Jonathan Burton

The making of A Game of Thrones

Few series loom larger in popular culture than George R. R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire, perhaps best-known for its first book, A Game of Thrones. Already a massive publishing success story long before the TV show, it’s rightly lauded for its uncompromising overturning of fantasy tropes, and its multiple and deep historical influences – along with, of course, its sheer storytelling bravado.

It’s the kind of ‘epic and demanding’ project that British illustrator Jonathan Burton relishes, with multiple characters and storylines tackling the biggest of subjects: power, love, war, hate, religion, revenge and betrayal. ‘As an illustrator, I’m constantly in search of projects that are completely involving, that I can put my heart into,’ he says. ‘The A Song of Ice and Fire series as a prospect is impossible to say no to, and the fact that it’s out of my comfort zone is what made it exciting for me.’

Burton is, of course, no stranger to challenging projects. His past work includes film posters from ET to Rear Window, commissions for some of the world’s best-known publications, including Time, The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal, and clients including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the BBC. Then, of course, there are his past collaborations with Folio – which, for an illustrator known for his filmic style, may come as a surprise.

The making of A Game of Thrones

‘The variety of titles I’ve illustrated with Folio has given me very welcome challenges,’ says Burton. ‘I love to evoke different periods in my work and treat different projects as an exercise in style. So, going from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four to Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, for example – worlds that couldn’t be further removed from A Game of Thrones – was refreshing.’

The new Folio edition of A Game of Thrones bursts with action, big set pieces and shocking, dramatic moments. However, Burton was clear that he didn’t want to reference the TV show, which, luckily, had passed him by. ‘I saw the first season years ago but my lack of knowledge of the TV show isn’t a bad thing! ‘I’m reimagining the books and I don’t want to be too influenced by an alternative interpretation – even when it happens to be a massive cultural phenomenon! Once I chose my scenes, George R. R. Martin’s art director gave me pointers as to what to avoid if something has been shown in a certain way already, or indeed if I needed to stick more to the book and not how the TV series showed a scene.’

Having family and friends who are A Game of Thrones obsessives was also a big help. ‘It was great to talk about the books with them and think about casting characters from who we know. Reference material has been vital in my approach and, fortunately, I have friends and family more than willing to pose. My nephew is a perfect Joffrey, my daughter as Arya. I’m Littlefinger, who isn’t the most noble character, but then I’m not really built to play Shagga …’

The Making of A Game of Thrones

Choosing scenes was ‘a bit of a battle’, Burton admits – appropriately for a book charting the War of the Five Kings. ‘I do have a system, though, which helps, and involves doing a scene breakdown that I can refer to. Because the illustrations needed to be pretty much equally spaced within the books, I can see where something is needed and I can shape it out accordingly. Choices include what I desperately want to draw and what the story calls for, then I try to include a range of characters and settings. There’s no perfect system, though, and instinct plays a big part. He found a great well of inspiration and information, too, from the thousands of fans online, whose pages methodically list character and castle descriptions, and were a constant source of reference. However, just names and dates are not enough: Burton still had to research his interpretation of characters, costumes and settings. ‘Countless files of armour, castles, how cloaks flap in the wind, how snow looks in different lighting, which horse goes with which character and so on!’ Burton created sketches in which to direct the cast of models that he would photograph playing the chosen characters. His final drawings are in pencil on moleskin paper, which he then scans and colours in Photoshop. The covers were the first thing he drew, and they went through many phases. ‘At first, I was thinking of a character on each binding, with Eddard in particular. It was all looking a bit King Arthur, if I’m honest, and maybe too “tasteful”.

The Making of Game of Thrones

Discussions with Sheri Gee, the art director at Folio, helped to shape the tone, especially of the dark and foreboding covers. ‘The ‘houses’ and their emblems were a great way to explore a symbolic approach, with violent imagery getting to the heart of the conflicts. Initially, I felt I hadn’t quite got a grip on the tone, but there was a point where something clicked, where going towards a dark and strange horror inflection felt right. At this point, my drawing changed too, and became more impulsive, with rougher mark-making that had an energy more suited to those moments.’

The bindings, Burton says, are his favourite things, particularly the way the metallics have worked with the tonal printing. ‘The nice thing about A Game of Thrones covers is that we’ve mixed print and blocking together on two different cloths, a first for me. Probably the most difficult illustration was the battle scene – I wanted it to look chaotic, but the action has to be readable. It turned into a real puzzle trying to make everything fit. But I’m happy with how the sense of movement turned out against the resistance of the soldiers behind the shields in “hedgehog” formation.’

The Making of A Game of Thrones

Burton is proud of the finished product and says it’s some of the most striking work he’s ever done. He’s received the ultimate seal of approval from Martin himself, who declared the books ‘masterpieces of the bookmaker’s art, lavishly illustrated by Jonathan Burton. Book collectors and fantasy fans alike are going to delight in these volumes … I know I will.’

Burton hopes that fans will enjoy a new way of looking at the story, and that the dark and ominous tone of the illustrations gives them the chills. ‘The best thing about working with Folio is that they give me a huge amount of liberty to create. It’s a gift to an illustrator to have someone believe in them enough to let them go wild. And then when the project is complete, their detailed attention to production creates not just a book, but a beautiful object that people keep all their lives.’