So what started off as an idea for a trailer to promote my novella The Noctuary, turned into something a lot more adventurous, with illustrations, voice-over and sound effects coming together to create a mini-movie.

I took the first one and a half pages of The Noctuary and asked the amazingly talented voice over artist Ricky Grove to narrate it for me. Ricky went above and beyond simple narration, virtually acting out the excerpt in the characters of Simon Ryan and the sinister muse Meknok.

Ricky is a former actor, with credits including Army of Darkness and Babylon 5, but he now specialises in voice acting and animation!

When I first heard Ricky’s VO and specifically his interpretation of Meknok, I had to look over my shoulder just to make sure the Muse wasn’t standing behind me! It was simply that good!

Originally the entire VO was well over five minutes and I found I had to create quick charcoal illustrations just to fill in the gaps, but with Ricky’s sound advice and sound effects, we managed to trim it back to little over three minutes.

The final result, I think you’ll agree is just superb and already I’m pondering how to present my art and writing in this format again in the future. Let me know what you think!

You can find out more about Ricky HERE