The fantasy artwork of Ian Miller

Ian Miller’s images have adorned book covers by genre greats such as Lovecraft, Philip K Dick and William Gibson. Here the master of the macabre talks us through some choice images from his backlist

Buy The Art of Ian Miller at the Guardian bookshop

• SlNikki Hatchett

• theguardian.com, Monday 3 March 2014 16.28 GMT

Snake in the grass, 1972 (ink wash and paper). One of several development images for a series entitled Snake Woman. By permission: Ian Miller

The Ballad of Edgeworth, early 1970s (Ink and watercolour on illustration board). This is panel two from a series of six. The story was set in a nursery rhyme world stalked by shadows and cannibals. By permission: Ian Miller

Erfberg, 2011 (Dip pen-ink and watercolour on paper). This is just the one from a plethora of castle and cityscape images. For some reason I can't stop drawing either. It started with a drawing I did of Gormenghast back in the seventies. Six versions on and several 'After Gormenghasts', I'm still hooked . M John Harrison's book Viriconium only enforced this obsession. By permission: Ian Miller

Tarot card: The Tower, 2008 (B/w pen and ink on illustration board). I thought it might be interesting to create a set of Tarot cards. I drew eight or nine of them, then abandoned the project. It happens. By permission: Ian Miller

Section / Arkham, 1990s, from the HP Lovecraft story (pen-brush, ink and watercolour on illustration board). A private commission for a patron in the USA. The brief: "Draw a picture of Arkham." Working from Lovecraft's written descriptions, I created a cityscape. By permission: Ian Miller

Green Ents, 2010 (pen, ink and watercolour on illustration board). This was a private commission for a patron in the USA. The brief: "Anything with Ents in." Back in the late 70s I contributed images to a book called A Tolkien Bestiary by David Day, and it was then I made my first stab at drawing walking trees. Strange to say, I've never stopped drawing them. By permission: Ian Miller

Chaos tree, 1980s (Ink dip pen/crow nib and rotting technical pen on paper). This image was created for Games Workshop and featured in the volume Realms of Chaos. I was in no way constrained in how I chose to interpret the subject matter. For some reason, my style of drawing fitted in well with the Realms of Chaos World. By permission: Ian Miller

11:30 approx, 2013 (ink and pencil on illustration board). This is an ongoing theme and spin off, from a commission for a patron in the USA .The brief then was "Something musical with lots of whimsy, and nothing sharp or nasty." By permission: Ian Miller

Dragon circle motif, 1990s (coloured ink-rotting technical pens on illustration board). I think the pattern-making process involved in the creation of this image was the most interesting aspect of the work. The dragon provides the perfect coat hanger for any pattern maker. This was loosely based on Smaug the dragon from The Hobbit. By permission: Ian Miller

Descent into the Maelstrom, based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe (ink on illustration board dip and technical pen). This is a section from one of four large b/w interlocking panels for a multimedia project involving a filmmaker and weaver. I was asked to illustrate Poe's story and I chose to do so in a series of large b/w panels. I had intended doing six of these, perhaps more, to capture the magnitude of the great whirlpool, but for reasons beyond my ken, the project foundered part way through. Both the film and weaving aspects of the project were absolutely fascinating: it's a real shame it never got finished. By permission: Ian Miller