'Ed Sheeran: A Visual Journey' is due to be released on October 9 in the UK and November 18 in the U.S., and the book's illustrator has spoken to MTV News about what it was like to work on the exciting project. 

Artist Phillip Butah and Ed Sheeran have been friends since “back in the day" and he explained that the image he drew for the cover, which is a sketch of the singer-songwriter standing alone with his tattooed arms exposed, is a great representation of where he is today:

"It’s just where he is right now. He’s just the same guy, but a lot’s changed — just growth. It’s always easy for me. You kind of get to recognize people’s faces. There are probably parts of people’s faces that they don’t even pay attention, which sounds a bit weird, but you really get to know someone’s face.”

Butah went onto add that the artistic collaboration happened 'naturally' and he's happy with how it all turned out:

"It wasn’t formal or anything. [It happened] very naturally, it wasn’t like, ‘We’re going to start working together.’ This is kind of the biggest thing I’ve done so far. I am [proud], but I don’t see it that way. You kind of like detach yourself from it. I think it’ll become real when I see it.”

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Watch Sheeran's new video for 'Thinking Out Loud' here: