Communication Arts | Award of Excellence.

You may remember that earlier this year, i announced that my Monster Alphabet hand-created typography had been chosen as one of the winning entries for Communication Arts' Typography Annual 3. The annual was published in January, and my collage typography was featured inside. I was also informed that, in addition to receiving a copy of the annual, each winning entrant would receive an Award of Excellence; an actual trophy! I was pretty excited to receive this beauty in the post this morning;

Eeeeee! An actual shiny trophy engraved with my name! Now i just have to find somewhere to put it...

Illustration Friday | Storm.

I'm a little bit scared of thunder when it's loud and crashy.

I haven't submitted an illustration for Illustration Friday for a super long time, but after popping over to the website earlier today, I noticed that this week's topic is storm. Admittedly, I created the full-version of this image quite a while ago - it's a section of one of the double-page spreads in my illustrated children's picture book I'm A Little Bit Scared Of... - but it just seemed to fit the them perfectly. 

Peeking through the window, watching a storm crash and rage outside whilst you're all safe and snuggled inside is definitely the best way to spend a storm; it's easy to run and hide if it gets a little bit too loud and crashy...

Tigerprint | Valentine's Banner.

A few days ago, I noticed that Tigerprint were inviting creatives to design a love-inspired banner, which would then be featured on their website over the Valentine's period. The only requirement was that the words We Are Tigerprint had to be included in the design. I decided to play with some of the Valentine's themed images I'd previously created, and composed this pretty, pink banner; a collage and mixed-media design, featuring two elegant flamingoes, and lots of cute love-hearts! Aww.

You can see my banner, plus a handful of other lovely designs, being shown in rotation on Tigerprint's homepage, or have a little look here to view all the submissions at once; there are some really pretty designs included, so I'd definitely recommend having a peek!

Incredible Illustrators | Anna Walker

One of the best parts about working in a book shop is that I have the chance to sort out, and display, the picture books. Obviously that means I need to have a peek through them all - my method of arranging involves displaying the books which have awesome illustrations, in addition to a selection of classic picture books I remember from my childhood, and any others I'm not so keen on are put back in the picture book pile. This has caused me to discover a number of children's illustrators whom I wasn't previously aware of. On my very first day at work last autumn, I fell in love with a couple of children's picture books - both of which were illustrated by Anna Walker. A little bit of research when I got home taught me that Anna is an australian illustrator, with a BA in Graphic Design, who has illustrated many books for children. Despite the fact that the books were very reasonably priced, I somehow managed to talk myself out of buying them week after week - I don't really need them etc - but then they were added to our January sale and, at only £1 each, it really would have been silly not to buy them!

 The books I bought are entitled Yummy Ice-Cream and Let's Play House; both are from a series of books which feature three main characters - a panda, a sheep and an owl.

I was immediately drawn to these books due to the collaged aspects on the front cover - textures always seem to capture my eye, as they stand out against flat backgrounds. I had a quick peek inside the books, and totally fell in love with illustrations - a juxtaposition between the simplistic - and incredibly cute! - style of the characters and the collaged aspects, made up of a range of different fabrics. My work tends to be very intricately collaged, to the point where if you glance at a print of the original illustration, the textures and colours of the different papers used to create it are not always noticeable. In contrast, the illustrations in these book incorporate bold cut-out shapes of patterned fabric, and they stand out strongly against the subdued neutral colours of the ink characters and pale pastel-coloured backgrounds. Have a peek at some of the beautiful images for yourself;

 

I love how beautifully the textures of the fabrics are captured - the delicate weave of certain materials, and the individual frayed threads along the edges of the collaged shapes, are clearly visible - to the point that you want to reach out and brush away a stray thread, or feel the texture of the fabric beneath your fingertips. It gives the illustrations a certain depth and tactility that wouldn't exist in the otherwise flat, inked images.

 

The storylines of the books are simple, yet they both follow a narrative which sees the three characters playing together, sharing and having fun. Personally, I think the text inside the books would fit better with the style of the illustrations if it ... more hand-drawn style - perhaps similar to the style of text used on the first page of each book - but that might just be me and my love of hand-created lettering!

I'd actually quite like to buy myself a couple of the other books in the series, although I think I'm going to have to give one of these two books to my best friends' little girl. Pandas are her current favourite, so she will adore these books - I saw her yesterday, and she fell in love with my Topshop panda-face socks, so this seems like too much of an opportunity to miss! She can just about say panda-bear, and it's the cutest thing ever. ♥

Incredible Illustrators | Brian Wildsmith.

As I mentioned in the first of my Incredible Illustrator posts, I recently treated myself a pretty big stash of beautifully illustrated picture books - they were originally on my Christmas list, but after the boy and I decided we were only going to spend a limited amount on each other this year, I wanted them so bad I ended up buying them for myself! The majority of the books I bought were written and illustrated by Brian Wildsmith. Many of these are out of print now, as they were all printed in the 70s and 80s, long ago before I was even born (!!) but I was lucky enough to find copies of most of the titles I wished to purchase, and luckily all the second-hand ones I bought are still in lovely condition.

I was initially drawn to Brian Wildsmith's work after coming across some of his squirrel illustrations a few months ago. My total love of squirrels is no secret, so you can imagine how excited I was to discover that Wildsmith had created a picture book entitled Squirrels - a whole book dedicated to my favourite animal, and completely packed with Wildsmith's beautiful squirrel illustrations - I had to have a copy!

I have to admit that since it has arrived, I haven't taken a great deal of notice of the text in the book - although it did amaze me to discover that squirrels can swim! - I've been far too busy looking at all the pictures! I could happily spend hours looking at the illustrations - they're beautiful, and many of them - the snowy little fella above in particular - I would happily frame and hang on my wall.

These are some of my favourite illustrations from the book Squirrels (I've tried not to get too carried away, honest!)

                                                                                                       Cutest ever!

I love how some of the animals are illustrated in great detail, with defined brushstrokes for specific hairs in a squirrel's tail or whiskers, whereas others - such as the squirrels in the illustration below - appear a little more abstract and less defined - almost softer in appearance. This variation in style seems to continue throughout the books. 

As you can see in the above images, the techniques Wildsmith uses to create his illustrations is vast - paint layered upon paint, splattered paint, crayon layered over paint, collaged paper. These techniques create the most incredible bold and intense backgrounds for his illustrations, vivid and colourful. This is particularly evident in the images below, where the range of materials and techniques employed are clear to see;

Although the squirrels are definitely my favourites, I also want to share with you some of my favourite illustrations from a few of Wildsmith's other picture books - these are entitled Brian Wildsmith's Animal Gallery, The Owl and the Woodpecker and Professor Noah's Spaceship. All the animals are in gorgeous detail, and their facial expressions seem to give them little personalities of their own. Each illustration is so complex, and with individual brushstrokes and different mark-making evident in the images, they draw you in and make you want to look closer.

Woodland creatures are my favourites at the moment - in addition to squirrels, I also adore hedgehogs, foxes and owls - and the illustrations featured below are perfect! I love the tiny details in the images, such as the interaction between the different species of animals, and also all the little added details on certain pages - teeny tiny frogs and insects and creatures crawling around the bases of trees. So cute, and it displays the amount of thought obviously put into the composition of each page.

Although this post naturally focuses mainly on the illustrations in Brian Wildsmith's picture books, the stories that these images accompany are sweet, although slightly retro in style. I am especially fond of the fact that the stories often see every type of animals - different sizes and shapes and colours - all working together, and living in harmony amongst each other. Although this may not be true to life, it's lovely to see - a raccoon causally chatting with a mouse, or frogs and butterflies frolicking together happily - such situations are sure to spark a child's imagination. The intense colour and vividness of the illustrations are sure to appeal to children, and the gorgeous animal illustrations are perfect for introducing children to different animals of the world. At the rate that I am currently adding to my beautiful-picture-books-for-my-future-children collection, we're soon going to have to buy yet another bookcase!

Incredible Illustrators | Mark Hearld.

Up until now, my blog has primarily been focussed on the illustration work that I have created, but as I am currently only working part-time as an illustrator, this means that the creation of new illustrations isn't as regular as I'd like. Boo. I really want to be able to update my blog more often, and hopefully capture the interest of a few new readers! I've decided I am going to start writing some inspiration-based posts; I'll be sharing the work of a selection of my favourite illustrators, along with some of my favourite picture books, plus anything else that has been inspiring me. My blog will remain illustration-based, but in addition to displaying my own work, I hope that branching out and posting about illustrations that I admire will provide inspiration and hopefully allow you to discover the incredible work of other illustrators, some of whom you may not have been previously aware of.

A few nights ago, I decided to splash out and treat myself to couple of beautifully illustrated children's picture books. I've had my eye on a few for some time, and so of course I got a little carried away, and ending up buying quite a few!

The first to arrive was A First Book of Nature which is written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Mark Hearld. I actually only discovered Mark Hearld's work very recently, but he's quickly become a new favourite. I happened to come across a beautiful squirrel card in a local shop and, as I completely adore squirrels, I did a little research on the artist, whose name I'd found on the back of the card. It turns out that Mark completed an MA in Natural History Illustration, so it is really no surprise that his work is very focused on the natural world - animals and birds and plants. Mark mainly creates prints, paintings and brightly-coloured collages, but I was delighted to discover that he had also illustrated a children's picture book and, with a beautiful red squirrel adorning the front cover, I knew I had to have it.

Quite honestly, A First Book of Nature is one of the most beautifully illustrated children's books I have ever come across (and trust me, I have looked at a lot of picture books). The book is much thicker than I imagined too, so it is literally crammed full of gorgeous illustrations. I'd love to share them all with you, especially as the book includes so many of my favourite woodland creatures, but I've tried not to go too crazy with the photos and only limit it to my very favourites;

The book explores the natural world throughout the four seasons, and the illustrations which accompany text about the winter months, or nocturnal animals, are definitely some of my favourites. I love how the white aspects of the images - the stars, or snow, or cobwebs - seem to glow against the darker background. The spiderlings page is one of the best in the entire book - the design of the page as a whole is so beautiful, with the spider silk so delicate and fragile-looking.

As an illustrator who creates collage and mixed media work myself, I tend to be naturally drawn to illustrators who create work using similar methods. Mark creates his work using a vast range of different materials - if you take a closer look at the images in the book (have a peek at the photos below), this range is clearly evident. You can clearly see the use of collage; the different cut out papers incorporate a range of colours, patterns  and textures. Print making is also featured strongly, which is consistent with the linocut prints Mark also creates. The illustrations also include hand-drawn aspects, created from materials which appear to include paint, chalk, crayon, ink and coloured pencil. Not only the range of materials used, but the methods used to apply them add additional texture to the illustrations - in some images, paint has been applied with a sponge; in others, it has been splattered in a seemingly haphazard manner. This creates such detail in each image that I could happily lose hours of my life just looking at them.

Such bold and confident mark-making techniques, along with the combination of such a wide range of materials, creates illustrations with such an incredible visual impact - images which really bring the animals and creatures they depict to life. There are other examples of Mark's work which I like, especially a certain squirrel linograph print - but the collection of illustrations contained within the pages of A First Book of Nature are by far my very favourites. 

There are certain picture books which you open, and instantly feel excited at the idea of having your own children one day, so that you can share it with them. I can imagine these illustrations being viewed in wonder through child-sized eyes - such a beautiful way to teach little ones about animals and the natural world. Definitely a book to be treasured - I'll be adding my copy to my shelf of picture books, along with a little selection of the ones I saved from my own childhood.