Hi there! Welcome to the very first issue of my blog newsletter. I am so glad that you are here.
What Can You Expect?
Each Friday morning I will be sharing a little bit about my creative week. I work full time as a children’s book designer and I also spend a few nights and a Saturday each week working on my own freelance children’s illustration business. I will mainly be sharing my freelance work in this blog, but I will also share my book design and contract work when it is made public.
Portfolio Illustration Update.
This week I started working on a new illustration for my portfolio. I have had an image in my mind for a while of children in space taking their dog for a spacewalk around the solar system. Here’s the progress I made on it this week:
My Plan. I quickly scribbled down my plan of attack. These are the steps that I will follow as I create the illustration.
Research. I created a Pinterest board for inspiration and references for space suits, dogs, and images of the universe. I really loved the homemade space costumes I found. This got me wondering if the scene could be in the kids’ imaginations.
Character Sketches. I worked away at some options for the children. As I sketched, I was thinking about their ages, attitudes and how to make them distinctive.
Hot Off The Press!
I worked with Scholastic Australia to design the cover and internal pages of Rodney Forgets It!, written by Michael Gerard Bauer and illustrated by Chrissie Krebs (In stores on July 1st). Here is a photo that the author posted on his Instagram:
Inspiration.
I am currently reading “The Nobel Approach” (available as an e-book here) which is about the animation background design of the legendary Maurice Nobel (He did the old Looney Toons animations like “What’s Opera Doc”). Here is a quote that stood out:
“Making something look fun is one of the most difficult things you can do, but the audience will really appreciate it. If you are designing a comedy or satire, don’t be afraid to be ridiculous with your shapes and forms. If it makes you laugh, it will probably make the audience laugh too.”
My takeaway from this is to resolve to work hard on my designs and compositions to make an impact on the viewer. To push and pull the drawings. To think deeply about the details and how to cause the viewer to have the intended emotional response to my art.
Signing Off.
That’s all for this week. I hope that you found this interesting and helpful. Please do feel free to ask questions or post in the comments. I would also appreciate it if you might share this blog with anyone you think might like it. The more the merrier!
All the best- Paul!