Below are some images from Gather Around the Fire, a collection of Southern African folk tales from Ravi Gupta, published by Pen Press. I created illustrations for 15 tales, each from a different country, and used the colours of the country’s flag as a palette to reinforce the cultural identity of each story. Also, while I was watching the extra features on Monster House (the image of Kathleen Turner stomping around on all fours in a motion-capture suit will stay with me) I decided to draw some monster hats.