Lauren Child (Illustrator: Charlie and Lola series)www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/magicpencil/child.html#

Lauren Child creates the Charlie and Lola books, and these have also been turned into animations.

Lauren Child draws family life in the 21st Century

She has won the Kate Greenaway Medal and her artwork was selected to promote 2002 World Book Day.

How are the illustrations made ?

Lauren Child says: "I love the computer because it's so flexible, it keeps the whole thing fluid-

and I can juggle things around until I'm happy with the look of it. Sometimes a drawing may be

just right, but the scale might be wrong, in which case I can resize it, rather than having to draw

it all over again".

I draw the figures in pencil. I just can't use pen and ink. Pencil is much less inhibiting and I can

rub it out if it goes wrong. I scan the pencil drawing into the computer, clean up the line, and

print it black on cartridge paper so I can continue to work on it with paints, collage or whatever.

Then I cut out the figures and scan them into the computer again."

"I put together backgrounds made up of all sorts of elements - photographs, collages etc". She

uses bold black lines, flat colours and lots of surface pattern.

Lauren Child’s inspiration:Snoopy,

Madeleine books by Ludwig Bemelmans,

Quentin Blake,

EH Shepard - famous for Winnie the Pooh.

Lauren Child examples

Mini Grey (Illustrator: The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon)

http://minigrey.com/about_mini

What comes first: the words or the illustrations? It can be either or both! Some of my stories

(e.g. The Adventures of the Dish and The Spoon) started by drawing lots of little pictures of my

characters in different situations (car chases, tied to railway lines, etc). Others I’ve written down

first. But then I get out scissors and glue and chop up the words and doodle pictures with them

to see if any thing interesting starts happening.

How long does it take you to illustrate a book such as 'Three By the Sea'?To actually just make all the pictures seems to take about six months. For Three By The Sea

each double page took me about a week. I spent a lot of time painting pebbles! My pictures are

usually made on very heavy watercolour paper. I use liquid watercolours, Quink ink, and pencil

scribbling. It’s good to let some accidents happen.

Does illustrating always come easily to you, or do you ever suffer from 'illustrator's block?! I am always daunted by the prospect of trying to draw something

on a clean page. I find drawing people particularly difficult.

If I’m stuck I draw a tiny scruffy sketch on a scrap of paper or in my sketchbook, then

scan it and enlarge it and draw over the top of it. I have a light box and I’m always using

it to trace things. Cutting and sticking is another way out - make bits and pieces and cut

them out and move around.

Mini Grey is inspired by: Tenniel’s illustrations for Alice through the Looking Glass, Dr Seuss, Edmund Dulac, Lane Smith (The Stinky Cheese Man, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs), Shaun Tan’s books, e.g. The Arrival and The Lost Thing.

Mini Grey examples The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon)

Shaun Tan (Illustrator: The Arrival) www.shauntan.net/faq1.html

How Shaun creates his illustrationsI take my rough drawings up to the point where I have a fairly clean line drawing in layout

paper that I can trace onto a support (usually stretched medium weight watercolour paper, very smooth, primed with acrylic paint) using graphite or white transfer paper. Most of my illustrations are not huge because they need to fit on a scanner for reproduction. I find it is better to work closer to the scale that the reader will see them, so that details don’t end up being too small (most artwork reproduced is reduced from a larger image).

I usually paint from dark to light, so I trace white lines onto a dark grey or brown background. I

also do a small, very quick colour sketch of the image using acrylic paint and pastel crayon over

a photocopy of a preliminary drawing, sometimes a couple of these using different colour

schemes.

I also work in other media, and in the past have used scratchboard, pastel crayons, coloured pencils, gouache, watercolour, pen and ink, linocuts and assemblages (using found objects); apply these to paper, canvas and plywood board. I also use collage frequently, because it allows unexpected elements to be introduced into a painting and creates an interesting texture, both of physical surface and ideas. Recently I’ve been experimenting with combining traditional media with new digital ones. Each medium works well for conveying certain ideas and effects, and this is what governs my choice, along with various experiments that often include mixing media.

Shaun Tan examples (Pencil on paper)

Dave McKean (Illustrator of ‘Wolves in the Walls’)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_McKeanwww.davemckean-collector.co.uk/page_833184.html

Dave McKean is an English Illustrator photographer, comic book/graphic novel artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician. His work combines drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects and digital art.

Animation How are animations made (the basics) www.wikihow.com/Make-an-Animated-Short-Film

Dreamworks http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/insidedwa

Dreamworks have created movies like Shrek, Turbo and Kung Fu Panda.

The making of ‘The Bear and Hare’ advertwww.cgmeetup.net/home/making-of-the-bear-and-the-hare/

Tim Burton (Illustrator / Film maker)www.timburton.com

Tim Burton is an American film director who is also an artist, illustrator, and writer. His work is well known for being dark and gothic, it is often called ‘quirky horror.’

Initial character design

Animation using mixed media backgrounds