Alan Gilliland - Designer

Overview

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I am a freelance illustrator and designer who has worked with publishers of all sizes, incl. 72 books for Penguin; three book series for Osprey military; designing building templates etc. for an 00-gauge model railway village for Hachette Partworks and 90 issues of a Great Battles series for a Russian publisher through Windmill Books (packagers); and graphics for the current National Gallery Guide book through Ivy Press. A former graphics editor of the Daily Telegraph with 20-odd national/international awards, my work covers a very wide range of subjects from war to archaeology, natural history to science. I illustrate book covers and children’s books, including my own nonsense adventure, a Book of the Year for Lovereading4kids website, that has sold around 28,000 copies world wide to date, over 9,000 in hardback in the UK at £15 and around 18,000 in China and South Korea. I performed all aspects of the publishing operation through to organizing printing in China and marketing for both that book and my first adult Gothic novel, which sold 3,000 at £10 in the UK as a trade paperback. I also illustrate for architects and developers.

Over the years I have occupied myself in a variety of fields:
- film-making at college (Don Quixote award at Cracow Short Film Festival - co-directed and -edited);
- architectural college (Architectural Association School, London) and draughtsman (to finance course);
- photo-journalist & topical newspaper cartoonist;
- information graphic artist (incl. 18yrs and 22 national/international awards as graphics editor of The Daily Telegraph – every subject from science and sport to natural history, archaeology to war and disaster);
- freelance illustrator for publishers: see intro..
- illustrator for architects incl. John McAslan & Partners (energy centre cutaway for London Olympics and Abu Dhabi National museum exhibit); Kit Martin (now Prince Charles Regeneration Trust historic buildings adviser); Norwich Theatre Royal regeneration.
- publisher of my own books, illustrated children’s and adult fiction (see below).

I am always up for new and creative challenges.

Media. Hand: pencil, crayon, pen and ink, watercolour, gouache. Digital: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Painter.

I have self-published (traditionally under Raven’s Quill/Shabby Tattler imprints) two books so far (performing all publishing and marketing operations except editing).

The Amazing Adventures of Curd the Lion (and Us!) in the Land at the Back of Beyond. Children’s nonsense adventure, 7-12 yrs. Hardback. 176 pages. 80 pencil illustrations & map. £15.
28,000 plus SOLD WORLDWIDE.
9,000 sold UK. 7,654 sold in translation China (1st yr.) and 1,360 in S. Korea.

Lovereading4kids made it a Book of Year and keep it on essential reads list - many reviews there, including Margaret Mallett, an award-winning educationist (UK Literacy Society), who gave a half page review in her book on children’s literature for teachers.
‘Made in Me’ are contracted to include it in their new ‘Chapter Book’ Series for tablets.

The Flight of Birds. Gothic ghost tale/horror thriller under Alan Howard (adult fiction name). 400 pages trade p/b. £10. Sold 3,000 UK. (Now in two editions, Black and White, with different beginnings and endings to same story)

Several more stories in the pipeline (adult, children’s and YA) - incl. illustrations for these.
My blog is called ‘Pencilnotes’ after my trusty pencil.