Cover by Mark Fredrickson
My latest with Scholastic just came out – I Am #10: Cleopatra written by Grace Norwich, part of the “I Am” biography series published by Scholastic. I illustrated the interiors. Mark Fredrickson is the cover artist. This book is different than the previous ones I illustrated in that the books contain half photo/half art now.
This was a fun one. I love illustrating historical subjects and this required a lot of interesting research about battles and ancient armor. I didn’t have as much photo reference to look at as I did in the George Lucas and MLK Jr. biographies. I enjoyed revisiting HBO’s Rome miniseries (fantastic) for ideas for costumes and architecture.
Here are a few of my favorites from the book! As always, click the images to see larger versions.
Mark Antony Leading Cavalry
Alexandrian War – Testudo battle formation!
Cleopatra and Julius Caesar in a procession on the river.
Portrait of Cleopatra with the Lighthouse of Alexandria behind her.
I even got to do a little map! – Illustrating the positions of the ships during the Battle of Actium.