Friday 27 January 2012

The Best of British Illustrators

Liz Moyes
Book Illustration- Danger in Montparnasse
Mixed media

This would have been good for the Twins brief. I should have stolen this idea, it would have made so much sense.

It would be made in photoshop these days, but this is traditional illustration so I think watercolour and coloured pencil...?
Ian Emes
Cinema animation drawings
The Beard

Illustrations done for an animated film by Peter Till
It's close cropping and use of black and white media! I admire the shot of the man's chin. Just using pen, you can get a lot of textures; skin, metal, hair...
That's an interesting thumbnail he's got, I always find drawing thumbs to be really difficult.
Peter Richardson
Book Illustration- Some Credulous Partridges
Watercolour

Woodland scenes are difficult; I did some for my FMP last year. Who'd have thought, trees are so hard to paint?
I love the exaggeration of the cat, he looks freaky with those hands and human facial expression.
The palette is muted so you think of late afternoon sun, and in the distance the trees are paler.
Them partridges crowd around the foreground, all looking at the cat.

There were more realistic, better painted pictures of the same setting in the book, but I chose this because it's lively.
Mike Bell
Advertising illustration- Lipsmacking Waitress
Gouache

This is interesting because of the facial expressions and body language. I think in a picture you're always drawn to look at faces, and when you're out you always people watch.
I bet Mike Bell used photographs to draw from here.



Colin Hadley
Advertising- Head in Sand

Nice tonal work, and the fact that the man's legs are disembodied creates interest.

Heath Robinson

Heath Robinson, early 20th Century cartoonist. He's famous for his eccentric contraptions, usually constructed with bits of knotted string. They would definitely work in real life if you were to make them, I think.
One day I'll try and make one.


Apparently he started off as a landscape painter, but only sold one painting, which was bought out of kindness, so he became a cartoonist and book illustrator as well.

Some books illustrated by him:
Uncle Lubin
Bill the Minder
The Water Babies

One thing I really liked about his drawings was the use of black and white, inspired by Aubrey Beardsley. He also used tonal work and colour.