The Storyteller’s Bible illustrated by Monique Steele

Last year B&H Publishing approached Illo Agency to commission Monique Steele to create a few illustrations for their Storyteller’s Bible written by Kathryn Butler.

Monique shared with us her thoughts, process and what illustrating this project means to her:

"Some of my earliest childhood books were illustrated Bible stories, so it was interesting to get this opportunity to create illustrations for a Bible story book myself.

Working on these three pieces, I tried to revisit an approach that I haven’t done in a while, which is working with line art instead of a more painterly approach. Maybe it’s the nostalgia of drawing for a bible story book that has me reaching for a style of art I haven’t used in ages, but it felt right to change up my typical style and tap into this one.

My favourite of the three pieces has to be Peter being reprimanded by the crowd. I really enjoyed having to figure out all my poses for the different people scattered throughout the piece (I had to take reference pictures of myself in all those poses; it was quite funny), and I especially enjoyed getting that fire to look nice and glowy.

Overall, I was grateful and touched to be able to leave my stamp on an illustrated book so similar to the books I grew up with. I did my best to give it as much vitality and enthusiasm as the illustrations I knew as a kid, and I hope I succeeded."

If you'd like to see more of Monique’s work, you can check out her portfolio here.

To work with Monique, please contact: [email protected].

At illo agency, we pride ourselves in representing a collation of global illustrators, distinctly diverse in creativity and uniquely celebrated by like-minded clients across a range of commercial markets.