I Heart Picture Books

Matthew Forsythe

2012-02-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

Do you know who Matthew Forsythe is? You do?! YAY! Isn't he great!? You love his wordless comic Ojingogo? I do toooo!

You don't know who he is and you like comics? Well, then you have been doing yourself a huge disservice.

Please read the following post if you fall into either established category above:

When I picked up Matthew's book Ojingogo some years back now I loved it immediately. It approaches story telling and the usual notions of story telling through pictures in a very fresh and unusual way. In fact I am pretty sure that in terms of the way that the story was structured I had never seen anything like it. While there is no just one 'rule' in terms of layout per spread they are all seemingly easy on the eye in order to make way for a refreshingly complex story. I love the book because you actually need to use your noggin for a change and don't have the whole story spelled out for you piece by piece. How nice! So yes, Ojingogo, very cool, go check it out at your local comics books shop!

He has also just released a follow up for this book by the name of Jinchalo. I have not seen it yet and just put in a request at Lucky's Comics for it. Excited!!!

The book I really wanted to talk about though was his also newer book "Comics Class" which I bought around Christmas time (and was actually recommended to me by Gabe the super cool owner of Lucky's- Thanks buddy) It's quite hilarious while addressing some very real problems that teachers of comics and visual story telling (and students) may encounter in a class on the subject. As it says on the back of the book's cover, it's "Kind of based on a real class! ...But mostly untrue!" Ha ha. Forsythe of course also passes on some wisdom, including one of the most important things to consider when it comes to comics, picture books of any kind and illustration in general. The relationship between text and image. The concept of "Dialectial opposition between panels' ... or-Image and text don't say the same thing..." As Forsythe puts it. Super quick, fun and clever read and hey, it's only 5$! How can you go wrong?

On a last note, I recently saw that he has also illustrated a Children's Picture book called' My name is Elizabeth!' Yikes! Two books by someone totally amazing that I haven't even checked out yet. Better get on that Cinar!

Brain Picking's Picks

2012-02-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

I came across this post a while ago and thought it would be just plain silly of me not to post a link to it here. It's Maria Popova's (aka Brain Pickings) list of the '11 Best Illustrated Children's and Picture books of 2011'

I have not yet watched the featured posted interview clip with Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer who created the awesome 'The Phantom Tollbooth' but I am sure PLANNIN ON IT! And so should you!

Just this for now

2012-02-07T18:06:00.000-08:00

Soon I will start teaching again and so very very soon I will be able to give this blog it's needed attention again. For now I like to keep my life a bit split up as it is. Run my business Draw Me A Lion for two months full time, then teach for two months and have the business take a backseat.

So starting later this week there will finally be regular posts again (at least for the next two months) and I will also update and add links of interest, including some of my fabulous and talented students!

I found this image here via a link from a blog which I truly love. That of the Vancouver Locals' Banquet Atelier. Click here for the original entry. Their whole blog is amazing, but these photos they found really made me think.

WildWood

2012-01-28T23:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I have taken long enough of a break from this blog of mine that I love. But in order to keep loving it, I sometimes must abandon it and then come back, fresh. And so now, it is once again time to write something about a book who's illustrations I love.

From time to time when the owner is out of town and all the other employees don't feel like working, I get the chance to work at this little gem of a comic book shop we have here in Vancouver. I'm the 'holiday help' so to speak. It's called "Lucky's Comics", but really it should be called "Lucky's Books", because there are many great books, half of which aren't comics at all. Every time I get to be the 'holiday help' I leave with a heap of books and this time- it was just before Christmas- I picked up a book by the title of WildWood.

The cover of the book was enough to draw me in but I have to say that the whole story itself was really pretty great and somehow reminded me of books I used to read when I was little, and that's a very good thing in my book. No pun intended. Just by picking it up and leaving through it you can tell that the whole thing is a labor of love. The design is perfect from the beautiful cover and endpaper map illustrations by Carson Ellis to the actual paper used for the pages and the way they are left uncut. There is something about a book that is so beautiful and so well made that let's you know almost immediately that there is pretty much no way the writing is going to disappoint you. If the book was just so so this kind of effort and attention to the overall book would be very unlikely.

The story is a modern fairly tale that start of pretty light hearted and then gets surprisingly darker and darker. The story is illustrated by Carson Ellis (illustrator of all the Decemberists flyers, etc) and written by her husband who also happens to be the lead singer of said band The Decemberists. I would have liked this book a lot already but there is something so so special about the fact that they made it together. That part of it is the part that makes it perfect. It's already really great, but add the husband and wife aspect and I almost wanna puke it's so cute. (But I don't puke and just totally love it) Yay for cool people making stuff together!

Ok. bla bla bla when are you going to talk about the illustration more Lisa?

Well, I think that the reason this book reminds me of the books of my childhood is that a) it's overall good craftsman ship and writing, b) it's a good story and c) the illustrations are perfect for the text and the book as a whole. They help draw you in, and piece together this magical forest that the story takes place in. But they don't take OVER your imagination. They are simple enough to leave you imagine and detailed enough to help you along. It's hard to put a finger on exactly how but they do. It's something that's hard for an illustration to do. Perhaps they do this most by immediately emitting a certain kind of mood. They seem to say, " You're inside of a world of magic and it can be very beautiful, but be careful, it can also be very very dangerous".

If you're interested in illustrated books (not picture books/ they are different) I really suggest picking this one up. Ellis employs various different illustration techniques, throughout the book. Some are black and white only, a few are full colour, some are drawn to resemble old scissor cuts and some are mere line drawings to grace the beginnings of chapters and foreshadow of what might come. The effect is a varied and yet cohesive look and feel of the book.

In closing I just wanted to say that never before have I read a book where every once in a while I felt as though I was already watching the movie for it. It is written very much like a movie and though sometimes this can be a not so good thing when reading in my opinion, in this case it was really pretty cool. The only trouble I guess would be if they were to make a movie out of it(and I'm preeety sure they will) since I feel as though I have already seen it. Unless they would let Carson Ellis animate it with a team. That would be amazing!!!

Last but not least. Here are some pics from the book and some that did not make it into the book too.

Here is a really great blog post on Carson in her studio. Jealous much? ;)

Pic cred from above. Got the first pic from Lay-Luh's photostream on flickr. thx!

DRAW ME A LION! The Shop Has Launched!

2012-01-04T13:13:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year of 2012 to you all! So crazy that another year has gone by.

Of course I know that I have somewhat neglected this blog, but it was not due to laziness my friends. No nooo! It was in fact the opposite!

I have been busy for the past few months working away on a project of mine and then in the last months of 2012 it was finished..., or rather, it was started!

In November I opened up an online shop called Draw Me A Lion! There are currently 9 items in the line I created. They are all dreamed up, illustrated, designed and put together by myself. The shop sells limited edition prints, colouring posters, postcards, cards and a "Story Activity Kit" that I'm especially proud of. There is a very strong connection between my love for Children's books and the items I've created. And while for the sake of specificity the shop is advertised as for Children, all items are really for anyone who appreciates imaginative art, colouring and cute cards.

I was recently asked to write a guest blog post for the local blog vancouver mom on the subject of "Instilling a lifelong love of the arts" in children. I like how the article came out and I think it really gives a good insight into why I created Draw Me A Lion. Check it out if you like.

One last thing.

Draw Me A Lion has just launched a couple of months ago. The shop and me need your help to grow and to succeed. Please take a minute to click the like button on the Draw Me A Lion Facebook page if you can. If you do it soon you might even win a prize because to welcome the new year I'm giving away three items to the 112th person to like the page. Please help me spread the word and win some pretty sweet things! Pass it on?

My Vintage Avenue

2011-11-26T21:37:00.000-08:00

Just found this cool blog My Vintage Avenue. I was lucky enough to stick my face into twitter for a second and grab this little gem that illustrator Ward Jenkins tweeted. Sweet Tweet!

Check it out!

Lisa Cinar Interview :)

2011-11-21T23:06:00.000-08:00

Yes, so basically... this is an interview with ...me:)

Phil Johnston who took my class last summer wanted to interview me for a personal project of his and I was lucky enough to get him to send me this really well edited video of it that he made. I had forgotten about it for a while but now I found it again and even though I am of course a huge nerd in it, I do think that it came out quite interesting. A lot of that is of course Phil's doing, because if he didn't put those cuts where they are, it would just be me rambling on for hours and hours.... ;)

Also, I'd like to mention that the drawings you see me doing in the video are part of my 'character development exercise' where the point is to draw as many different characters in as little time as possible, so don't judge;)

Julie Morstad Book Launch

2011-10-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Book Launch

You are invited to join us for the launch of this fantastic new book by Sara O'Leary, illustrated by Julie Morstad!

Monday November 7, 2011 • 7pm

Christianne's Lyceum of Literature and Art

3696 West 8th Avenue on the corner of Alma Street

Proclamation!

2011-10-29T21:41:00.001-07:00

Yes!!!

The colours of Marcel Dzama

2011-10-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

Last week I asked my students in one of the classes I teach to make their own drawing tool, or to create their own colours. In other words, create something that will give you a line, or a colour not just everyone can buy by walking into an art supply store. The lines you use in your work, the patterns you make and the colours you choose can become part of the thing that will eventually become our 'style' as visual artists. I remember while still in school myself loving the work of Marcel Dzama and seeing all of his shows with the Royal Artlodge Collective here in Vancouver at the beautiful and now gone Atelier Gallery. I remember writing a paper on his work and being thrilled when I found out he added Root Beer to his colour to create the consistent braun/green tones in his work. I wondered how the galleries representing him felt about this since it would definitely affect the longevity of his work, and which made me like him even more.

So here is some of his work. Notice the importance colour plays here in the overall style of work.

Here are some blog posts regarding a newer show of his at the David Zwirner Gallery in N.Y.

Fall is in full swing

2011-10-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

Here is something that I found online by my favorite Marc Boutavant. Reminded me of when I was walking in the park earlier on. Fall is happening again. Tick Tock, tick tock....

Mary Blair 100th Birthday!

2011-10-20T23:55:00.000-07:00

Yay! Google gave Mary Blair props today by including her in the Google icon with links. Cool! It's crazy that this woman was born 100 years ago already. Time flies! I had kind of forgotten all about her and I'm glad that I was kindly reminded of her work by the Googlers. Thanks! :)

Check out her work, cuz it's awesome!

Magic of Mary Blair site

Japanese exhibition on her work

Magic Jelly Blog entry on her

3x3 Illustrator income Survey

2011-10-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

For any of you who are seriously interested of pursuing being an illustrator... I recommend checking out this really well designed and actually fun to read survey done by 3x3 Magazine. I just downloaded mine for only 5$ and it's definitely worth it! You can also buy a hard copy of it for more money, but why waste paper and spend more, if this is really all you need? Recommended!

Studio visits on Drawger

2011-10-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

Image from Rob Dunlavey's studio tour on Drawger.

Here are some really great posts on various illustrators studios on Drawger. My favorite are Rob Dunlavey, Chris Buzelli, and Paul Rogers. But really they're all great. It's always inspiring to see the places where ideas are had and amazing work is created. Each space is so unique and yet they are all so similar. Having a place you feel comfortable and inspired in is a big part of doing good work I think. Mind you it does not always have to just one place, or even a physical place, for some it is more a state of mind, or a number of places around town where they like to go and sketch and work. Libraries, Coffee shops, parks, friends places, ... but for a lot of us, it will be a rented studio or a designated place in our homes. Figure out what works for you and go with it!

Noah's Ark on the 'Children's Illustration' Blog!

2011-10-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

This is one of the first blogs on illustration I ever looked at. While I don't have nearly as much time these days to check out other blogs anymore, I just had a peep back here and I really loved this entry on the theme of Noah's Ark. It's always so great to see what different artists come up with for the same story, thus making it a different experience each time. Check it out here! On the Children's Illustration blog run by Julie Fortenberry. Great post Julie Thanks! And also... thanks for following this blog! :) I should really start to promote it a bit more.

I just never seem to have the time....ahhhh!

Here is a picture of a cake (!) of the ark. Preeety cool. Found it here.

Reiner Zimnik

2011-09-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

I love it when I find a new illustrator & writer I love that I'd never heard of before and then it turns out that he's from my home country Germany! I stumbled across one of his books 'The Bear and the People' here in Vancouver, or rather on beautiful Mayne Island while camping. I had never been to Mayne Island before this summer and it was greaaaatttt! Of course I had to stick my head into the lovely bookshop there called 'Miners Bay Books'. It was a great little shop with tons of character and a really fantastic selection in all genres I have to say. Their picture book selection was quite unusual. I remember being pleasantly surprised at how many books they had that I'd never seen before. Among them were Maxfield Parrish's unique 'The Knave of Hearts" and Reiner Zimnik's reprint of said book, 'The Bear and the People'. While I didn't buy either of the books because I was camping and wanted to stay light, and probably also because my bookshelf has absolutely no more room on it at this point. :) I did note both books and illustrators, and have thus discovered the many amazing books by Reiner Zimnik.

There is something about pen drawings of German picture books that I can't quite put my finger on, but I can tell when looking at them that the person who did them was from Germany. Does this sound crazy? There is a certain aesthetic of line that seems to happen in a lot of them that I really appreciate. One of these is now the drawings of Reiner Zimnik. Searching around online for more of his work, one thing I couldn't help but notice what his fantastic ability to make interesting work for his book covers. I am in love with the original cover illustration for 'Der Angler/(The fisherman)'. Also note the different versions of his covers through the ages. Enjoy.

Oh, one more thing. I also found that this neat blog, 'The apple and the egg' did a post on one of his books 'The Snow Party', where you can see the entire pages of the inside of the book. Check it out here.

Picture Book Report

2011-09-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled across this great blog here which I had not previously seen.

Of course it's a great exercise if you're looking for a project as an aspiring illustrator to illustrate one of your favorite books (picture books, or novel) yourself! The Picture Book Report has challenged 15 illustrators to do exactly that. Great idea to showcase the whole experiment by compiling it into this neat blog. Do check these out.

One of my favorite illustrators from the project just so happens to be the woman who made the whole thing happen in the first place. Her name is Meg Hunt and her work is fantastic! Do check out her website.

I also really love this illustration (above) for the cover of one of my favorite stories ever... 'The Neverending Story" by German Author Michael Ende. So beautiful.

A Wee Change of Sea...

2011-09-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

It's been coming for a long time, and has really already started a long ways back with posts here and there, but I just want to take the time to let everyone who reads this know that I'm officially getting rid of the 'children's picture book' description of this blog and changing it to the more all encompassing 'picture books' and all related. This is because it has occurred to me from time to time to write something about a graphic novel or comic book, but then realized that the book would not really fit the criteria for the blog. And while my interest in Picture books specifically for children has by no means declined, I can't really ignore the fact that I am also insanely into comics, graphic novels and of course also picture books made specifically with us 'older kids' in mind. So instead of starting yet a separate blog which I really could not do, this one will simply expand in it's content a bit. Hurrah for ... adults. .. :)

Back to school!

2011-09-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hey hey. After a little break from posts, it's back to school and back to posting stuff! This one's for everyone in my class who is wondering where to get the cheap but great calligraphy brushes in chinatown, Vancouver. Here is a picture of the place so you don't miss it. Really close to the Pender street entrance of the Dr. Sun Yat Sen gardens in location.

The shop is called "Chinese Art Crafts" and is located at 72 E. Pender Street. Tell them the woman who buys 20 brushes at a time sent you there. :)

While you're there and since they're so cheap, buy a couple of different sizes and see which ones work best for you. Pay attention to the tip of the brush. Don't get one that does not have a nice pointy tip. Most of them will be fine, but sometimes there's the odd one that's bent out of shape a bit... literally.

Brigitte Findakly & Joann Sfar

2011-08-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

I love the comics of Joann Sfar, which are mostly in french and so when I came across 'L' Ancien Temps' at Renaissance Books in Victoria the other day I had to get it even though I really can't understand a lot of the text itself, since I've only every had a French level 1 class... which I actually took just so I could read another favorite comic of mine only available in french... But I think it's great to get picture books in languages you don't understand sometimes, especially comics so that you can still read them but make up your own story as you do. It can be really fun, and not only that, it makes you pay double attention to things like composition, layout, and of course COLOUR, because all of a sudden you aren't 100% drawn in by the story and those elements don't just vanish more into the background like they usually do.

So as I was 'reading' 'L'Ancien Temps', I noticed for the hundredths time how much I always love the colour of Joan Sfar's work, and how big of a role it plays in his work for me. On the cover of 'L Ancien Temps' it only credits Joann Sfar as the author, but then on the inside of the book it says 'Colour by Brigitte Findakly'.

Hmmm, Brigitte Findakly I thought. Let's check out who does the colour for all the other Joan Sfar books that I love. I knew that someone else coloured for him sometimes, but guess what, pretty much all of them are either coloured by Brigitte Findakly or someone else. Sure Joann Sfar is a total Genius and his work is amazing, but I so think that with work like that the colorists name should be on the cover too. It's such a huge part of it.... but then again, it makes me respect the colourist even more. So vital to the work as a whole and yet so humble. Check out this video here of Brigitte Findakly if you can understand any french... and then, .. if you do... please let me know what she's saying, cause I can really only understand the work 'colour' and 'photoshop' in there. :)

The next post will now have to be more on Joann Sfar himself though. If you don't know him and like comics,... get ready to have your mind blown... and pray that you can speak french.

Here are some images of Sfars work, with colour by Brigitte Findakly who's sense of colour is amazing, dream like and who makes Sfars work look it's very best. Her colour brings a whole new level of composition and feeling to his images. So much depends on it.

Dallas Clayton selfpublished no more

2011-08-10T13:43:00.001-07:00

Dallas Clayton who is the guy behind the self published 'Awesome Book' sensation is self published no longer. Check out this posting here. Now he's published by Harper Collins. Lesson: If you work your butt off and already get a huge following for your stuff on your own your chances of getting picked up by a big publisher are drastically higher!... buuttt....unless he's getting some fantastic royalty percentage on that deal, why Would he want to get published at this point? Probably so he can take a break from constantly touring and promoting his book and getting on with new projects. Cool.

Check out Dallas Claytons site. Poetry, illustration, books and a lot of documentation of his book reading tours. Preeety cool!

More Ludwig Bemelmans

2011-07-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

Family Bemelmans.

This photo is taken at the bar of the Carlyle Hotel in New York. Guess who painted the mural there? Bingo! How much do I want to go there and have at least one drink (they're like 40$ each :))... and sit in this spot here? A lot! There's also a funny story about Bemelmans and his dog going for lunch featured in the same link.

Ludwig Bemelmans

2011-07-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

While at MacLeod's Books a while back, I managed to pick up a copy of Ludwig Bemelman's 'Small Beer' ( as a 'War Time Book' edition/ ie, thinner pages and bigger type?) Here's a photo of the cover and some of the illustrations inside. I started reading some of it but wasn't really finding myself loving it enough to continue to read the whole thing. Having said that, I DO love all of his illustrations in it. I think he is really fantastic at creating these very quick sketch illustrations that look like they just took a second but have such great overall feeling and his sense of composition is amazing. Also I really appreciate his humour that comes through in almost everything he does. It'd be interesting to find something on his process. I will poke around a bit online maybe to see if I can find anything.

What I did find however was this really thorough write up on his life on the Penguin authors site. Of interest: Apparently Bemelman's shot and almost killed a waiter when he was about 16 years old (!) and was then set an ultimatum by his parents of either going to reform school, or immigrating to the USA. He choose the latter and moved to the States. Pretty crazy story huh? I sure didn't know that! He also worked as a waiter for a long time and was in the army. He owned a restaurant at some point too! The next post will be more Bemelmans images by the way.

Walter Trier and "The Veiled Menace" Effect:

2011-07-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

Once a year, or at least every two years, I re-read two books. One of them is 'Das doppelte Lotchen' (The parent trap) and one of them is 'Erich und die Dedektive' (Erich and the Detectives). They were both written by Erich Kaster, a very well known German (in Germany/and other parts of Europe) children's (and also non children's) author.

The stories by Kastner are fantastic, and I will talk more about them at length some other time, I'm sure, but all of his books were illustrated by Walter Trier, and this is who this entry is about.

There is something really special about Walter Trier's work, because while his illustrations are funny and make the book itself a beautiful object to own, he also has this way of drawing characters that are specific, but yet abstract enough so that the viewer can give them more personality themselves. Trier's characters are made of a strange combination of realism, caricature and blank slate. This is noticable especially in the faces. The most important part for us the viewer to be able to relate to the characters themselves. In his illustrations for the Erich Kaster books I am so fond of, it's very noticable that he employs an extreme economy of line when it comes to the faces. Most characters have mere dots for eyes. Two tiny lines on top for eyebrows, a curved line for a nose and another for a mouth. The bare bones. The minimal. Sometimes characters who are not very important in the image or ones who are in the background are missing faces all together, or have parts of them missing. Yet, it does not look as if they are dismembered strange looking characters... we mere realize that they are not central to the story.

The minimal faces we do see, that Are central to the story, are that much more live like to us, because we the viewer are each completing the face in our minds. We are filling in the gaps so to say. In illustration, images that make us the viewer complete an action are referred to as the 'veiled menace'. In order to fall into this category an illustration will have made your mind fill in the gaps, so that in your mind you see a different action than in the original image.

With Trier's faces something very similar happens, but instead of us completing an action, we are completing a character in our minds. In other words, Trier is not 'ruining' the magic of the story for us by showing us exactly what the characters look like. He is still letting us image them, but giving us a few more visual guidelines along with the text. This is I think what make Trier's at first glance perhaps very simple and rough work so perfect for Kastner's stories.

Until recently I knew nothing of Trier's history, and was amazed, but not surprised to find that he was a big fan of toys and puppets. Collecting and making, drawing and including them in his artwork. I also found a really fantastic collection of Covers he did for an anti nazi magazine put out in the 1940's called Lilliput. Check out the link here. Notice that the cover Always includes a guy, a woman and a dog. A fun exercise for an illustrator, no? How many ways could you draw the same concept over and over again?

The Illustrators of Charles Dickens

2011-06-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

While trying to find more about the printing techniques used for early 19th century illustrated books such as Charles Dickens and thus the work of all illustrators who have worked in tandem with his creations, I came across this very interesting site which features a bit of history around each of the long line of these illustrators and their lives.

It makes it very clear that back then writer and illustrator had a very close working relationship which would thus produce great work, unlike the often unfortunate separation of writer and illustrator in today's publishing world.

Of note: Hablot Knight Browne adopted the moniker 'Phiz' that he is so well known for to complement Dicken's 'Boz' and was only hired once Robert Seymour (Dickens former illustrator) committed suicide. Once working together Phiz and Boz developed a great relationship, working together for 23 (!) year, until Phiz illustrated Dickens 'A Tale of Two Cities' which was a more serious story and did not complement his artwork, nor did his artwork complement the story. After this they never worked together again!

Also of note: George Cruikshank, another famous Dickens Illustrator apparently claimed that the plot and many of the characters from Oliver Twist were his idea after Dickens died. Very interesting. Of course this was strongly denied by Dickens friends, but why would this not be true? It is only natural that when two people work together on a project ideas are bound to be exchanged freely and so George Cruikshanks drawings for characters in particularly would have influenced Dickens greatly. It would be interesting to know what their collaborative process was. In other words, did they meet prior to Dickens having finished the story already. Did they bounce ideas off another. How often did Cruikshank usually have to change/alter his illustrations to satisfy Dickens etc...

Andre da Loba

2011-06-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I don't have to write a lot for this because the images themselves are going to say it all. Apparentely you have to live in Portugal to have imaginative, unconventional books published. Hurrah for Portugal, ... Booooo for North America.

Check out his totally mind-blowing website www.andredaloba.com

More on Warja Honegger Lavater

2011-05-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

The super helpful and knowledgeable girl who works at MacLeods Books had told me that the artist had made a whole series of well known Children's stories in the same style. She said that the version of 'Little Red Riding Hood' was the most popular amongst them.

Since I wasn't familiar with Warja Honegger Lavater, I did a bit of pocking around online when I came home and found a very good article here on 'And The Ghosts So Silver'. It features more images of the inside of the 'Little Red Riding Hood' book.

Warja Honegger Lavater

2011-05-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

So the other day I happened to swing by MacLeod's Books that I had just mentioned in my last post, and amongst finding a great little 'Small Beer' by Ludwig Bemelmans and another fantastic little book, I also found the mother of all versions of 'The Ugly Duckling' by Waria Honegger Lavater. When I saw it in the case I was immediately drawn to it because it promised to be an interesting take on the story right away due to it's abstract cover. I asked to take a look and ... Amazing! The artist has developed a visual, symbolic code for the various characters and scenery in the book. There is a guide at in the front of the book that one can use to help reinterpret the story. Fantastic idea. And to make it even better, the accordion style book can be hung from the wall , thus functioning as both book and wall art simultaneously. Some people are just so clever. ... Of course this copy was about 100$, so alas I did not pick it up, however, should you have the cash on hand to do so, you know where to get it. Might really be worth it.

Here is a picture of the cover I took. So unique.

Always buying books...

2011-05-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

I always like to do a shout out to any left over independent bookstores we have. The other day we went on a day trip to New Westminster and I finally got a chance to go to Renaissance Books. It's surprisingly big and there's tons of books in there. Mind you, not occupying every square inch like at McLeod's, one of my favs. Some good finds in the kids book and Art section at Renaissance including these here. Plus an empty vending machine which we were trying to convince the owner to turn into a book vending machine. That would be cool yeah?

The Elegant Cockroach, a Picture Book for Adults, Hurrah!

2011-05-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

I recently made a visit to Collage Collage, one of my favorite places here in Vancouver and while looking for a Bruno Munari book, discovered that they did not only have the new book 'The Elegant Cockroach' published by Uppercase Magazine in stock, but they also currently have a show of the original illustrations from the book up!

For anyone living in Vancouver who is interested in illustration, I highly recommend you check out this show because it is truly amazing and inspiring. It's great to see illustrations that are exactly the same as in the book, made without the use of photoshop. While I am a firm believer in the powers of photoshop it's refreshing to see work that fits the content of the book so perfectly in all aspects, in this case all assembled via our good old hands. Also, I was also totally won over by the use of photocopied frames for the works. So lovely!

The show is up until June 2nd at Collage Collage, so do go check it out and buy the book too, cause it's a little gem!

About the Book itself:

I am super excited about pretty much any well crafted picture book for adults, and there are not that many...YET.

And so it will come as no surprise to you that since this book is in my opinion beautifully written, masterfully illustrated and of interest for many adults who might perhaps usually not gravitate towards a picture book format I couldn't be happier about it and hope that it will open the floodgates for many other publishers to take more chances and take on similar projects. Adults need picture books too, yes they doooo!

Go see the show.

Go buy the book.

Cool antiques from the Netherlands

2011-04-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

So first I came across this cool blog, fedbybirds and then... from there I found this amazing site The Memory of the Netherlands, where you can peruse hundreds of antique children's picture books. Hurrah for finding things... but Booo for not having posted this a million years ago already. Good thing I remembered now though. Enjoy.

Here a few images from a favorite I came across.

Ad-Placements in Children's Picture Books: Or, 'How to NOT Selfpublish!"

2011-04-21T13:05:00.001-07:00

I recently came across an article in 'Small Business in Vancouver Magazine' that was titled 'Children's book authors share selling strategies'. Of course I was very interested. The article talked about several small scale publishers and their strategies when it came to competing with publishing giants as well as the rise of electronic book sales. At the centre of the story was a woman named Tina Powell ( a local Vancouverite no less) who was being praised for her business smarts when it came to self-publishing her picture books. At first I was intrigued, then shocked and then totally disgusted at how her 'business smarts' actually translated into the real world.

"So far, her six books have sold an impressive 600.000 units, largely because of her success at attracting corporate sponsors, such as Maple Leaf Foods, Proctor and Gamble Co. and Boar's Head, she said.
Earlier this year, Sarasota, Florida-based Boar's Head bought 200.000 copies of Powell's Fernando's Fun-tastic Friends.
That book both entertains and educates kids on the value of healty eating. Part of the book also mentions a fundraising walk for the American Diabetes Association. (ADA)
Powell tweaked the book and made a special edition for Boar's Head, which produces deli meats, many of which are low in fat or in sodium.
Powell discretely inserted posters advertising Boar's Head products in some of the illustrations.
Boar's Head sponsors ADA and intended to give the books away for free.
"For me as an author, my mission is to get these books into the hands of as many children as possible. These corporate sponsors are a huge help by being willing to get those books out there. I can go to a school and say, 'Everybody here gets a free book. That's amazing." Powell said."
(quote from article written by Glen Korstrom)

I am pretty amazed that this woman doesn't in the slightest seem to realize (or want to admit) that since she has 'tweaked' them to include ads for products in them they are not actually any longer the books she intended children to have, but have simply become another way for children to be bombarded by ad companies and their products. And may I say what a clever and sly way to advertise. Oh sure, we just want to give children 'educational books' for free... that have our product all over them. The author and illustrator has in this case simply become a tool for the company to promote their product. The integrity of the book has vanished and the children are now being sold a product instead of reading a book. It is not a Children's Picture Book any longer, it is merely a form of advertisement. Very, very disturbing.

Level 2 Class: Homework assignment #6

2011-04-07T10:20:00.000-07:00

Image: From the sketchbook of Lisa Cinar

1) Work on/rework your final 3 finished illustrations for your dummy.

Consider: Tonal values, Colour palette, Composition, Main Character .

2) Think about the age group of your book, use the Fry Reading Graph, or simply find other books similar to yours in content and word count.

3) Think about what publisher would be a good fit for your book, and think about why your book would make a good contribution to their list of titles.

4) Think of any questions you want feedback and help with for next class.

5) Next Class will be an open studio, so bring in all of your images, sketches and other things to work on. If you're working on a computer and have a laptop, bring it in!

level 2 Class: Homework assignment #5

2011-03-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

Illustrations by Lisa Cinar (hey, that's me! :))

1) Consider, or re-consider size and format of your book dummy. Is your current format complimentary to the story and images?

2) Keep playing around with the style you have chosen for your story and develop it further. Put all ideas and process in a folder, sketchbook or box. Bring what you can to class to show us.

3) Photocopy your final illustration in B&W and bring to class

4) Bring in a picture book you love (has to be in colour) with one page marked where you really like the page layout and composition.

5) Bring in the calligraphy brush I gave you in lev. 1, or bring a brush you like to work with in INK. (I will supply the ink)

6) Take a look at some picture book REVIEWS OR SUMMARIES (online, in a magazine, on a blog, or even on the back of books, or in the jacket flaps)

In fact, take a look at my two book's summaries which you can find here or here.

If you've read my books I would really appreciate it if you could write me a quick review on one of those sites and rate it! Be honest. You don't have to looooooove them. But if you do please do rate it and if you hate them... well, maybe don't then. :)

Level 2 Class: Homework assignment #4

2011-03-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

Images from my style development for 'Paulina P. (for Petersen)', published by Simply Read Books 2009.

1) Revise your dummy.

2) Develop one new or altered style for your final illustration. Make a a new image for the same text you illustrated before (in the new/altered/style.)

3) Make a character development sheet for your main character (see level 1 handout). Only the part where you draw your character from the front, back, both sides and different facial expressions.

4) Bring your sketchbooks, (or loose sheets of paper) with your processes, roughs, ideas, etc.. to class. (this is not something EXTRA you have to do, but all the notes, and drawings you have been making anyway to come up with your characters, images, etc. in the first place).

5) Next week we will be looking at everyone's two different type of illustration styles, (techniques if you will) you have chosen for your stories, so please bring both, your old and your new illustrations for your dummies with you to class.

6) Think about questions you have regarding your dummies. Illustrations and problems you find yourself encountering.

Level 2 Class: Homework assignment #3

2011-03-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

Image: Tests from 'Paulina P. (for Petersen)' by Lisa Cinar (that's me!) :)

1) 'Finish' editing your story, keeping suggestions from the feedback forms in mind

2) Sketch out a rough dummy and place text with images (not just textholder lines)

3) Bring sketchbook or folder with experiments that lead you to the style you will use

4) Bring ONE finished illustration from your dummy (does not have to be a full spread)

5) Bring in an object, book, images, ANYTHING where you really like the colour combination

6) Bring coloring tools of your choice (can be anything, like markers, watercolors, colored pencils,, pastels, etc...) but no oil or acrylic please!

(preferably bring in the medium you will be using for your final illustrations, if this is possible)

'The Day It All Blew Away' original artwork on Etsy

2011-03-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

HURRAH!

Original artwork from ‘The Day it all Blew Away’ is finally on Etsy!

I have finally managed to take the time to post some original artwork from The Day It All Blew Away on Etsy. Yes, some of it was sold at my show at Collage Collage, but there is still lots left. So, should you or your loved ones be in need of some original illustrations from a published Children’s Book, look no further! Reasonably priced and dimensions that are easy to frame. Would make a pretty cool present I think. Especially if you buy the book to go along with it!

Check out the shop!

(also, if you’re buying more than one drawing the shipping prices are the same as just for one. I think I posted that wrong for some of them, so just a heads up… oopps)

Kids like making marks that make shapes that make stories

2011-03-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

From Lynda Barry’s book’ What it is’ (page 129)

For the next 30 years I chased after only good drawing. While I drew, my main feelings were doubt and worry, and when I finished my only feelings were relief and regret. I never drew for fun anymore-and I’d forgotten about that strange floating feeling making lines on paper used to give me. I’d forgotten how stories used to bubble up out of the lines and surprise me. It was why started drawing--to meet those lines and stories.

Level 2 Class: Homework assignment #2

2011-03-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

1) Write a story! Hurrah! (900 words max) and bring it in typed, double spaced, font size 12pt. to class. Print out 2 copies of your story. Staple the story or, number the pages.

* IF images are needed to let us understand the FULL story, ie. you only know what's really happening when we see the IMAGE & TEXT (synergy) then you must also make a quick dummy book sketch to bring in. However, bring this in separately from the written out text. You will thus have a dummy book with the text legible AS WELL as ONLY the text written out on separate paper.

*Use the images you collected for the last homework and repeat the 'writing from an image' exercise we did in class, use the HANDOUTS from class to help you!

(Writing/brainstorming checklists, Traditional Story structure cheat guide, Notes on Story Structure)

2) Write out the text of one of your favorite Picture books, ( like I did for you in class) and bring a typed copy of it to class. Indicate each page turn with a space. It will look more like poetry written on the page than a traditional story. Read the story out loud while you type, pay attention to the rhythm of the story, repetition, dialog, plot, things you like about it and don't. See if it fits into the traditional Story structure guide!

20 Do's and 20 Don'ts from: Mem Fox

2011-03-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of 20 Do's and 20 Don't from Mem Fox. I don't agree with some of them, but for the most part, ... excellent advise! Also... the last Don't cracks me up. ... it's a classic it's funny cause it's true. (only from people who aren't really into children's picture books of course. that counts you out because you obviously are, ... since you are reading this blog) :)

Here's the list:

Also check out the rest of Mem's site where it came from, for lots of other very helpful tips.

Level 2 Class: Homework assignment #1

2011-03-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

1) Bring 3 actual images to class:

( not like the 'image' Lynda is talking about!) We will create the 'image' she talks about from them in class, yes, but I mean just 3 images you can cut out of a magazine, or print out from the net.

They can be photos, or drawings, but they should somehow grab your attention. Also, the images you are to look for should NOT already have a story attached to them written by someone else! ( in other words, don't bring in an illustration that someone made for Little Red Riding Hood'. DO bring in a photo of two people in the park or a photo from a national geographic where you didn't read the article yet)

The images can be: interesting, strange, weird, or even somewhat mundane, but there has to be SOMETHING about them that made YOU pick them. Something about them got YOUr attention.

* 1 or 2 of the images CAN be doodles from your sketchbook if you keep one. BUT you can't have already attached a full story to them in your head. In other words, something you doodled but don't quite know why. There has to be at least one character in the image and there has to be some sort of background or landscape around your character. No isolated characters on a blank sheet. We need a full scene!

2) Do the Cluster writing exercise again!

-Your word is: Rabbit Ears

- Time yourself: 5 minutes only! GO!

3)Do the Lynda Barry exercise again!

-Your word is: Dogs

- Time yourself: 45 minutes total! GO!

4) Do the Character Development exercise from Level 1 again. When you have the character do the part where you ask your character to tell you a story. 'A technique for the lazy' .

Time yourself!

Seems like a lot? Everything together should take you about 2.30 hours. That's not so bad right?

The Idea of Genius

2011-03-02T18:04:00.000-08:00

This episode of CBC's Ideas is called 'The Idea of Genius' and apart from being extremely interesting it contains some of the major points why I disagree with Elizabeth Gilbert's take on Creativity and Genius (see earlier blog entry). Mainly the part where we actually have to be surrounding ourselves with what it is we are passionate about in order to be able to get our ideas. Listen to the part where they talk about why The Beatles and Mozart were so amazing in their fields and time. Also, yes, the 10.000 hour theory.

Great episode to listen to. Listen to both parts here!

Look at my Sketchblog sometimes

2011-03-01T14:25:00.001-08:00

I've posted this totally amazing Lynda Barry video on my sketchblog, because initially I thought I'd keep the writing aspect out of this blog but now I've decided against it. Anyhow, take a look at it here. It's pretty great!

"People Write Poetry but they don't necessarily invent it. I think it's something about FOLLOWING this thing"

Elizabeth Gilbert: On creative process

2011-03-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

Notice that she gets up at 4.30 to write every day. Discipline and practice is really what will make you good at pretty much ANYTHING. You just have to work at it every day. It's really amazingly simple in a way, no?

Elizabeth Gilbert: A new way to think about creativity

2011-03-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

I've watched this quite some time ago, but in light of my new dummy book class that will have a lot more about writing in it I thought it would be very good to post.

Interesting idea, even though I don't quite agree with it. But what I do agree with is that you ARE in control of when you can be creative, or when your creativity comes to you. Like Tom Waits said: Can't you see that I'm driving right now?

Then again. Sometimes it DOES just hit you and you have no control over when that might be. Like her example of the poet who could hear the poem coming towards her from over the hills. Then you have to outrun it and grab a paper and a pencil and hope it's not faster than you and finds another writer instead.

Our Final Class for Level 1 at Kids Books at 2 PM!

2011-03-01T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hello hello all students of my level 1 class!

For our final class on Sunday we will meet AT Kids Books at 2 pm. (it takes about 30 minutes to get from ECUAD to Kids Books so that should cover all extra travel time you'll need should you be coming from the other direction)

All you will need will be a sketchbook and a pencil and of course your never ending wild enthusiasm for Picture Books. ...

See you then!

Also:

I encourage all of you to give homework # 5 (not #5 NEW) a try! It involves you using your 3D character to create a story. Fun!

Writers' Union of Canada- Writing for Children Competition

2011-03-01T13:29:00.000-08:00

1500 Words maximum and 1.500$ Cash if you Win! Why not give it a shot?

Here's the info. Start Writing Madly ... NOW!

Helen Isobel Sissons Award Call for Submissions

2011-02-16T10:37:00.000-08:00

P.A.C.E (Canada) is now accepting submissions to the Helen Isobel Sissons Canadian Children's Story Award. This award is a cash grant and is intended to encourage the development of literature for young children.

Clicky here to get linked to the bookcentre for the full post.

This is not for a picture book however, but just for a manuscript. In fact I quote: "If illustrations are central to the storyline, a brief description of these should be included with the manuscript. Please do not include original artwork." (from the submission guidelines part. A description of the illustrations, NOT actual illustrations! :)

Characters in sequence or from different angles

2011-02-13T23:49:00.001-08:00

Next week is the week where we build 3-D characters in my class again. I always love that class. It's so fun. After we build them, we draw them. In a sequence amongst other things. Here to inspire are some images from my slideshow for my class that demonstrate sequence and angles. Character development anybody?

Getting Started in Children's Books Panel at the VPL

2011-02-13T20:52:00.000-08:00

There is a free event happening at the Downtown Vancouver Public Library on Feb. 28th that is called 'Getting Started in Children's Books Panel'. For those of you in Vancouver, might be fun to check out seeing as ... it's free and open to the public. Have some good questions ready to ask the panel! That's what they're there for!

Thanks for sending this my way Remy!

Happy Chinese New Year

2011-02-03T17:19:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the new year of the Rabbit here is a cover from a Picture book I have not read, but really love the cover art for. Hurrah!

Hansel and Gretel Slideshow

2011-02-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

While looking at the fantastic Jillian Tamaki blog today for some fun ideas for my level 2 class, I came across this post which I hadn't checked out before. It has a link to a slideshow to the NewYorker on different illustrations on the theme of Hansel & Gretel. Well, of course I'd have to repost that! Jillian Tamaki posted her favorite on her blog, I will post my favorite on this one. Love her favorite too, but this one's more my heart.

Jillian Tamaki: Subconscious influences

2011-01-29T21:41:00.000-08:00

Here's something that really rings a bell when it comes to how important Children's picture books can be and how they influence you in a subconscious way big time.

This bit is from an interview Jillian Tamaki did with Hellen Jo in Bust Magazine. The whole interview is good but the part I thought was so on point in relation to the topic of this blog hereeeee is right here below. In fact, when Helen mentioned Candy Candy I was reminded that I too was once into Candy Candy and that there was a candy shop really close by where me and my friend used to buy bubble gum to get the Candy Candy comics in them (and of course pig out on the candy) I also used to have a Candy Candy poster that I totally worshipped. I can remember thinking how absolutely beautiful Candy Candy was and then I'd go out and pretend to be her... and so did my friend Miriam...so really, people must have just seen two identical Candy Candys walking down the street when they saw us instead of some little six year old German kids in Teneriffe:

Jlllian: I hate questions about “influences”, but let’s try this: I find some things are “conscious” influences, for example, buying a artist monograph or watching a lot of French New Wave films because they speak to you in an artistic way. But some influences are “subconscious”, like your favourite picturebook you studied for hours as a child, or a piece of art that was in your childhood home. Do you agree? What are your “conscious” and “subconscious” influences?
Hellen: I’ve always believed that everything you consume or absorb or witness in life, whether you liked it, hated it, or had no opinion about it, influences your creative output in some way. As much as I can control the quality and content of my work, I can’t completely filter what I see or hear, nor can I really control how those things will affect me. I definitely agree with you that there are “conscious” and “subconscious” influences, and I’ve had many of both. As far as “conscious” influences go, the most obvious ones are my favorite comic book creators, including Taiyo Matsumoto, Xaime Hernandez, Julie Doucet, Charles Burns, Dan Clowes, Junji Ito, Suehiro Maruo… the list goes on and on. All of these cartoonists deal in some way in their writing and art with the horror of coming-of-age, which is my primary motivation. Similarly, coming-of-age horror films fit that niche nicely for me, of which my favorites are Tale of Two Sisters, Let the Right One In, and the Whispering Corridors.
In terms of “subconscious” influences, I’d say the most important one was probably the Japanese girls’ comic, Candy Candy. As a comic, I can’t really say much about it, because I owned a Korean version when I was too young to be able to read it, but the drawings! I’d always liked drawing when I was a kid, but I think Candy Candy was the first book I’d seen where I thought the images were absolutely beautiful. The characters had large sparking eyes, they were constantly surrounded by furious floral windstorms, and everyone wore a tuxedo or frilly lace dress at all times. I stared at those drawings for hours, and I think I was eventually convinced that the only good art was pretty art. I don’t believe that now, but it has definitely affected my preferences in comics and the style in which I draw.

Charles Keeping: The Highwayman

2011-01-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

So I was re-reading Charles Keeping tonight in an effort to perhaps see something there that I hadn't seen before and to convince myself that I should agree with it receiving the Kate Greenaway medal that it did in 1981.

Yes, I am desperately trying to find something that would make me want to agree to give it this award because I grew up with all sorts of scary stories when I was little in Germany like about ghost ships and dead horse heads that hung in alleys that talked (Falada) and sisters that got murdered by being rolled down the hill in a barrel with nails in it (the original Cinderalla)... and so yes, I am a bit supporter of letting children also be exposed to stories that can be scary but still, I just can't get over how super gruesome this book is and how I would NOT want to read it to any child!

Maybe when they'd be at least 9, and even then.... I don't know....

The illustrations which are amazing no doubt, are adding so much extra horror to the Alfred Noyes poem that would otherwise be up to the listener themselves to decided just how scary they want to make it. It's a great example of how illustration can add to the text and make it richer. And yes, I think it's an fantastic work by Keeping, amazing really, BUT... I do not think it should have received the Kate Greenaway medal which is awarded by Children's Librarians for illustration in Children's Literature and young readers. It seems a bit of the wrong category. What do you think?

Richard Scarry: Just draw a ribbon on it then dang it!

2011-01-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

I think I might have put a link up for this before in my Richard Scarry post, but if you hadn't checked it out then, you really gotta do it. It's too hilarious. ... but also very interesting in terms of how norms of what is 'appropriate' for children (and for adults too as a matter of fact) are in constant flux.

There are several other images from Scarry posted on this flickr site where you can see the original and then the new political correct altered version after Scarry and the publisher got a bunch of letters from angry moms. The originals were all published in the early 60's. The altered editions started to appear in the late 60's around 67' 68'.

Marc Boutavant

2011-01-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

Hurrahhhh finally! This blog entry is so overdue and I've been putting it off consistently thinking that it had to be this really well thought out oeuvre of a blog entry, but you know what.... let's just wing it as it comes out and get it out into the world instead of spending so much time preparing what you're going to say that you end up not actually having the time to ... well, say it!

So here it goes, today's topic will be non other than one of my all time favorite if not favorite contemporary illustrator MARC BOUTAVANT! The man is a complete genius and I am pretty much totally in love with everything he does. He can do no wrong and he consistently gets better and better at what he does, which is something we should all strive to do when it comes to our expertise and passions, no?

I can't remember now how I first discovered Marc Boutavant, but it was quite some years ago now, when I still worked at a children's book shop. I think initially I had seen his images online and was immediately taken by them because of his amazing ability to create hundreds of fantastic and unique characters and his seemingly flawless technique when it comes to his creation process. I saw his images on the Heart Agency site and looked at them for a long time trying to figure out how he worked. Then I found an article on him where it mentioned that he strictly worked in photoshop. This blew my mind! My guess had been that he used acriliques, guache and ink, but no, it was all this thing called Photoshop. I had played around with Photoshop back then, but had always associated it with the very obvious photoshopped images featured in some books that lack a lot of personal touch and mistery, or... on the other hand I associated Photoshop with the likes of Dave Mc Kean where I couldn't even image where to start and still to this day it's hard to figure out how he creates certain effects. Either way, it was not something I had seen myself using to create the type of images I was interested in creating. Marc Boutavant changed this.

All of a sudden I realized that Photoshop can be used as a most effective tool to bring out your strengths and hide your weaknesses when it comes to creating an image. Boutavant had mentioned in an article that he only used the bare bones of photoshop, in other words, he created his own means around the program to do with it, exactly what he wanted to do. You don't have to learn everything about Photoshop in order to make fantastic use out of it, you just have to figure out what works for you and for your own images and go from there. One step at a time. Having followed Boutavant's work over the years I can see how he, over time, learned new Photoshop techniques and tricks and has so masterfully worked them into his images.

Marc Boutavant's work for the comic 'Ariol', written by Emmanuel Guibert is the reason I took a French Class in 2008. The comic is so beautifully illustrated and the narrative is so hilarious. Unfortunately, or... perhaps, fortunately the comic has not been translated yet and only exists in its original language. My french is still pretty much non-existent but I can make out most of what's going on in the comic now, (mostly due to Boutavant's ability to create such strong narrative through his characters). Some books you have to check out for sure, and that are also easily available here in North America are: 'Around the World with Mouk', 'For Just One Day'and 'All kinds of families'.

Anyhow, I could talk forever about Boutavant and his work, but the best thing will be for you to have a look at his images for yourself. You can check out this page on the Heart Agency site and of course I have posted a storm of them right here for you. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy....

These are probably my favorite end pages of .... EVER...yup. So beautiful, no?

The Break is OVER!

2011-01-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

Hey!

So I haven't posted anything for two full months now because I have been busy with a little outside project of mine. However.... the non-posting times are now over and the start of my new section of Illustration for Children's Picture books is fast approaching. To get both you and me back into the swing of things, here are a few random images I love but have unfortunately not kept track of where I got them from nor who is responsible for them. Nonetheless, pretty great no? Ok. back soon!

2010-11-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Antiquarian Book Fair

2010-10-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty excited for this event this upcoming Friday and Saturday. The only problem will be that I'll probably end up having a total fit because I won't be able to buy anything due to my recent self imposed budget restrictions on books. So really it'll be a bitter sweet affair. But I'll compensate by hopefully taking lots of photos and then (also hopefully) posting them.

Here's the link for the site and here's all the important details in case you can't read the text on the flyer above:

Vancouver Public Library
Friday Oct 15th 3pm-9pm
Saturday Oct 16th 10 am-5 pm
$5 admission good for both days

Homework Assignment #4 (NEW) Due: Oct.18th

2010-10-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

Illustration by Helme Heine from 'Na warte sagte Schwarte'

Homework for my Class: "Learn through research and example"

Two parts:

Take your dummy book home and sketch out a very rough layout for the story I will give you! (*or if you already have a story thought out use your own story! But I suggest you try your hand at this one I give you first anyway! Then do your own later or do both) This means you will first have to break the story down into images you want to illustrate. Employ the various Camera angels. You are the director of your movie/book. Get a feel for pacing and variation in composition…

a) From the 3 books you picked out of the library, pick one image where you really like the composition. Take one of the sketches you’ve made in your dummy book and improve it’s composition using this example of composition as inspiration! (like the 'composition cheat exercise' we did in class)

b) Develop two images from your dummy further! (use good paper --like the one I gave you at beginning of class for example) These will be your two final illustrations.

c) Bring your storyboard dummy, and your finished illustrations to class along with the book you picked your illustration example from!

TEXT FOR YOU TO ILLUSTRATE:

Here is the text for you to illustrate into your 32 page book dummy we made in class. Again, if you have text of your own go with that instead if you wish. But before you start have a look at some of the picture books you've been looking at and see how much a ratio of text and images there is. In other words, make sure that your text is not TOO LONG! However, for those of you who are really interested in illustrating other people's work, I suggest you illustrate this text I'm giving you seeing as this is what you'll be doing usually... illustrating a story that is not by you.

I will not give you the name of the story and also change the name of the main character because I don't want you to be able to reference the original book, so as to not have it influence your work.

I changed the name to Bob, but please feel free to change the name to whatever pleases you. THIS IS THE ONLY THING YOU'RE ALLOWED TO CHANGE IN THE TEXT, everything else must be included as is in your dummy. But it's up to you how much text you put where on the pages. Pay attention to this as it is the layout and the pacing of the book that we discussed in class.

This is Bob the Rabbit. Bob is a busy rabbit. "Bob! Where are you?" calls his Momma Rabbit. "Do you know what time it is?" says Momma Rabbit. Bob says: Is it time to follow a passing ship? Or time to stand on top of the world? Or is it time to make friends with a giant?I know! It's time to win a race. Maybe it's time to grow a mustache? Or time to use my flower-picking machine? Maybe it's time to throw some mudcakes? I think it's time to be the first pirate on the moon. Or is it time to fly across the city? Or is it time to drive a submarine? " Oh, Bob, it's just naptime," says Momma Rabbit. "That's what I was saying," says Bob, as he crawls into bed. Then he closes his eyes to dream of all the things he wants to do...
...and he did.

Here is a passage I thought might be helpful for you when it comes to deciding what to illustrate out of your text (that I will post next for you). This is written by Quentin Blake and is found in page 57 of his excellent book 'Words and Pictures'.

" Work on a book (one for which I haven't written my own words, that is) begins when the typescript arrives from the publisher; and it begins with reading. In a sense I'm reading the story as if I were two people at the same time: a normal reader, who is relishing a good story for it's own sake; and an illustrator, who is on the look-out for good subjects to draw, good moments. I probably read the story several times to get to know it, and I make underlinings and notes in the margin so that I can easily find the bits I want to refer back to later. Most of my choices I make by what feels like instinct; but when I look back on them I can see that what the illustrations are doing is not always quite the same thing on each occasion. [sic]"

Mrs Pepperpot

2010-10-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

Whilst on the subject of my 'students' teaching ... I was asked by Amber who grew up in England if I knew the series 'Mrs Pepperpot' which I unfortunately did not. I have looked online for more on it, but have not really been able to find out too much about it other than some images of covers. Then I found one cover which looks different from the others leading me to think that as with so many series, the original series was continued by a different illustrator, and thus was never quite the same.... Here are the covers.

They look like they could be a lot of fun. Also, the cover with the original looking illustration was found on a japanese site, selling it right next to a German book I love called 'Die kleine Hexe' (The little witch) by Otfried Preussler who I covered a bit ago, thus making me believe that it has to be awesome ... obviously.... :) I guess I won't know until I get to see a copy.

J.J. Grandville

2010-10-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to one of my 'students' of my Illustration for Picture Books class, I have once again learned something else. This something else is J.J. Grandville. Lynda kindly let me borrow her book 'Grandville's Animals- The World's Vaudeville'. In this book are featured a collection of lithographs from two of Grandville's major books 'The Metamorphoses of the Day' (1829) and 'Scenes from the Private and Public Life of Animals' (1842).

From the introduction by Bryan Holme:

"It has been said that if it hadn't been for J.J. Grandville there would have been no John Tenniel and no Edward Lear. And if it hadn't been for the ancient Egyptian mystics who drew animal heads on human bodies, perhaps there would have been no Grandville either."

"Nothing like this had been seen before: birds, cats, dogs, elephants, tortoises-even beetles-behaving as well as looking like humans. Adding to the novelty of Methamorphoses, which became the rage in Paris, was the new lithography process by which the illustrations were printed. Clothing his animals in the fashion of the day and giving them human airs, gestures, emotions and thoughts, Grandville assigned each of his characters a role in the world's vaudeville" as Charles Blanc so aptly put it."

"Together with the Grimm brothers' collection of fairlytales, which had been published in Germany in 1812 and in England in 1823 under the title of 'Household Stories' Grandville's two books represented milestones in publishing that se the stage for a whole new trend in fairytale and animal story books."

"Grandville was to influence hundreds of illustrators. By 1850s, Charles Bennett had illustrated his bizarre Aesop's Fables, a book which could amost be taken for the work of Grandville, and George Cruikshank was drawing Grandvillesque cartoons like his 'Fellows of the Zoological Society' for The Comic Almanack. In the 1870's Walter Crane's Beast in Beauty and Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood were in the same Grandville genre. Later came Arthur Rackham, and after the turn of the century, Beatrix Potter, and later still Walt Disney and so very many other young illustrators, each depicting animals as humans in his own particular way. Until recently however, the far-reaching influence of Grandville's books was never fully recognized outside France except by artists, illustrators, and connoisseurs. "

"For professional reasons-his father also being an artist- Grandville adopted the stage name of his grandfather, who was an actor of repute. His real name was Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gerard. "

"In 1823 the family scraped enough money together to send him to Paris, where he was to study art and make his own way. Within a short four years his first illustrations, Four Seasons of the human life, were published and and - shortly thereafter, Voyage to Eternity, inspired by Holbein's series of woodcuts The Dance of Death. "

While looking Grandville up I also came across his series of 'Les Etoiles' (The Stars) and 'Les Fleurs' (The Flowers). I have featured a couple of these in the images above. They are pretty unique and I am really glad to have found them! Also, here's a good blog post on Grandville at Love for Books.... and ... here's a good piece giving you a glimpse into a specific image of Grandville's and how to make sense of it. So yeah, thank you Lynda Cameron! Way to teach me something!

Shaun Tan: 'Who are Picture Books for?'

2010-09-26T19:00:00.001-07:00

Here are the first two pages from Shaun Tan's essay 'Picture Books: Who are they for?' You can read the whole essay on his website here.

PICTURE BOOKS: Who Are They For?
By Shaun Tan

"One of the questions I am most frequently asked as a maker of picture books is this:
‘Who do you write and illustrate for?’ It’s a little difficult to answer, as it’s not
something I think about much when I’m working alone in a small studio, quite
removed from any audience at all. In fact, few things could be more distracting in
trying to express an idea well enough to myself than having to consider how readers
might react!

In any case, I suspect that much art in any medium is produced without a primary
concern for how it will be received, or by whom. It often doesn’t set out to appeal to a
predefined audience but rather build one for itself. The artists’ responsibility lies first
and foremost with the work itself, trusting that it will invite the attention of others by
the force of its conviction. So it’s really quite unusual to ask “who do you do it for?”
Yet it is a question inevitably put to my work in picture books such as The Rabbits,
The Lost Thing and The Red Tree, which deal with subjects such as colonisation,
bureaucracy, whimsy, depression and loneliness, typically in a strange or unusual
manner.
The reason of course is quite obvious. The idea of a picture book, as a literary art
form, carries a number of tacit assumptions: picture books are quite large, colourful,
easy to read and very simple in their storyline and structure, not very long and (most
significantly) produced exclusively for a certain audience, namely children, especially
of the younger variety. Picture books are generally put on the shelves of bookstores,
libraries, lounge rooms and bedrooms for young children, where they apparently
belong. Picture books are synonymous with Children’s Literature. But is this is a
necessary condition of the art form itself? Or is it just a cultural convention, more to
do with existing expectations, marketing prejudices and literary discourse?
The simplicity of a picture book in terms of narrative structure, visual appeal and
often fable-like brevity might seem to suggest that it is indeed ideally suited to a
juvenile readership. It’s about showing and telling, a window for learning to ‘read’ in
a broad sense, exploring relationships between words, pictures and the world we
experience every day. But is this an activity that ends with childhood, when at some point we are sufficiently qualified to graduate from one medium to another?
Simplicity certainly does not exclude sophistication or complexity; we inherently
know that the truth is otherwise. “Art,” as Einstein reminds us, “is the expression of
the most profound thoughts in the simplest way.”
And it’s clear that older readers, including you and me, remain interested in the
imaginative play of drawings and paintings, telling stories, and learning how to look
at things in new ways. There is no reason why a 32-page illustrated story can’t have
equal appeal for teenagers or adults as they do for children. After all, other visual
media such as film, television, painting or sculpture do not suffer from narrow
preconceptions of audience. Why should picture books? It is interesting that observe
that when I paint pictures for gallery exhibitions, I am never asked who I am painting
for. "

Homework Assignment #3: (NEW!)

2010-09-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

Images by Lili Scratchy

Homework Assignment #3 (NEW!)

Hello, hello! Since last weeks homework was fairly easy, this weeks is going to be a more challenging. Please note that this homework has 2 parts! A and B. This is not a choose which one assignment, but a 'please do both' assignment. Part A really shouldn't be very time consuming though, and really it should be an overall good time!

Part A)

1) Go to the library downtown (preferably, or the closest one to you) and spend at least (!) half an hour in the kids book section.

2) Check out at least 3 books you love. Closely look at them and study the illustrations. Try to figure out what it is that makes you love this particular book so much.

3) Look up the illustrators online.

4) Note the publisher of the books and the publishing date

Part B)

Make at least 10 illustration SKETCHES for the following text. And pick one of the sketches and turn it into a FINAL illustration!

I Don't Want to Travel (by Emmanuelle Houdart)
I Don't Want to Travel
Except in the hand of a giant
Except on a witch's broomstick
Except in the jaws of a wolf
Except in a bottle of raspberry syrup
Except on the back of my tortoise
Except with my catfish
Except by the light of the moon
Except under the sea
Except with my favorite book.

You can choose any size of paper you'd like, and any medium you'd like to use. Think of this assignment as if you were asked to provide a full set of sketches for a short story called 'I Don't Want to Travel', that is going to be published as a picture book. Since this is your first time making a series of images fit together coherently in combination with text, this does NOT have to be 32 pages. It does have to be at least 10 pages. Please don't spend a lot of time refining your images since they are only to be SKETCHES for final images. Here are the specs for the assignment in bullet form.

-At least 10 pages (loose,single sided, please don't staple yet), you can make it longer if you want

-Any format or size you want (but you have to be able to bring them into class obviously)

-Incorporate the text into the images, because this text is short I'd like you write it on the page and think of where you're placing it.

-Try to keep it loose and do what feels right. We will be talking more about how to go about this in our next class.

- Please bring at one of the picture books you got from the library along with your 1Final illustration and 10 sketches to Class.

Riquiqui Roudoudou le journal qui se deplie

2010-09-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

I found these amazing kids magazine covers at Emma's blog something I stumbled upon while searching for something else as per usual. They are sooo great! Check out the whole entry on the magazine on her blog. Thanks Emma! I now want this magazine very badly.

Last image reminds me of...

2010-09-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

Marc Boutavant illustration I remember seeing... next feature artist will HAVE TO BE MARC BOUTAVANT! One of the best artists in this field today in my opinion.

more Thomas Baas...

2010-09-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

Children's Literature Roundtable...Breakfast!

2010-09-18T11:45:00.001-07:00

This is something I've been meaning to post for a long time, but then kept on waiting on it until it got a bit closer to the actual event. Two very talented students from my first session teaching at ECUAD made me aware of this event. I am thinking about attending this next month, but haven't registered yet...Check out the website for the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable and have a look at featured illustrator Pierre Preatt's portfolio should this be something you're interested in attending. Prices are $55 for non members (you can also become a member for an extra 15$) and 25$ for full time students. Priscilla Holmes who is working for this event has kindly sent me the following info about the organization...I wish they would also list what the actual breakfast menu is... I know that this is probably not as big of a concern to most and that the idea is to meet other people interested in the subject....HOWEVER... I do like a really good breakfast and if I'm going to spend 55$ I wanna make sure that there are some pancakes or waffles in there somewhere... hmmmm... pancakes and waffles...

*The Vancouver Children's Roundtable:
http://www.library.ubc.ca/edlib/table/index.htm*
is* *a Canadian organization for librarians, teachers, and writers and
illustrators of children's literature (and a good number of students from
UBC, and now some from Emily Carr) to get together, learn and talk about
children's books and publications, celebrate new publications, and explore
new ideas and new media. Events in the past few years have included talks
and breakfasts with the likes of Sean Tan, Gregory Macguire, and others. So
mad I missed Sean Tan.

Website is under total reconstruction and missing most current info, but
hopefully will be updated in the fall.

Pierre Pratt Breakfast: Registration Form for Pierre Pratt breakfast on
October 16, and Pratt's bibliography, is available on the website. Paypal
is coming, but not up yet, so mail-in is the only option for now.
*
*
*Other upcoming events: *(I expect more info about these sometime this fall)

*Graphic Novel Event (*part of Serendipity)
*Serendipity:* Big conference of writers, illustrators, librarians and
teachers of children's literature -- probably plenty of academic
perspectives
*Authorfest:* Panel of authors/Illustrators
*Hycroft*: Something to do with CWILL -- children's writers and
illustrators of BC

Thomas Baas

2010-09-17T18:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is the last artist represented by Costume 3 Pieces I will showcase. Seriously. Reminds me of my hero Marc Boutavant and also a bit of Jean Jacque Sempe who illustrated Goscinny's Petit Nicolas. ... I should cover Jean Jacque Sempe next... also: I am aware that this is technically not illustration directly pertaining to Children's Picture books, but rather editorial and ad illustration, however, the style is fitting and the artist amazing, ... so 'hu-why' (as Helen Man from CBC would say) not? :)

Olivier Goka

2010-09-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

Another amazing artist represented by Costume 3 Pieces. I wonder how he creates his characters. Would be really great to find an interview on him!..... Wait, I just looked and found this here on Koikoikoi. He makes them out of found materials, then hires a friend photographer for capturing the final image.

Julia Wauters

2010-09-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

Just came across this illustrator the other day while looking online. So beautiful! The whole raster of this agency is definitely worth a look at. Some really fantastic innovative work on this site.

Judith Kerr

2010-09-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

While searching for images for Helen Oxenbury I had come across an image which I love but knew was NOT Oxenbury but from a book called 'The Tiger who came for Tea' by Judith Kerr. While I have never actually held a copy of this book in my hands I have seen illustrations from it in several places and most recently also in an edition of one of my favorite magazines on the topic of illustration VAROOM. Here is an interesting link on Kerr and above a bunch of images of hers I have found.

Also, when revisiting the article on her in the Winter 2009 edition of Varoom I noticed that there was an image of a book I had just raved about a couple of entries ago namely 'It's a secret by John Burningham. It was included by Kerr under the category of 'Illustrator I admire'. Wouldn't you know it. How's that for a good segment from Oxenbury and Burningham to Kerr? Also: Her admiration for Burningham obviously shows through in her work which is why someone had mistaken the image of 'The Tiger who came for Tea' for Burninghams' or Oxenbury's to begin with.

Helen Oxenbury

2010-09-10T09:35:00.001-07:00

So as it appears I'm a real fool for not knowing who Helen Oxenbury is! Good thing I was so into her husband otherwise who knows when I would have finally managed to look her up. Ha hahhhh... Here are some of her illustrations. Also, I realized that she is the illustrator behind 'Farmer Duck' which is a great book! Another thing learned today!

more about John Burningham...

2010-09-09T20:30:00.001-07:00

So I went to look up more about John Burningham and found this bit about him on a pretty cool site which I hadn't really visited before. It is actually an archive of authors & illustrators wouldn't you know it. It's called the Wee Web and here's the link to it. Two interesting things I learned: 1) he worked as a puppet maker for a film company for a while (something I would love to do) 2) he actually designed the model of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!, 3) he is married to Helen Oxenbury who according to the write up is also a 'highly regarded artist'. 4) I unfortunately don't know her though so I will have to look her up now. Maybe that will be my next post. :)

ps: the above is the image from the Wee Web page about Burningham. Pretty intense looking dude hey?

great Interactive site!

2010-09-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

The new DJECO website is sooooo awesome! Just walk around in it for a bit... and of course my favorite man ever Marc Boutavant did a whole bunch of work for it... soooo great! oh, and ... you can get this really cute wallpaper made by him under the 'Goodies' section!

John Burningham

2010-09-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some more images I found online by illustrator John Burningham who illustrated my new found awesome edition of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The book 'It's a secret' and 'Aldo' and really all of them look really cool. I wish I had them all right now!!! But currently I am not allowed to buy a lot of new books due to a complete lack of shelving space! Yes, it's true, in my tiny tiny space i have run out of room to store all of my treasured books... what to do...start thinking about moving I guess...

... maybe just one of them though.. omg! his stuff is soooo great! How did I not know about this guy before!? So glad I came across my book in Victoria to set this off!

It's a BOOK! (the trailer)

2010-09-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a pretty funny trailer for 'It's a book' by Lane Smith.

Also funny (once you've watched the trailer) will be that you are WATCHING a book TRAILER... ... you know....(?)

What I found at Renaissance Books in Victoria...

2010-09-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

So a little while ago I went to go to Victoria with my good friend Brandy from the R.A.T. and it was pretty great. Some things highly recommended: Going to 'Miniature World' and the BC Museum, but of course I could not go somewhere without checking out all of their... booooooooostores.... So after going to several recommended stores which were all very lovely, I happened to bump into one that was not recommended (and those that you find on your own are of COURSE always the best ones...) They are a fine used bookstore called Renaissance Books and are located at 14 Bastion Square in Victoria, should you ever find yourself on this lovely part of Vancouver Island.

I was in there for a pretty long time admiring all sorts of books, and one of the things that I was struck by immediately was not their Children's book section, which was ok, but their 'Illustration and Illustrated books' section. I have to say I don't think I've (sadly) ever come across a section dedicated to this. Needless to say... I was pretty impressed.

I posted a couple of my purchases above, a copy of 'Punch' a satirical English magazine published around 1915 that featured many many famous illustrator's work. One person I've already written about on this blog who contributed many illustrations to 'Punch' was John Tenniel the illustrator of the original 'Alice in Wonderland.'

My other purchase was 'The Illustration of Books' by David Bland. I have not had the chance to read it yet, but it looks pretty promising.

Last but not least, I found this great copy of one of my beloved illustrated books from my younger days,... 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'. Hurray! Look how great the illustrations are! And remember... this is before the days of Photoshop, so that moving car images with the muliple exposure look, is probably exactly that. Illustrated by John Burningham... I will soon have to post some more images by him, because as it turns out... he's amazing! What do you know...

One more Emma Chichester Clark...

2010-09-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

This one's pretty good! Plus I love that story!

Emma Chichester Clark

2010-08-31T22:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the recent delay in posts, but most relationships need a break sometime and this happened to also be the case for me and this here blog. But.... baaaack!

One of my awesome students from my class by the name of Francis Heng gave me a couple of small bought prints at the end of the class, both of well known illustrators (thanks again Francis! So kind of you!) One was of Fred Banbery, and one was of Emma Chichester Clark. I realized right away when I saw the prints that I had come across the name of Clark and could also picture some of her work in my head, but hadn't really dedicated any amount of time to actually find out more about her or look up any books of hers or images online. On the back of the print is a quite informative blurb about her and it states that she studied under Quentin Blake at the Royal College of Art. LUCKY! I would have loooooved to study under Blake, man oh man... that would have been soooo sweeet... oh well. She did anyhow. I can't seem to find too much of her images online... could it be she does not have a website....? So strange, but she does have work up for viewing and selling at this gallery. I'm posting some of these images which are unfortunately a tad small and some of her fantastic book covers I have found in the world of the internet.
Things to note: fantastic compositions, and very good and real glimpse of the mischievousness of children. Her sense of color palette for some of her images and the fact that she uses watercolor reminds me of another illustrator I love ... Melissa Sweet. Perhaps I will have to cover her next to compare and contrast.

2010-07-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

Ronald Searle interview

2010-07-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here is an interview with Ronald Searle that is definitely worth watching. Ok, so he isn't exactly in the category of 'Children's' Picture books, but he IS in the category of Picture books for grownups and Comics and so as you know the connection in terms of process and artistry is obvious.

My favorite bit he says in the interview, regarding his work: ' The moment it's successful- kill it! Because it can only get worse from there.' That strategy towards your work really shows artistic integrity and is sooooo very very sadly hardly existing anymore in our current age of making a series out of everything in order to sell the sticker book, stuffed animal and mug to go along with your book.

Also, noteworthy other than the fact that Searle appears to be drunk at all times, is his desk of which you get a really good long view during the interview. Notice the color-coded planner and the many small timers hanging up. Timing yourself for drawings can be a really great and effective way to work! But yeah, this man totally rocks! Check out his stuff if you're not familiar with it because he is one of the great masters of visual slapstick and comedy! Yup. So good!

Homework Assignment #6:

2010-07-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

Image by Quentin Blake from his book Words and Pictures

Based on the in class sketching and brainstorming exercise on different ways to combine illustration with text (look at your handouts for reference!) make 4 sketches for the story of little red riding hood from last homework, BUT using all of the illustrations techniques other than the obvious to reiterate/slightly embellish one!

That means you can choose from:

1) Subtract/diminish from the text, 2)change the text by contradicting it ie. create a whole new/or slightly different visual story, 3)add subplots, 4)utelize the freezing a moment in time idea to make the viewer fill in the gap (the veiled menace)..., etc...

Also, you don't have to, but it might be fun for those of you who did the first little red riding hood assignment to also try a totally different medium or style than you did last time.

Summary: 4 sketches and 2 final illustrations to bring to class.

Dimensions are up to you.

Homework Assignment #5:

2010-07-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

Image: Sebastian Bremer

Homework: Using the character you’ve developed in class make at least 1 finished SREAD or 2 finished illustrations etc.. depending on how you split up the images and the text. Also bring and show your sketches for them.

The illustrations you will make will be size: height: 12 in, width: 10.5 in per page, or if you want to work on the spread on one page: height: 12 in, width: 21 in. Use the versatile Stonehenge paper I gave you at beginning of class if you still have some!

Remember to employ light and dark, composition, and your fully refined character for this. Please look at the work of at least one of your favorite artists so far for this for inspiration! Bring the hard copy to class. (if you're making them on the computer just print them out smaller on 11x17 paper)

Here is the text for you to illustrate:

Title: I Don't Want to Travel

by Emmanuelle Houdart

I don't want to travel

Except in the hand of a giant

Except on a broomstick

Except in the jaws of a wolf

Except in a bottle of raspberry syrup

Except on the back of a tortoise

Except with my Catfish

Except by the light of the Moon

Except under the sea

Except with my favorite book.

Jian Ghomeshi on the eminent extinction of the independent bookstore

2010-07-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

Have a listen to Jian Ghomeshi's opening lines for his CBC show Q. The topic: our independent bookstores and what's left of them. If you scroll down that webpage there are also some good comments from listeners posted.
Thanks Jian, couldn't agree more!

While on this topic:

Here are four really great indie bookstores I love that are currently operating in Vancouver that have Not gone out of business yet and should you not have been there I highly recommend going there.

1. Humpty Dumpty Books and Music

1496 Cartwright St

(604) 683-7009

online

( located inside the Kidsmarket on Granville Island)

They offer a great selection of classics especially and have a lot of softcover books which means that they will be more affordable. Also featured is a French and Spanish selection. It's a very small space crammed full of amazing books! Next time your on Granville Island go and check it out!

2. Lucky's Comics

3972 Main Street
(604) 875-9858

online

Lucky's has a great and quircky selection of comics, some especially for children, graphic novels, novelty books, picture books, novels and zines. Also there is a gallery in the back so you can check out some local talent at the same time. Great place to get lost in for a bit while you're on Main Street.

3. Oscars Art Books

1533 West Broadway (Granville & Broadway)
(604) 731-0553

online

Oscars is a fantastic bookstore full of art books. They book shelves just on drawing, just on typography, just on painting techniques, paper making, illustration, photography, etc... Also they have tons of books on artists as well as a great selection of moleskin sketchbooks, calendars, and always a big table in the back with books on sale! Go there!

4. Mc Clouds Books

455 Pender Street
(604) 681-7654
online

This is my favorite bookstore in Vancouver in terms of atmosphere. You go in there and the first thing you'll probably see is just stacks of books not even on shelves, just stacked on top of each other. It really smells like books in there if you know what I mean. Mc Clouds specializes in antique books and if you really want to tease yourself go peek in their glass cabinets filled with antique Children's picture books. Absolutely amazing!

Little Red Riding Hood

2010-06-29T22:30:00.001-07:00

One story illustrated so many different ways! I posted these as Inspiration for my class's homework assignment. (illustrating part of 'Little Red Riding Hood') Most images are named with the illustrator's name. Just click on it and the respectful names should come up. If not save it to your desktop to see the name if you have some where you want to know who the artist is. Sorry, it's just too many to post underneath each respective image. Maybe I will do it retroactively however.

Homework Assignment #5 (NEW):

2010-06-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

Everyone illustrates the same part of a classical children’s story. Create at least 3 images. (but at least 1 full spread) Pay attention to:

a) The characters you use (do the character development exercise)

b) Composition (do the composition exercise if you get stuck)

c) Attention to detail. What type of line are you using for your character etc..---shows you need to employ consistency within a story / within a chosen style. Your style

*Bonus: If you want, try to illustrate the images all in a way that make the story seem very SPOOKY or SAD. But if you choose one of these you have to make all your 3 images spooky or sad. You have to use the same style and mood in ALL of the images, as if they were all part of the same book! This will help you practice consistency!

*Bonus: If you want, try to sketch out the whole story layout in a 32 page dummy book (like the one we made in class) You can get the whole story here.

Attention Students: Bring for next class:

Some things you have around the house you can bear to let go off. Like for example: Tape, newspaper, coloured paper, wire, thread, styrofoam (look in your recycling bin for stuff). If you don't find anything that inspires you just go to a dollar store and look in the craft section!

A GLUE GUN and an extension cord if you have one or some tape. Anything that's not too big and you think you could make a fun character out of. Also: Bring some of your favorite drawing tools (pens, pencils markers etc..) and your sketchbook if you have one. Or some paper you like.

Brothers Grimm

Little Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was loved by everyone who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother, and there was nothing that she would not have given to the child. Once she gave her a little riding hood of red velvet, which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else; so she was always called 'Little Red Riding Hood.'

One day her mother said to her: 'Come, Little Red Riding Hood, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they will do her good. Set out before it gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path, or you may fall and break the bottle, and then your grandmother will get nothing; and when you go into her room, don't forget to say, "Good morning", and don't peep into every corner before you do it.'

'I will take great care,' said Little Red Riding Hood to her mother, and gave her hand on it.

The grandmother lived out in the wood, half a league from the village, and just as Little Red Riding Hood entered the wood, a wolf met her. Red Riding Hood did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him.

'Good day, Little Red Riding Hood,' said he.

'Thank you kindly, wolf.'

'Whither away so early, Little Red Riding Hood?'

'To my grandmother's.'

'What have you got in your apron?'

'Cake and wine; yesterday was baking-day, so poor sick grandmother is to have something good, to make her stronger.'

'Where does your grandmother live, Little Red Riding Hood?'

'A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood; her house stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just below; you surely must know it,' replied Little Red Riding Hood.

< 2 >

The wolf thought to himself: 'What a tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful - she will be better to eat than the old woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both.'

So he walked for a short time by the side of Little Red Riding Hood, and then he said: 'See, Little Red Riding Hood, how pretty the flowers are about here - why do you not look round? I believe, too, that you do not hear how sweetly the little birds are singing; you walk gravely along as if you were going to school, while everything else out here in the wood is merry.'

Little Red Riding Hood raised her eyes, and when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty flowers growing everywhere, she thought: 'Suppose I take grandmother a fresh nosegay; that would please her too. It is so early in the day that I shall still get there in good time.'

So she ran from the path into the wood to look for flowers. And whenever she had picked one, she fancied that she saw a still prettier one farther on, and ran after it, and so got deeper and deeper into the wood.

Meanwhile the wolf ran straight to the grandmother's house and knocked at the door.

'Who is there?'

'Little Red Riding Hood,' replied the wolf. 'She is bringing cake and wine; open the door.'

'Lift the latch,' called out the grandmother, 'I am too weak, and cannot get up.'

The wolf lifted the latch, the door sprang open, and without saying a word he went straight to the grandmother's bed, and devoured her. Then he put on her clothes, dressed himself in her cap, laid himself in bed and drew the curtains.

Little Red Riding Hood, however, had been running about picking flowers, and when she had gathered so many that she could carry no more, she remembered her grandmother, and set out on the way to her.

< 3 >

She was surprised to find the cottage-door standing open, and when she went into the room, she had such a strange feeling that she said to herself: 'Oh dear! how uneasy I feel today, and at other times I like being with grandmother so much.' She called out: 'Good morning,' but received no answer; so she went to the bed and drew back the curtains. There lay her grandmother with her cap pulled far over her face, and looking very strange.

'Oh! grandmother,' she said, 'what big ears you have!'

'All the better to hear you with, my child,' was the reply.

'But, grandmother, what big eyes you have!' she said.

'All the better to see you with, my dear.'

'But, grandmother, what large hands you have!'

'All the better to hug you with.'

'Oh! but, grandmother, what a terrible big mouth you have!'

'All the better to eat you with!'

And scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he was out of bed and swallowed up Red Riding Hood.

When the wolf had appeased his appetite, he lay down again in the bed, fell asleep and began to snore very loud.

(This part of the copyright free Brothers Grimm fairytale "Little Red Riding Hood' has been taken from eastoftheweb.com)

An interesting little fact about Einstein

2010-06-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

(Image above: Albert Einstein as child)
Something I will be covering in my class tomorrow will the topic of 'Why Children's picture books are important, and why our jobs as their illustrators/creators are important'. One example I thought would be interesting simply because of the fact that it pertains to the universally known Albert Einstein is something I came across while listening to one of my favorite podcasts called Radio Lab, this one in particular being on the subject of Time. ('Beyond Time')

On the show (at about 25.21 minutes into it if you want to have a listen yourself) a Professor of Physics at City College in New York tells the following story:

Listen to it here for yourself if you wish.

When Einstein was a child he read a Children's book by Aaron Bernstein. (The book I have now found out was part of a science series for kids, so not a picture story book but nontheless) In the book the question is posed, what it would be like to out race a telegraph message in a telegraphy wire. In other words, to out race electricity. But this was only the beginning because in Einstein's head, he thought of a different question. Which was 'What would it be like to out race a light beam?'. What would it look like? He obsessed about this for years. After 10 years of thinking about this without solving the puzzle, he was riding the bus to work one day and looked at a famous big clock. As he was moving away from the clock on the bus, he imagined would it would be like if the bus he was in all of a sudden started to move at the speed of light. What would happen to the clock and it's time then. And thus was born the theory of relativity.

The Professor of Physics telling this story also refers to this book by Aaron Bernstein as 'perhaps the most important children's book ever written in the history of the human race.' With which I don't think I would completely agree, but I do definitely see how it would be the most important one to you IF you were a Physicist. Either way, I thought that this little story featured on the podcast would make just another fine example of the power that is contained within the Children's book. Books that make us think, books that make us imagine, books that help transform us and shape us into who we will become later on in life.

Also, on a non related note. Should you not be familiar with the Radio Lab podcasts I highly recommend them to anyone. Amazing.

Homework Assignment #4: Text for you to illustrate!

2010-06-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

I will not give you the name of the story and also change the name of the main character because I don't want you to be able to reference the original book, so as to not have it influence your work.

This is Bob the Rabbit. Bob is a busy rabbit. "Bob! Where are you?" calls his Momma Rabbit. "Do you know what time it is?" says Momma Rabbit. Bob says: Is it time to follow a passing ship? Or time to stand on top of the world? Or is it time to make friends with a giant?I know! It's time to win a race. Maybe it's time to grow a mustache? Or time to use my flower-picking machine? Maybe it's time to throw some mudcakes? I think it's time to be the first pirate on the moon. Or is it time to fly across the city? Or is it time to drive a submarine? " Oh, Bob, it's just naptime," says Momma Rabbit. "That's what I was saying," says Bob, as he crawls into bed. Then he closes his eyes to dream of all the things he wants to do...
...and he did.

Good advise from Quentin for Homework Assignment#4(NEW)

2010-06-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a passage I thought might be helpful for you when it comes to deciding what to illustrate out of your text (that I will post next for you). This is written by Quentin Blake and is found in page 57 of his excellent book 'Words and Pictures'.

" Work on a book (one for which I haven't written my own words, that is) begins when the typescript arrives from the publisher; and it begins with reading. In a sense I'm reading the story as if I were two people at the same time: a normal reader, who is relishing a good story for it's own sake; and an illustrator, who is on the look-out for good subjects to draw, good moments. I probably read the story several times to get to know it, and I make underlinings and notes in the margin so that I can easily find the bits I want to refer back to later. Most of my choices I make by what feels like instinct; but when I look back on them I can see that what the illustrations are doing is not always quite the same thing on each occasion. [sic]"

Homework Assignment #4 (NEW)

2010-06-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

Illustration by Helme Heine from 'Na warte sagte Schwarte'

Homework for my Class: "Learn through research and example"

Two parts:

b) Develop this one image further! (use good paper --like the one I gave you at beginning of class for example)

c) Bring your storyboard dummy, and your finished illustration to class along with the book you picked your illustration example from!