Frances McKay Illustration

A Digital Resolution

Most illustrators have been using digital techniques for years of course, and whilst I frequently scan artwork and send digital files, it hadn’t really occurred to me to make digital images as such. The last straw? It’s hard to say but I read that as a result of working on 'Lord of the Rings' Alan Lee now works digitally. Can you believe it? He’s a fantastic draughtsman, a wonderful watercolourist; it's the sort of work I aspire to; I had nowhere left to hide, so I resolved to have a go.

I don’t simply want to reproduce the sort of work I make traditionally, so I’m playing with the differences between imagery that is obviously drawn and the more shiny stuff that you can do with Photoshop. And, maybe because it also suits my learning curve, I quite want to see the join between the two; it creates a lovely visual tension that reminds me of early stop-frame animation; Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin’s ‘Ivor the Engine’ perhaps. 

There’s a story that I wrote some time ago but have never really tried to illustrate, (strangely, because I couldn't decide on the right combination of techniques). It’s called ‘Glum the Weaver’ and it seems to fit the digital/analogue idea well.

‘Glum was a weaver and he had a shop in the town, but no one went there anymore.’

‘He was an old grey man in a world of bright new things.’ 

You get the analogy of this now grey-haired illustrator in the bright, new digital age. Glum’s is a slightly dingy, drawn world where he thinks and works as he has always done. Flora, his granddaughter, brings him colour and light and he starts a new way of thinking and working. It ‘made the town an even brighter place and Glum a happy man.’  So, together with traditional work, like Glum, I’m going to pursue this new way of making pictures and see where it leads. 

 

Alan Marks

Introducing Neil Price

FMI is proud to introduce a new illustrator to the agency, Neil Price. Here, Neil tells us a little bit about himself and his work.

Movies that never get made. (Most of them)

 

I have been unable to do a post for a while now because everything I have been working on is not for public consumption, yet. Very frustrating.

So, instead, here is something from the archives.

A few years ago I did some concept work on a movie that was never made (this is pretty much the definition of almost every movie). It was a sort of ‘Matrix/psychological thriller’ type thing and I probably still can't tell you anything about it, including the title, since the producer/writer may still be touting it around Hollywood for all I know.

School for Princes

 
Finally after nearly two years or is it three, I have finished School for Princes, by Jamila Gavin, to be published by Frances Lincoln. These are stories based on the Panchatantra, ancient texts of wisdom from India, involving animals. Here are two of the line drawings I have done for the animal tales included in the book.

Insecure Caterpillars and Slightly Mad Crabs

Phew! Just finished a book for the RSPB. Over 100 full-colour gag illustrations on the subject off, well – everything actually. But a short list would include juggling woodlice, woodpecker burgers, insecure caterpillars, angry mushrooms, skateboarding slugs, grasshoppers in bandages, slightly mad crabs, woodpecker poo and unexploded seeds. (It's amazing what you don't know you can't draw until you try).

It's odd. There are some things that even after all these years I just can't draw. I've no problem with cartoon horses, or bears, or dogs, or people, or elephants. They hold no fear for me. On the other hand, I can't draw cats or birds at all. I mean, I really can't!. I once did a job for Aardman animation, and spent weeks drawing hundreds and hundreds of cats. I looked at endless reference books, but at the end of it I still hadn't produced a single illustration which I liked (or frankly looked anything like a cat). Weird.

On top of producing so many humorous (hopefully) illustrations in a very short space of time, there was the added complication of getting to grips with the new program that I mentioned in my previous post. I'm now fully up to speed on this, and it's proving to be a godsend.

Anyway, here are a couple of my favourite gags from the book. I came up with most of them but I have to give credit where it's due, the author came up with the fork in the road joke, which still makes me laugh.

All the best

John

Yo Ho Ho, Me Hearties!

Greetings, you scurvy swabs! Anyone familiar with my usual artwork style will recognise that this is not it. I do have a variety of different styles, but I'm always experimenting and this one is brand-new. I'm illustrating two (possibly three) books for Autumn -- that's the publishers, not the season. The first one is about pirates, the second about cowboys. The third -- which I'm really worried about -- is probably going to be about fairies. That will be very much stepping outside my comfort zone. Yikes! My usual painted style of artwork is done with a mixture of Corel Painter and Photo Shop. The pirate artwork style is drawn in a program called Manga Studio. Now, as a general principle, I can't abide Manga artwork (I think it's an age thing) but this program is phenomenal. It's very cheap (you can buy a cutdown version of it, which is all you'll need, for about $80). There is a pro version, which I'm using, but frankly most of the cool features are in the cheap version. The amazing thing about it is the control you have over the way the pen behaves. You can set the pen parameters in so many different ways, for example to smooth, straighten or have very sharp points (mitres) on corners or zigzag turns. This all may seem very small beer, but to anyone has ever attempted to make a inkpen, real or digital, do these things, it's a revelation. You can do a lot of these things in programs like Adobe Illustrator, or CorelDRAW. But they are indescribably clunky in comparison. Manga studio is a program that does one thing but does it very, very well. It is, and I've been using digital drawing programs for 15 years, the best pen and ink program I've ever come across. Dave Gibbons, the artist who illustrated the seminal graphic novel Watchmen uses it. That's a good enough endorsement for me. All the best John

Behold! Scaredy-dog in pink earmuffs

Cowardly dog, creepy castles, pink earmuffs and booties, girls in in a cape and beret. Exactly the kind a 45-year-old man should be painting. Welcome to the world of Wilma Tenderfoot. Wilma (it says here) dreams of one day becoming assistant to the world-famous (and very serious) detective, Theodore P Goodman. But the last thing Mr Goodman wants is a small and slightly accident-prone sidekick -- especially one with an over friendly beagle called Pickle who keeps eating all the clues.

This is the third of three covers I've just finished for a brand-new Macmillan series by Emma Kennedy. Emma (according to her own blurb) is a writer/actress for radio and television. The first book was originally issued with a cover by a rather brilliant French artist called Marc Sylvain. But for some reason Macmillan have changed their mind and are going with yours truly. Marc is still doing the insides, which are lovely. Don't know when they're out, but will let you know.

The artworks were started with a pencil rough, followed by lots and lots and lots of angry scraping and cursing in Photoshop and Painter. Especially the first one.

John Kelly

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The Amazing Edwardo

Sometimes, you have an idea. You think it's the best idea ever -- since the last one, that is. You burn the midnight oil in the grip of feverish excitement as you work it out. Everything is going brilliantly. You snigger. The characters come alive. They all have stories. The world is real, colourful and tangible. You love it.

It's a palpable hit!

Until you show it to somebody.

The above piece is one of those ideas. I get it. My wife gets it. But unfortunately, it's just us.

The counter of this is when you go to see a publisher and they pick on some small insignificant unregarded doodle in the corner of your sketchbook and say 'oh we love this!'.

Go figure.

John Kelly