Artist Guest of Honour:

Much of Vincent’s art has been specifically designed and used for book covers, often creating a thematic style for a series of books to ensure an aesthetic appeal when the books are grouped together on a bookshelf. However there is variation across the different publishers and authors who have used his work showing adaptability when reflecting the brief and book content.  It has allowed him to explore many creative ideas to great success. 

One of the things that make his work so striking as book cover design, is his use of negative space and controlled colour pallets. This together with a clever introduction of a vignetting style, more commonly found in photography, creates an accessible pathway that draws the viewer into what is, on closer look, a complex picture.  This vignetting technique creates a border, often by a gradient of colour, that develops the darker shadows towards the edges of the work but sometimes as a physical

decorative frame. This both concentrates the viewer’s attention to the more central area but also allows space for titles and writing to be legible without distorting the artwork itself.

Vincent’s outstanding ability to tell a story in a single picture or collection of pictures has contributed to his success.  His skill in positioning and focusing on elements within the picture creates a hierarchy of interest, so effectively that the viewer does not realise they are being led to read a set

narrative. The eye is drawn to that which is more central, more detailed, closer or where the focus of light and shade pinpoints. As a viewer you are drawn in to ask “why” an element is more important than another, already engaging with the story, before the book is even opened.

His work has been used for horror titles for authors such as Stephen King and Joe Hill, but also for

fantasy writers and some science fiction. His biggest variation from this is perhaps his work in children’s illustration in The Girl who builds Monsters.

Vincent’s illustrations bring to life Emma and her monster dolls in an appropriate and sensitive yet wonderfully twisted manner that allows the reader to see both sides, the ill perceived horror, but also the wondrous individuality of form.