"I grew up near Leeds, West Yorkshire, enjoying a childhood that spanned the 1970s. Drawing was always important to me and from an early age. I wanted to be an illustrator, even before I knew what the work entailed. Art and illustration were the subjects I studied after I left school, culminating with a MA in 1998. My early commissions were illustrating reading schemes for Oxford University Press and that started a twenty year-long working relationship with primary schools across the UK, running workshops for pupils. Later, I wanted to develop my figure drawing skills, so I dedicated my spare time to creating my own fictional characters and magical world, and the narrative these inspired, snowballed into my first fantasy novel, "Raven's Wand", and from there, I produced a book series. These days, I split my time between writing and drawing, and when possible, getting out to walk the hills nearby.
"My novel "Raven's Wand" and what
came to be "The Dark Raven Chronicles" began as a single idea and evolved
organically into something much deeper. Having time on my hands, I wanted to
sharpen my figure drawing skills but retain a fictional theme, so I opted to
draw witches. The first drawings
were highly stylized but they soon became more realistic. I was tired of seeing
witches portrayed as hags or sex-sirens! Witches (both male and female) have
been vilified enough, and so I made my witches more earthy and noble. I knew
from the start there'd be no bad witches. As the emphasis shifted from spells
and magic to the person behind the pointed hat, I began to regard my characters
as real people who just happened to know magic, and as real people, they needed
a home. Wildwood-coven was born!"I read up on witches’ ceremonies and beliefs, adding my own invented ethos to their world, all of which centred around a reverence for nature. As the characters became increasingly real, I wrote a paragraph for each, giving them a name and adding a little narrative to the illustration. Inevitably, those paragraphs merged into a story, which in turn became a novel. ‘Raven's Wand’ is the result of this and is set in a semi-fictional Victorian Britain where witches struggle to survive in increasing industrialisation, and a secret order is determined to wipe them out, called the Knights Illuminata. To date, the books' series now comprises nine novels and a deck of oracle cards, all published by US Games Systems Inc., and based on the same: ‘The Raven’s Wand Oracle’.
"The books contain some dark themes and a great deal of fighting, but I never write a scene unless it serves the story or expands upon the characters, and so nothing in the books is gratuitous or without context, and the same goes for my art. The books run to just under 200,000 words each, which is a lot for some people and not others: I know of a 12 year-old girl who read the first trilogy in just a matter of days!
"Talking about my 'working day' - I'll leave out the mundane things like shopping and cleaning up after Rocket, my rescue house rabbit! Basically, I'm either at the drawing board or at the laptop. If writing at a steady pace then I aim for 1-2,000 words a day, but during intense periods I've sustained 5-8,000 words daily for a few weeks. Drawing can be an isolating business so I keep amused by listening to audio books or music, and I take frequent breaks from the drawing board to ease my posture. In a typical day I drink lots of tea and sharpen lots of pencils!
"The first thing I need before I start any artwork is a clear vision in my mind as to how it'll look, including the feeling it conveys. Without this clear signpost, I can't start anything. Typically a large drawing (65x50cm) takes between 7-10 days to complete. Once I know who or what is in the picture, I gather up a few reference shots to help, be it plants, animals, people or landscapes, using them as pointers rather than copying them directly. If I need a body shot, I'll use myself as a frame. This helps when drawing things like folds in clothing, lighting and proportion etc, all of which I adjust in the artwork.
"All of my artwork is drawn in coloured pencil, which I find a delightful and satisfying medium, and I've included a few technical points here: Most of the time I'll use a neutral mid-grey shade pastel paper. Graphite can dirty the colours you lay on top, but to start, I sketch my image with a 2B pencil. Once I'm happy, I have a choice – if the colour scheme I'm aiming for is dark, then I can draw on top of the graphite (with care) but if it's bright and breezy, then first I'll dab off the graphite drawing with a pencil rubber so that it leaves the faintest of lines. I could, of course, draw faintly to start with, but that'd mean using a HB or 2H and that can leave ugly scratch marks on the paper. Sometimes I draw out my composition not in graphite but with a colour pencil; that way it's guaranteed to be absorbed by the overlaying colours. The advantage is that there's no risk of graphite smudging, but the down side of sketching with a colour pencil first is that they don't like being rubbed out – so be warned.
"So now the under-drawing's ready and the colour work can start. I draw a lot of human characters and they can be tricky, so I always start with the face which is the hardest part. If it goes badly, then I scrap the picture and I won;t have lost too much time. I use a range of pencil brands, finding they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Lastly, don't forget to include a good range of greys! I'll often add a hint of grey to skin tones, sandwiched in between other pigments. Relying on colours alone can give an artificial 'cartoon' look. So don't forget the greys. I rely on my range of French Greys a lot!
"Accessories: I have a small battery powered rubber that's very handy if you've got to alter a small details. It's also great drawing tool in its own right, removing colour rather than laying it down.
"Pencil extenders: Better than throwing 30% of your pencils in the bin! Don't know why more people don't use them.
"Scalpel: I always use one for sharpening pencils and for scratching the finest lines in pigment to draw hair or spider silks etc.
"Fixative: Once your drawing's finished you might find it looking 'dusty' after a few days and wonder what's going on. It's wax-bloom. The oils in the pencils are now seeping to the surface. It's easy to wipe away with a soft tissue, and then either fix it or leave it. As I tend to work heavily, there's a lot of pigment on my drawings and the bloom can be a problem, so I let them 'rest' a few weeks; once finished then dust them down and fix them.
"At this stage in my life, I'd be happy just to continue adding to the Raven's Wand world with more books and more art. I feel I've found my place. For any creatives out there, I’d say, write or draw what you know or love best. There’d be no point me writing a spy thriller or drawing technology because these themes don’t attract me. Be clear on what inspires you, which isn’t always as easy as it sounds, and focus your efforts there: it’s much easier to finish a drawing or a novel if you love the world you’re in.
Thanking Steve Hutton for this interview. "The Raven’s Wand novels and Oracle Deck can be found on Amazon, while the website and Facebook pages offer most, if not all, of Steve's artwork. Visit: www.wildwoodwitches.co.uk
Facebook: Dark Raven Chronicles – or Wild Wood Witches – or just my personal page: Steve Hutton
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