Have you been reading the stories in our Fiction Newsletter?
They’ve been a great insight into the sorts of things “The People’s Friend” has published throughout it’s 151 year history. It’s been great fun digging through the Archives to find them.
If you’ve been keeping up, you’ll have noticed that some of them are a little different to what you can expect to find in the magazine’s pages these days! The subject matter can be a little darker, and the language used perhaps a little harsher.
This is a sign of the times, I suppose — this first batch of stories all came from the period round about the turn of the 20th century, when life was a little tougher for everyone.
Illustrations
I was pleased to find stories that weren’t strictly in line with today’s “Friend”. But there was one problem: none of them were accompanied by original illustrations, the way our stories are now.
It was a dilemma. What could we do? iStock images just wouldn’t have the right feel. And it seem like a bit of a cop out just to leave something like a logo up there.
That’s where Illustrations Ed Manon came to the rescue!
She very kindly volunteered to produce an original piece for each story. And they’ve been great! They really capture the atmosphere of the stories, and help them to stand out.
Take a look at few of them in the gallery below:
Alongside the illustrations, Manon also produces a little video giving us an insight into her process. As someone who can’t draw to save his life, I very much enjoy watching them!
Here’s a little video Manon did of the process behind her latest effort, for the story “The Luck Of The HMS Bulldog”:
If these illustrations have caught the imagination, why not sign up for our Fiction newsletter?
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Iain McDonald I am the Digital Content Editor at the “Friend”, making me responsible for managing the flow of interesting and entertaining content on the magazine’s website and social media channels.
