Full cover art for Brenda and Effie Forever!!

 Here's the full cover for Brend and Effie Forever! By Paul Magrs in all it's glory!!

 

I have been a fan of both Paul's Brenda and Effie series as well as his other writing for some time. So it was a real thrill to be able to supply the cover for the ladies of Whitby's final adventure.

 

And if it's anything like Paul's previous books in the series, it should be great fun!! All the usual nasties will be present in this story as well as the first appearance in the series of a certain Art Critic Panda. Whom fans of Paul's Iris Wildthyme and Doctor Who work might recognize.

 

I highly recommend you get your copy when it hits bookstores this month!!

Cover art for Brenda and Effie Forever!

 

Well, I can let the cat out of the bag now.

 

Here's the cover I did for one of my favorite writers Paul Magrs's latest book Brenda and Effie Forever.

 

Sadly, this book will be the final chapter in the Brenda and Effie series. But I was very pleased when Paul sent me a message asking if I wanted to do the cover for the book. Naturally I said "Yes!!" and here it is.

 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Paul's series, I highly recommend you check it out!! It stars Brenda, the Bride of Frankenstein, who is trying desperately to live a quiet life in the seaside town of Whitby running a little bed and breakfast. But those dreams never turn out as planned as she is continually pulled into strange and otherworldly escapades with her spinster friend Effie.

 

I'll let you all know when the latest of the Brenda and Effie saga is available for purchase.

 

I should also mention there is a delightful radio adaptation of Paul's Brenda and Effie series under the title Never the Bride (the first novel in the series) on BBC Radio 4. Check it out online. It's a fun listen for those of you like me who still love old time radio:

 

Never the Bride on BBC Radio 4

Brenda and Effie

A commission I did for writer Paul Magrs based on his delightful and wickedly charming Brenda and Effie Mysteries. Which features the stars of the series Brenda (the Bride of Frankenstein) and her friend Effie on the right hand side of the illustration along with some their more villainous characters from the series as well as the not-so-villainous Art Critic Panda from his other fan favorite series Iris Wildthyme who are looking on from the left.

If you have not read Paul's Brenda and Effie Mysteries you are really missing out on a fun series!! I highly recommend you check them out!!

Never the Bride illustration

A full color illustration I just finished of Brenda and Effie as well as some nasty characters they come across in Paul Magrs book Never the Bride. However, not ALL the characters in the background are as wicked as they seem. Or at least as wicked as they have been in the past.

More NEVER THE BRIDE sketches

A first pen and ink attempt at Paul Magrs delightful Brenda and Effie. I've been having a difficult time trying to get out of drawing all my characters looking like railings. This was my second attempt at making Brenda look a bit more plump. But she still doesn't quite have that sewn up from different body parts look to her as she's supposed to.


A third attempt at Brenda. Second in pen and ink. I tried to maker her look a lot more earthy than the previous one. And I made one of her legs and foots noticeably bigger than the other one. I also decided to give her a little patchwork coat to emphasize that found element of the character.

With Brenda's character, you really have to think of a really friendly maiden aunt or great aunt you might have had at one point of your life or another. Or a friend of your Grandparents who had this very large and outgoing personality and appearance. And a smile to match.


I wasn't terribly happy with my first sketch of Alucard. You hardcore Universal Monster Movie fans know what that name is spelled the other way around ;-) When I was sketching the character I had decided to go with the author's favorite Dracula Louis Jourdan rather than my own preference of Christopher Lee. Louis Jourdan had starred as Dracula in a really great and atmospheric BBC adaptation in 1977. I added a mustache to keep in line with the Bram Stoker novel. But unfortunately, I think my first rendering of the character came out too bland sooooo....


...I did a second one. Paul's book is a celebration of the Universal Monster Movies to me, so I'm trying to get that across in a lot of my character sketches. So, this time I decided to go with a cross between Louis Jourdan and John Carradine who played the Count in a couple of the later Universal Monster Movies.


The rather odious Mr. Danby. He's kind of a cross between Mr. Joyboy from The Loved One and Truman Capote (if Capote was an evil Mad Scientist) in my sketch.


And here are a couple extra characters I really liked from Never the Bride.


A quick sketch of Mrs. Claus. The owner of a Christmas inspired hotel and another rather vile character Brenda and Effie come up against.

Brenda and Effie character sketches

A couple sketches I did of the main characters Brenda and Effie from probably one of the best new books I've read Never the Bride.

Brenda is to the left and Effie is to the right in the first sketch. The second sketch I tried to make Brenda look closer to the way B+E author Paul Magrs describes her in the book being plumper, friendlier and a big more bosomy.

What I like about the series is it features a pair of older women having these adventures. Which is refreshing seeing that most stories seem to have younger people as the central characters.

If you're a fan of classic science fiction, Hammer Horror and the Universal Monster movies you will enjoy the Brenda and Effie series!!