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Panoptic Narrative Art In Picture Books
Let’s say there are 7 main categories of Narrative art. Narrative art is art which tells a story. Panoptic refers to ‘showing or seeing the whole at one view’. Panoptic narrative art is often a bird’s eye view. The ‘camera’ is above. This is the art world’s equivalent of an all-seeing (omniscient) narrator. Panoptic and panoramic […]
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Composing The Thumbnails Of A Picture Book
How do you go about the task of mocking up a picture book? Most picture book illustrators make a dummy of thumbnails, to check the story flows well. Many writers (who are not also illustrators) find this a helpful practice, too. The following notes are from Framed Ink: Drawing and composition for visual storytellers by […]
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Drawing Development And Children
The above picture was drawn by my eight-year-old. According to Gaston Bachelard, who quotes psychologists of his era, door knobs are a good sign. The Psychology Behind Drawings By Children Asking a child to draw his house is asking him to reveal the deepest dream shelter he has found for his happiness. If he is happy, […]
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Drawing While Listening To Audiobooks After Dinner
Highly recommended for young fidgeters.
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Walking, Floating, Creeping Houses
Included in the definition of ‘home’ is the idea of a stable, secure structure… which doesn’t get up and move! The concept of home is especially important in children’s stories, which explains the popularity of the home-away-home structure: Child leaves home, has a little adventure, then returns to security. The young reader falls into slumber, […]
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Ways Of Seeing On YouTube
EPISODE ONE, PART ONE John Berger tells us that late 20th century audiences view classic paintings very differently from earlier people. A large part of seeing depends on habit and convention. European paintings are made for European perspectives. Perspective depends on the eye of the beholder, like an inverse lighthouse. Instead of light beaming in, […]
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Generic, Naturalistic and Minimalist Character Illustration
Do you remember being a child and instantly drawn to anything brightly coloured and cartoonish? You learned very early that if something was done in that style, it was made for you. You may also have come across media done in that style which was not for you — perhaps your mum or dad prized a Japanese manga out of…
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Digital Illustration Tips and Hints
Layers and Merging Create lots of layers, periodically grouping and merging before the doc gets too cumbersome. When flattening, always ‘save as’ each version. Regular saving as (rather than just hitting save) will help you out if your software crashes and corrupts upon re-opening. You can flatten an old version and use as a reference […]
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Composition In Film and In Picture books
Ah, composition. How things are arranged on the page… or on the screen. I have written before about how picture books have a lot in common with film, and that study of one equals study of the other.
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Stage and Cinematic Perspective In Art and Picture Books
The Stage Perspective books look almost as if we are looking at a story acted out on a stage. Cinematic picture books are influenced by film, and make use of various camera angles: high angle, low angle, worm’s eye view, establishing shot and so on.
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Illustrating The Dark
I’m interested in all the different ways artists show a viewer darkness, when in reality, night is the absence of light.
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Picturebook Study: Why the Black and White?
1. THE AIR OF UNCOMPROMISING DETACHMENT While some picturebooks are in black and white for economic reasons, serious picture-book artists who choose to aavoid color in a medium noted for its use of color often have similar special points to make. The obvious example is the work of Chris Van Allsburg. The black-and-white pictures in […]
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Books For Grown-ups With Illustrations
Christopher Howse at The Telegraph asks why books for grownups don’t have illustrations anymore, and says some very interesting things about the work of Julia Donaldson, but offers no answer about lack of illustrations in adult literature. Instead, commenters offer up a variety of books for adults which are indeed illustrated. To save you wading […]
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Mushrooms In Children’s Illustration
This one goes out to all those mushroom lovers out there.
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The Colour Of Sky In Art And Illustration
In Western cultures at least, little kids first learn to draw with a blue or (black for night-time) sky, and a yellow orb for the sun. In reality, sky can be many different colours.