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Low Horizons, Big Skies
Header illustration made with Midjourney using the prompt: alien arrival, big sky, low horizon, silhouette of city along skyline, interesting cloudscape
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Compositions With Strong Vertical Divisions
Header painting: William Merritt Chase. May I Come In, 1883, pastel
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Balconies in Art and Illustration
A collection of paintings and illustrations featuring balconies and view from balconies.
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Illustrations With Castles In The Distance
Castles in the background of illustrations
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Interesting Use of Negative Space in Illustration
Most often white space, sometimes negative space comprises another colour such as black. In many ways, picturebooks are like film, but negative space is not an option in most kinds of films, where there has to be some kind of backdrop.
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One Point Perspective Picture Book Houses
The one point perspective house is commonly when children draw when they first start drawing houses. Here’s an example from my own kid. I think they were about 8 years old when they drew this one.
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Large Shapes In Illustration
Below is a motley collection of illustrations but I feel they share something in common: They seem to have started from an assemblage of large shapes of colour. On top of those shapes, some are rendered and shaded while others aren’t.
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Movement Toward The Viewer in Illustration
Want to freak your audience out? How about a one point perspective illustration of something heading straight for them at speed?
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The Cosy Little World In Illustration
Artists have various ways of deliberately distorting naturalistic perspective to achieve a certain mood, for example, a cosy little world.
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A Peephole Effect In Storytelling and Art
Peephole: a small hole that may be looked through, especially one in a door through which callers may be identified before the door is opened. Though the graphic art below focuses on peepholes — from literal holes in walls to views through trees in a forest — in literature there are established terms for describing the unsettled feeling you get…
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Utilising The Foreground of Illustrations
One way to add depth to an illustration: Plonk something big and interesting into the foreground. Extend the picture as far back as the situation allows, all the way back to the hills, with detail in the middle distance. Utilise aerial perspective. This illustration of a sleeping cat is a perfect example:
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Collage Sheet Illustration In Picture Books
Crafters sometimes talk about ‘collage sheets’ and we can use this term to describe a certain type of picture book illustration. Basically, I’m talking about a piece of art which looks a lot like a sticker sheet, or, if you’re a generation older than modern adhesive, like a sheet of paper dolls, yet to be cut out. Think also of a page in a stamp collector’s album.
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Symmetry In Art and Storytelling
Symmetry is one of those words whose everyday usage is a little different from the scientific meaning. Everyday usage a sense of harmonious and most appealing proportion and balance Scientific meaning In biology, the repetition of the parts in an animal or plant in an orderly fashion. Specifically, symmetry refers to a correspondence of body parts, in size, shape, and relative position,…
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Eye Lines Guiding The Viewer in Illustration
Artists and illustrators use tricks which tell the viewer where to look. Since humans tend to naturally follow the gaze of others, one focusing trick is to create eye lines all pointing to the focus of the work.
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Movement Through Picture Books
Western picture books are read from left to right. This affects the layout of a page, and the direction of character movement. Generally, characters also move through a picture book from left to right. When embarking upon a journey they will look to the right. When looking out a window, the window will often encourage readers to look to the…
