John Uskglass, the Raven King

“Even the Raven King – who was not a fairy, but an Englishman –
had a somewhat regrettable habit of abducting
men and women and taking them to live with him
in his castle in the Other Lands.”

The Raven King, with bird and book. Inspired by the character from exquisite Strange & Norrell by Susanna Clarke. (The audiobook is particularly good.)

Acrylics, pencil, liquid gold and silver, sterling silver leaf, and old English magic on paper 21×30 cms. Prints available here.

John Uskglass, the Raven King with a crown of ivy leaves, for ‘ivy binds English magic’. The magician King raised by faeries, from Susanna Clarke’s book ‘Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell’.
Pencil and acrylics on old paper, 8×11.5″, finished digitally.

A detail of the whole (click to see full size) :

John Uskglass, the Raven King crowned in Ivy (detail)

And the entire thing.
(If only someone would hire me to illustrate her next book. PleaseOhPleaseOhPlease. )

John Uskglass, the Raven King crowned in Ivy