Another character sketch. This is Nico, younger brother of my main character.
Human plus dog equals rat, it seems
18 Aug 2013 1 Comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings Tags: Illustration, urban fantasy
I had another go at drawing Brakman, a character from the book I’m writing at the moment. To make sense of his name, you need to know that “brak” is a derogatory term for a mixed-breed dog. I tried to draw a more doggy aspect of him first, and mix in some more human features – like the nose and eyes. Came out looking remarkably like a rat 🙂
Brakman also looks a lot more competent and confident as a rat-dog than as a man.
This one did not come out quite as I planned
28 Jul 2013 2 Comments
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings
A new character sketch for the book I’m writing at the moment. This is Brakman. He did not really come out as I imagined him. He should have a sharper face. But he looks sad and nervous, which is how he should be.
Creature drawings for my new book
01 Jun 2013 2 Comments
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings Tags: fantasy
I’m outlining my new book – something quite different this time, not part of The Sisters series (The Story Trap, The Broken Path). I’m doing the world-building, figuring out how the story world works. I find it helps a lot to draw potential characters or possible creatures.
This one is a kind of fairy that lives in a communal hive very much like wasps do:
This is a household creature, the kind that will do little jobs for a saucer of milk, but will do mischief too, if you ignore or insult them. A sort of brownie or nisse:
This one is something like a garden hobgoblin. She’s a lot more patient than the brownie:
And I’m not sure what this is. A sort of scavenging feral creature? A sort of ratling?
The Broken Path is published
03 Apr 2013 5 Comments
in 1 My books Tags: The Broken Path, urban fantasy
At long last — I’ve published The Broken Path, sequel to The Story Trap.
You can buy The Broken Path as an e-book:
I’m still working on the print version, but that is coming soon! Watch this space.
Book description:
What if a story came to life? If the characters stepped off the page and into our world?
Rebecca has recovered from the coma but she still longs for the places she saw and the people she met in the coma-dream. Writing helps her bear her loneliness, but things get out of control when the characters from her stories come to life in the streets of Cape Town. And Miss Mouse, the Antelope Girls, Hyena and the rest don’t exactly blend in with the crowd.
Cape Town in winter is a harsh place to be homeless. Esther, the witch who tried to kill Rebecca, is still at large. Rebecca has to keep her people safe until she finds a way to get them back into their story. She turns to her sisters for help but finds that they have secrets of their own. And Rebecca’s gun-packing neighbour is getting far too interested in her strange visitors.
The Broken Path: Cover reveal and first three chapters
24 Mar 2013 2 Comments
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress Tags: The Broken Path
I’m almost ready to publish The Broken Path, sequel to my book The Story Trap. The last stretch always takes the longest, so rather than waiting until everything is done I’m celebrating by showing off the cover and making the first few chapters available. I’ve also dropped the price of The Story Trap to 99c till the end of April.
So. Here it is, the cover for The Broken Path:
Those of you who have read The Story Trap will recognise the water-witch references 🙂
In the new story I brought back some of my favourite Story Trap characters like Miss Mouse and Hare. Esther has not given up the fight, and Pippa has to come to terms with her wounded hand. Some new characters feature too, like Rebecca’s nosy neighbour Clare and her gun-happy boyfriend Ryan.
You can read the first few chapters here.
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Introducing Porcupine
23 Feb 2013 Leave a comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings Tags: Illustration, The Broken Path
More work in progress illustrations for The Broken Path:
This time, a character called “Porcupine”. She’s standing in front of the fountain in Company Gardens, late at night.
The first few lines:
Then the rest is painted in using only black and white:
The drawing is nearly done:
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Chapter Claws
21 Feb 2013 1 Comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress
I took a break from creating the cover of my new book to work on some of the decorations that will appear under the chapter headings. Here are some options. All derived from crab claws. The first is my favourite at the moment:
Broken Path cover: Work in Progress
17 Feb 2013 Leave a comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings Tags: cover design, The Broken Path
I finally got going on the design for the cover of “The Broken Path”. It’s a challenge, as it needs to work on its own, and look similar enough to the cover of “The Story Trap” so show that it’s a sequel.
Rough sketch:
Interesting things happen en route, I like the fresh look of this hand by itself, and the black version is also interesting:
I’m playing with doing an open version of the hand as well:
And this is what it looks like at the moment. Very unfinished still:
A night visit to the museum
15 Feb 2013 1 Comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings Tags: Illustration, The Broken Path
Another work-in-progress for my book. This time, depicting a scene where a witch visits the Museum of Natural History after hours. This is not a finished drawing. Not happy with it yet, but it’s getting there 🙂
A story about a little girl and her dog
09 Feb 2013 4 Comments
in 1 My books, All my drawings Tags: Illustration, The Broken Path
Work in progress: the first of the “plates”, or full page illustrations of significant moments in my book. Here Rebecca tells her sister Pippa a bed time story, like the ones she used to tell when Pippa was a little girl.
I do these drawings by hand on paper first, then scan them in and paint the rest in Photoshop. I like working in black and then erasing the excess away to create a sort of lino-cut feel.
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Chapter Crabs
08 Feb 2013 1 Comment
in 1 My books, All my drawings Tags: Illustration, The Broken Path
Working on the little drawings that will go at the end of each chapter. Something like this, maybe:
Here is another one:
Story Drawings for The Broken Path
07 Feb 2013 Leave a comment
in 1 My books, All my drawings Tags: fantasy, Illustration, The Broken Path
Yesterday I started (at last) the illustrations for my book The Broken Path. Just rough pencil sketches so far. This is a scene where Rebecca tells a story to her sister Pippa:
And a whole lot of crabs:
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It all ends at Broken Path Beach
09 Jan 2013 Leave a comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress
I’ve almost finished the second draft of my book, The Broken Path. I’ve got to re-write the ending. The final scene is set at Broken Path Beach. I have a really bad memory for places, so yesterday we went there at sundown to get some inspiration:
And some days ago, when it was cloudy:
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Work in Progress: The Broken Path
10 Dec 2012 3 Comments
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress
Last week Friday I finished the first draft of the book I’m writing at the moment, the sequel to The Story Trap which has the working title : “The Broken Path”.
Over the months I’ve been writing about it I’ve been collecting images to inspire myself, and articles too. One of the things I though up for this book is a container ship nick-named “The Garbage Queen” that is filled with trash, and that nobody really wants to take responsibility for. But apparently, there are ships like that: Here is one I came across today:
A quote from the article: “A few weeks ago we reported that dozens of containers of trash were shipped from Britain to Brazil under the pretense that they were filled with plastics for recycling. They weren’t. They were filled with trash. Brazil got pretty peeved and now we’ve caught wind that they’ve finally shipped the waste back to the UK where it’ll be disposed of properly.”
Here are some images I found here and there online, that I found inspiring:
An image from The Selby that I thought approached what one of my character’s (a witch called Helen) living space might look like:
Homelessness is an important part of The Broken Path, and I found many haunting images such as this one by Lee Jeffries:
Here is another evocative image, that helped me understand what another of my characters might be feeling when she experiences a trance. This one was created by Moonywolf:
As in The Story Trap, African folk tales are important and of course, there is Eland. This image is, I believe, from a rock painting in Namibia.
The theme of plastic pollution is continued in The Broken Path. This striking image was taken by 16 year old Mary Ann Tablante in the Philippines.
![childrens-eyes-on-earth-4[6]](https://mashadutoit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/childrens-eyes-on-earth-46.jpg?w=535&h=354)
And to balance the pollution images, is this magical image by Sandara:
So — to work! Now I’ve got to work my way through the story again and make sure that it all makes sense.
Masha du Toit 
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