I share a studio with the extremely talented and wonderful illustrator Linzie Hunter. A lot of the time, we’ll have audiobooks playing in the background while we work and, recently, our choice has been the YA book of the moment – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

It’s been a perfect book (well, books – we’re now on the final part in the series) to listen to in our studio. Compelling, but simple enough to tune in and out of when we’re having to read and respond to emails and the like.

I’m glad such a book exists and has a huge, loyal readership – the core conceits of being suspicious of fame, reality TV and celebrity culture while also being politically active and fighting for a better system of government are themes I’m glad young audiences are engaging with.

So anyway, on a whim, I decided to design and illustrate a new book cover for the first book in the series. It was a lot of fun to do and I really enjoyed drawing Katniss.

Here’s the full design:

A close-up of the front cover:

And a close-up of the back cover: