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- Herausgeber: Crowood
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
How do you go about illustrating a children's book? Where do the ideas come from? How do you illustrate a narrative? How do you get published? This beautiful book answers all these questions and more. With practical tips and ideas throughout, it explains and follows the journey from first idea to final completed book. It is filled with illustrations that show how these images are made, and offers a rare chance to see the roughs, visuals and ideas sheets from a variety of childen's illustrators. Exercises support the ideas discussed and suggest ways of developing them. A beautiful book aimed at artists, illustrators, publishers, colleges and adult education courses teaching illustration. Explains the journey from first idea to the final completed book. Offers a rare chance to see the roughs, visuals and ideas sheets from a variety of children's illustrators. Superbly illustrated with 199 colour images. Martin Ursell is a senior lecturer in illustration at Middlesex University and has illustrated many books for children.
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Copyright
First published in 2013 by The Crowood Press Ltd, Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 2HR
www.crowood.com
This e-book edition first published in 2013
© Martin Ursell 2013
All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
ISBN 978 1 84797 495 2
Frontispiece: The Last Stronghold, Martin Ursell
Dedication
Dedicated to John Dowling, keep that lamp shining!
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
I first met Martin Ursell when I was teaching on the BA Illustration course at Chelsea School of Art and he was a new student. The Head of Department came into the staff-room and announced, ‘At last! We have a real illustrator on our course.’
‘Who is it?’ I asked, eager to make contact.
‘I’m not going to tell you that,’ she replied. ‘You will have to discover him for yourself.’
And I did. As soon as he walked into the studio, with his sketchbooks under his arm, and sat down to draw, there was never any doubt.
Since those student days Martin Ursell has gone on to become a well-loved illustrator and author in every area of children’s books and picture books. He is also an inspiring teacher with an exceptional ability to discover the potential in every student. He started his teaching career at Chelsea and now is head of Second Year Illustration at Middlesex University and a lecturer at Kingston University.
This book is the product of Martin’s experience over the years both in publishing and as a teacher. Aspiring illustrators will find everything they need to know about how to put together a portfolio of work to show a publisher. There is excellent advice on keeping sketchbooks, on drawing from memory and on location, and on using reference. In addition there is practical advice on every aspect of illustration, from what materials to use to the technical requirements of the 32-page picture book and to the different needs of the longer illustrated book and the graphic novel.
The exercises and projects in this book are carefully constructed to take the reader through a complete course in book illustration. They will stimulate your imagination, help you to generate ideas, and develop your understanding of the vital link between text and image that is central to illustrating books.
Carolyn Dinan, RCA
This is a detail of an illustration from my own story, Who Really Killed Cock Robin?
INTRODUCTION
There have been stories and pictures describing important, marvellous or traumatic events in the lives of civilizations going back as far as we are able to see. However, it was not really until the nineteenth century that books with pictures, specifically for children, were created in any quantity and even then it was not until the end of that century that this medium really began to take off. This was in part due to developments in printing processes and techniques but it was also due to a change in attitudes to children and their place in society. The great advances made in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in literacy among children and a gradual breaking down of class barriers offering education to most of the population also helped create a ready market for books for children.
Today one can visit any book store and choose a children’s book from shelf upon shelf of picture books; there are even entire shops specializing just in the stocking and selling of books for children. The children’s publishing world meets in Bologna, Italy, each spring where thousands of children’s books jostle and compete for attention and recognition. Now with advances in printing and the availability through the Internet of extremely competitive deals for self publishing it is probably easier than at any other time in history to produce and publish your own children’s book. So how does one go about this?
Well, of course, one needs to have an idea. This idea will need to be explored and developed through sketchbook work and the feeding in of knowledge garnered from reference material. Characters need to be created and developed so that they communicate exactly what it is that you intend. Next, these rough ideas and drawings will need to be processed into a ‘dummy’ book so that one can see exactly, in rough, what this book could be like before investing hours and money in producing the illustrations for real.
Then one needs to think how to make the illustrations: what materials will be best to use, what paper, how big should the illustrations be, how many should one have and how should they be created? How will printing affect the way one produces these illustrations and how should the pictures and story be combined?
Once the book is going well, how does one go about finding a publisher to publish this book and at what moment does one approach a publisher?
Exactly how one can successfully accomplish all of these tasks is the substance of the following pages. In writing about how to illustrate books for children I have tried to give this task a natural continuity but this does not mean it is the only way to do it. Different illustrators work in various ways and there is not one single correct way of achieving this goal. However, what follows is a logical way of making a children’s book and away that works.
Throughout the book a variety of successful children’s illustrators are profiled; they talk about how they go about writing and illustrating their own books, each discussing their specific influences and how they manage to find inspiration and sustain their motivation through to the end of a project. Looking at how other illustrators go about the task of making an image or working on a piece of artwork can be inspiring and encouraging; looking at the variety of media and methods they employ reinforces the myriad ways of going about illustrating a book.
At the end of each chapter there are projects and exercises designed to help the illustrator work in a creative and productive way. Each project relates specifically to the subject matter of the chapter, and as a whole the projects can be viewed as a mini-course in illustrating a children’s book.
There is no mystery to illustrating a children’s book. It is not something only someone who has been good at art from the age of one month can do but it is something that calls for a great deal of commitment. Wanting, really wanting, to illustrate a picture book is half the battle. Having a good idea but more importantly recognizing a good idea from a cliché is another must. Some confidence in yourself and your ability is useful and being disciplined and motivated is essential: one does not usually undertake and complete a project of this nature without the odd hurdle or three. Try not to give up too easily and try to be receptive to suggestions and advice. It is difficult to look again at work when one has spent ages, maybe days, on it but the amount of time spent on something is no guarantee of quality – one can just as easily achieve this in a five-second drawing which for no discernible reason somehow just works!
I enjoy the entire process of illustrating a picture book and could not choose between drawing the roughs, going out with a sketchbook, working on the dummy or making the artwork as my favourite activity; I love doing it all. I hope you find this book useful and that it helps you on the way to illustrating your own picture book.
Martin Ursell.
Chapter One
HAVING AN IDEA
These initial sketches by Wesley Robins are full of interest, excitement and enthusiasm. The details of the bags and clothing make one immediately eager to see the book that they inspired. A bizarre small drawing of a Zulu shield and spear add to the atmosphere of Victoriana, as does the mounted and stuffed deer head. Even on this page of the earliest ideas for his book Wesley has already convinced us that this book will be a winner.
There is no way of starting a picture book without having an idea. Try not to be daunted by this. An idea can come from anywhere: a phrase, a character, an incident, an image, even a joke. The story can be developed from this starting point – in fact that is exactly what making a picture book is – and one does not expect to begin the project with everything already sorted out.
Of course, you might want to use a story that already exists. Fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and fables all make for good starting points. You do not need to keep exactly to the original telling, and there is no knowing how they might evolve. Therefore, the Aesop’s fable of The Boy Who Cried Wolf might become the story of a naughty Edwardian girl named Matilda who repeatedly shouts ‘Fire!’ though there is no fire, until when there is a fire and she shouts, nobody comes and she is burnt to death, as in Hilaire Belloc’s famous poem.
Your idea might be to have a counting book, or an alphabet book or a book about colours or shapes. The book may not have a story at all but be told by pictures alone. It may be telling us how to look after a pet or how to tell the difference between good and bad. These are all starting points.
If you are planning to have a go at writing your own story the first thing to remember is that it is a picture book; you do not really want there to be too much text or there will not be enough room for the pictures. Most picture books are 32 pages long (we will discuss this in more detail in Chapter 5), so a maximum of one thousand words – far fewer than it sounds – is a reasonable aim to start with.
In children’s picture books, many of the same basic plots are used again and again. The brilliance of the book is in the creativity of the author and the illustrator breathing new life into these themes. You may find the following list of the most commonly used themes useful as a trigger for your imagination.
A story based on a window, door or portal into another world. For example, Alice in Wonderland, The Narnia Chronicles, The Subtle Knife.An untrustworthy character who tricks or gets the better of the other characters. For example Brer Rabbit, Mr and Mrs Pig’s Evening Out.A child who is mistaken for someone else.A character who is lost, either literally or metaphorically.A dream world where on falling asleep the character is somewhere else.The character having a fear of something that is resolved by the end of the book. They are shy, small or different.A riddle or a puzzle that needs solving. For example, Where’s Wally?, The Ultimate Zoo.Dealing with a catastrophe or disaster.An inanimate object that becomes real. For example, The Velveteen Rabbit, Pinocchio.A powerful being or monster that the child helps, with the result that they become friends.Curiosity, good or bad. For example, Pandora’s Box, Curious George.Dealing with a strange or eccentric family member.A magic implement or a spell that seems marvellous, only to end in tears. For example, Sparky’s Magic Piano, King Midas.A story about sharing, either with a positive outcome or a negative one. For example, The Fiends, The Dog in the Manger.A character taken out of their element to experience the consequences. For example, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, The Fox and the Stork.A vice or bad habit that leads to problems. For example, The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes.A chain of events where one thing leads to the next like a series of consequences.A chosen one or special child. For example The Sword in the Stone, Harry Potter.These ideas sheets for Il Sung Na’s Brrr: A Book of Winter begin as no more than thoughts and words. The doodles and scribbles gradually evolve into more definite ideas for an illustrated picture book but one is left with a clear idea, looking at these sheets, that the book might go down any number of different routes. Keeping your options open in these early stages is very important.
Emma Block is looking at the Grimm brothers’ tale of Hansel and Gretel with these sketchbook studies. She is imagining what the characters might wear, what kind of world they might live in and who might share that world with them – forest animals, for example. In these very early stages of a picture book it is vital to cover this kind of ground. Inevitably, many of these ideas will never metamorphose into full-blown picture books but it is at this stage that one explores the possibilities.
It is no good waiting for inspiration to strike. One must set out to have an idea. Keeping a sketchbook or notebook of things that interest you or just things that happen is a great way of creating a source that you can refer to in order to get the imagination going. Often the best ideas occur whilst one is too busy to do anything with them so write them down where you will be able to find them. Like all these things this is something that happens over time, not something that one can do in an afternoon.
There are many ways of starting with an idea and developing this into a picture book and, as is the case with much of illustration, different ways work for different illustrators. Here are a few suggestions as to how to develop an idea.
Beginning with an idea based on personal experience is a good start, maybe an episode or interesting adventure; write it out or draw it out as a storyboard, exactly as it happened. Now look at what you have and re-imagine those parts of the story that are dull or unnecessary – remember you do not have to keep to the facts. Think of it like retelling an anecdote: in order to make the story more interesting one often exaggerates a little or embellishes a few details. Try doing this with your visuals. In the same way, when one is recounting a story verbally one might want to give the characters different voices, or talk faster or louder at particular points of your tale. One can do the same thing with visuals by drawing lots of small drawings instead of one large image, or by choosing a bold dramatic angle to illustrate and emphasize a particular character’s action. When starting an idea the thing is to try everything. Explore and experiment all the time and try not to settle for the first image that comes into your head. It often seems like this is the best image one can come up with but there is almost always a much better idea just around the corner. This last point is extremely important and worth noting down.A joke makes another good starting point. It might need some work to turn this into a full picture book but on the other hand one already has the punch line to the story and this is often one of the most difficult things to resolve. As before, draw out your story in quick, simple visuals or roughs. At this stage try not to worry too much about using reference – this comes later; more important now is getting a feel for how one tells a story. Is it interesting and are you keeping the reader’s attention? Usually in a picture book one does not have many pages to tell the story so every word and image has to count. When beginning and developing an idea into a series of pictures try to make the reader really want to turn the page each time.Starting an idea with a character is perhaps a more unusual beginning but it is a method used by many illustrators. It works like this. Start with a drawing of a character, based on someone drawn directly from observation, or from reference or from your imagination. Where might this character live? Visualize this. What kind of place would this be? What kind of things would they have? What kind of work might they do? What might happen to your character? Many illustrators produce sketchbooks full of drawings that explore these questions. Gradually a visual dossier will emerge from which one should be able to piece together a story. It is just the same as noticing someone in the street and imagining what kind of life they might have working from the clues available – what they wear, what shopping they buy, whether they have a pet, how they walk, and so on.Beginning with an existing story has the advantage that the storyline and ending are already sorted out so you will not have to spend ages trying to think of a surprise ending. If you are using an old fairy tale or fable you can update this by setting it in the present day or just somewhere else, changing the characters’ names and where the action takes place to give the story a new flavour. You are free also to alter the direction that the original story takes. Therefore you might heighten the excitement in a well known story by going against the normal course of events; for example, what would happen if in the famous Brothers Grimm story of Snow White she never ate the apple, or if the dwarves were not kind, charming eccentrics but malevolent, threatening characters. Remember using an existing story is yet another starting point and it may develop in any direction, so much so that the original story or starting point is lost and forgotten. If you are planning to use a more recent story then it is important to be aware of potential copyright issues.Spot the difference by Rina Donnersmarck.
Many picture books are created around issues that children may experience, for example, bullying, shyness, being small, not wanting to eat healthy food, even the death of a pet or someone close. These subjects make challenging but pertinent starting points and give the picture book a point in enabling a child, through the book, to learn how to deal with these issues and problems.
