Andrew Skilleter Narnia Artwork Exhibition

Today saw the opening of The Wonder Of Illustration art exhibition at the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum.

The exhibition features original Alice's Adventures In Wonderland artwork by Spanish artist Angel Dominguez and original Chronicles Of Narnia artwork by Britain's Andrew Skilleter.

Skilleter's artwork was originally created for the BBC Radio Collection's releases of the BBC Radio 4 adaptations of the seven Narnia books by CS Lewis. The exhibition runs until 4 July 2009 and all pieces of art on display are for sale. The exhibition is included in the museum admission charge.

To coincide with the opening of the exhibition, Andrew Skilleter has revamped his website at andrewskilleter.com. The site now features galleries of the many book covers that he has produced over the years. While Skilleter may still be best known for his Doctor Who covers, the site also features galleries of his Ruth Rendell covers and his fantasy art as well as showing that his science-fiction art was not just limited to the Doctor and his enemies.

The SF gallery features subjects as diverse as Journey Into Space, Dan Dare, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Star Wars saga.

Details of The Wonder Of Illustration exhibition are here.

Andrew Skilleter's new website is here.

In Memoriam: Pauline Baynes

by John Freeman



I've just been catching up with some recent email and read that Pauline Baynes, whose illustrations gave life to Narnia, as well as appearing in books by J.R.R. Tolkien, Mary Norton, Richard Adams and countless others, passed away earlier this month. Writer and broadcaster Brian Sibley pays tribute to her here.

For me, Baynes' Narnia drawings are integral to my enjoyment of the Narnia books, and my first reading of Lord of the Rings, as she provided the cover of the battered edition I still have. (I hadn't realized until reading Sibley's tribute that she also provided the art for the edition of Warership Down I read as a child, too).

I think some artists' work gets so linked with a certain book it's often a jar to see it visualised by someone else. Baynes' work on Narnia will forever be linked to that saga for me. She'll be much missed.

Pauline Baynes, artist and illustrator, born 9 September 1922, died 1 August 2008, aged 85

• Read Brian Sibley's online tribute to Pauline Baynes
• Read Brian Sibley's full obituary to Pauline in The Independent
• Read David Henshall's obituary in The Guardian
• Read Charlotte Cory's obituary in The Telegraph
• Read the obituary in The Times

Narnia by Night

British film fans, families and kids are getting a unique opportunity to relive the magic of The Chronicles of Narnia movies at close quarters at a one-off, Narnia-themed Wow Night on Thursday, 14th August 2008.

‘The Wonderful World of Weta Wow Night ‘ at the Royal Armouries in Leeds is based around its big, free summer exhibition, ‘Arms and Armour from the Movies: The Wonderful World of WETA’.

The red carpet will be rolled out at 6.00pm with a private tour for fans given by an expert guide and including the magic wand wielded by the White Witch to turn people to stone, Peter’s beautifully crafted sword used to slay the head of the White Witch’s secret police, Maugrim and dozens of other props and weapons from the film.

Families can prepare for battle by joining Peter and Edmund in the fight against the White Witch with ‘have-a-go’ sword fighting. Sharpshooters can test their aim at ‘have-a–go’ archery, learning how to shoot a bow and arrow like Susan in the Armouries own shooting gallery.

Children who dress up as their favourite film character can take advantage of the Armouries expert face-painters to complete their look and are in with a chance of winning a fantastic mystery prize. At just £10 per person, the evening includes a host of Narnia-related fun before finishing at 10.00pm after a private viewing of the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in the Armouries' own cinema.

• More info from www.royalarmouries.org

Prince Caspian Game: Special Scenes Filmed

Although there may well be no more Narnia films after Dawn Treader is released in 2010, there certainly seems to be enough being filmed when it comes to the upcoming Prince Caspian, with ans of The Chronicles of Narnia will get to experience two unique film scenes only one way – on their home consoles or Windows-based PC.

Disney Interactive Studios has announced that two original scenes for Disney/Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian video game were filmed exclusively for the product and appear separately from the film. The unique scenes link The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian stories, with Doctor Cornelius (played by Vincent Grass) telling Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) the story of how Narnia fell to the Telmarines hundreds of years ago. It's invasion is a sequence not featured in the books.

The scenes, directed by Andrew Adamson, the film’s director, were shot on the film set in Prague, Czech Republic, during principal shooting and feature dialogue revealing plot based on the events of the book, game and film and are part of 18 live action moments in the game, which include 16 excerpts from the feature film.

“The special filmed content that is exclusive to the video game provides insight into Narnia and the events around the ‘Prince Caspian’ story like nothing else,” said Andrew Adamson. “With movie fans’ enthusiasm for unique experiences in video games as well, these scenes are ideal to complement the ‘Prince Caspian’ game’s action.”

Traveller's Tales, the British-based game production and development teams, worked in cooperation with the London-based film crew and Andrew Adamson to assure the game’s overall accuracy to the film, with the new linking scene taking place at the castle of Cair Paravel, seen only as abandoned ruins the Pevensies discover hundreds of years later in the Prince Caspian film.

• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian for consoles and Windows-based PC will be available for Xbox 360, the Playstation 3 system and Wii; and the Playstation 2 system and Windows-based PC.

• For more information about The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian video game, log on to www.princecaspiangame.com.

No More Narnia?

Several entertainment web sites including Digital Spy are reporting that Disney may end its The Chronicles of Narnia franchise after the third film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is released.

Prince Caspian, the second film in the series of seven books, is scheduled for release this summer, with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader expected in 2010.

Rumours of the plan circulated some weeks ago but were denied by Disney but now First Showing.net reports that producer Mark Johnson made an appearance at the New York Comic Con this weekend alongside Prince Caspian stars Ben Barnes, William Moseley, and Peter Dinklage.

Johnson specifically stated that they have "no plans" at the moment to continue on past Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The Christian themes of the books -- not perhaps evident to the casual viewer -- may well be one reason for a reticence in producing all seven films, with the final book, The Last Battle, perhaps the most obvious in terms of religious symbolism. But many cinema goers are totally unaware of the books' subtext, so commercial and financial considerations are more likely to be the reasons for concentrating on a trilogy.

FirstShowing.net reporter Alex Billington indicates that any final decision will of course be dependent on the success of both Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader and box office is expected to be strong for both films.

Disney and Pixar are reportedly planning to replace the Narnia franchise with a trilogy of films based on the John Carter of Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Plans for such a series have been in the offing for several years.