Old Friends Revisited: 'The Vain Jackdaw'
A project from 2002, my second year at university. Aesop's The Vain Jackdaw.
One of the art directors at Walker Books came in to look at all our work during this project. It somehow led to my very first professional commission, the cover illustration for the novel, Dragon Fire, by Charles Ashton, which I got to do by about the beginning of my third year at Kingston. By the time I'd graduated and we'd got in touch again, this little project was handed over to him by way of a starting point for a possible picture book. Eventually, that book - my first - turned out to be The Musicians of Bremen (about which I shall post before long).
Only a few weeks ago, this little set was sort of 'rediscovered' among my other work for Walker Books which were being returned to me.
It has been such a long time since I've drawn and painted birds as the main subjects (unless one includes the peafowl in the Rubáiyát etching and the 'Self Portrait' crane in my icon as recent examples). I rather miss drawing them.
What is perhaps most notable about these illustrations is the influence of Arthur Rackham.
These two below are two halves of one large spread. I'm afraid you'll have to mentally stitch them together as I can't place them side by side. This piece is also the least successful of these illustrations, leaving much to be desired, not least in the actual drawing of the birds themselves (the poor owls especially). Though it was not so much that I couldn't draw them with some degree of adequacy, as hopefully the above pieces illustrate; but even in those university days, deadlines could often mean a sacrifice of one sort or another in the work as much as they do now. This is a fairly large illustration (for me) and I would have relished the opportunity to make something rather grander and certainly much more carefully worked. But this had to do.
There are many sketches too besides these colour illustrations, but I think we'll do without those for now. Perhaps another time I will add one or two to this post and notify of it then for anyone who may be interested.
One of the art directors at Walker Books came in to look at all our work during this project. It somehow led to my very first professional commission, the cover illustration for the novel, Dragon Fire, by Charles Ashton, which I got to do by about the beginning of my third year at Kingston. By the time I'd graduated and we'd got in touch again, this little project was handed over to him by way of a starting point for a possible picture book. Eventually, that book - my first - turned out to be The Musicians of Bremen (about which I shall post before long).
Only a few weeks ago, this little set was sort of 'rediscovered' among my other work for Walker Books which were being returned to me.
It has been such a long time since I've drawn and painted birds as the main subjects (unless one includes the peafowl in the Rubáiyát etching and the 'Self Portrait' crane in my icon as recent examples). I rather miss drawing them.
What is perhaps most notable about these illustrations is the influence of Arthur Rackham.
These two below are two halves of one large spread. I'm afraid you'll have to mentally stitch them together as I can't place them side by side. This piece is also the least successful of these illustrations, leaving much to be desired, not least in the actual drawing of the birds themselves (the poor owls especially). Though it was not so much that I couldn't draw them with some degree of adequacy, as hopefully the above pieces illustrate; but even in those university days, deadlines could often mean a sacrifice of one sort or another in the work as much as they do now. This is a fairly large illustration (for me) and I would have relished the opportunity to make something rather grander and certainly much more carefully worked. But this had to do.
There are many sketches too besides these colour illustrations, but I think we'll do without those for now. Perhaps another time I will add one or two to this post and notify of it then for anyone who may be interested.