The Kangaroo sleeps in the Red Desert

This postcard depicts the beginning of the story, when the Kangaroo is sleeping in the desert oblivious to the fact that he has lost one of his shoes.

This is the first attempt at sketching out the Kangaroo.

Feedback:

'Don't make him so human-like. Put him in more of a Kangaroo pose. He needs to have less chubbier cheeks and a narrower snout.'




Richard also wanted to have a shoe, preferably a brown boot, on one of the Kangaroo's feet.

I used the same technique that I will be continuously repeating throughout this project. As you can see from the images above, everything is drawn out individually with the brush pen, a separate image of watercolour is painted and then the two layers are merged together to create the design, using Photoshop. I also added in more details, like the grass and the snake trail, as you can see below.

Feedback:

'The Kangaroo sleeping image is ok, except he doesn't exactly resemble a Kangaroo. His snout and feet should be less chunky, Kangaroo's have thin, but long snouts and feet. In turn, the boot would become less bulky and then look more comfortable in the image.

Just make sure the Kangaroo looks a bit more like a Kangaroo.'

This was my next attempt at the making the Kangaroo look more like a Kangaroo.

Feedback:

'Ok, the Kangaroo is getting there. I would say his leg now looks freakishly long. His snout may still need thinning a tad too. But the main focus would be the extra long leg.'

This was my final attempt at drawing the sleeping Kangaroo.

Feedback:

'That's better. What's next?'

The Kangaroo and the Moon Bear

This is the second installment for the postcard collection, with this particular one being based on the Moon Bear, whom the Kangaroo befriends while nearing the end of his journey.

I researched the Moon Bear on the internet to get an idea of how to draw him and his colouring etc although first time round, I didn't get him quite right.

Again, I used the technique of merging the brush pen and watercolour layers together, using Photoshop. 

Feedback:
'I like the bear, though I had pictured him less happy because he's cold and I saw his face as old and wise. Also, that bear is a grizzly? The one in the story is a Moon Bear. The watercolour and brush pen technique looks good.'


The original watercolour layer was done in shades of black paint, but while working in Photoshop it must have altered the colours slightly, as the image above is a dark brown.

I tried sketching out an older version of the Moon Bear, making his cheeks saggier, placing bags under the eyes, stray whiskers and smaller, wiser and more tired looking eyes.


Feedback:
'Could he look a tad older, colder and wiser?'

The top left image was my next attempt at making the Moon Bear look older. I made his cheeks look a bit saggier, made his posture hunched and altered the fur around his face.

I still used shades of black watercolour for his fur, but again, it looks slightly brown, so I had to change the contrast and brightness of the image, in order to make him look similar to the real thing.

Feedback:

'Will it have context? Background etc? And could he have snow resting on his fur.'

The Moon Bear lives in a forest 'thick with snow', so I created trees to use for the background and added the snow onto his fur.

Feedback:

'The Bear needs to be more amongst the trees, not outside the forest. Bring him in.'

Here is the final postcard design.

The Kangaroo and the 'Honourable but Deluded' Seahorse

After reading through the story, I have selected 7 different parts that I would like to illustrate and make into postcards for my final products. This is the first one that attracted my attention.

The writing in blue is an indication and description of what needs to be drawn for each page.

These are the preliminary sketches.


Feedback:
'Nice start, only first thing is the seahorse looks female. It's interesting seeing them coming to life. I like the initial drawings though.'

This is the second attempt at the 'honourable but deluded seahorse'.

I tried incorporating the characters into the background, which I felt was not successful in this piece. The aim was to use watercolours to create the more 'natural' effect and I was also using pen and ink for the outlines. I have not used watercolour much before and here, I felt the brush strokes were too tight and too confined.

Feedback:

'The characters need to be more prominent. There needs to be more focus on them and I find the image too busy.'

I decided that to achieve this, I would revert back to my usual technique, by using the brush pen to create thicker and bolder lines. I also made separate pages of watercolour, so that there was more freedom in the strokes and I wasn't confined to work within the lines. Then using Photoshop, I pasted the two layers together.

This is a demonstration of the process. I felt this was an appropriate technique to use, as the lines are naturalistic and loose, as is the colouring, which provides more depth to the image.

I carried out the same process with the background as well. I got inspiration for the layout from images on the internet, all of which will be documented in my bibliography.

The next step, was to combine the characters with the background. 

This was the result. It is much simpler than the previous version and everything about it is much bolder, vibrant and more colourful. I also added in fish characters for detail.

Feedback:

'The image is too bright.'

To combat this problem, I made the water darker, so it appeared to be more at night as it is written in the story.

The darker water shows up more of the details and I think helps in making the underwater scene look more bold and eye-catching.

Feedback:

Richard seemed happy with the end product, saying it looked of a 'professional standard'.

Tips, Styles and Artists

To help me determine the kind of style that Richard wanted for the postcards, he sent me some links to various blogs and imagery that he thought would be useful.


http://owlsinatree.blogspot.com/2007/07/eric-chase-anderson.html


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_q3duCa82-9k/TCDyOS2SL9I/AAAAAAAACXE/QVsuag-yBTA/s1600/eric2.jpg

Eric Chase Anderson works with a drafting pen, ink and gouache paint. These materials work well in his images, making them more realistic, with more dimensions to them due to the tonal range that the paint can achieve. They have real depth.

http://pinktentacle.com/images/11/kaiju_film_3.jpg

Richard also suggested looking at the concept art for 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'.

The images below have been painted by Chris Appelhans.

Then, there was the children's book, 'The Last Polar Bears'.

This book was written and illustrated by Harry Horse and is defined, detailed, colourful and the drawings are soft, but dominant. Richard liked the attention to detail in the spread below and said that I should try and incorporate aspects like that within my illustrations.

What is involved in collaboration and in the working relationship between Author and Illustrator?

Introduction


In order to research the workings of the author/illustrator relationship when it comes to collaborating, I will be working first hand with a friend, Richard Standen and his writing partner Tom Stanley.

They have written a children’s book entitled, ‘The Kangaroo Who Lost A Shoe’, aimed at an audience of 5-8 year olds.  Using this story, I am going to illustrate snippets from it, which will then be made into a collection of 7 postcards as the final products.  There will be five 4”x 6” postcards and two longer 4”x 8” ones.  I thought postcards would be the most effective way for me to focus on the core parts and characters in the story rather than illustrating the entire book, which is around 120 pages long.

The research will be done by communication via email, phone and meeting in person to determine what the authors want for the end products.  I am setting up a blogspot.com website to show updates from the project and to use as a diary of events, which I feel will highlight and document the process of collaboration leading to a conclusion, which will be the products created.  This blog will also clarify the complications involved in the process, the communication, the styles, the visual ideas from both parties, the possible differences in opinions and the different depictions of characters and settings.  Taking the text from the story into account, I will email the images and then await critical feedback on each, so that I can get a better idea of what is required from me.

To get a better insight, I will also be looking at the working relationships and collaborations between other artists, illustrators and authors, film directors and actors etc.  This will hopefully help me to establish and get a more in depth look at the process as a whole.