Drawn by Hand

Tiger recognises Quentin Blake's illustrations straightaway from: (1) Quentin Blake's very unique illustration style, and (2) reading all of Roald Dahl's books.

Quentin Blake is probably best known as the 'official' illustrator of Roald Dahl's books but we decided to get to know the illustrator better by looking through his official website and books.

It was interesting to hear him talk about his working method and how he approaches illustrations as a way of storytelling: 

To understand his work in its own right, Tiger read many of his books with the focus on looking at the illustrations in relation to how effectively they convey the stories, as well as the techniques and materials used in the different books:

We chanced upon an exhibition of Quentin Blake's work at the Fitzwilliam Museum so we went in to take a look at original copies of some of his work.  It was a small exhibition but was fascinating nonetheless to see a living artist's original work, look at some of his working materials, and understand his techniques.

The idea of illustration is not new to Tiger.  It seems to me that it is a very natural act of self-expression for many children to write and draw about the stories that they create.  Tiger jumped right into the activity with gusto and enthusiasm.

Even though he has watched carefully Quentin Blake demonstrating how he draws and has access to the various art materials that Quentin Blake uses, Tiger decided to just use pens.  He drew directly using a fountain pen and filled in some of the colours with a ballpoint pen.  I gave him a few suggestions on how he could emulate Quentin Blake's style and use of materials, but Tiger was only interested to draw in his own style.  Below the story that Tiger has written so far -- it is still work in progress.

I can see from Tiger's drawings where the influences of his illustrations came from: the idea of the fair has come from the Winter Wonderland we went to last Christmas, the house is of the structure of castles that we have visited, the roller-coaster and resultant water splash idea come from a ride we took at Legoland.  I can also see that he is trying to combine both written words with the idea of wordless stories (as he has read in Quentin Blake's book, Clown).

What I'm really seeing are a few skills that can be introduced to provide some gentle guidance on more effective ways of storytelling, using either words or pictures or both.


This post is linked up to:
1) Look What We Did!
2) Virtual Refrigerator
3) Homeschool Mother's Journal: March 29, 2013
4) Hobbies and Handicrafts - March 29
5) Collage Friday - Books LEGOs, and Endings/Beginnings
6) Homeschool Review
7) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with More Birds
8) Hip Homeschool Hop - 4/2/13

The Art of Illustration

It's often difficult to tell where our children's influences may have come from, and when they might just demonstrate the skills they have learned from observation.

So far, I have refrained from formally teaching Tiger to draw, simply because he seems to be quite happy with his work and has not shown a specific eagerness for instruction.  Besides, I am well aware of the hang-ups many adults have about their perceived inability to draw because of some unsuitably premature instructions at some point in their early childhood.

Therefore, I was both surprised and very pleased when one night, of his own accord, Tiger announced that he wanted to draw as I read him the bedtime story.  I suspect the influence had come from him watching the illustrator at work at The Nutcracker concert.

The story I read was The Wheel on the School.  I read it at normal speed, not slowing down at all.  Tiger was provided with a set of Crayola markers and an A4 sketchbook, and he made the illustrations as he listened to my reading.

The basic storyline is about a group of Dutch village school children's efforts to attract storks to start nesting in their village after many years of absence.  Below are Tiger's illustration of the whole story, which will make more sense to someone who is familiar with the book. 

This post is linked up to:
1) Homeschool Mother's Journal: January 4, 2013
2) Collage Friday - Feeling Renewed and Refreshed
3) TGIF Linky Party #59
4) Homeschool Hobbies and Handicrafts - Jan 4
5) Look What We Did: January Link-Up
6) Share It Saturday
7) The Sunday Showcase - Sharing the Best Kids Activities of 2012