Frances McKay Illustration

BARKULA, the Vampire Dog

 
A Bite Sized Introduction

The full moon gawped at a landscape sparkling in the frost. All was calm, all was bright, all was silent…….UNTIL……

 

“Aarroooooo ! Aarroooooo !”

Centrespace Gallery Exhibtion, Bristol

 
As every year, most of the people who have a studio in Centrespace (6,Leonard Lane, Bristol BS11EA) will have a pre-christmas exhibition at Centrespace Gallery, starting on Friday 26th November until Wednesday 1st December, open daily from 11am until 5pm, private view Saturday 27th November from 4pm until 7pm, with mulled wine and cake. So come along if you are in Bristol.

Back to Canvas.

 

Four years ago I took a break from illustrating to work for my brother and his wife at Bandito in the wonderful, not for the faint hearted, world of special effects. The experience, ranging from muttering incoherently at 3am at state-of-the-art computer technology to the dizzy Emmys, deserves a post of it's own another time. Except to say, I enjoyed it so much it's taken me until recently to drag myself away and back to painting. So in the past couple of weeks, paint brush in hand, I've been muttering incoherently at 3am in a state-of-the-artist-without-an-'Undo'-button manner to the buzz of a daylight blub. 

Wie Weihnachten beihnahe ausfiel

 
After the success of the Christmas Rabbit (15 000 copies sold), the follow up story has just been published in Germany, "Wie Weihnachten beihnahe ausfiel", written by Adriana Dorsett, published by Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg.

Snuffler Says......

..........Happy Birthday Kate!!!  We hope you have a wonderful day! With best wishes from all of us at FMI XX

'Snuffler' Illustrated by Kate Willis-Crowley.

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Good Toes Naughty Toes

 
Ballet? What I saw was the dancers’ pain and the unnatural positions of bodies. To move about en pointe seemed slightly daft; tutus too froufrou and the men’s tights, well... So I was perhaps at odds when I was asked by Eaglemoss to illustrate a ballet magazine for young girls. Ever up for a challenge, I did sample illustrations. At this point I did not know that these were to be approved, or otherwise, by the Royal Ballet. The project was then put on hold because although the work was admired, (by Monica Mason herself I was later told), there were thought to be too many inaccuracies in the dancers’ positions, stage sets etc. It was then proposed that the RB would provide reference material and approve rough artwork. As a proper introduction to dance I was also given a privileged invitation to attend rehearsals at the Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden.

Degas would have recognised that rehearsal room; the dancers in their leggings and layered leotards and sweaters; sitting on the floor sewing their shoes; stretching at the bar; repeating small scenes; moving with a serious beauty into their roles. I watched a full rehearsal of Kenneth MacMillan’s

Manon, inches from the dancers, glued to my seat, mesmerised. I recognised an ethos of perfection in the corps de ballet that put all comment about illustration into perspective. I saw too an incredible passion in the faces and movement of the dancers and I was moved by the story-telling. I attended ballet performances at the Royal Opera House too (something likely to become an expensive habit). I did have an “its alright someone will start singing soon” moment, but I was hooked.

The notes on my roughs from the RB (remembering that thing about perfection) would say things like “Ondine’s left foot is badly fished”, by which they meant that I should move the toe down by about a millimetre. This was not a small project; I did more than 120 illustrations over 2 years. Because I was being fed reference, some decisions about composition, set design etc. were taken out of my hands. I wonder too if my line would have been stronger without direct reference, but I learnt more about drawing the human form and, most of all I think, became more confident with watercolour technique in coping with the depiction of various and strange sets and characters.

Alan Marks