It began many years back, when I was was helping a ten-year-old with ideas for a story. In a nutshell, her ideas fed mine, and set me thinking of my own story for children. This would of course be an illustrated story, done by yours truly. After writing many drafts, I decided on creating the first illustration; something that might work for the cover. Apart from the grandfather, who features in the story, the drawing above features all the other main characters in The Lost Civilisation. From top left, clockwise; the parrot Herakles, Penelope, Achilles the dog, Helen of Troy, the cat, and Archimedes, the goldfish, all named after figures in Greek mythology.

Grandad you see, is a professor of Greek History specialising in ancient civilisations. When he loses a chapter off his computer, Penelope and Grandpa’s pets come to the rescue, all done in secret, naturally. (No spoilers here about the ending). I was not successful in having the story accepted for publication at the time, but have not given up on the project. Since then, I have sketched loose illustrations for all the pages, trying out different styles. Those ideas have been parked for some time! But, onto the bookmark mentioned in the heading.

I knew that Book Depository ran a competition for hand-drawn bookmarks, and my thoughts turned to the Lost Civilisation drawing, which featured books. Realising I needed a very slim section which would fit the template, I wondered what part of the image might work. Ah ha, the left side, which showed two characters, Herakles and Archimedes, books, and the library ladder! With help from Kerry, the image was scanned and reworked until the proportions fitted the brief. Whether the illustration is picked up for publication as a bookmark, remains to be seen. Regardless, It was a fun to make.

A Disclaimer: The original drawing, A3 in size, was not damaged in the making.