Sherlock Holmes

I'm taking  part in the House of Illustration's collaborative competition with The Folio Society (deadline 17th January). This year it's designing a cover and illusrtations to a collection of three Sherlock Holmes stories; A Scandal in Bohemia, The Man With the Twisted Lip and The Musgrave Ritual. To warm up, I decided to finally get my version of the great detective nailed down.

It was important to not follow the cliches of the character. I love the deerstalker, inverness cloak and pipe, but they unfortunately look like a cliche and not as though you have really thought about the design. Holmes would very likely wear a deerstalker in the countryside, but certainly not in his homes in Baker Street. Besides, its more fun to look at characters from a different angle.

My take on the character certainly owes to the cold analytical aspect of the character. There's an alien quality to this design, that is different to other depictions, but when I drew it, I knew it was right, for me. I guess this is Holmes, the Vulcan.