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I used to teach art at an elementary school. Kindergarten through fifth grade.
It was a wild time. I have a lot of good memories from those years, but looking back now, I’m not sure how I did it.
I know you are aware of this, but teachers do not get paid enough. Not nearly enough.
Let me set the scene…
I taught six classes each day, each class lasting fifty minutes. In those fifty minutes we needed to get settled in, probably solve some conflicts brought in from the playground, introduce the lesson, demonstrate the art project for the day, pass out supplies, calm an overstimulated kid who is having a bad day, clean up spills, play damage control, deal with a couple more behavior issues, make sure everyone is getting some instructional attention, and for the love of god stop the lesson at least ten minutes early so we can clean the mess and be lined up at the door, because the next class will be waiting in the hallway to come in as soon as the bell rings!
On top of all that there was an actual curriculum that we were expected to work through as well. It sounds impossible. It often felt that way. But it all got done. Somehow.
Beyond all probability I taught some of the most rambunctious and squirrelly kids you can imagine about the elements of art and the principles of design.
Wait. What?
You know what those are, right? The basics. The fundamentals that any sort of visual art is built upon. It’s okay if you’ve forgotten, here’s a reminder — the elements of art are line, shape, color, value, form, texture, and space. The design principles get a bit more complicated. Maybe we will save those for later. (Okay, okay. Just so you don’t have to go searching, the principles of design are balance, unity, variety, emphasis, movement, pattern and proportion.)
I bring this up because maybe you would think that as someone who has been working professionally for a bunch of years as an illustrator, that my skills and thoughts about art and the work that I make would be waaaaaaaaaay beyond the lessons I taught to my elementary students.
Well, guess what?
That is not the case.
I think about these basic things all the time. Creating an illustration, or any piece of artwork, is all about making choices. A series of never-ending choices, to be more exact. Decisions have to be made about the size and shape of things, the composition, the line quality, color palette, texture, etc, etc. So many choices — and every single choice relates directly back to one (or more) of these basic fundamentals.
Let’s take a look at one - the line.
My personal illustration style tends to evolve a bit over time, and my current way of working relies heavily on the line. Lots of line work. Drawing with only lines before I continue on to add any color.
The book I am working on right now is complicated. So many different scenes and characters to incorporate into those scenes. Illustrations within illustrations. I’ve found that it helps to simplify my approach to the drawings, to eliminate any extra decisions that need to be made. I’m creating the illustrations digitally, in Procreate, because that allows for the most flexibility if things need to be edited or changed, and it helps with making sure there is continuity across the entire project.
Within Procreate I’ve chosen a very small set of brushes to work with, but I would say that 95% of the drawings are made with only ONE brush. I chose one that can give me a wide variety of effects by adjusting the size and pressure and opacity.
Here is a sampling of the types of lines I can get from just this one brush…
(For those of you who are curious, it is the micro nib, which is part of the Rusty Nib set from True Grit Texture Supply. I also customized it’s settings a bit to my liking)
And here are some of those lines in action…
And how they appear before any color is added…
The lines in an illustration are sort of like handwriting. Each artist has their own approach, and the style comes out somewhat naturally. But the way an artist handles that style is what gives an illustration its character.
Here are a few excellent examples of brilliant use of line…
These first three are by Ben Shahn. Love his dynamic spare use of line.
Next, Maurice Sendak. We know and love him for Where the Wild Things Are, but here are a couple of his lesser known drawings…
One of my favorites…Bill Peet.
These next two are by Saul Steinberg. I love his playfulness. All of his stuff is simple but clever, and usually comedic. Absolutely brilliant.
This is by Beth Krush. She often worked on projects with her husband, Joe. They illustrated a bunch of stuff in the middle of last century, and it is all full of energy and really great.
The Encyclopedia Brown illustrations! Leonard Shortall is the illustrator, and he did a bunch of other stuff too, all of which is all so good.
And last but certainly not least is the animated movie, 101 Dalmatians from 1961. It’s my favorite animated movie in terms of the style. The way they used lines, especially in the backgrounds is so great. Everything was hand drawn, and the character of the artists’ drawings is retained in all of the scenes. It was a departure from the Disney tradition at the time, and very modern for its day. Walt Disney himself sort of hated it. The artists loved it. I think it has really stood the test of time, and it is so charming and fresh feeling - even today. If you really want to go down a rabbit hole on this one (and I recommend you do!) go watch the documentary about making this movie. It’s called Redefining the Line: The Making of 101 Dalmatians.
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me! This is just stuff I think about on a daily basis, and I thought maybe it would be insightful for some of you to hear about some of the nuts and bolts of my illustration process.
Maybe we will dive into COLOR and how I think about that in a future post.
In other news, I have several future projects lined up, and one of them was just announced.
I’ll be illustrating a picture book written by Christine Virnig, and published by Knopf/Random House in 2027.
You heard that right. 2027. I’ll be working on it long before that, but remember how I told you that things in publishing take for-ev-er?
Anyway, here’s the announcement, and I’m really excited about this one. Should be lots of fun…
I enjoy your notes. Just so you know, we had art class every Monday in my elementary school in the mid 60's. I LOVED art class and my teacher. You spark imaginations that has a lasting effect. Thank you for what you do! and sharing it. I look forward to seeing your illustrations. So much work involved! for works that will last a lifetime.
I love seeing all the little sneak peeks into your work process! Thank you for sharing. I only learned about Bill Peet around six years ago and so glad I was introduced to his work. I don’t see mention of his name too often and I’m glad to see he has another admirer.