It wasn’t until the 1940’s that Mervyn Peake’s Illustrative skills were becoming more sort after, and he received many commissions for publications such as Ride a cock-horse and other Nursery Rhymes (1940), The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Chatto & Windus, 1943), The Craft of the Lead Pencil (1946), Alice in Wonderland (The Continental Book Company, 1946), Grimm’s Household Tales (Erye & Spottiswoode, 1946), Letters from a Lost Uncle (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1948) and Treasure Island (Erye & Spottiswoode, 1949).

He gathered inspiration from various sources, looking at artists such as Hogarth, George Cruikshank, Durer, Blake, Gustave Dore and Goya.(5) His social influences came from what he observed in the world around him. His years in China and the stark contrasts within the social hierarchy continually featured in his work. 

There are similarities between Peake and Cruikshank; in the mark-making used, the dashes of line, and the variety of spacing between marks to produce the depth and shadow of each scene. One of Mervyn Peake’s favourite writers was Charles Dickens, and it is likely that he first saw Cruikshank’s illustrations accompanying a Dickens’s novel.

Peake shares Francisco De Goya’s talent for the macabre.  In the examples shown, one can see the essence of distortion in each of the subjects, exaggerating their human characteristics and giving them dark animation.

‘Peakes figures are warmblooded creatures, personalities infused with feeling and humour- sardonic, satiric or ironic, they express his love and appreciation of human imperfection.’- Peter Winnington (6)

Peake explored a number of different mediums, such as pen, pencil, watercolour and oils; what is consistent in his works are the quality of line and the ability to create volume and space with little means.