Evolution of a Gnome
So… why does Stilton look like that, if he's a gnome? If you picture a gnome, you're probably imagining a little old man. Big beard. Pointy red hat. Basically a tiny Santa Claus. And honestly? That's exactly how Stilton started out. In the very first illustration I did for Ted's poems, that's who he was.
But Stilton was one of those characters I just couldn't leave alone. I kept coming back to him, tweaking things, redrawing him… and every time I did, I felt like something still wasn't quite right.
The strange thing was, the more time I spent with him, the less it felt like I was designing a character. It started to feel more like Stilton already existed, and I was just trying to draw him accurately. Like I hadn't met the real him yet.
One of the things I was thinking about while working on Dungeon Days was how similar fantasy creatures can be if you squint a bit. Elves, goblins, trolls, gnomes, dwarves… they're all basically humanoids, with different ears, noses, and amounts of facial hair. I wanted them to feel instantly recognisable—especially in silhouette. If you look at a cat and a dog, you don't need to check what hat they're wearing to tell them apart.
Gnomes, in mythology, are underground folk. And given Stilton's name… well, that nudged me in a different direction. I started drifting away from the bearded old man idea and experimenting with something a bit more mouse-like instead.
You can see that shift happening in the sketches below.
And then, one day, I drew this.
And that was it. I knew I'd found him. He felt like a newspaper reporter. A travelling gentleman. Someone who loves books and knows where all the quiet corners are. That was Stilton. Thanks for reading a little bit of his story—and for letting me share how he came to be.
We love him very much.
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