Pingsweetie-Design and Illustration

25/03/2026

Couldn’t NOT do a quick for this! She must be the happiest of capybaras Samba-ing across the Solent.Hope she comes home for tea soon.

06/02/2026

Printing now for 2026 the new pocket map. Google maps roll over, this is way more accurate and much cuter! If you are interested in one call in at if you’d like to get multiple copies for your business for the cost of the printing Ibrahim can help. Featuring and more. Drawn with

05/02/2026

The 6 signs from the

Initially just an exercise in textures. All produced using ProCreate illustration and photo montage. All the amulets closely adhere to the book’s descriptions. Especially the gold ‘Sign of Fire’ which I interpreted as a Celtic Anglo-Saxon jewel, as it bears an inscription referencing the Alfred Jewel of the same period.

“Gold of several different colours had been beaten together with great craftsmanship to make its crossed circle shape, and on all sides it was set with tiny gems, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds, in strange runic patterns. Around the outer edge, very small are the words in Old English, “LIHT MEC HEHT GEWRYCAN,” which means “The Light ordered that I should be made.”

05/02/2026

The premise of the story is that 11 year old Will Stanton embarks on a quest to collects 6 ‘signs’ or amulets to vanquish the evil magic of the Dark. While there have been excellent inspirational cover illustrations over the years they tend to focus on the either Herne the Hunter or the Rider of the Dark, the embodiment of the of the Light and Dark forces in the world and the sign seeking aspect of the story to my knowledge hasn’t really been featured. (I’m drawing a veil over the American feature film abomination) True fans don’t mention that!

pingsweetie

04/02/2026

So, after spending practically the WHOLE of Christmas drawing all the six signs or amulets of power from ‘The Dark is Rising’ by Susan Cooper ( 1973) - Much to the annoyance of my family, I was swept up to spend most of my January free-time incorporating them into my very own fan art book cover. The front features the mythological ‘Herne the Hunter’ riding on the ‘Mare of the Light’. Old English folklore depicts Herne as an antlered figure on horseback who rides out in times of trouble. Susan Cooper describes him like this:

‘Not the head of a man
A head was shaped like the head of a stag
But the ears were those of a dog or wolf
The face beneath the horns was a human face
With the round feather edged eyes of a bird
Strong straight human nose
A firm human mouth set in a slight smile
Chin bearded but could be of a goat.’

27/01/2026

Drawn to this drawing of a drawing. Both took about 5 hours. I’d say my drawing is more pleasurable in the process though!

26/01/2026

25/01/2026

. We sat outside for an hour this morning looking for birds. I wanted to draw the whole picture in the hour but you can see the difference between 1 and 2 hours of drawing. I blame the cat.