Update so far =)

Ive been doing alot of sketchbook and colour work so far, working on different stories and again trying to build on my style and ideas. Most recently Ive been working on a range of greeting cards, i found my characters are quite heart warming and appealing hence i felt they would work in this area quite well. I'm liking this idea so far and have created a few different version of cards for different occasions. I m working on three different stories at the moment, building on a new version of my 'Emily' story and also looking at one which incorporates lots of animals and characters. As well as that Ive been doing alot of life drawing work to try and build on my drawing skills which helps me draw my characters in different positions doing things! Ive found this really useful so far, got quite a few ideas in the pipeline for 3d characters and a small character artist book, as well as doing more in depth research and analysis of my style and artists. Seem to be progressing well so far, just a few images of work so far . . . .

Illustration Cupboard

When i was in London last week i went into the Illustration Cupboard for a quick look round. The Kevin O'Neill exhibition was on of his comic and graphic novel work, which was interesting to see, but not really my style. What was great to see was some Shaun Tan originals which were left over from his exhibition, it was really interesting to see close up his colour work, in pastel and paint, as were usually used to seeing the vivid black and white images. His images were very soft and endearing, i really took quite a bit of inspiration from them. Also really liked the John Vernon Lord images from Alice in Wonderland, as I'm working on some book cover front jackets. And when looking through the signed books i found a great retelling of Beauty and the Beast, illustrated by Angela Barret, which again had amazing soft imagery. I luckily managed to but a signed Shaun Tan book 'tales from outer suburbia' and a signed Robert Ingpen book 'Peter Pan and Wendy'- very happy about these =)
Great trip, and Great inspiration!

Bit of an update.

One thing I've managed to complete, still trying to keep up my sketchbooks though and painting at least one thing everyday, at the moment I'm trying to evolve my characters and watercolours. This was done as a charity thing. Hope everyone is having a good summer despite the weather we've been having! x

Update

Hey people I have been working on a few new stories which I will develop into children's books and future inksoups, the latter being more experimental than the usual pencil work.
These are my initial ideas for new stories, which i have began to panel out and have started doodling ideas for characters.

This is a piece i completed about a month ago for my piano story....

... and I am currently working towards a new piece for the book, which is near completion and I will upload it next week when it is coloured and polished.

I've also raided the kids section of the central library for artist/mixed media/narrative research, you can take out up to 8 books for a month so its worth going down and having a rummage!

Thats all for now :) hope everyone is progressing well with their work.

A visit from KI.

Hey there! Theses are a few sketchs of my new character Ki! (Key). Cant wait to use KI in a narrative! Definatley my favourite creation at the minute, but for the time being im really just enjoying painting without deadlines or guidelines! Anyhow hope you lot are having a good summer! Let me know what ya think!? Chiu!! be gently! :)


Cheers Guy

O and check out morris.carbonmade.com

Not much!

Well being as Chiu is hassling everyone ;o) ill put up a few sketches im working on. Im working on one of 3 ideas for my range of stories and this particular character is a toucan named woody.

More to come but this is just a quick update!

Parker Collection at Central Library

I've just been to see The Parker Collection at Birmingham Central Library
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=1938&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=5396
A Fantastic collection of books dating back to 1830

A few book titles that I jotted down, that just per chance happen to both have pigs in them, were:

http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdc/?dlc=no&c=JUV&m=hdRI&i=700


http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdc/?dlc=no&c=JUV&m=hd1J&i=407

and a more modern illustrator - Iassen Ghiuselev

http://www.iassen.com/?l=12&l_1=18&l_2=27

Help please

Hey guys
I borrowed today a wacom from uni. you re supposed to just plug it in and it works but i plugged it and apparently there isnt any electricity going through, even if plugged in. i tried different ones and on a dif laptop as well..
any ideas/suggestions about it? :s

Thanks
n.

Recent shenanigans..

Well this is an illy I have just completed for Rick Ragabash which will be sent off to Templar shortly.

Any feedback would be jolly nice!

Love
Naomi

New Double Spread

This is the new spread for good ol' piano boy.

Any commentaries would be appreciated :)

Hope everyone is doing alraaaat and enjoying the overcast weather.

Magination Press

This is also a site I was advised to look at, although based in America I can view their online catalogue to see what they have published. This has been useful to see what sort of things are on the market already.

The research I've done so far has sort of made me think more about my direction at this stage. Whether or not I want to directly inform children of social issues or whether to, like many others, create a story with a hidden moral message.

Decisions, decisions!

Hi everyone! Following on from my plans for my project I have continued to email some people for advice and have received some really helpful stuff! Here is just a small section of an email I received by a writer named Yvonne Russell. She has written previously for children's picture books regarding social issues so she made very interesting reading!

Background

Following on from the idea of trying to achieve backgrounds, i looked at Gustave Dore (cheers Chiu) which is packed with detail and atmosphere. Another option could be simplifying it, so to only include the most important parts of the narrative. Kent Williams' The Fountain does this, using just an outline of supporting characters which still creates depth and covers that awkward blank space but keeps focus purely on the subject.
hope this is useful nay

Any more sneaky monsters?

Hey
Um, i m trying a new style approach and this is basically the 1st sample page for it..
I made 1st the coloured one and then i made a b&w sketch where i changed it a bit and it s more close to the actual dimensions of the book (if i ever finish it!).
Well the idea was the backround to be filled with 'sneaky monsters' yet i kinda ran out of ideas of what else i could put there...any ideas?

thnx

p.s. sorry for the really bad quality, i don have a scanner at the mom so i have to do with with photos of the pictures..

new

Hey everyone. Hope you're all having a good heatwave/thunderstorm. Here are some new pieces for Rick Ragabash I've just coloured on Photoshop and I need some feedback! Any comments appreciated :)