The Lives of Christopher Chant

Oil on illustration board. Text added digitally. Border artwork by Alejo Porras, Vivian’s husband.

Diana Wynne Jones’s fantasy classic was calling out for a classic oil painted cover.

This book is an oldie but a goodie. It has the perfect combination of world building, originality, witty humor, unpredictability, and unforgettable characters. A boy named Christopher Chant travels in his dreams. As he gets older, he starts to realize that his dream worlds are, in fact, real places, and his extraordinarily rare gift of being able to travel brings the attention of powerful enchanters - good and evil.

I was inspired to do this cover because, as a person who regularly judges books by their covers, I felt that the story was not really shining through with most of the covers I’ve seen for this book. The very worn paperback edition I own has an image of a grumpy orange cat on it, and, despite how much I’ve come to love it just because of my love for the stories, I admit that it took me some time to actually read the book after I’d first received it, believing it to be about a magic cat (not to hate on magical cats, but I was more into human-centric stories). By putting the main character on the cover and giving at least a glimpse into his universe, I hope to draw readers in.

My husband remarked that Christopher looked “a bit standoffish” in my artwork, but that’s the point - from a very young age, he is pushed around, manipulated, and controlled by those who would take advantage of his youth and his gifts. He’s looking toward the left side of the artwork, where Chrestomanci Castle looms in the distance. He’s carrying a safely secured bottle, from a scene in which he transports dangerous goods from another world, and he’s wearing a nice Norfolk jacket gifted to him by his seedy uncle. Other characters and scenes from his travels appear in the background, including the mermaid in the lower right and a girl with a cat just above it; both of those scenes have their own interior illustrations, so do check those out while you’re here.

While doing the finishing touches on the oil painting, my husband, Alejo Porras, drew the border for me with ink. He has a great traditional inking style that added the epic fantasy flair the cover needed. Using Photoshop, I added his border and then the text.

See the interior illustrations for the same book!