An interview with illustrator Clementine Neild about illustrating the guided audiobook of a selection of Sherlock stories for Audrey.
What do you love about the Sherlock Holmes stories?
Clementine: I love stories that are clever and make you think or work for them a bit. I mean properly clever, not just show-offy. Sherlock stories are clever and they aren’t always obvious. So often stories make things complicated or always follow the same format but Conan Doyle didn’t do that - like "Rache" in A Study with Scarlet. I won’t spoil it for those that don’t know yet but it’s a brilliant example of the idea that once you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
Sherlock is about truth but he’s also a bit of a social moron and I sort of love him for that - that he doesn’t care what anyone else really thinks and he is so preoccupied with his own thoughts and work he just exists like that. I’m not like that - I’m probably more of a Watson type - sensible and reliable and a bit bumbly who looks after people, sometimes at my own expense. But I’d prefer to be a Sherlock!
2. What excited you most about illustrating these stories for Audrey?
Clementine: Sherlock is a classic. The fact that I could put my name to illustrations of a story that is so well known across the world was just too good to miss.
But also - Sidney Paget, the original illustrator of the Sherlock series in the Strand - was someone who brought the written word alive for those who couldn’t read as well - his images were there to enable people to better understand and visualise the work, and audiobooks are another step forward in that. Having visual and audio is a lovely combination.
I’m so grateful for the chance as well, I’m still finding my way as an illustrator and working with Audrey was such a great opportunity with such a supportive team.
3. Can you share any insights into your process?
Clementine: I always start with pen and ink work - to me it’s the equivalent of etching without acid, which is the process I usually use in my personal work.
Once I’ve got a drawing that I'm happy with I start messing it up. This can mean by tearing and ripping the page, or throwing ink at it, rubbing bits out, etc.
I love getting a bit messy and mark-making at this point with whatever is in front of me on the desk. I was drawing with bamboo pens I whittled at a workshop I did a few weeks ago for this one!
Then I scan it and start cutting it up digitally and putting the pieces back together. Adding in characters that might’ve been separate drawings to the background etc.
Most importantly - when I think I’m done I put it away for a couple of days and don’t look at it. I find editing when I’ve ignored it for a few days far easier.
When researching the images, I looked at Sidney Paget’s work. A couple of the figures in my work are based on his characters. For A Study in Scarlet I knew I had to portray the most crucial part of the series - the meeting of Holmes and Watson.
The illustration with Irene Adler was a little different - I wanted to show the two main characters facing off against each other somehow and I loved the idea of them mirroring each other.
So the idea of her in her dressing room at the opera seeing him looking back at her came from that. I loved that they were separated but watching each other.
Finally, to represent 3 books in one illustration was a little more tricky so I thought about those people coming to Sherlock and then how I might capture that together - I was in a pub in West London looking a similar regency style building typical of that area when it occurred to me how iconic the address of 221b Baker Street is and the rest came from there.
Download the whole unabridged audiobook of A Study in Scarlet and the collection of stories, A Scandal in Bohemia, read by David Timson and with a guide by Daisy Cowley and Clementine's illustrations, exclusively on the Audrey app.
Clementine is a printmaker and illustrator from Cornwall in the UK. Her work uses pattern and mark-making to create images that are full of movement and energy, and she predominantly utilises etching, or techniques inspired by etching, to create her illustrations. She is fascinated by the idea of Saudade – longing for memories and events that cannot happen.
Clementine has a master's degree in Illustration: Authorial Practice from Falmouth University and works between her own studio and a local print studio, where she is also a technician.
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