Jill has been working on our Illustrating Children’s Books Diploma and have created some absolutely wonderful illustrations for her latest submission which we thought you might all like to see. Jill has written about the work too which might give our readers an insight into how Jill developed the characters. We hope that you enjoy the read!
The Cow Who Went Looking for a Friend
First of all I researched different breeds of cows before focusing on the Jersey cow. It took several attempts before I was happy with my sketch of the cow’s face. Once I was happy with the drawing of the cow’s face I found it easier to draw a cartoon style version of the whole cow. I imagined a robin befriending the cow and again drew a trial composition in coloured pencil before progressing to watercolour. I tried to use soft colours in the background and stronger colours in the foreground to add depth to the picture and tried to create texture in the grass.
Although I progressed quite a long way with this picture I decided to attempt it again before it was complete. I thought the colours were too bright and therefore did not fit in with the brief. In the final piece I reverted to painting the cow’s coat a soft peach as in my original pencil coloured drawing. I used a soft blue for the car and a softer yellow/ green wash for the grass, which I think works better. I used wax crayon to add texture to the fence, and to the number plate, to give the impression of it being worn. I added a section of fence and some grass to the left side, as I thought this would bring the picture together but still allow room for the text area.
I very much enjoyed experimenting with different ways to create texture for this exercise/ submission and would definitely like to continue to develop these techniques in the future. I have also learnt not to expect to create a final piece of artwork first time.
Exercise
Initially I started sketching various animals walking before deciding that I would concentrate on a pig. I found it challenging to master the walking pattern of my pig but eventually I was able to imagine the pig ballet dancing, skiing and also creeping along like a Sherlock Holmes detective style pig.
I liked the idea of a pig detective and decided to continue with this. I imagined a blue tit or owl walking alongside the pig, mirroring his actions. I tried drawing the pig detective and the blue tit in coloured pencil to give me an idea of the composition. I then proceeded with this idea in watercolour, but tried to soften the colours. I used salt to create a mottled effect on the pig’s skin, wax crayon to create a tweed effect on his jacket and web tape on his trousers. (When experimenting with texture, I created a lovely tweed effect with the gauze dressing but sadly this didn’t work again when I tried to recreate it).
On reflection, I saw room for improvement. I thought the sky in the background was unsuccessful and decided to replace the blue tit with the owl, which I thought would blend in better with the existing colours and the overall composition.
I prefer the final composition with the owl and a soft glow radiating from the light to the ground, rather than the sky in the background which didn’t seem to blend in at all.
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