A cover story feature Illustration for History Extra Magazine "The Plague sat like a King on the throne" The Black Death is infamous for ravaging the population of Europe-yet it was most lethal in the Muslim world, leaving such a trail of devastation that bodies were left rotting in the streets. Thomas Asbridge investigates why plague took such a heavy toll in the Near East" This feature was really dark, and I knew that I wanted to work with figures in the streets to anthropomorphise a ruthless, devastating King. Once I had this idea in the sketchbook I kept coming back and working on the composition to get it where it needed to be for a double page spread. The idea of The Black Death comprising of all three forms of plague, and the fact it was air borne just kept pushing me to finalise this character as something at once there to be seen, and not there at all. Spot Illustrations below.

Art Director, Susanne Frank