The Art of My Youth

I am going to share a piece of my childhood with you.  I'll put together some lists of different things I remember influencing me growing up.  I figure I'll do a kind of series - mostly for myself; I think it's always a good idea to know and understand where you come from.  Not that any real understanding can come from this other than that I'm OCD.

Evaline Ness

Sam, Bangs and Moonshine was the first children's book that I fell in love with as a child.  I couldn't tell you what it was that captured my imagination so completely, but I have vivid memories of this book, of pouring over it for hours.  I know that at least half of it was the story itself, but the pictures . . . It was in the bag that I packed and left just under the foot of my bed in case there was a fire.  All of my favorite things in the world were in that bag.  If there was a fire in the night, all I had to do was grab that bag and everything would be alright.

She's the reason I picked up Llyod Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain - her covers are what drew me to the books (I wasn't smart enough to realize that it was from the same artist).

I still have a copy of this on my bookshelf and I still take it down periodically to read it and look over the illustrations.

Wesley Dennis

I have a confession to make.  I was one of those girls growing up; one of those girls absolutely in love with horses.  And that phase lasted a lot longer for me than for others (to be really honest, it still pops up every now and again . . . or maybe more than that).  And Wesley Dennis fed that obsession.  A lot.

To be fair Marguerite Henry has to take her fair share of the blame.  I think King of the Wind was my favorite book for a couple of years - until my dad started reading the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and Chronicles of Narnia to us.  But I think Wesley Dennis was the only illustrator that they used for her books, so.

He and Holland C. Holland are mainly responsible for my love affair with pencil and charcoal.  I allowed other artists to lead me away from my love of the drawing once I was in college, but I think it's making a resurgence.

Holling C. Holling

I was never impressed with his watercolors, but oh, I was having conniptions over his drawings when I was in middle-school.  And the adventures that happened in his books - oh my gosh!

Darrel K. Sweet

I'm gonna be honest, my dad and I enjoy making fun of this guy.  I know he's dead.  I know it's not very nice, but really his draughtsmanship . . .

I want you to understand - this is a post about art that influenced me growing up, not about my favorite artists, even though some of them have made it in here.  I do not like Sweet's paintings.  I'm not sorry about that - even though the guy's a beast with his paints.

But, I remember my dad reading the Wheel of Time series as I was growing up and I remember this cover.  Dad would leave his books around the house as he was reading them and this illustration was captivating; I would stare at it for the longest time.  This cover is what made me want to read the book.  I couldn't wait until my dad told me I was old enough to read the series - because of this cover.

Chris Van Alsburg

It wasn't until college that I figured out that the covers of my favorite edition of The Chronicles of Narnia and the illustrator of Mark Helprin's trilogy retelling of Swan Lake were one and the same.

Mark Helprin I discovered in a bookshop in College Station, I think.  I picked up the second two books - not realizing that there was a prequel - I finally tracked it down in college, much to my satisfaction.  Sometimes a series just . . . moves me . . . in a way I don't understand.  Diana Wynne Jones and Madeline l'Engle (to some extent: for me she bridges the gap between these two artists and Lewis and Tolkien ) are other authors that do that for me.  They're different from Lewis and Tolkien - their work is . . . I don't know.  I don't want to sound corny but it speaks to the deepest parts of me.  Jones and Helprin . . . reading their work makes me think of what it must feel like to sit and listen to an oracle.  I can't explain it better.  Their books are otherworldly to me.  Anyway, this series was one of those.  And when it was combined with Chris' illustrations - oh, my gosh!

Those covers for Narnia where nothing short of magical.  He is the main reason that I have such a hard time thinking of illustrating these books myself, because they are just so perfect.  And then there's Pauline Banes . . . yeah, I just give up.

Trina Schart Hyman

This was another book I picked up as a kid on the force of the cover alone.  I thought the story was good, but man, I carried this book around for weeks and just stared at the cover in my free time.  I loved her hair, I loved her hands . . . My mom, who was always a big proponent of learning through reading, got Hyman's illustrated version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.  I forget what we were studying - medieval literature? But I remember reading every story (they're abridged, edited by Barbara Cohen, so it was much easier for a middle-schooler to read, and less my mom had to worry about me reading something not age appropriate, which was always a concern because I was (am) a rather avaricious reader.  After the first few times I came to my mom with questions about things no 8 year-old should know about she made that rule I mentioned above about asking permission before reading a book) and just staring at the pictures.  My favorite was the Franklin's Tale, maybe partially because it had my favorite painting.  But only partially.


Anyway, I think that's enough for now.  This doesn't cover the multitude of other books I read growing up.  I had a ton of animal information books and books without pictures - I got into those at a very young age and always mourned their lack of illustrations - books about pioneers, castles, period cooking, Native Americans, dogs, horses, China, etc.  My mom keeps trying to get rid of some portion of the books we read  - trying to clean house, I guess. But every time I sit down to fill a box for her I'm always coming across an old friend . . . And what kind of person would I be if I just got rid of it like that?

The Drawing Board

Late night in the studio.  

I was at the store the other night picking up some more tracing paper and other supplies when I was once again tempted by the travel/table top easels.  You know the ones that you can pack up and take with you or put on a tripod and do plein air painting with?  Yeah.  I get tempted every time I pass by or get an ad in my email.  So I was thinking about it and then I saw this table top drawing board (not a bad price and I had a 40% off coupon!).  It sits on your table (or desk) and it has all of these different angles you can set it at.  I'd been bemoaning the price and size of drafting tables and this has met that need so far!  I am going to have to address my lighting situation though next.  Horrible . . . just horrible.

Anyway, this's stuff in progress for "The Chronicles of Prydain".

Next night was the sister-in-law's birthday, so not much work/art got done.

The next day was more sketch refinement and color-comps.  Holy crows, I hate color comps.  I looked at them the next morning - hoping that they were a little better than I remember.  They weren't.

You can see a little bit of Hen Wen here.  She wasn't a complete loss, but I got to a point where I was looking at the board and thinking - "What the hell am I doing?"  I literally had no idea.  Which really just means that I'm not ready to proceed from the comp stage yet, which is a good thing in a way because it tells me where I am in the whole process.  What is it that Edison said?  

"Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward...."

I imagine that that is much easier to say after the fact.

I am always in love at the sketch stage.  This is the fun part for me, the problem solving part.  You'd think that my mind would equate painting with problem solving, too.  But it doesn't.  It's more like conflict; I feel like I'm fighting something the entire time.  And I really hate conflict.

Part of the problem is also that I've started to be able to see a glimpse of the final image in my mind - that hasn't happened before.  Usually I have an idea that I want to illustrate, I do a bunch of thumbs, find ones that work, get the reference, do the drawing, figure out what needs to happen with the color in the comp stage and then paint the final.  I don't usually see the finish before it's sitting in front of me.  But with these I have and it's making my inability to but down even an echo of them on the board absolutely infuriating.

Another part of the problem is that at heart I am not a patient person - especially with myself.  I want things to be done right, and I want them to be done now.  And if I can't make it perfect then it's not worth doing.  Illogical, I know, and with anyone else I would be completely reasonable and understanding.  But it's not anyone else.  It's me.  And it has to be perfect.  I haven't quite figured out why perfect is so important to me, but my life seems to have been defined  in my own mind by it's level of "perfection".  Which isn't really attainable, which means that in my mind my life has not been successful up to this point.  But I think that might be too much honesty for the internet.  So.

Sorry.  I find myself all too often downing in my humanity lately.

I usually work on either cold-press watercolor paper or Strathmore 500 Series Illustration Board (Vellum). But the new-ish Aquaboard by Ampersand has captured my fancy.  I haven't quite "got it" yet, but something about it fascinates me (don't ask me what) and I keep coming back to try it out.  It's absolute murder on your watercolor brushes, though.  My Windsor Newton Series 7 has probably had it even without the abuse of the Aquaboard and gouache (it's . . . 6 years old? Good grief . . . And they're so expensive).  But of all the brushes I've used they are the best.  Dick Blick has a Kolinski Sable that's a decent substitute.

Anyway, I fought with the watercolor for another day, had a couple of emotional breakdowns with both art and life, then of course started to panic with my deadline advancing towards me in a most menacing fashion.  And I couldn't make the watercolor work to save my life.  The next night, I quickly changed gears and broke out my powdered graphite, carbon sticks and pencils and trusty kneaded eraser.  I love graphite.  And while I continued to fight with these, I didn't have the same level of frustration that I did with the watercolor.  These are on Stonehenge.  I also have some BFK Rives waiting for me to get back and experiment with.

I chose to stick with the just the spot illustrations.  I have full page illustrations waiting to be developed, but with my time constraints they just weren't feasible.  I'm finding that it takes me about 6 to 8 hours to finish one of these (starting from the point when I put the drawing on the board to adding the digital color), which is what I usually spend on a painting.  Now, Hen Wen took less time than that, obviously, and Taran and Melyngar are taking longer, so, I think the 6-8 is average.  And that's not including the time I spend finalizing the sketches.  I was hoping that these would be less time intensive since they were spots, but, c'est la vie.

Starting on Eilonwy.

Several hours in. 

Eilonwy nearing completion. 

Final with digital color.

I'm finding more and more that structure is very important for me - which may be why I was struggling so much with the watercolor pieces because I hadn't developed the sketches behind them enough.  Something to think about.  I plan on doing a lot of sketching and painting before and after the workshop, so maybe I can break through this mental block without the pressure of the little perfectionist in my head harassing me every step of the way (I've scheduled a few days before and after to "relax".  I love Seattle - couldn't tell you why, but it's one of my favorite places).

Working on Hen Wen.

Still working.

Hen Wen nearly finished.

Hen Wen final with digital color.

Working on Taran, Eilonwy, and Melyngar.

I wasn't able to finish this one - something was wrong with Melyngar's head, too small I think.  Didn't have time to finish it last night so it's still on the drawing board until I get back.  I'll finish it and post it soon.

Next stop Seattle.  I am so nervous on so many different levels.  I'll let you know how it goes.  

The Chronicles of Prydain

I have attempted to take back control of my project list for the time being.  I have limited myself to one thing (or maybe two) to work on for my portfolio.  I have a little less than a month until my first deadline (I am going to a workshop on visual storytelling in August that I am SUPER excited for) of finishing . . . something. So. 


I've decided to do some illustrations for the "Chronicles of Prydain".  The thought process behind this is that it is less intimidating than "The Hobbit" and "Chronicles of Narnia" right now (don't ask me why, I have been highly adverse to burrowing down into the rabbit-warren of my thought processes and motivations these past few weeks . . . it's really . . . scary . . . down there). My goal is to eventually have one or two color illustrations as well as a hand-full of black and white pieces and spots. Anyway, we'll see.  


On a side note, as I have been rereading these books I have become more and more impressed with Lloyd Alexander.  Obviously he hits his stride in the later books, but he has high standards for his characters and he's not afraid to put them through the ringer and pull them out the other side all the more stronger for it.   I am so tired of characters whose lives are full of stuff they can't control and everything's unfair and they're all alone, etc. And then, Wham! Yay!  The universe aligns itself, or that bully sees the error of his ways, or we get pregnant with some parasitic vampire-baby that somehow magical solves all the emotional constipation of all the other characters in the books, or whatever, and everything is better and fair.  Ugh.  


I hate sparkly vampires.  I swear, it has to be something in the water.  


But, it's not just that stupid series - there are so many other books out right now that have NO POINT and they're badly written.  And re-reading these 10 years old and up books has restored some sense of balance in my own personal universe.  If I wasn't so very satisfied with their struggles and triumphs I might be tempted to wonder if my very great love of illustrated children's books and pre-teen chapter books says something about my general state of mind.  But I am satisfied.  So I'm not going there.  


And just so that you know that I do on occasion turn to adult reading, I have also been trying to read the Kristen Lavransdatter series and that has been like wading through slime.  I'm not feeling any kind of life lessons learned or poetic justice or - anything - coming for this girl - if I can care enough about her to get to the end of the series.  Which isn't happening.  So.  I am not just complaining about teenage paranormal series. I have one other specific source of irritation.  One other.  That's reason enough to rant, right?  Right?

Gwydion, Prince of Don

Hen Wen, the oracular pig

The Horned King

Running from the Horned King, sketch.

Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper

Taran, a little too young

Eilonwy and Taran on Melyngar doodle

Gurgi?

Gurgi looking more like . . . himself.

Designing the Horned King's Mask

Doodles and Notes

Eilonwy

Also I am trying to put together a short comic to work on my sequential storytelling.  I'm taking "East of the Sun, West of the Moon", a Norwegian/Scandanavian fairy-tale and turning into a comic-ish thing. Yeah.

And there might be some . . other things I am working on, too.  Yeah.  Maybe one or three others.  I am trying, okay?


Anyway, I know I am getting carried away with the Instagram thing, but it's so easy to post pictures of work in progress with it . . . and I don't have to scan anything . . . and I HATE scanning . . .