Frances McKay Illustration

White Ravens Bologna Exhibition

Donough O' Malley is very happy to announce his inclusion in the International Youth Library's White Raven exhibition in Bologna.

Jane Eccle's Little Fidgets

To kick in March with some hopes of Spring and sunshine, Jane has provided us with some bright and fun illustrations she did for a company called Little fidgets.

The Play’s the Thing or The Problem of What to Draw

I was always told that I should keep a sketchbook; it is a discipline, a resource, a vital tool. Good advice, no doubt, but I have never kept one. I’m not confident, I can’t lose myself enough, to stand and draw on the street corner, or even in the middle of a field. I am rarely motivated to draw the stuff around me and I don’t like drawing in books, it feels restricted and precious. To bang on about it, I don’t even really like the word “sketch”; it suggests a certain way of drawing; a sort of short hand. I do like life-drawing, there’s an intensity to it and I’m happy to draw in a class where everyone is striving to get it right. I like drawing animals too for the challenge of getting that instant recognition of shape and movement.

Stories, poems, words, are what really motivate me to draw. This is about looking inside the stuff of everyday life. I take cues from words and phrases. People ask, “Where do you get your ideas from?” Well, from the text. If I do a character ‘sketch’, (in this sense, of course, the word refers to a brief portrayal of someone,) from a description rather than from a story it tends to be straight on and a bit static. Given the story though, I have the character’s thoughts and predicament; there is already drama; I have his viewpoint or the reader’s view of him. As much influenced by cinema as by painting and drawing, I begin also to form ideas about angles, panoramas, mid-shots or close-ups, movement, lighting and use of space. Somebody once said that all illustrators are frustrated actors. Well, I’m not a performer but there’s something in that; I often strike a pose, pull the face or act the part I’m drawing. (The old lady who lived opposite my London flat thought I was a lunatic.) Understanding the drama, knowing the character’s thoughts and actions, is part of illustrating a story.

I’ve drawn almost every day of my life since I was child; yet I recall myself as a child saying “But I don’t know what to draw!” I need to draw, but I need a narrative; perhaps I need to act too. So what else could I do? Illustration solves the problem of what to draw.

Alan Marks

The Shakespeare book jacket illustrations in this post are by Alan Marks and published by Franklin Watts.

Bee Willey's Rory McRory

Bee Willey shares with us some of the artwork for the re-launched book 'Rory McRory'.

RINGO THE RAVEN

A new Year and a new book illustrated by Henning Lohlein.

Happy New Year !

Happy New Year All !

Illustration by Henning Lohlein

Merry Christmas!

It's that time of year again in case you hadn't noticed, so all of us here at Frances McKay want to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year with a selection of seasonal illustrations.

Tom Morgan-Jones' War on Terror, the iPhone app

For the last five years TerrorBull Games have published board games - specifically satirical and subversive board games. Last year we met a French vegan anarchist and artificial intelligence specialist and things took a turn. David Partouche suggested we make an iPhone version of our international cult hit 'War on Terror'. We chuckled because programmers had approached us before with the idea but then realized it was a bit too difficult, telling us it just wasn't possible. I'm pleased to say David has just proven those other programmers it can be done.