15 posts tagged Illustration
Hooray! This book is finally out on the shelves and I was able to pick up a copy
at a local Waterstones. It is excellent, and the illustrations are just beautiful.
Jon Klassen is definitely one of my favourite illustrators.
Jon Klassen is a genius, I just adore his work.
These are some of the great designs he has
with Red Cap Cards.
I came across some fantastic items in the M&S
yesterday afternoon. The M&S biscuit tins have
been so fantastic over the last few years - I have
posted about many of them! This Corgi one was
designed by Monster Riot to celebrate the
Queens coronation and I think it’s excellent.
The Easter cups are really sweet too!
I also discovered a shop filled with those iwako
erasers.
Lastly is a photo of my purchases, more for the
ever growing card collection. With designs by
M&S, Helen Dardik, Quentin Blake, Kelly Hyatt
and Ally Gore.
(Photos taken with Instagram)
Today I drew this rather large barn owl. It feels good to be drawing again after so long.
Wildwood by Colin Meloy & Carson Ellis is the first in a series of brilliant books for children. Carson’s beautiful illustrations, colour palette and the line drawn map on the inside really bring the story to life. I can hardly wait to get back to reading the sequel ‘Under Wildwood’
Here is a trailer for Wildwood:
I came across this great little video about Oliver Jeffers, an incredible author & illustrator on my friend Charlotte’s blog: TTDER
Enjoy!
Oliver Jeffers on Vimeo.
These are two of my favourite books, I was immediately drawn to the colours
and the stylised images not to mention the classic stories. I bought the only
two books I could find at the time and so began my discovery of the wonderful
world of Mary Blair. 
These two books are fantastic collections of the paintings Blair produced for
the original stories, in some of the images you can see how they were directly
translated in to the films. She also put together a huge amount of the concept
artwork that went in to Disney other popular film from the same period, ‘Alice
in Wonderland’.
From Cinderella:
From Peter Pan:
I love the early Walt Disney animated films, Mary Blair worked on a huge amount
of artwork for Disney, from concept art to wall murals and the design of the ‘It’s
a small world’ ride at Disneyland.
If you would like to learn more about Mary Blair there is a fantastic video here:
‘The Art & Flair of Mary Blair’ on Vimeo.
I put together this little embroidery of Moomin Papa recently.
Written by Clifford Ross and Karen Wilkin
I have had this wonderful book for many years now, I purchased it from a great
comic book shop in Nottingham called Page 45, I used to go there to buy comics
and other interesting books when I was younger.
Edward Gorey has always been a source of inspiration for me, I love the dark
humour of his short stories and his quirky illustrative style. I recently read a re
print of his fantastic book ‘The Evil Garden’ and read the whole thing through
in the shop.
This book is a fantastic insight in to Gorey’s world, his inspiration, interests and
line drawing technique. A lot of his work is set in the Edwardian and Victorian
period, his work is filled with monsters, cats, bizarre creatures, children, elegantly
dressed ladies and gentlemen and the strange and often ghastly events that
occur.
Gorey’s use of texture in his illustrations has always interested me, but it wasn’t
until recently that I started looking very closely at the collection of some 200
illustrations in this book, that I became curious about how many different types
of lines he regularly used. I began to put together an Edward Gorey texture
library to record all of the different strokes and marks used to create texture,
depth and light within his work.
I also draw in a heavily textured style, and have found this book and invaluable
source for new ideas and textures to explore and experiment with. I now use
the different examples I have found within Edward Gorey’s illustrations to help
develop my technique and record all of the different lines and marks that I use
within my own drawing.
For anyone that has never encountered the work of Edward Gorey, do so! He
was a truly fantastic man.
I came across this beautiful illustration by Tove Jansson, author, painter and illustrator. She is perhaps best known for her Moomin characters from her books and comic strips.
I have always loved the Moomin illustrations, and in particular Tove’s unique drawing style.
I have found that her drawing style translates well in to embroidery and I have already embroidered two of her illustrations in black and white. I have decided that this particular illustration of Moomin, Thingumy and Bob and the kings ruby will be next embroidery piece.
The second image is the first embroidery I made of the Snorkmaiden and the Fillyjonk from Moominsummer Madness.
I bought this beautiful necklace by ‘eeva margita’ (designed by Niina Aoki) at a craft fair in Perth a few months back. I kept thinking about it and knew that I had to go back and buy it after passing by.
It is hand painted on to mahogany and finished with vintage charms and beads.
Head on over to Niina Aoki’s blog or etsy for more vintage and scandinavian inspired work.
(Taken with instagram)
Designed by Debbie Powell for M&S.
In a previous post I featured another biscuit tin from Marks and Spencers, they
have recently released three different limited edition tins by different artists to
celebrate the British summer and the Diamond Jubilee.
I love the use of texture and the composition of the different elements within
Debbie Powell’s crown design. The colours she has chosen work together very
well, I wish this was available as a screen print - I would love to frame it on my
wall.
The London tin (from my previous post) was designed by Phil Hankinson, the
two jubilee tins were designed by Debbie Powell and Kate Forrester.
I purchased this M&S tin last year by Kate Forrester to celebrate the royal
wedding - I seem to be getting quite a collection now!
The tin with the little dog on was also designed by Phil Hankinson for M&S.
