Week 2 - Research Task

Identifying art styles for different genres:

Baby/toddler - First Objects Book

These need a simple bold style of art work. Many of the books available have photo images, but from experience, I have found that simple pictures work just as well with this age group. 

• Mainly board or cloth books - durable
• Small size - for little hands
• Bright colours - eye catching for little minds developing
• Simple drawings/pictures - easy to focus on
• Touchy/feely - visual and tactile to interest more senses for young inquisitive minds
• Few words - eg.colours, opposites, numbers etc.
• Lift the flap books - more interaction
• Examples - That's Not My ...(puppy, train, penguin, etc.) series, All Fall Down and Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes by Helen Oxenbury

Here is a book I have used time and time again. Its from 2001, but still works well. Not the best art work, but the girls liked it and soon recognise the words without me saying them! This was printed by Parragon books.

Here is another word book by Fisher Price that is bright and cheerful for young children. The single words do aid reading later on as babies and toddlers minds take in everything they see and are able to recall these images later on in their development.

This third book for toddlers has a much more artistic approach to the illustrations, yet keeps the simplicity. It is a book printed by Red Fox and Illustrated by Georgie Birkett: 

Picture Books for 3-6 year olds

This genre of books has a very wide variety of styles from simple artwork to far more complex illustrations that have additional stories to be told through each page.

• Bigger books - bigger hands 
• More sophisticated illustrations - to engage children and feed their imaginations
• More words - Story more involved, sometimes teaching books
• Bright and varied; hand rendered art and computerised
• Rhythm and repetition sometimes used - helps memory
• Humour - to hold the child's interest

I chose 2 books from my collection which demonstrate the variety of style and depth of illustrations. The first is Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole. This book is hilarious and the illustrations have a lovely free style that suits the text well!
 

My second book choice is from the Stinky Face series by Lisa McCourt and illustrated by Cyd Moore. These stories are about the relationship between a mother and her son and the wild imaginations of the the two as they explore the What if idea... 

The clever use of typography in with the illustrations makes this book enjoyable to look at with young children.

Information/reference title aimed at 9-11 year olds

 The books in this genre can have less illustrations and more text as they are teaching books. Although the ones with illustrations that have text broken up all around work well. This style on the page help hold older children's interest for longer.

• More text - its an educational book; information is important!
• Less illustration, though sometimes large illustrations interspersed with text works better 
• Realistic illustrations - to teach

This Dorling Kindersley, Scholastic book on Cars is a very good idea for this age range as the inside cross sections with text engage a child's interest. The artwork is life-like and engaging.

Task 1 - Children's Illustrators, Initial Research

My four chosen Illustrators:

1 - Oliver Jeffers

Oliver Jeffers makes art; from figurative painting and installation to illustration and picture-book making, his work takes many forms. Oliver was brought up in Northern Ireland and now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Harper Collins UK and Penguin USA publish his picture books, including; Stuck, The Hueys, The Incredible Book Eating Boy, The Great Paper Caper and This Moose Belongs to Me. Working in collaboration with Studio AKA, Jeffer's second book Lost and Found was developed into and animated short film which has received over sixty awards. Picture Book awards include the Smarties Award, Irish Book of the Year, The Blue Peter Book of the Year, The Roald Dahl Prize and the Kete Greenaway Medal.

I enjoy looking at his picture books and reading them to my granddaughters. I also looked at his website which has interesting, humorous video updates including one on how he makes picture books; where his ideas come from and how he puts them down on paper using watercolour, acrylic, ink and collage and layers them in Photoshop. http://www.oliverjeffers.com/news.aspx

 2 - Axel Sheffler

Axel Scheffler is the best-selling illustrator of many favourite children’s picture books, including the award-winning The Gruffalo, which has been translated into over 40 languages. He was born in Hamburg, but now lives in London, where his artwork is increasingly inspired by his young daughter. He works in an attic studio overlooking a peaceful garden with a walnut tree and a family of foxes.

 I love all his books and the rhyming in his coloboration books with Julia Donaldson are a delight to read out loud to the girls. My eldest granddaughter knows The Gruffalo story off by heart! This was a good interview I watched about him and his work on his own characters Pip and Posy: http://worldofpipandposy.com/watch/axel-scheffler-interview

3 - Piet grobler

I had to include our lecture Piet as I find his work delightful. He is not only and excellent lecturer but a brilliant illustrator too. I came upon this book in the library the other day and was thoroughly absorbed by the illustrations on each page. He is an inspiration!

As with all the books I own or borrow, here is another book of Piet's that I have shared with my older granddaughter, Libby:

It is all about a little girl who becomes a fussy eater and goes to her grandparents who discover an amazing way to cure her!

4 - Grahame Baker-Smith

I first came across Grahame Baker-Smith’s book, ‘Farther,’ in the V&A Illustration Awards Exhibition, in 2011. I found a copy of the book in my local library and was fascinated by the depth of work in the illustrations. I then found his previous book, Leon, The Place Between, which has equally intriguing illustrations.

Baker-Smith uses paint, dip-pens, pencil sketches and then processes everything through Photoshop. He said: "I have heard people criticise what they call computer-made art but it is not computer-made at all. To use the paint brush on Photoshop you, as the artist, have to know how to use a paint brush. The computer does not do anything on its own; the creativity is still with the artist. It's not an easy fix. The artist is no less important. In fact, you have thousands of options so the whole process takes a lot of time and care. "The digital world is not something we should be afraid of embracing. It opens up all kinds of possibilities. There is also something important to remember about computers. We can have fun as we mess about using them, and art should be enjoyable too."

"Jo-Jo's Journey", a comic-style story

"The Velveteen Rabbit"

2003 – The World of Angels 

2005 – A Little Pilot Adventure

Gap between while he developed his skills and learned how to use Photoshop to take his illustrations to another level.

2009 – Leon and the Place Between

2010 – FArTHER

2011 – Pinocchio, Folio Society

2012 – Robin Hood

Most of Grahame's more current artwork is aimed at children aged between 5 and 12, though adults can equally enjoy the illustrations and stories. I think Grahame’s illustrations are quite sophisticated which enables adults to see more in to them. Children can, nonetheless, study the pictures over and over again and see further into the great details and a young child could still appreciate his books. His attention to detail is inspiring and expecially his change from very simplistic illustrations to very complex, award winning books!