1) Podiatrist 2) Storyboard & Group Work

My update about picture book project and portraits. Here we go!
1) podiatrist's portrait
A podiatrist is a specialist for feet, a "foot doctor." Usually, podiatrists do not have a high light in society. So, I created the work. I heartily hope this work will send special thanks for my podiatrist and big cheers for service users so that they would overcome difficulties and enjoy life fully!   
 

In this work, I hope the podiatrist's very caring and positive personality will shine through. He has a great fame as a foundation member of Sydney Sports Medicine Centre which provides medical support for professional or National Sporting, Commonwealth and Olympic Games Teams. He also assists non-athletic and workplace injury patients.

The portrait shows the podiatrist working on my splint. I met him to make an orthotics and to choose an embrace for the leg. With a wonderful humour, my podiatrist makes colleagues and patients happy. As if he put a beautiful rainbow over patients. Clients are all ages at any level of need in feet and legs or difficult walking like me. His frank and warm welcome and commitment is wonderful. Also, He really loves his own job. I feel his joy, dedication and pride. Indeed, he and the centre have a local, national and international reputation as excellence.

Did you enjoy his portrait? 
I keep on other portraits. When I finish it, I'll upload it.

2)  the storyboard & group work
Our picture book project is at a very important stage, "full set of roughs for the whole book." Before moving onto colour, we do examine the SB closely, over and over again. 

My wonderful publishing team is working together well.  We exchange our candid opinions on the SB. Yes, discussion continues about page by page and each page/spread in a book. Unanimous agreement of our team members is the essential condition.  

I'm checking a dummy in regard to an "information flow." I, as if I were a third party towards my own work, critically analyse each page in relation bewteen next pages and in relation with a whole. I'm looking at how depicted images convey a message to a next page and in a whole. Also, I'm reviewing the allocation of a text in a page. Yes, a picture book illustrator does a book-designer-like work, too. Always I seek other members feedback and respect advice.

Friends, get surprised? Picture book illustration is not a simple process. It requires huge energy, lots of team work and much time.  Without creating a good working relation, a picture book illo is impossible.  I love group work because of mutual help!  How wonderful to know I'm not alone on the earth in the middle of night in a studio!  So, I really appreciate other team members' work and enjoy working together. 

Also, it's really nice to work on other genres such as portaraits, writing stories, even "doodles" like above etc at the same time. It reduces another work's stress. So, if you have different jobs, keep them and enojy them together. Actually, my publishing team encourages me to enjoy portraits more and more. Nice! 

Friends, thank you so much for your warm cheers. You, too, enjoy drawing and whatever you like!! We're getting into summer.
Happy Painting! 

  

1) Podiatrist 2) Storyboard & Group Work

Children Picture Book Illustration Process

This week, I'll chat over children picture book illustration process. Sadly, our job is often underestimated and not appreciated properly. Last year, a man boasting "studied design" said to me with contempt, "Children picture book illustration? They draw a big head child(*=distorted composition). Easy piecy," was all his knowledge about our job. I doubted what he had studied.
Picture book illustration is very time consuming. Usually, 32 pages for a trade picture book. Often 1 year contract. But no surprise, a few years take to finish up one project.

Black&White/Rough
1) text analysis,
What's the theme? Who is the target audience?
Brain storm, rough idea for page divide.
2) character design
Drawing, drawing, drawing! Know characters. From this stage, Illustrator develops a text further than the original.3) Story Board & Dummy Book 
Story board = thumb nailed pages like film cells.
Dummy = miniature of a picture book.  
Lots of experiments. So many drawings. Takes a lot of time. Check the dummy repeatedly to see information flow. Pace and space are important. Decide a text's position.
Make "several" dummies. Often Illustrator makes 5-6 dummies. Please figure out 6 by 32. How many pages?4) Colour
Put colour. Check the dummy. Lots of experiments.In the process, use all what we have---such as emotions, sensations, memories, research data etc, etc, to depict a given text. Editor helps Illustrator and Publisher gives feedback. Then, Illustrator gets back on the project. Repeat 1) to 4) again and again.

So, Illustrator job classified ad should go like this way;

"Want Children Picture Book Illustrator.
Sensitivity : Feel reality & fantasy in physical world & inner world.Skills : Draw everything, anything visible and invisible.
Fast job, preferable ( = keep deadline)."

Now, you get why I always keep sketching anything. Last Thursday, I sketched a watchrepair while he was repairing my watch band. Done in really several minutes. These daily sketches become important references.Seeing is believing.
This Victoria State Library website shows the foremost Australian illustrators working processes. Ann Spudvilas's video shows the process mentioned above in 3 minutes. I really admire other illustrators. My wonderful mentor Ann James is mothering Australian illustrators. Shaun Tan won an academy award last year.
Unfortunately, it seems Australian picture book illustrators are not internationally known. The American market is the place for a big commercial success. But I love Australia.

Friends, tons of unpublished drawings are behind 32 pages. If you come across a picture book illustrator down-&-out from job, please cheer her/him up.
Now, I'm ready for a hand surgery.
Happy painting!!

Children Picture Book Illustration Process

Children Picture Book Illustration Process

Finally, this computer needs be "hospitalized" at a computer shop. Yet I have an urgent need... sigh...hopefully, I can leave it at the shop this week. (* If my respond is slow, please keep patience.)

OK, this week topic is a picture book illustration. In order to illustrate a text, interpretation skills of a manuscript is vital. Visualizing an author and an illustrator's images or bridging between imagination and reality is not an easy task.

A basic process is below.
1) given text, image creation
2) character & situation settings
3) story board and dummy book--called, "Rough" in Black and White.
4) colouring -- this stage is called, "Colour."

A picture book illustrator gives a manuscript life. To achieve it, an illustrator maximizes all what she has such as memories, emotions, experiences etc, etc. Above all, in my view, an illustrator needs to fall in love with a given story.

Besides, memories, emotions and experiences, I use my linguistics and sociology background fully. Linguistic text analyses organize a well-considered page structure. Sociological research collects data and evidence to create accurate settings that convince readers a theme well. Particularly, text analysis skills make a good information flow throughout a story.

Illustrators illustrate everything--even something invisible such as emotions and illusions. My admiring illustrators and fine artists all have wonderful drawing skills. For me, a drawing skill is alpha and omega, which responds to any media. So, life drawings and daily sketches are my great assets and devices to produce images.

Sometimes, people seek me advice to be an illustrator. Technically, "Drawing skills are fundamental and critical," is my answer. And regarding other areas mentioned above are all up to an individual efforts.

So, I'm a life long learner.
Friends, happy painting and drawing!

Children Picture Book Illustration Process