Working for children
Older age groups illustrations by Jim Kay (The Illustrated Harry Potter books)...
I had a rummage through our book collection, having two children now aged 7 and 10 years, books have played an integral role of our learning journey both for my children and me as a parent. We have read hundreds of books over the last decades and some are just too difficult to part with!
I started this exercise by looking through as many illustrations as I could. For ease as requested I catalogued the drawings together into what I believe to be their relevant age brackets.
Pre-reader illustrations by Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)...
Pre-school illustrations by Helen Oxenbury (We're Going on a Bear Hunt) and Axel Scheffler (Room on a Broom):
Early reader illustrations by Peter H Reynolds (Judy Moody books) and Beatrix Potter:
Established reader illustrations by Quentin Blake (Roald Dahl collection) and Tony Ross (Horrid Henry):
Older age groups illustrations by Jim Kay (The Illustrated Harry Potter books)...
I had a rummage through our book collection, having two children now aged 7 and 10 years, books have played an integral role of our learning journey both for my children and me as a parent. We have read hundreds of books over the last decades and some are just too difficult to part with!
I catalogued an example of a book for each of the requested age brackets.
Pre-reader: Calm down Boris! by Sam Lloyd...
Pre-school: The Lion Inside illustrated by Rachel Bright...
Early reader: The Highway Rat illustrated by Axel Scheffler...
Established reader: Grandpa's Great Escape illustrated by Tony Ross...
Older age groups: The Complete Illustrated Works of Lewis Carroll illustrated by...
Are the target age brackets really as clear cut as we've made them here?
Actually no, I don't believe so. I think the age range probably needs to be a little broader in terms of age. Each child is so different in how their imagination develops and how much of an attention span they have. Perhaps the brackets given could be discriminatory.
How did the function of image and text differ within the age ranges?
In the examples I studied for the younger age group the colours were incredibly bright and bold. The illustrations were simple and uncomplicated. As I explored my way into the older bracket, the colours become more so in each illustrations and the drawing more intricate.
What is your response to the idea all children's illustration has bright colours?
Colour plays and important role in connecting the child to the story. It is a tool used for engagement. It stirs interest. Colours are useful in interpreting the world that a child is reading about and colour can conjur the emotion, the feel of a story. When looking at the classic black and white illustrations used in the Lewis Caroll collection, as beautiful and magical the drawings are, it is actually the coloured cover of the book that truly grabs attention. However, this does not mean the black and white illustrations inside the book are any less important, they perhaps interpret the page in a different way. Tony Ross also using a very bright illustration for the cover of 'Grandpa's Great Escape', however inside the story book he also uses black and white illustration - interesting.
I think colour offers a connection. Colour links an imagination, which differs so greatly from child to child to the story. The examples I have studied above all contain bright colour, even if just in the book cover. I believe the illustrators all chose this method for the reasons I have given. It is through this exploration that I can clearly see the importance of colour when writing and illustrating for children. However, as the classics and Tony Ross have shown, is that colour is perhaps not always necessary to explain a scene.
For this exercise I have chosen to work with the word 'journey'.
I have also selected two age brackets, early reader (5-7) and established reader (7-9).
I start by brainstorming the word 'journey' and write a note of all of the thoughts I conjur up:
From here I think of animals that I could use as characters for each or both age brackets and what I could use as a narrative:
Early reader (5-7):
Established reader (7-9):
So for my early reader I have my heart set on a rat. I make a note of what I would like to express in my simple illustration. A pet rat on a journey to school. He as covertly sneaked his way into his owners school satchel. He is excited about his journey:
For my established reader, I have chosen to work with a polar bear. Again here I make notes on what I would like to express:
Early reader (5-7) illustration:
For inspiration, I watch tutorials by Quentin Blake and Helen Oxenbury. I love how they show so much expression in their illustrations and how clean and simple the drawings are. They are beautiful and so full of excitement.
I start working on my character rat and make some simple sketches: Here I want to show expression in my rats eyes and face. He is going on a journey. He has sneaked into his owners school bag and is very excitedly making his way into school!
In some of these sketches, my rat looks too much like a hamster. I do like the top right have drawing though and will use this as my basis to move forward from here:
Through observation I sketch out a traditional leather satchel:
Merging the two together, here is my pencil sketch: I am happy that my rat looks like a personable and excitable rat.
Now Quentin Blake prefers to use a much thicker pen that I feel comfortable with. I admire his confidence in his strokes and in awe of his accuracy whilst using such a thick nib. However, lacking that confidence, I still with a thin black line here. My main hope in this drawing is that I maintain the look of feeling in the rats face. I want to show expression:
Now for colour, I do not want to stray too far from reality. I would like clean colour as used by Blake and Oxenbury and as I want to remain true to the brief of a simple illustration, I don't want to confuse things with too many colours at this stage in the game:
My rat is a grey pet rat.
The satchel is tan leather.
The school blazer is dark green.
Again, using Blake and Oxenbury as my inspiration with this exercise, I apply a water colour wash to my illustration. I have added a clear and easy to read font, 'Andulus':
Established reader (7-9) illustration:
I go through the same process with my polar bear. This polar bear is an explorer. he is on a journey through the arctic. He has used all of his might and power to climb to the very top of a snowy hill. He is looking down from this peak wondering how he is going to continue his journey from here.
Ink drawings of my explorer polar bear:
From reference I drew a polar bear and my first sketch of the bear at the top of the snow hill.
Pencil sketch of my illustration:
I really like the drawing here, however I felt concerned that the 'journey' wasn't obvious enough...
I drew again using the same black line as my rat illustration, this time I added a rucksack to hopefully depict a polar bear explorer, a traveller:
Here, in the same style as my rat illustration I apply a watercolour wash.
Blue for the ice climate.
A tan leather bag.
I applied an easy to read and clear font 'Andulus'.
However I could see that this needed to be adapted for a more accomplished reader. The font could be smaller, and if the child is a confident reader, more words should be added to the page. It should really be the next phase compared to the Rat illustration.
Reflections:
Interesting, challenging, fun and playful. I have really enjoyed drawing my two characters above, however I would love a little guidance and more learning into how to develop these further. It has been a wonderful insight into children's books and learning. Researching material was thought provoking and inspiring. I really like my rat and polar bear and feel pleased with how they look and the adventure of their journey.
Whilst working my way through this exercise I researched the original 'Roobarb and Custard' animation, the creator Grange Calveley. A collection of original illustrations appeared on 'Antiques Roadshow' recently and I instantly loved the vibrancy and simplicity of each drawing. Very thick felt tip pend drawings with black outlines and bold and bright character colours. It made me think that not everything has to be complicated. As long as you have strong characters and a strong story line, anything can start from a simple yet bold drawing.
Reference:
'Children's Picturebooks' by Martin Salisbury & Morag Styles
'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' by Helen Oxenbury
'The Lion Inside' by Rachel Bright & Jim Field
'Calm down, Boris!' by Sam Lloyd
'The Highway Rat' by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler
'The Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle
Penguin Tutorials by Quentin Blake (TV).
Original Illustrations by Grange Calveley
I have also selected two age brackets, early reader (5-7) and established reader (7-9).
I start by brainstorming the word 'journey' and write a note of all of the thoughts I conjur up:
From here I think of animals that I could use as characters for each or both age brackets and what I could use as a narrative:
Early reader (5-7):
Established reader (7-9):
So for my early reader I have my heart set on a rat. I make a note of what I would like to express in my simple illustration. A pet rat on a journey to school. He as covertly sneaked his way into his owners school satchel. He is excited about his journey:
For my established reader, I have chosen to work with a polar bear. Again here I make notes on what I would like to express:
Early reader (5-7) illustration:
For inspiration, I watch tutorials by Quentin Blake and Helen Oxenbury. I love how they show so much expression in their illustrations and how clean and simple the drawings are. They are beautiful and so full of excitement.
I start working on my character rat and make some simple sketches: Here I want to show expression in my rats eyes and face. He is going on a journey. He has sneaked into his owners school bag and is very excitedly making his way into school!
In some of these sketches, my rat looks too much like a hamster. I do like the top right have drawing though and will use this as my basis to move forward from here:
Through observation I sketch out a traditional leather satchel:
Merging the two together, here is my pencil sketch: I am happy that my rat looks like a personable and excitable rat.
Now Quentin Blake prefers to use a much thicker pen that I feel comfortable with. I admire his confidence in his strokes and in awe of his accuracy whilst using such a thick nib. However, lacking that confidence, I still with a thin black line here. My main hope in this drawing is that I maintain the look of feeling in the rats face. I want to show expression:
Now for colour, I do not want to stray too far from reality. I would like clean colour as used by Blake and Oxenbury and as I want to remain true to the brief of a simple illustration, I don't want to confuse things with too many colours at this stage in the game:
My rat is a grey pet rat.
The satchel is tan leather.
The school blazer is dark green.
Again, using Blake and Oxenbury as my inspiration with this exercise, I apply a water colour wash to my illustration. I have added a clear and easy to read font, 'Andulus':
Established reader (7-9) illustration:
I go through the same process with my polar bear. This polar bear is an explorer. he is on a journey through the arctic. He has used all of his might and power to climb to the very top of a snowy hill. He is looking down from this peak wondering how he is going to continue his journey from here.
Ink drawings of my explorer polar bear:
From reference I drew a polar bear and my first sketch of the bear at the top of the snow hill.
Pencil sketch of my illustration:
I really like the drawing here, however I felt concerned that the 'journey' wasn't obvious enough...
I drew again using the same black line as my rat illustration, this time I added a rucksack to hopefully depict a polar bear explorer, a traveller:
Here, in the same style as my rat illustration I apply a watercolour wash.
Blue for the ice climate.
A tan leather bag.
I applied an easy to read and clear font 'Andulus'.
However I could see that this needed to be adapted for a more accomplished reader. The font could be smaller, and if the child is a confident reader, more words should be added to the page. It should really be the next phase compared to the Rat illustration.
Reflections:
Interesting, challenging, fun and playful. I have really enjoyed drawing my two characters above, however I would love a little guidance and more learning into how to develop these further. It has been a wonderful insight into children's books and learning. Researching material was thought provoking and inspiring. I really like my rat and polar bear and feel pleased with how they look and the adventure of their journey.
Whilst working my way through this exercise I researched the original 'Roobarb and Custard' animation, the creator Grange Calveley. A collection of original illustrations appeared on 'Antiques Roadshow' recently and I instantly loved the vibrancy and simplicity of each drawing. Very thick felt tip pend drawings with black outlines and bold and bright character colours. It made me think that not everything has to be complicated. As long as you have strong characters and a strong story line, anything can start from a simple yet bold drawing.
Reference:
'Children's Picturebooks' by Martin Salisbury & Morag Styles
'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' by Helen Oxenbury
'The Lion Inside' by Rachel Bright & Jim Field
'Calm down, Boris!' by Sam Lloyd
'The Highway Rat' by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler
'The Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle
Penguin Tutorials by Quentin Blake (TV).
Original Illustrations by Grange Calveley
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