Squirrels
Squirrels are great fun to draw!
And squirrels dominated my days a few months ago (you should see my garden). No, really I have recently completed illustrating a book for a client about two very naughty ones, called Dock and Nettle who managed to get themselves into all sorts of scrapes with crafty snakes, hungry owls and one very, cunning fox.
Fifty Shades of Grey
Apart from the cover artwork, all the internal illustrations are greyscale. For the uninitiated that basically means black and white with grey shades. I felt that the internal artwork would look better in black and white, as the book is comprised of a series of short stories rather than a big picture book format. It can be a useful way to budget too (helpful tip there). The illustrations were all hand-drawn and digitally ‘greyed’ using watercolour brush settings. I wanted to create a slightly looser result. In fact I am working on three books at the moment and am using an even looser treatment in all three. I feel like I’m going back to my roots, creating less graphic looking pieces.
I really enjoyed working on this one, as there was a great deal of humour in the book and so I was able to sprinkle a spoonful into the illustrations. And… and it’s my favourite subject – animals! Anything to do with nature or animals, and I’m interested.
Ninja Squirrels
I find squirrels fabulous to illustrate, after all they really are little ninjas and are scarily intelligent! I find it a bit exasperating that owls are always portrayed as wise in children’s books and all because of those pesky Greeks. In Greek mythology, the goddess Athene was thought to symbolize wisdom and was often depicted with an owl nearby. That probably was inspired by the owls’ big eyes and solemn appearance. The Greeks also thought owls had some sort of inner light that let them see at night. So… fast forward quite a few hundred years and we have wise owls everywhere! But I think the real genius animal out there is a squirrel. Of course they all train under the cover of darkness their ninja tactics and acrobatic prowess.
Hope you like the little illustrations? Contact me here.
