Study Task - Characters and Narratives

Catherine Rayner

She has always been one of my favourite illustrators, and is one of the people that really inspired me to pursue Illustration myself, so I can't resist coming back to her now.

I read once that she allocates a whole sketchbook to one of her characters and then spends a long time working on and developing them, often using real life for movement reference. Here is an extract from her website: 

"She finds huge inspiration in her pets and often uses them as models, frequently asking Ena to pose so that she can study her posture and movement. Then she translates sketches of Ena into characters such as dragons and hares, not to mention moose and bears! But it was creatures of a wilder kind that inspired her first picture book, Augustus and His Smile - Catherine spent hours and hours watching and sketching tigers (in freezing temperatures) at Edinburgh Zoo."

Oliver Jeffers

I like the inventive mix of some of his images, and the strong element of craft. However I find some of the character aesthetics a bit too simplified/children's book illustration, I think I'm interested in not only communicating to children, as that instantly makes what you do a bit more selective with regards to the audience who will receive it. 

The texture and the composition of this image is very descriptive and emotive. The texture gets across the dense, powerful sea in a storm, (the sky especially adds a lot, it looks impressively broken and cloudy). The tiny figure in their little row boat contrasted against the big length of the composition adds to the magnitude of the storm and the littleness of the character.

Sarah Maycock

This image does perfectly seem to capture and summarise David Attenborough, and his role in the worlds of natural science. 

Beautiful vibrant and vibrant brushstrokes that make her work very descriptive. 

 Ralph Steadman

I'm very interested in his wonderful, very expressive way of drawing, and how this is balanced with and includes very detailed and intricate components too. There is always a strong feeling of a lot of emotion being communicated in these images and that is something that I would love to achieve with this characters and narratives project. 

 

The colours, and expressive movement of the ink line work is just wonderful. 

Animal Behaviorist

I love his mad characters, they're enormously strange ad yet he has managed to get the right amount of features and expression into them to make them work.

I would love to be able to communicate emotion and expression like Ralph Steadman can, there are no others who are on his intense level and talent.

I can't really begin to unpick how he achieves this, but I think that asides from the obvious freedom, control and expression all wonderfully existing in his pieces I think that the texture and his selective yet very detailed/tonal use of colour lends a lot.

Quentin Blake

No one does charm and character quite like Quentin Blake does. 

"Lolly sticks dreaming of being horses from 'Rosie's Magic Horse' by Russell Hoban "

There is a very pure creative nature to his work, a sort of freedom of imagery. Which I believe is part of the way that he has managed to bring Roald Dahl's work to life so wonderfully.

I would love to be able to create work that was something in between Quentin Blake and Ralp Steadman, perhaps with vibrant expressive brushstrokes like Catherine Rayner or maybe even a more vibrant version of Sarah Maycock. But in order to achieve this I will have to loosen up my work and become even more uninhibited and free about it. 

Here is a link to a post I just wrote on my PPP blog, I think that it is really relevant to this study task and this module too. (With regards to character development and narrative) http://j-broad1316ppp.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/where-wild-horses-are-hide-your-eyes-by.html