Thursday, 31 January 2013

Jim Kay

 
I have been doing a little research online into illustrated 'young adult' fiction books and I came across these amazing illustrations by Jim Kay. They are for the book A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness. I had never heard of the book but these dark and somewhat sinister images caught my eye and it really makes me want to read it. I'm going to have to find this book at the weekend. The description says it is a story of a young boy struggling with nightmares and the fear of losing a loved one. These themes of nightmares and fear are also apparant in The Book Thief.
 

 
Liking the double page spread. Might have to experiment with that.


Some more Liesels...


Liesel Meminger



These are some Liesel character designs from my sketchbook.


Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Paper cinema


The paper cinema company came to do a workshop with us yesterday and we all had a go at making live paper animations in groups. Each group came up with their own 3 minute narrative which we performed using cut out drawings and sound effects. Naturally our group decided to tell a story about a man being swallowed by a whale and making its belly his new home! It was quite refreshing to try something new and to think of different ways of presenting a narrative. Here are some of the photos Hope took of our cut outs.
















the Paper Cinema

Saturday, 19 January 2013

"Papa's lungs were full of sky."

This is one of my favourite lines from The Book Thief . An image popped into my head as soon as I read it so I made it up the other night in watercolour paints and drawing ink. 

Some loveliness












Philip Holman



 

 
Here is some artwork by illustrators that I like and am influenced by in my own work. There are a few different techniques going on, including monoprinting (which I am hoping to experiment with myself.)  

Research and collecting...




Book Burning 










Some research into the time period, Nazi Germany before and during the war. Extreme prejudice, the burning of 'un-German' material in the streets, the marching of Jewish prisoners through towns, the Hitler Youth and the destruction caused by World War 2 are just some of the things Liesel experiences in this book. This was a confusing time for Germany, especially for a child. Liesel does not fully understand the terrible things she sees and just adapts to a way of life, as children do. Although it was a sad and frightening time (to put it mildly) i find it fascinating.
Some of these images are scanned from books I took out of my Uni library and the others I found online. 
http://www.fold3.com/page/285875536_the_children_of_nazi_germany/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/69/a5294469.shtml


Some initial sketches






Narrative?

So I thought I'd start by finding a definition of the word 'narrative':

noun
1.    a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.

It is interesting to think that human life is like a narrative in itself, we are living our own stories everyday. Some people's stories are more interesting than others, some are quite extraordinary. Some stories are invented for our amusement, to broaden our minds, to move us, but mainly to help us escape from our own dull ones.
The Book Thief  is an example of one girl's extraordinary story that fascinates me. The novel by Markus Zusak is a fictional story that tells of a young girl in Nazi Germany who discovers a passion for words, book stealing and the people she meets on Himmel Street. One of the unusual things about it is the fact that it is narrated by Death. 
blurb:
1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath.
Death has never been busier.
Liesel, a nine-year old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.
This is one of my favourite books, it is over 500 pages long and it is full of amazing imagery that is going to be challenging to illustrate. But hopefully it will be enjoyable too!