Intrepid Books

11/10/2024

It’s nice to draw on a Friday. Studio could use a tidy-up!

04/10/2024

Happy Publication day! DC Ultimate Character Guide! From Intrepid Books.

03/10/2024

Happy Publication Day! A DC soliloquy

There are a few projects that take you down memory lane, projects that bring back long buried memories of you sitting on your bed in your y-fronts, watching cartoons and reading comics. Comics were an escape for me, stories of people who who triumph against adversity in some cases, children, who have to sneak out of school, lie to parents in order to save the city from The Joker. Yep, at 10 years old, I wanted to be Robin. Then I could handle all the bullies.

Imagine years later being asked by a friend to create the DC Ultimate Character Guide, a book showcasing each character, a book reminiscent of DC’s Who’s Who. I could work directly with DC! I was over the moon. Any reason to open the comic boxes and have a reason to subscribe to DC’s Infinite comics app as you just HAVE TO get the best as well as the most contemporary art available.

As a Book Packager at Intrepid Books, we pour everything into our packaged projects, drawing on over 20 years publishing experience. We storyboard, sketch layouts, design, offer editorial and author solutions, manage schedules and budgets with a dash of boldness to try something different. We find the solutions required to get the best product to ease those in-house pressures.

I wish I could go back and tell that shy, skinny, yet optimistic and imaginative 10yr old that one day he would helm a project like this. I think he would be ecstatic …especially when I slip him the lottery numbers!

DC Ultimate Character Guide
written by the ‘Totally Awesome’ Melanie Scott
edited by ‘The Incredible’ John Tomlinson
Designed and Managed by Jake Da’Costa and the Intrepid Books team.
Also starring real world in-house heroes, Chris Gould, Victoria Short and Marc Staples
Published by DK.

Available now from all good local bookshops!

09/02/2024

The graphics look amazing for this.

Moana 2 initially developed as TV series, but studio so ‘impressed’ by the footage it decided to turn it into a cinematic follow-up

07/10/2022

Black Panther Wakanda Atlas a beautiful project available now!

07/10/2022

Underwater World Sketching and design of layouts for this beautiful project.

07/10/2022

Star Wars Character Encyclopedia cover design

13/10/2021

Getting children interested in how their body works is made much easier when you have interactive graphics with search/find elements and humour, great art and fun quizzes! All in all a terrific project with the Kingfisher folk 😏. Do check it out in your local bookshops and online!

28/05/2021

In the last year we have seen the very definition of a hero change, we became aware of what now seems very obvious, that the people who keep society going are the ones we should value though they are considered to be menial workers, unskilled. When I approached this project on its then title ‘heroes’ and read Ben’s brilliant manuscript I was amazed. There are tales of human triumph and endeavour, indomitable spirit and steadfast courage in the face of extreme odds. I often found myself in the position of the survivor, would I make the same choices? Would I have that courage? What if..?

There is the story of Juliane Koepcke, who’s plane over the Amazon hit turbulence and was destroyed mid-air sending her, while still strapped to her seat, hurtling to the ground. The story of Rosezina Jefferson who caught in the 193 kmph winds and torrential rain of Hurricane Katrina, swam over 1km in floodwater while in labour…having to make the difficult choice of leaving her 5 year old son. There are survivors of shark attacks, a man buried alive and women lost at sea using her skills to get her home. To name a few.

Survivors: Inspiring true stories of survival collects 20 thought-provoking real-life tales fully illustrated. Some of which made international headlines and movies like the Hudson River plane disaster and the story of the Chilean Miners. Others that are less well known but just as astonishing.

Written by Ben Hubbard, main illustrations by Neil (KJA Artists).
Designed with supplementary art by me and the Intrepid team.
Published May 2021.