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The Magnus Archives Illustration

An illustration of Jon and Martin from The Magnus Archives, made for Swallowsong13. Working on this piece was a pleasure, thank you for your trust and time! 🪽

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The Magnus Archives

The Magnus Archives is a weekly horror fiction podcast written by Jonathan Sims, directed by Alexander J. Newall, and distributed by Rusty Quill. It explores the Magnus Institute, an organization in London dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Jonathan “Jon” Sims, the Institute’s head archivist, records tapes about paranormal events, while Martin is an assistant who briefly becomes the narrator of the recordings.

I listened to a couple of episodes to familiarize myself with the setting and found it funny how it seems like Jon’s first mentions of Martin were of mild annoyance at an assistant’s work. The overall mood reminds me of Welcome to Night Vale and SCP, plus the ambient sounds and music felt immersive and unnerving, while the fandom has stunning work featuring the entities and characters. I had a blast exploring the community.

Black and white illustration of two men sitting on a couch while surrounded by animals and objects. 2 Swallows fly near their heads. The man on the left is thin, has tanned skin and short hair, and wears a dark-colored robe (Jon), while, in the right, Martin is a fat man wearing white shirt, glasses and boxers. He rests a hand on his chin. Near martin there's a seagull, rabbit, a IV pole, bloodbags, a printer and piles of printed news. Near Jon there's a large white ghostly dog and an owl perched on top of a TV. There are multiple eyes scattered around them, and grass and reeds sprouts from the wooden floorboards under them. These characters are from The Magnus Archives.

Closeups and details

From the mugs to the eyes, wall art and blood bags, all elements relate to the character’s backstories and dynamics.

Jon, a swallow, and the ghost dog.
Martin closeup. The seagull tries to drink from a mug.
Martin, a nazar necklace and the gull.
Owl closeup
Great Horned Owl closeup
closeup of the ghostly white dog.
For the ghost dog we experimented with different breeds like dobermanns and kunming dogs.
The hatching and shading allowed me to create negative space and direction lines.

Process

Swallowsong approached me with a very clear idea of what they had in mind, including a photomontage of the character and some of the object and animal placement. This was extremely helpful, so in the initial stages I could focus more on Jon and Martin’s poses, clothes, and how the animals would express themselves.

Rough drawing of martin, jon, and the animals
Initial rough with simple color-coding so we could discuss placements.

Software: Clip Studio Paint

Print stores, support, and personal work

A drawing of a vampire kissing a woman. he wears a toreador outfit and has long curly black hair, while the woman has tied-back blond hair and wears a red blazer.

INPRNT has my overseas print store, while Patreon and Ko-fi have stock art and hi-res illustrations for supporters.

If my stores don’t have the artwork you’re interested in buying (and it isn’t client work!), shoot me a message!

🇧🇷 Brazil residents: I might be able to produce and send A4 and maybe A3 prints myself, message me if interested. 💌

More personal work: Writing, worldbuilding, and tutorial tags; plus freebies, and YouTube timelapses.

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