an illustration I did for my book cover project for my illustration module at Aberystwyth University. This illustration depicts Aslan the Lion creating the world of Narnia in his song. The tree’s grow tall before Polly, Diggory, Uncle Andrew, Strawberry the Cabby Horse, The Cabby man and the Witch Jadis’s eyes. The sky emits at first a dim orange glow and grows into a bright sunlight. A select few beasts and animals are given human voices of their own, being more intelligent and above their normal species, becoming their leaders and representatives . The bulldog, the Leppard and the Elephant are among those few that join Aslan when called into council atop the tall hill, with their King and Queen - the cabby man and his wife who was brought magically by Aslan to Narnia on the Cabby Man’s request. In the sky is Alsan the Lions face looking down on those travelling up the hill, and the two yellow and green rings are to his right and left. I wanted the grass and foliage to be very bright, almost looking brand new and fresh from the earth emitting a yellowy glow. I wanted to evoke the feeling of summertime, joy and warmth in the piece in it’s colours.

This illustration was painted in Acrylic paint and inked with Indian Ink on A3 mixed media paper.