drawanyway.com

Being a parent may be the perfect excuse for not finding any time to draw, but it’s certainly beneficial for the artist in one way. Artists should keep an eye open for other people’s work, including the latest trends in illustration or fine art - and there’s one place where you can’t avoid doing just that: your local children’s library.

Children’s books contain some of the most vibrant, daring and joyous illustration available today. The very best examples provide a place where parents and children can come together to appreciate images on a very basic level, for their colours and shapes, as well as in their own individual ways. For example, children get attached to particular characters; perhaps they also imagine themselves within the environment depicted. Parents, on the other hand, might appreciate good draftsmanship, or look out for subtle jokes the illustrator has included.

As a putative artist, though, you can get a little more from the books your kid brings home in their dirty wee paw. After all, if you are having to read the same story over and over again (hello, Flat Stanley), you might as well be learning as you do so.

Thus, when you come across a work you really like, give it a good look to see if you can copy, ahem, get inspired by, any of the techniques employed. The thumbnail above (click to see a larger portion) is from a book my daughter picked up at our local library - Kitty Princess and the Fantastic Frog by Trevor Dickinson and Emma Carlow. It’s not necessarily one I would have chosen myself, butI’m glad she found it.

As you know, I draw on the computer with enthusiasm, and here, a number of different computer-drawing techniques all come together. It’s quite fascinating to look at the photo-realistic details mixed with traditional collage and drawing. Actually, I’d love to see how Carlow and Dickinson work - there must be a lot of layers and a lot of versions of each picture.

I looked for ages at this particular page and saw at least four different techniques: scanning in of an actual item to use as fabric (the curtains - is it kitchen roll?); real life collage then scanned in and retaining a 3D look (the pram); photos (the bowl and saucer); drawing over the top of the picture with a Photoshop brush (the decoration on the side of the pram). I can’t even begin to think what the track is made of.

As for those little ironies or jokes that adults enjoy in children’s books, well, the page depicted above is a fine one. The Kitty Princess looks around her room and says ‘there’s nothing to do.’