We sat down with Bright artist Dan Widdowson to talk about his latest project. Dan has been illustrating the PIGGY novels for the last year, and for the fourth book in the series, titled PIGGY: The Entity is out now! Based on the fan-favorite video game, these thrilling illustrated novels are perfect for readers aged 7 to 14. Dan gives us a look at what it’s been like illustrating the series.

Piggy: The Entity written by Terrance Crawford and illustrated by Dan Widdowson. Published by Scholastic US.

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Give us a quick synopsis of the story and the characters.

The Piggy books, like the game that inspired them, are essentially zombie survival stories for a younger audience. We follow Ben and the various friends he meets along the way, as they struggle to survive and attempt to uncover the mystery behind the infection plaguing Lucella.

How do you make sure that your work is cohesive across all books in the series? Do you do any advance planning?

Initially, I was given reference material to use when drawing the various characters. It’s fairly loose, though, and once a design is given the OK it’s as simple as referencing the drawings from the first book to ensure I’ve got the characters wearing the right outfits and whatnot.

Left: Visual from the PIGGY video game. Right: Dan's cover art for the first book in the series.

What is your favorite part about working on this series?

Definitely working on the covers. Using colour and directing all my efforts into one standout image is very rewarding. Scholastic’s brilliant designer Jeff Shake always manages to take my initial sketches and inject extra life into them. Having his feedback is so helpful, and he’s a joy to work with.

Did you encounter any challenges while developing the illustrations? If so, how did you overcome them?

The artwork of the game is very minimalistic, but we want the book artwork to be slightly closer to reality. I’ve always tried to keep the non-human characters quite close to their Roblox Piggy counterparts. Most of the characters have rounded faces without mouths, which can be challenging when trying to convey emotion with them.

Thanks Dan for chatting with us! To work with Dan, please email his agent Alex Gehringer here.