Artwork by a Malvern illustrator is due to hit the shelves in comic shops in Britain and America on Wednesday (April 13).

Comic book-style work by James McKelvie, 24, features in Four-Letter Worlds, an anthology of work from several writers and artists, mainly from America.

James has illustrated Loss, a story by American writer and close friend, Amber Benson.

"The anthology is based on four themes - love, hate, fear and fate. Amber's story is about a guy who's really scared of losing the memory of somebody.

"It's pretty amazing to be working on it, everybody other then me is pretty famous in the world of comics. I've known Amber for about five years, so it's great to be working with her."

His talent was spotted at a comic convention in San Diego last year.

"It's the big event, where all the comic companies get together, so I went over there with samples of my artwork," he said, "Eric Stephen-son, the executive director of Image Comics saw my work and said he wanted to work with me."

The former Chase pupil completes his work at home in Link Top and also works part-time at University College Worcester.

"I do most of the work on the table downstairs, the drawings are done in pen and ink, then I scan them into the computer and send them to the story writer to see if they like them."

Though he already creates a monthly comic strip for PlayStation 2 magazine, he says several other projects are in the pipeline.

"I'm working on a graphic novel called Long Hot Summer, due to come out in July or August, as well as another of my own graphic novels, so I'm pretty busy. I just keep plugging away at it," he said.