Behind the Book: Captain Christmas

Step into the world of Captain Christmas with illustrator Tom Knight, as he shares his creative journey behind bringing Karl Newson’s magical, pirate-filled Christmas adventure to life, published by Bloomsbury!

Read our conversation with Tom below.

My name is Tom Knight, and I’m here in my little studio on this lovely sunny afternoon to talk to you about a wonderful book I’ve been lucky enough to illustrate. It’s called Captain Christmas, and it’s just come out. It’s written by the wonderful Karl Newson, published by Bloomsbury, and it was a real joy to work on. I’m going to talk to you a little bit about what it was like and my process.

What is Captain Christmas about?

Captain Christmas is a story all about a crew of elves who sail the high seas in their ship, firing cannons at people and robbing them – baddies, basically! They’re villains; they’re pirates, which is an unusual role for an elf! Until one day, they meet a mysterious figure with a big white beard and a big red coat, who teaches them that it’s much better to spread joy and happiness around the world. So, that’s what the elves do! They sail the world with Captain Christmas on Christmas Eve, spreading joy and happiness by delivering presents to everyone around the world.

How did you feel when you first heard about this project?

I was so happy when I found out that I’d been chosen to be the illustrator for this book. It was great to be able to work with Karl for the first time. I’ve been a fan of his books for such a long time; he just writes wonderfully engaging stories. Also, I’d never worked with Bloomsbury before, so it’s always exciting working with a new publisher. When they sent the story through, I just thought it was brilliant. It’s a familiar story, but like you’ve never seen it before! It’s such a genius idea to pair Christmas and pirates – both exciting themes for children – within one story. It’s really funny, magical, and full of adventure, and it was just right up my street. So, when I first heard I’d be illustrating the story, I was really excited and raring to get going.

Tell us about your artistic process.

So, let me show you a bit about my process for illustrating this book, and actually, most of the books that I illustrate. I always start with the drawing, and my line work is always done by hand. I usually use these lovely little carbon charcoal pencils for my line work. I’ll end up with this line work, but then I also like to get a lot of texture in, so I do that separately with little bits of charcoal. That gets scanned in as well, and then everything is pieced together in Photoshop, where I add all the colour on the computer.

How did you approach world-building?

I got to draw lots of different environments in this book, which was fantastic for me. In fact, that was a real favourite part of the illustration process – coming up with all these different places that the elves and Captain Christmas could visit. There’s one scene where they’re robbing back a crown from a king and queen who look a little bit like they could be Queen Victoria and Prince Albert! I also added some real-world elements. My neighbours over here are fishermen, and in fact, they fish oysters from around Mersea Island. So, I thought it would be a nice tribute to them to add a little bit of home in there. This is my neighbour here, looking very flattered, with his daughters on their boat, the Keira Joe. In fact, I dedicated the book to all of his grandchildren – I didn’t actually realise there were so many of them! That’s why my dedication at the beginning of the book is quite long.

Were you inspired by any real-life places or environments?

One of the reasons I was so excited about the prospect of drawing Captain Christmas was the fact that it’s set at sea, and I would get to draw lots of wonderful seascapes and great big ships. I’ve always been a huge fan of boats and have sailed all my life. I love the sea, and I’m lucky enough to live on an island. In fact, if you go out of my studio, past the curtain, across the garden, over the neighbour’s fence, and keep going, you’ll eventually get to the sea in about six and a half minutes! So, I’m surrounded by water, and it’s a big part of my life. It was lovely to sit here and draw the sea and lots of ships.

What was the biggest challenge?

One of the most challenging aspects of drawing Captain Christmas was designing the ship. I spent many lovely afternoons here researching old 17th-century naval ships and pirate ships. My wonderful designer, Juliet from Bloomsbury, and I really wanted the Yo Ho Ho to look as magical and magnificent as possible – to look impressive as it bounced across the waves, giving a real sense of awe, wonder, and magic. The interior of the ship also needed to look cosy, magical, and Christmassy, but it also had to look busy because this is where the elves spend their time making toys, wrapping presents, and running around with a snow machine – it’s a busy working ship with lots of moving parts! One of the spreads I’m most pleased with – and one of the most challenging – is a big cutaway of the ship where you can see all the different things going on inside. That was heavily based on a book that I loved as a child, illustrated by Stephen Biesty. He’s done lots of different cutaway scenes, including men-of-war ships. He crams so much detail into each page, making it a real joy to read, especially with children, as there’s always something new to discover together. I really love that aspect of picture books, where you can spend time exploring the details. For me, it’s a key part of illustrating children’s books.

What was your favourite part of illustrating Captain Christmas?

One of the best things about Captain Christmas is that Karl has written so much adventure into the story. The crew travel the world, visiting lots of different environments, which is really exciting. They also meet lots of interesting, wild people and creatures along the way – there are underwater pirates, mermaids, and a kraken! It was a real gift as an illustrator to get to draw all these exciting elements and hopefully make the story as thrilling and full of adventure as possible.

What do you hope readers take away from the story?

Aside from the message that robbing people and being a pirate is bad and spreading joy and happiness is good, I hope readers walk away with a sense of excitement, adventure, and magic – which is, after all, what Christmas is all about! It’s the greatest time of the year, and combining Christmas with pirates, which are already exciting, is just a genius move on Karl’s part. I hope the book will create a sense of wonder and excitement around Christmas because it really is fantastic, even if I do say so myself!

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Captain Christmas is out now, get your copy here.

To work with Tom, get in contact with his agent Susan Penny here.