OK, so this one is fresh off the presses this time. I seem to keep getting these images in my head that I must get out. I love it! I haven't felt this creative since university...
I generally do quite "let's all hold hands and be joyful" type illos, so I wanted to try something a bit more... melancholy. I thought rain would be an appropriate topic to try that on, so this little bear came to be. poor little guy.
One of the best things about the children's book illustration class I did was that I got to see a few working illustrator's folios. I don't think I've ever seen another artist's folio before! So this was great and made me realise that mine needs some serious updating, and a bit of filling out.
I know one thing art directors like to see is the same character in a few different poses, to show consistency. I like the look of the flamingos I did where the character is playing out on this horizontal line. So in that vein here is a boy and his frog.
Here also is the finished cover for my friend's music book that I started in the last illustration class where we were doing collage (you can see the start of it here). I was a bit worried it was going to be too 'feminine' with all the flowery material (it's just what I had on hand) so I think the painting has solved that. It's not so visible in this scan, but you can still see some of the patterns coming through the paint. So overall I'm pretty happy with it (though I haven't shown it to my friend yet!)
OK, so seeing as I sort of JUST DID "rain" in my dance illo, here is one from a few months ago. This blog doesn't have enough giraffes on it anyway.
This is from when I first started using watercolours at the beginning of the year. Interesting to see the difference in just a few months!
Went to hear UK author/illustrator Anthony Browne speak yesterday. Always so inspiring to hear established illustrators speak. He talked a lot about his process and how ideas for books germinate in his mind and then change and morph as he gets them out. When doing a final illustration, he would have a rough sketch, with the characters properly sketched out to make sure he got them right, but everything else he leaves to develop as he is painting. Very courageous! I'm not sure if I would be comfortable doing that personally. Whenever I stray from my rough sketch while doing finals, it usually ends up in disaster. So always interesting to see how other people work.
I had asked him a question during the question time as to whether he uses reference when he draws, or if it is all from his head. The response was that he uses reference for the characters as he wants them to be very "real" but the rest of it all make-believe. It does have this very other-worldly feel to it.
He has a lot of hidden things in his work, and especially in the book I bought from him (and got signed) Into the Forest. It has amazing detail and a very interesting and masterful use of colour. When I got it signed he said to me "so.... are you a.... student?" "aspiring illustrator," I replied. "Yes, I thought so." he said. I wonder why he thought that? because of my question? (most of the questions were from kids and along the lines of "how do you paint your pictures?" and "how many of your books have monkeys in them?") Because of the way I was dressed? (I was wearing my polka dot coat and was dressed a bit 'funky' if I do say so myself) I don't know. But I liked it. :-)
Unfortunately after having waited in line for 20 minutes to get the book signed, I was running late to get back to work (i took a long unauthorised lunch break!) i was hoping to have time to sit with my friend Jo, but instead had to grab a sandwich on the run, and chat with her on the way to the train station. So I have just said goodbye to her, am crossing the road to Flinders St station, watching traffic, eating my sandwich, and digging in my purse for my train ticket all at the same time. And then... whoops! Who put that curb there?? BIG face plant right in the middle of the sidewalk. My sandwich goes flying, my knee skinned and pants ripped, my ego severely bruised. sigh.... and it was a good sandwich too!!
Looking at other I-Fers posts, I got inspired by a few people who did a series of small dance poses, looking almost like frames of a movie or animation. And I wanted to do one too! This funky flamingo got in my head and wouldn't get out until I let him dance :-)
gouache and coloured pencil on paper
Finally finished my niece's birthday present (see beginnings here) but not without a bit of bewilderment, foot stomping, and yes, admittedly, cursing. This was my first attempt at using masking fluid (I can hear the collective groan). Although I love the effects - it is so exciting to peel back that weird stuff to reveal the pristine white paper beneath it - it is a pain in the %$!!! to apply. My problem is I don't paint fast enough, so it starts drying on the brush before I can finish and then creates this goopy mess which is too hard to paint with. Luckily I found out that turpentine dissolves it completely which is great, cause I thought I was sending that brush to the bin, but I'm not sure how I'll get around having to turp it out multiple times per painting! Any tips from fluid gurus out there?
So anyway, here is attempt #1. I was trying to use gouache how it is 'supposed' to be used (I tend to use it more like watercolours) - but apparently it's good for creating flat, even colour. It is for a baby's room after all so I wanted it to be simple shapes and bright colours. But I'm not very good at doing the flat colour thing. I also did the koala and platy too dark. And then added my 'normal' ink lines on top for the kookaburra but it is too dark for this. so. take 1.
Take 2 I got the colours right, still not completely flat, but I'm happy enough. I used coloured pencil for the linework, and I think it works a lot better for this piece.
So, this will be off to the framers. I think I'll actually be able to mail this on time for once! I hope they like it...
Well today was my last children's book illustration class. You can see my posts about the previous classes here:
Childrens book illustration class #1
CBI class - storyboards
CBI class #2
CBI class #3
CBI class #4
Today we did collage which was quite fun and very messy! I was working on a cover for a music book I am doing for a friend. Here's what I got done in an hour or so:
It's for a 'handbook' so this was the best I could come up with ;-) I think I'm going to print out some of his music to collage into the hand part and then probably paint over it a little bit. I'll post it when it's done.
Overall the Illustration class was okay. I guess it depends what your expectations are to begin with. It was good to learn some techniques and try new things (which, I'm all about trying new things at the moment so this was very good for me) but I think that could have been done in say 2 classes instead of 4. I'm happy to learn about the technique in class and then do it at home. I don't need to do and hour of collage in class! Anyway, speaking of expectations, what I was really looking for was how to construct a book. Book composition, the pace of the story, how, as the butterfly collector commented somewhere on my blog, how to run pages one into the other. What? I didn't learn that!?
But I still enjoyed it, am glad I did it, made some friends and it's good to know Lorette now. She was very sweet and said to email her if we ever have any questions.... i just might take her up on that someday!
I'm very excited to be a member of the fledgling Creative Cup - an online critique group started up by Stacia. So far it is Stacia, me, Holly and Katzdontbark. We are still looking for a few more members to round it out so if you're interested, get in touch!
And, as I posted on the I-F forums, I'm also interested in setting up a 'live' critique group in Melbourne (Australia) so if you're a Melbournian and are interested, definitely give me a buzz. Since illustrating is fairly isolating by nature, getting feedback from other artists is really valuable in my opinion. I'm also hoping it could be a bit of a social thing too - just to meet and chat with people who speak the same language would be great!!
Cheers!
I've wanted to try adding some more detail/texture to my illos with black line, but wasn't quite sure how to do it - UNTIL I was inspired by some painting/graffiti in an alleyway in downtown melbourne this weekend, after my children's book illustration class. I'm pretty happy with this experiment. I hope you like it!
This next to last children's book illustration class wasn't anything to write home about for me, as it was about watercolours, which I have been experimenting with for the last 6 months. We had yet another teacher this time, as Lorette was sick with gastro. The teacher (on one hour's notice) this time was Judith Rossell.
The best part of the class for me was talking with her about illustration in general, looking at some of her books (sorry, couldn't find any good links to them, but my favourite of hers is called "Harriet and the fox") and talking about different techniques. I really want to create more texture in my gouache paintings, and asked her advice. She suggested underpainting with some acrylic gouache which is more permanent than normal gouache, and then painting over it. She seems to really like coloured pencil on top of gouache as well, and showed me some cool paintings of hers where she painted on pages of a book, so that some of the text shows through. I thought that looked really cool, so I may have to find some 50 cent (not fitty cent!) paperbacks to try that out on. It's all about experimentation.
We also watched this video from Dromkeen of a few illustrators doing their craft. One was Sally Rippin, who I love. There's one of her books, When it is time, which I have been trying to hunt down. She studied some painting in China, and it just lends such a lovely feeling to her artwork. I was dreaming about it all night...
Forgot to upload this one with my first post: A portrait of Lenny Kravitz I did a few years ago (when he still had dreads)!
Pencil on paper
A few lil B&W paintings about a tree growing up. Some quick samples for a job i'm bidding on but don't expect to get! (but still have a tiny grain of hope hidden away in a little box painted bright red, stored in the corner of the closet on the top shelf where I'll forget about it very soon...)
I redid some of my storyboards before this class, and am a lot happier with them. They are a lot more active, and we see the character's face more which I think is a good thing. You can see my previous attempts here.
I haven't included the next to last spread as it didn't change and also need to redo the last illo - haven't been able to find the right perspective yet so I'm still working on that one.
In this class, we focused on black and white and painting with inks. This was great, I had a lot of fun. We experimented with salt, masking fluid, and also with brush-drawing, as Meredith calls it. Oh yeah, the regular teacher wasn't able to be there so another illustrator, Meredith Thomas filled in. She's done a lot of educational readers in a very loose fun watercolour style which is pretty much what we focused on, but she also does amazing paper sculpture beyond belief. She made up a quick paper turtle for us and gave us the template to do at home. Very cute!
Anyway, back to pen and ink - it's funny cause I was a bit early for the class and went into this store called Made In Japan which has absolutely drool-on-your-boots furniture and other japanesey ephemera. I was lusting after this japanese calligraphy book (always wanted to take a japanese painting class but I figure i have enough on at the moment) - and then I get to my class and we are doing very similar things! I think i will try this for the linework in my illos. i haven't been happy with the different pens i've been trying. a regular old kids marker has given me the best results, and it is drying out fast! I think this might work well to give me a nice thick, but variable line, and I can still use pens for details if needed.
So here is my little dabble with brush-drawing (spread 3 from my storyboards):
I know everyone and their dog has done a version of the Tree of Life, but it is one I love and enjoy doing over and over. This one was done with gouache and ink on paper. It is inspired by Shaun Tan's The Red Tree but also by the japansese maple in my backyard which has turned lovely shades of orange and deep red. I couldn't wait to get home tonight to finish it up! I'm pretty happy with it, though I think I would do the details of the tree with a finer pen next time.
Below is one I did a few years ago with coloured pencils on black paper.
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