Brian Pilkington has drawn Iceland’s trolls for 50 years

British illustrator Brian Pilkington has spent half a century creating a distinctive world of trolls, people and Christmas figures, mbl.is reports. His drawings bring trolls of all shapes and sizes, hidden people, Grýla, Leppalúði and the vicious Christmas Cat to life, while people and animals sometimes appear as well.

Pilkington has lived in Iceland for 50 years and made his living from illustration. He says the work is so enjoyable that it does not feel like work. His latest book, Icelandic Troll Children, was recently published, but he has no plans to stop working.

“Why should I stop working when work is also my main hobby?” he says.

Pilkington was 26 when he first came to Iceland in 1976. At the time, he was working at a job in Southport, near Liverpool, after studying illustration for three years in Leicester and working as an apprentice in Liverpool for five years.

After graduating, he struggled to find work in his field. In Southport, he worked for a local newspaper, drawing garden sheds and shoes for the paper.

“It was very simple and boring, and not at all what I had studied,” he says.

A friend of his had an Icelandic girlfriend and was planning to visit her in Iceland. Pilkington decided to come along and stay for a month.

“I had a wonderful time. Reykjavík was, of course, a completely different city from today. There were no bars or cafés, but there were entertainment venues such as Hotel Borg and Klúbburinn, which was the largest entertainment venue in Europe, with five floors,” he says.

He then decided to see whether he could find work in the capital. Carrying his portfolio, he called on Argus, an advertising agency.

“I showed them my drawings and they said I could start immediately,” he says.

At the time, the agency was working on a major project featuring actors Bessi Bjarnason and Árni Tryggvason in television advertisements for the University of Iceland Lottery. The two played homeless men with huge dreams of becoming rich.

Pilkington was hired to draw a large colour poster for the campaign.

“It was a fantastic project after drawing shoes and sheds,” he says.

He worked at Argus for just over three years before being offered the chance to illustrate Guðrún Helgadóttir’s book A Love Story in the Mountains.

“That was when I started working freelance, and I have done so ever since. The book was beautiful and the story was wonderful. It was incredible to receive that project. It was my first assignment of that kind,” he says.

The book sold out and was reprinted twice. It was later sold to numerous countries and became highly popular.

“Since that went well, I decided to continue along the same path. Fifty years have now passed, and I am still here on holiday!” he says with a laugh.

Pilkington works from a studio in his home, above the garage.