Illustration Friday

So, I'm officially finished University. Probably forever. At this stage I have no intention of going back anyway. I've just been vegetating for the last two weeks (I needed some recovery time) but now I'm back and illustrating again.

The plan is to post at least once a week from here on in, mostly because I rediscovered Illustration Friday and want to get involved. This week's topic is "Vanity" and my first thought was an episode of "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters". I really don't know why, it hasn't been on in at least ten years. But that's not the point. In the episode Oblina gets braces, and her crush is suddenly interested in her as he can see his reflection in her smile. That got me thinking and the end result was a snake in captivity fascinated by its reflection in a man's sunglasses.

I always illustrate in full colour, so I thought I'd attempt it with a very limited colour palette. It was quite a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to next Friday's topic...

Vanity

The Girl with the Maimed Hands

So, I've been super busy over the last two months or so, working on my Honours project. My research question is "How has the process of “Disneyfication” affected the evolution and motifs of fairy tales?". There's been a lot of research, but lately I've been working on the practical side of the project, illustrating and typesetting the most gruesome, pre-Disney fairy tale I could find in a naive style.

It's called "The Girl with the Maimed Hands", written by Giambattista Basile in the 15th century. Charming, I know. You can check out some more illustrations in the folio section of my website.

It'll be on exhibition at Dear Patti Smith in Fitzroy from Thursday the 13th until Saturday the 15th of this month. I can't wait. Here's a peek, courtesy of Bianca Lentini:

agIdeas

So, came out of agIdeas today perhaps a little disappointed. Whilst there were some great speakers there were just as many boring ones. Somewhat unusual really, I've loved it the other times I've been.
But anyway, the highlights: Dean Gorissen, just very entertaining and he's done some lovely illustration work, his first book is coming out soon too. I suggest you check out his website.
Chris Doyle also spoke, my favourite of the pieces of work he showed would have to be his 2006 AGDA calendar. Everything he does seems to have a sense of humour behind it. He can be found here. I suggest you have a look at the Thomas Shand Identity and the Christopher Doyle Identity Guidelines.

Christopher Doyle - AGDA Calendar

Bruce Bigelow of Electric Art has also done some fantastic work, check out their website here. And lastly Oslo Davis was very entertaining, I think he can make anything funny. His website is here.

Oslo Davis

Hope you enjoy the browse.

This is London

I bought a copy of 'This is London' by M. Sasek just recently. I'm glad they've begun reprinting again, because I think I'd like to collect more of his books. His illustrations just seem to be the perfect blend of simplicity and detail. Plus I love his use of perspective in the image below. Just thought I'd share.

Required Reading

A friend passed on this link and I thought it was worth passing further. It's a list of prints for sale from an exhibition called "Required Reading", a collection of limited-edition posters based on classic novels. Unfortunately, the exhibition is in Los Angeles, and I am in Melbourne, but other than that sad fact the exhibition looks truly amazing. Here are some of my favourite posters for sale:

Alyssa Nassner

Landland

Dave Perillo

Tom Whalen

Tom Whalen

I think "The War of the Worlds" is my favourite, it's also my favourite of these books. Though I will admit I haven't read all of Sherlock Holmes. Maybe I should get onto that.

Anyway, check out the website, they're quite affordable and there's lots worth buying.

In the beginning...

...there was the word aardvark. But I suspect that that is probably irrelevant.

I just wanted to start this blog as a way of sharing images that inspire me, as well as a space for some random scribblings. For a start I thought I'd share a few images by my favourite illustrator, Mary Blair. What I love most about her images is the use of colour, though I also love the naive, childlike quality they possess too. I have four books of hers, as well as numerous images pasted around my desk. Must be my love of Disney, she did concept art for Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and Peter Pan.

Alice in Wonderland Concept Art for Disney

From the book 'Little Verses'