Today I’d love to introduce you to Iain McIntosh – the wonderful illustrator who designed the front cover to Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, as well as the iconic art print which accompanies the book. As many of you already know, each Manderley Press publication features a specially commissioned introduction, front cover and illustrations, with both the author and the artist chosen for their connections to the place at the heart of each title. I am so lucky that Iain lives and works in Edinburgh and was able to draw from his own knowledge of the city, as well as Stevenson’s works, when he created the stunning front cover to the launch title for Manderley Press. Here he talks to me about the people, the books and the places that have inspired him throughout his career.

The illustrations for Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes are absolutely stunning. Could you tell us about the process involved in designing the front cover, chapter openers and art print?
Ideas can be elusive and I occasionally have a few false starts. You can spend a decent amount of time on a picture and the image just doesn’t work. Sometimes you need to look critically at artwork you’ve spent a couple of days working on, stop, and launch it into the bin. This was absolutely not the case with Picturesque Notes. The subject is my home territory and I live a few streets away from where Robert Louis Stevenson was brought up. Edinburgh is an extremely photogenic city, I know all the locations and thankfully had no illustrator’s block.

I love how you've incorporated aspects of the weather into the book's cover design - how did Stevenson's book influence other parts of your illustrations?
Edinburgh has more than its fair share of changeable weather. As I write this the temperature outside is zero degrees and I think of poor Robert Louis Stevenson in an Edinburgh without central heating. The districts and weather of Edinburgh that RLS describes are still very visible - many of the locations he writes about are still pretty untouched and as he would have seen them (though very much cleaner and busier these days!).

For those readers who are new to this topic, could you tell us what is involved in being an illustrator?
Always deadlines! Though working for publishers and designers can vary hugely - often I have a free hand on approach, though I also work with design agencies who know exactly the images they want me to produce. In general clients will go for illustrators who are in sympathy with the overall look and mood they are after.

Which other illustrators have mentored, taught or inspired you and your work?
I trained at Edinburgh College of art and was taught by Harry More Gordon. I love the work of Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious, Eric Fraser, Clifford Webb - and similar early to mid-20th-century illustrators who mostly worked in line. Many of them worked for the Radio Times and the limitations of the printing process made for really strong graphic illustrations which could pack in much content in a small space. If you can draw a complicated subject legibly in a small space you've a good chance of staying in work. All the largest illustrations I ever drew were drawn at Art College, whereas in commercial jobs, the physical dimensions of illustrations are more often constrained and you need to go small.

Can you tell us about your favourite book covers and/or illustration projects?
I’ve designed and illustrated a fair number of book jackets for Alexander McCall Smith over several decades. Designing these usually begins with meeting Alexander for lunch and talking through ideas - soup and sandwich in a Deli Café in Edinburgh New Town and always entertaining

Do you use a computer or a pen and ink to draw your illustrations?
I've worked my way through the entire Art Shop stock in terms of materials I use. For most of my career I drew onto Scraperboard / Scratchboard, now I often use the Wacom digital tablet. The end results look very similar to the way I would draw on Scraperboard but much easier to edit. Lots of illustrators of my age are convinced sable brushes existed throughout the entirety of history and are dismissive of the computer. People always innovate -  I like the computer and enjoy drawing straight onto the screen using a Wacom Cintiq. 

Where do you like to work / could you describe your studio space to us?
I’m lucky to work from a huge room in a Georgian block in the New Town which acts as a studio, kitchen and living room. It has four large windows and the ceilings are thirteen feet high, so it’s fantastic in the summer but tad drafty in winter - or rather it’s very warm in winter but only above head height and up at the ceiling.

What was your earliest childhood memory of reading or books?
Reading, together with poring over the illustrations in books have all conflated in my memory in a very blurry fashion. I’ve drawn pictures for as long as I can remember. Before primary school I’ve memory of sitting at a table covered in reference books listening to the radio and drawing, which exactly describes my daily routine nowadays.

In what place, house or building are you happiest?
In the studio drawing!

Which is your favourite building in Edinburgh and why?
Royal Museum of Scotland Chambers Street. Huge, bright, airy, Victorian for the main part and full of interesting things both old and new.

Cats: friend or foe?
Illustrators often have cat assistants. I love cats and happily follow that tradition despite them often being less than chummy.

Can you share a few of your favourite recent reads with us?
Just reading Meet the Georgians by Robert Peal. I've read a lot of Jonathan Coe and Ben Mcintyre which I enjoy. There seems to be thousands of articles about The Beatles at the moment - I read 1234 The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown which is very quirky and very unputdownable

If you could visit one fictional building, what would it be?
Any mansion, terrace and garden from an Edward Gorey book

What do you find most inspirational creatively speaking: buildings or people?
Both! I’d love to have been an architect but the physics and mathematics would have been beyond my abilities!

What was the best book you were ever given as a gift?
Original Portraits and Etchings by Georgian artist John Kay. He began his career as a barber-surgeon before becoming an etcher and creating extremely witty caricatures of his Edinburgh contemporaries. He also owned a cat - including it in a self portrait - reputed to have been the biggest cat in Scotland.

Are there any places or buildings from books that have stayed with you or inspired your work?
Uncle Ebenezer’s House of Shaws in RLS’s Kidnapped. Half built and scarily ruinous. The uncle sends David Balfour up a tower’s unfinished stair in the pitch dark, in an attempt to do away with him. The scenario stays with you in the memory when you’re a young impressionable reader.

Iain is an award-winning illustrator whose logos and designs feature on packaging, advertising, newspapers and book covers. His publishing work includes a bookcase full of titles, each designed for Alexander McCall Smith. McIntosh draws inspiration from illustrators such as Eric Fraser, Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious, Maurice Sendak, Edward Gorey and Osbert Lancaster, and has always been interested in the combination of image with type. You can find out more about Iain and his portfolio over at www.iainmcintosh.co.uk

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