Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2016 i Artists & Illustrators

“PEOPLE SAY I AM ‘MR CHRISTMAS’, IT’S JUST THE OPPOSITE OF WHO I AM, I DON’T LIKE THE WHOLE HOO-HA” In the opening scene of Ethel & Ernest, an upcoming feature film based on the book by Raymond Briggs, the 82-year-old artist is filmed working at his studio desk in Sussex. As the camera pushes in, we see he is sketching out the film’s key characters, his South London parents, standing shoulder to shoulder. “There was nothing extraordinary about my parents,” he tells the viewer, “no divorce or anything... but they were my parents, and I wanted to remember them by doing a picture book.” It’s an attitude that has carried Raymond through his artistic career: to act on instinct, and never with an agenda. Though it was written…

“WHEN I WAS AT SCHOOL, I WAS A BIT OF A NERDY KID WITH BIRD BOOKS RATHER THAN BOYFRIENDS” What’s the focus of your upcoming show? Because it’s at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and because I lived in Yorkshire as a child, it’s given me a chance to revisit childhood memories. My work is both narrative and about memories, so I explored that in a bit more depth. That’s why it’s called Flights of Memory, as my usual theme is birds. I’ve done six prints that are particularly about Yorkshire. There are nearly 100 works in the show, so it’s a combination of new works, specifically for the show, and also a lot of the illustration work I’ve done over the last three years. What is it about birds that…

“I ALWAYS WANT TO FEEL I AM AT THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING AND NOT THE END” There is an underlying humour in your art. Have you always included that, or was there a moment when you introduced it to get your message across? I guess my voice has always been a comic one. Early on I was more shy about acknowledging that I was really comfortable having a comic voice. If you have a certain sensibility, ultimately you have to embrace that and get on with it. What is your thought process when starting a new work? It’s difficult to say. I think the work always comes from the process of making it. So I focus on the process rather than the end result. Do you go through several versions…

CONVENTIONAL GRIP The common method of holding a pencil, similar to the grip used for writing, gives tight control over line work and shading. Holding the pencil higher up the shaft gives you a freer handling method for loose shading and hatching, and you can also approach the drawing from different angles. OVERHAND GRIP If you hold the pencil with your forefinger over the shaft, rather as if you were stabbing something with a fork, this tends to encourage firmer pressure. It is a good way to develop dense shading, or to produce a strong line quality. UNDERHAND GRIP This method in which you cradle the pencil in the palm of your hand confines the movement of the pencil tip. Applying pressure with thumb and forefinger, you can produce a…

My special bond with cats was developed while volunteering at a local animal rescue centre, where I also attend cat surgeries. Having painted cats for years, I think the most important piece of advice I can give you is to know your subject well so you could paint it with conviction and confidence. The softness and delicacy of pastels make this medium ideal for rendering cats as well as other animals. Here are my top tips for painting cats in pastels: 1 Spend time just observing cats. Pay attention to their basic structure, gestures, body language and expressions. Studying some cat anatomy can be very helpful. 2 Make quick sketches from observation. Simplify forms, ignore details and draw only the most important lines. You can also write down notes to…

Editor’s Pick Celebrate with an original art print…

“SHOCKING BURSTS OF CREATIVITY JUMP RIGHT INTO OUR LAPS WHEN WE ARE OPEN-MINDED” I was asked to share my approach to collage with you. The fact is, whether it’s collage, painting, drawing or, I daresay, any creative pursuit, the key is to simply let go of the idea that there is a sacred scripture that must be obeyed. The not-so-secret fact is that beautiful results are well within everyone’s grasp. And I do mean absolutely everyone. Shocking bursts of creativity jump right into our laps when we are open-minded, enjoying ourselves and not trying too hard. It happens when we can turn down the noise of both the outside world and our own internal mental chit-chat. That space where things naturally fall into place is always available to you at…

Animator and illustrator Robin Shaw was the Art Director on the upcoming feature film Ethel & Ernest, an adaptation of Raymond’s most personal work. For the last five years, he’s instructed a team of animators to draw in the classic Briggs style, and overseen approximately 70,000 frames of hand drawn animation used to create the final film. He tells us what it was like to recreate the artist’s work for the big screen. How would you describe Raymond’s approach to drawing? Raymond is the consummate illustrator. I’ve learned everything I know from looking at the work of a few people: Picasso, David Hockney and Raymond Briggs. Raymond’s approach to figure drawing is incredible. If you look at a figure drawing that he has done, it is full of the…

Join Tate Liverpool this winter to experience the UK’s first solo museum exhibition in more than 20 years of the French artist Yves Klein. One of the most influential figures of the post-war era, Klein’s career was marked by extraordinary creativity and a bold attitude to art and life that was pivotal to later movements from pop to performance art. Presenting 40 major works the exhibition throws fresh light on his artistic practice. THE PRIZE We’ve teamed up with Tate Liverpool and Hotel Indigo to offer one lucky winner and their guest a VIP break to Liverpool, including tickets for a guided tour of the exhibition Yves Klein, an overnight stay at Hotel Indigo – a glamorous, boutique hotel – and a delicious hot lunch at Tate Liverpool’s café. Visitors…

Books often come out of someone being puzzled about something, or just not really getting something. My latest, Artless, came out of my feeling of puzzlement about two things. Firstly, I was intrigued by how the clean, digital, sometimes 3D illustration of the late nighties and early noughties suddenly made a U-turn to go skidding muddily into messy lakes of watercolour, trails of ink and crayon landscapes, with a look that was not just 2D, but also stubbornly paper-born. The shift was connected with the fact that all manner of digital reproduction and illustration tools had become widely available; even our mothers and grandmothers were editing their pictures on Photoshop. Once the ‘clean’ and ‘sophisticated’ look sparked by the digital revolution became standard, the only way to make something stand…

It’s not as universally known as say, Rembrandt’s The Milkmaid, but Adriaen van de Velde’s The Hut was long considered a masterpiece of the Dutch Golden Age. Before he passed away at the age of 35, Van de Velde created beautifully observed paintings made with a delicate touch. He was renowned for his figure painting skills, but the final result did not come easily. For The Hut, Van de Velde created a series of rough compositions for the human figures and farm animals in red chalk and ink. A drawing of the shepherdess was originally made facing in the opposite direction, which Van de Velde reversed with an etching press to create a reference for the final painting. While the creamy sky and lush greens look effortless, The Hut is…

MATERIALS • COLOURS Winsor & Newton Artists’ Watercolours: Paynes Grey, Indigo, Perylene Maroon, Alizarin Crimson, Winsor Violet (Dioxazine), Antwerp Blue, Winsor Blue (Red and Yellow shades), Cadmium Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Opera Rose, Alizarin Crimson, Green Gold, Quinacridone Gold, Cadmium Yellow, Naples Yellow, Winsor Orange, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Brown Madder, Neutral Tint and Mars Black. • HB PENCIL • PAPER Fabriano Cold Pressed 300gsm NOT (Fine Grain) Watercolour Paper • WINSOR & NEWTON COLOURLESS MASKING FLUID • WINSOR & NEWTON PERMANENT WHITE DESIGNERS GOUACHE • COLOURING PENCILS • TAPER POINT COLOUR SHAPER • BRUSHES Pro Arte Prolene Plus sizes: 0, 2, 7, 10 and 14 This lesson was a challenge as I am attempting something that I haven’t really tried before: lights and weather in one painting. I’ve…

I am compelled by the challenge of a daily project. I spent a long time thinking about what that might look like for me. In April 2013, I decided to do one painting a day for a whole month. I didn’t put any restrictions on myself. I spent hours at it each day to finish one piece. It wasn’t practical and created immense stress. But I did it. The next month I tried again but my rules included a one-hour time limit and the subject was food. I finished that challenge, but found the theme was limiting and difficult to sustain. There was not enough experimentation to keep me excited. One day I picked up a cheap sketchbook I had gotten years before, a throwaway kind of book, and started…

Re: Your Letters, Issue 330 In recalling Issue 330 when this magazine printed my letter re: Plein Air Challenge, I’ve been surprised by how far my friend Lynn Barlam and I have moved on in three years. Lynn has written a series of children’s stories, which I’ve illustrated, using as inspiration the scenes and characters we meet in our daily life. Your regular articles highlighting children’s illustrators have proved informative and inspiring for us. We were delighted when, at the exhibition of our first illustrated story Grandma and the Ginger Cat [on Tilos, a Greek island], the local teachers asked for a digital copy of English and Greek versions as a learning aid. For our second book Grandma and the Egg Hunt, a digital version has been given a voice-over…

“ENGAGING WITH STRANGERS IS PART OF BEING AN ARTIST” The image of the artist as a mysterious recluse is a popular one, but however much we all find that thought of avoiding public scrutiny appealing, the reality is that you are an essential part of your art and your audience, large or small, wants to get to know you. I am the first to admit I would rather be alone than in company, but I have learned to be a relaxed, outgoing and friendly artist, always ready to talk about and share my art. It took work, time and practice to feel comfortable, but along the way I learned that developing my ‘public face’ also made it much easier to promote and sell my work, to take criticism and rejection…

“I WANTED TO CREATE A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ORDINARY WOMAN AND A WOMAN IN THE 17TH CENTURY” At first glance, the subjects of Sophie Ploeg’s portraits appear to have raided a dressing-up box. But the costumes, including eBay finds, adapted curtains and rare authentic lace, are carefully selected and styled to look at odds with the model’s own clothes. In 2013, Sophie won the BP Travel Award, granting her the chance to research a topic of choice, namely the depiction of lace in 17th-century portraiture in England and the Netherlands. This gave her access to eight cities, three countries and 15 museums, from the grand Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to the Fashion Museum in Bath. The following year, inspired by her travels, she produced 10 captivating oil portraits comprising The Lace…

Amidst the toings and froings of a busy Christmas day, there is always time for a quiet moment of sketching. I’m often given sets of coloured pencils for Christmas and don’t always know how to put them to best use; this exercise can help solve the problem. Pick three items of contrasting shapes and textures and arrange them in a satisfying composition. Decide on a limited palette of pencil crayons in which to make your drawing. I embraced Christmas clichés with a yellow, red and green combination alongside a 2B pencil. www.jakespicerart.co.uk 1 Add coloured pencil as you might with a watercolour painting, working from the light colours to the darker colours and allowing the white of the paper to provide your lightest lights. I have started with yellow and…

MATERIALS • COLOURS Acrylic: Hooker’s Green, Indian Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Scarlet, Dark Madder, Olive Green, Black, Turquoise, White, Lemon Yellow; Aquacryl paint in Permanent Red; Airbrush paint in Deep Madder, Olive Brown and Olive Green • SQUARE CANVAS • BRUSHES Flat brush, angled brush and spatula • SPRAY BOTTLE OF WATER 1 Use a small spatula to form two star-shaped flowers in Cadmium Orange, and the third flower and more subtle flowers at the very bottom in Cadmium Scarlet. Using the flat brush, prime the background generously in white. Leave to dry. Mix white, black and a little turquoise for a blue-grey. Then apply another layer of white mixed with a little blue-grey all over the picture. 2 Shade the flowers deeply using the angled brush with Aquacryl paint…

MATERIALS • COLOURS Titanium White, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Sap Green, French Ultramarine Blue and Raw Umber • PAPER Oil painting paper 30x40cm • LOW ODOUR WHITE SPIRIT • BRUSHES Rosemary & Co Chungking Hog Filberts sizes 1-10 • HB PENCIL We all have one of those photos we’ve taken on a special occasion capturing a memorable moment that makes you think “I’d love to turn that into a painting!”. It’s these images, so full of personal memories, that I believe make for the best subject matter, particularly when painting it for a friend or relative as a gift, or just something to hang on your wall as a memento. Like any other subject, a scene that has a complicated or busy group arrangement…

MATERIALS • PAPER Sketchpad, Tracing paper, White Scraperboard Size A4, 200gsm paper • PENCILS 2B and 9B pencils, Derwent Drawing Coloured Pencils • BRUSHES Sables sizes 2 and 5 • INDIAN INK • P.C. WITH PHOTOSHOP SOFTWARE • PRINTER AND SCANNER • FOLDERS FOR CREASING Bone, Teflon and hardwood folders • CREASING BOARD D.I.Y. plywood with T or l shaped metal strip • SCRAPERBOARD CUTTER The New Year promise I always break is to give myself more time to create my own Christmas card linocuts, that is, until I decided to use scraperboard images and my computer. This technique is a happy compromise, producing a near match for the linocut effect I wanted in a short space of time, to help meet the Christmas postal deadline! I always use a…

1 HE WASN’T ALWAYS AN ARTIST Matisse began his working life as a lawyer and passed the bar with distinction. But when he was recovering from appendicitis in 1889, aged 20, his mother gifted him a box of art supplies and he began to paint. She advised that he should not adhere to the ‘rules’ of art and listen to his emotions instead. Two years later, Matisse decided to study art at the Académie Julian in Paris. His talent was nurtured by symbolist painter Gustave Moreau. 2 HE HAD A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH PICASSO First introduced by patron Gertrude Stein, the two artists exchanged paintings – Picasso selected Portrait of Marguerite (1906), and Matisse took home Pitcher, Bowl and Lemon (1907). Gertrude fuelled the sense of public rivalry, stating that…