Buckle-up for the latest Euan Cook illustrated fiction adventure - gripping, funny and EPIC!
It’s hard to believe that we are already on the verge of celebrating the Euan Cook’s third collaboration with best-selling author Philip Kavvadias, as Mission, Monster Mind hits bookshelves across the UK on the 3rd July published by Chicken House Books.
This time, junior agents Finn, Milo and Tasi, along with pint-sized hacker Ether and their feathery sidekick Arty the microraptor - are off to Scotland to chase down stolen tech that could fry the world faster than you can say “dino disaster.” But what they really didn’t plan on? Accidentally waking something enormous, ancient and very, very grumpy... a monster from the deep!
Euan’s dynamic illustrations bring every thrilling twist, gadget-packed chase and prehistoric peril to life, just as he did in the first two books in the series. Smart, funny and fast-paced, this one's a perfect read for adventurous kids (and reluctant readers who think they don’t like books... yet). We asked Euan what it was like creating the illustrations for the third installment of this series and which is his favourite illustration:
"After working on a few of the Mission books the characters are well established, but we keep seeing new monsters and spy gadgets which are a lot of fun to draw. In Monster Mind there were specific visual ideas for some of the gadgets and it encouraged me to really push some of the compositions and show them off. The second half of the book takes place in Loch Lomond, which is somewhere I'm very familiar with having been all around and over it since I was a child! So it felt very natural and easy to portray the peace and stillness of those scenes, in contrast to all the crazy action.
Before it was finished I expected the big reveal illustration of the monster to be my favourite (chapter 33), the quiet of the loch stretched out across the bottom of a double page spread. Trying to give a sense of scale to the monster and a dreamlike atmosphere. But my actual favourite is an action shot (chapter 35) where we see both the animal characters crossing over each other with water, lightning, deadly robots all around them. I wanted to make a really strong composition with the two characters and once that was figured out everything just fell into place around them, feels like the piece has a lot of energy."
And what was Euan's favourite or most feared monster when he was a child?
"The one monster I remember being terrified of as a kid was the Cybermen! I always liked Fungus the Bogeyman!"
With environmental themes running throughout, these books standout from the crowd with their eye-catching covers and captivating internal illustrations. Here are a few of our favourites.
Having worked with clients including Walker Books, Aardman Animations and Hodder Children's Books, Euan's confident line work and clever character interpretations create engaging and accessible cover treatments which are very eye-catching and instantly recognisable.
You can grab a copy of Mission Monster Mind HERE, and why not read a sneaky extract HERE!
Take a moment to view more of Euan’s wonderful interior illustrations from this book on his online portfolio here and check out his illustrations for the first book, Mission Microraptor and the second, Mission Manta Ray. For more information regarding collaborations please email info@arenaillustration.com.
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