heinrich hoffmann illustration project

Narrative Illustration Project

Key Words

• Narrative

• Illustration

• Illustrator

• Silhouette

• Paper Cuts

• Atmosphere

• Mood

• Light and Shadow

• Contrast

• Character

• Roughs and thumbnails

Geoff Grandfield

NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATION by John Vernon Lord

The main function of the narrative illustrator is to represent, interpret, and heighten the meaning of a selected passage of text (in a complementary way) by means of pictures, with the aim of contributing to the reader's appreciation of the narrative.

Step 1: Introduction

Heinrich Hoffmann (June 13, 1809 - September 20, 1894) was a German psychiatrist, who also wrote some short works including Der Struwwelpeter, an illustrated book portraying children misbehaving.

Hoffmann wrote Struwwelpeter in reaction to the lack of good children's books. Intending to buy a picture book as a Christmas present for his three-year-old son, Hoffmann instead wrote and illustrated his own book.

Learning objective:Understand the context and intentions of the poems by Heinrich Hoffmann

Activity:In small groups look at one poem by Heinrich Hoffmann and accompanying illustrations. Prepare a short presentation for later in the lesson. During the presentation you will have to:

• Read the poem aloud (people could have different parts)• Explain what the moral is. What is the message of the poem?• Discuss whether you think the message of your poem is still relevant to children today and whether the poem and the illustrations would deter you from misbehaving.

Struwwelpeter

Just look at him! there he stands,With his nasty hair and hands.See! his nails are never cut;They are grimed as black as soot;And the sloven, I declare,Never once has combed his hair;Anything to me is sweeterThan to see Shock-headed Peter.

You must do the following in your presentation:Read the poem aloud (people could have different parts)Explain what the moral is, what is the message of the poem.Discuss whether you think the message of your poem is still relevant to children today and whether the poem and the illustrations would deter you from misbehaving.

The Story of Flying Robert


When the rain comes tumbling down In the country or the town, All good little girls and boys Stay at home and mind their toys. Robert thought, "No, when it pours, It is better out of doors." Rain it did, and in a minute Bob was in it. Here you see him, silly fellow, Underneath his red umbrella.

What a wind! oh! how it whistles Through the trees and flowers and thistles! It has caught his red umbrella: Now look at him, silly fellow-- Up he flies To the skies. No one heard his screams and cries; Through the clouds the rude wind bore him, And his hat flew on before him.

Soon they got to such a height, They were nearly out of sight. And the hat went up so high, That it nearly touched the sky. No one ever yet could tell Where they stopped, or where they fell: Only this one thing is plain, Bob was never seen again!

Phoebe Ann, the Proud Girl


This Phoebe Ann was a very proud girl,Her nose had always an upward curl.She thought herself better than all others beside,And beat even the peacock himself in pride.

She thought the earth was so dirty and brown,That never, by chance, would she look down;And she held up her head in the air so highThat her neck began stretching by and by.It stretched and it stretched; and it grew so longThat her parents thought something must be wrong.It stretched and stretched, and they soon beganTo look up with fear at their Phoebe Ann.

They prayed her to stop her upward gaze,But Phoebe kept on in her old proud ways,Until her neck had grown so long and spareThat her head was more than her neck could bear-And it bent to the ground, like a willow tree,And brought down the head of this proud Phoebe,Until whenever she went out a walk to take,The boys would shout, 'Here comes a snake!’

Her head got to be so heavy to drag on,That she had to put it on a little wagon.So don't, my friends, hold your head too high,Or your neck may stretch, too, by and by.

Augustus who would not have any soup


Augustus was a chubby lad; Fat ruddy cheeks Augustus had: And everybody saw with joy The plump and hearty, healthy boy. He ate and drank as he was told, And never let his soup get cold. But one day, one cold winter's day, He screamed out "Take the soup away! O take the nasty soup away! I won't have any soup today."

Next day, now look, the picture shows How lank and lean Augustus grows! Yet, though he feels so weak and ill, The naughty fellow cries out still "Not any soup for me, I say: O take the nasty soup away! I _won't_ have any soup today."

The third day comes: Oh what a sin! To make himself so pale and thin. Yet, when the soup is put on table, He screams, as loud as he is able, "Not any soup for me, I say: O take the nasty soup away! I WON'T have any soup today."

Look at him, now the fourth day's come! He scarcely weighs a sugar-plum; He's like a little bit of thread, And, on the fifth day, he was--dead!

Little Suck-a-Thumb


One day Mamma said "Conrad dear, I must go out and leave you here. But mind now, Conrad, what I say, Don't suck your thumb while I'm away. The great tall tailor always comes To little boys who suck their thumbs; And ere they dream what he's about, He takes his great sharp scissors out, And cuts their thumbs clean off--and then, You know, they never grow again."

Mamma had scarcely turned her back, The thumb was in, Alack! Alack!

The door flew open, in he ran, The great, long, red-legged scissor-man. Oh! children, see! the tailor's come And caught out little Suck-a-Thumb. Snip! Snap! Snip! the scissors go; And Conrad cries out "Oh! Oh! Oh!" Snip! Snap! Snip! They go so fast, That both his thumbs are off at last.

Mamma comes home: there Conrad stands, And looks quite sad, and shows his hands; "Ah!" said Mamma, "I knew he'd come To naughty little Suck-a-Thumb.”

Pauline and the Matches


It almost makes me cry to tellWhat foolish Pauline befell.Mamma and Nurse went out one dayAnd left her all alone at play.Now, on the table close at hand,A box of matches chanced to stand;

And kind Mamma and Nurse had told her,That, if she touched them, they would scold her.But Pauline said: "Oh, what a pity!For, when they burn, it is so pretty;They crackle so, and spit, and flame:Mamma, too, often does the same."

The pussy-cats heard this,And they began to hiss,And stretch their claws,And raise their paws;"Me-ow," they said, "me-ow, me-o,You'll burn to death, if you do so."

But Pauline would not take advice:She lit a match, it was so nice!It crackled so, it burned so clear—Exactly like the picture here.She jumped for joy and ran aboutAnd was too pleased to put it out.

The Pussy-cats saw thisAnd said: "Oh, naughty, naughty Miss!”And stretched their claws,And raised their paws:"'Tis very, very wrong, you know,Me-ow, me-o, me-ow, me-o,You will be burnt, if you do so.”

And see! oh, what dreadful thing!The fire has caught her apron-string;Her apron burns, her arms, her hair—She burns all over everywhere.

Then how the pussy-cats did mew—What else, poor pussies, could they do?They screamed for help, 'twas all in vain!So then they said: "We'll scream again;Make haste, make haste, me-ow, me-o,She'll burn to death; we told her so.”

So she was burnt, with all her clothes,And arms, and hands, and eyes, and nose;Till she had nothing more to loseExcept her little scarlet shoes;And nothing else but these was foundAmong her ashes on the ground.

And when the good cats sat besideThe smoking ashes, how they cried!"Me-ow, me-oo, me-ow, me-oo,What will Mamma and Nursey do?”Their tears ran down their cheeks so fast,They made a little pond at last.

Click here for a video of the work. (Not all pieces were completed!)

Project Brief

• Illustrate one of the poems you have heard today. • You can choose to illustrate part of the poem or the whole thing.• Your illustration must consider foreground, mid ground and background.

Examples:

Phoebe Ann the Proud Girl


In 2012, year 7 students wrote compositions in Music to accompany shadow puppets that they made and filmed in Art.

Homework

Visual References have to be gathered to help you create your illustrations.

Complete the following tasks:

1. One drawing from direct observation of an object in your story;

2. One drawing from visual memory and imagination of a place in your story;

3. Collect a range of images that you will need for reference for your illustrations for the characters, costumes and background scenery. Present these as a mood board across two pages in your sketchbook.

Step 2: Drawing

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Illustrators use crosshatching to build areas of tone by layering parallel lines, like this example by David Hockney on the right.

Task

Complete the tonal strip using hatching in each box except box 7.

Box 1 should be black, 4 should be a middle grey and 7 should remain white.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Illustrators use crosshatching to build areas of tone by layering parallel lines, like this example by David Hockney on the right.

Task

Complete the tonal strip using hatching in each box except box 7.

Box 1 should be black, 4 should be a middle grey and 7 should remain white.

In 1999 illustrator, Sarita Vendeta and writer Jack Zipes collaborated on a new publication of Struwwelpeter and other stories by Hoffmann.

How do the illustrations by Sarita Vendeta compare to Hoffmann’s hand coloured originals?

What are the similarities / differences?

Do you think that the illustrations would stop you from misbehaving? Why / why not?

Copy one of Sarita Vendetta’s illustrations on a page in your sketchbook using cross hatching to show different tones.

Ned the Toy Breaker

Augustus, the boy who would not eat his soup Pauline and the Matches

Phoebe Ann, The Proud Girl Little Suck-a-Thumb

Ned the Toy BreakerStruwwelpeter

Step 3: Design & Experimentation

Your illustration for your chosen poem will be built up in three layers.

Background

Mid-ground

Foreground

In this example for Augustus, the boy who wouldn’t eat his soup the background is the Dining Room, the mid-ground is the boy’s emaciated body and the foreground is his mouth.

Design the three layers for your illustration in your sketchbook. Consider:

SymbolismRealismUsing textProportion

You should have already several pages in your book of images you have drawn and found to help you.

Scene Setting

The scene setting or location where the action takes place, has to be thought about. The background setting may be carried out in such a way as to emphasise mood and expression as well as our experiencing a sense of movement in the picture.

View Point

The choice of viewpoint (angle of vision or eye-level) has to be established for each picture.

Compositional ExercisesCreate compositional boxes showing your chosen part of the poem in different ways.

Illustrations by

Geoff Grandfield http://geoffgrandfield.co.uk/

Composition Here are a few headings to think about:

• Tone and colour contrasts;

• Figure and ground possibilities - dark against light and light against dark;

• Contrasts of scale and proportional changes;

• Different perspectival views;

• Opposites - near and far;

• Simplicity against complexity;

• Passive and active;

• Vertical, horizontal and diagonal stresses;

• Curved and angular shapes;

• Using constants (ie the grid) as a means of orchestrating compositional elements;

Step 4: Silhouette

Lotte Reiniger

The mid-ground and foreground of your illustration will be cut outs within a frame.

Considerations:

The foreground cannot be too solid or complicated as we have to see both the mid-ground and he background beyond it.

Think carefully about how the components will attach to the frame. You can hang pieces from the frame with thread.

Lotte Reiniger

Lotte Reiniger Documentary

Lotte Reiniger 'Cinderella'

Chris Natrop

Kara Walker

Rob Ryan

Andrew Scott Ross

Step 5: Media

Experiment with different techniques and ways to combine media…..

Wax Resist Sgraffito

Ink and Wash Layering and stitching paper and/or fabric.

Step 6: Final piece

Final piece:1.Draw the fore, mid and backgrounds on three separate strips of card.2.Score each strip into four equal parts to bend later.3.Add the effects / media / techniques that have been most successful to the three layers.4.Cut out the negative space from the mid and fore grounds.5.Join the three piece at the outer most edges. Bend them along the three folds made earlier.

Phoebe Ann the Proud Girl


heinrich hoffmann illustration project

Education

narrative illustrator

different parts

heinrich hoffmann activity

short presentation

accompanying illustrations

picture book

silly fellow

red umbrella