03 Dec 2008
by mashadutoit
in Inspiration
Tags: social media
I’m getting very good at rationalizing wasting time. I am still a stalwart ColourLover , but these days I also get my visual fix at visualizeus. This is an image bookmarking site – sort of like delicious for pictures. Its great because it lets you link directly to the image, and also see who else has linked to it. Because they probably have some other images bookmarked…
Its excellent for finding inspiration, and also for organising your finds. I find it very soothing to look at my variously organised images. I’ve got a bunch of round ones, ones that inspire pattern ideas , images of urban decay… The usual thing, organised with tags.
You can also have “watch lists” to keep an eye on people with similar taste to you. There is the usual load of pictures of girls in underwear (or without underwear) but I’ve developed a sort of internal girly filter to help me ignore them.
OK – its yet another time sink, but this one has helped me overcome several bouts of creative dolldrums and actually so some of my own creative work for a change!
01 Dec 2008
by mashadutoit
in Inspiration
Tags: flowers, fynbos, november, poem, silvermine, spring, thomas hood
Yesterday was the last day of November and we went for a walk at Silvermine. There were so many flowers:
Not at all like that Thomas Hood poem about November:
No sun–no moon!
No morn–no noon!
No dawn–no dusk–no proper time of day–
No sky–no earthly view–
No distance looking blue–
More
30 Jun 2008
by mashadutoit
in books, Colour, Illustration, Inspiration
Tags: children's books, gennady spirin, Illustration
What makes a good subject for a children’s picture book? I see so many similar books on the bookshop shelves. Clear happy pictures, short happy stories. “Once There Was a Tree”, written by Natalia Romanova and illustrated by Gennady Spirin, could not be more different. As a foretaste, here is a page number:
You can read more about Spirin at this page. He is described as being “like a magician, using his paint brush as a wand.” I hope these scans of the books do justice to his work. I was once lucky enough to see an exhibition of his original paintings. They are breathtaking. More
16 Jun 2008
by mashadutoit
in Art, books, Colour, Illustration, Inspiration
Tags: children's books, chinese, fold tale, Illustration, molly bang
Dont you just love an excuse to sort through your book collections? To be paging through old battered survivors of childhood, as well as look at new discoveries. For me, one such new discovery is “the Paper Crane ” by Molly Bang. This little book is perfect. I love the freshness of the storytelling, the sensitivity and beauty of the artwork, and the quiet joy it radiates.
What could be a more satisfying medium for this story than to tell it in pictures made up of folded and cut paper and collage? More
03 Jun 2008
by mashadutoit
in Art, Colour, Illustration, Inspiration
Tags: arabian nights, children's books, Illustration, janusz grabianski, watercolor, watercolour
Did you also have books, as a child, that you read over and over again? The images become so familiar that you cannot imagine the story without them. This is, for me, the ultimate edition of The Arabian Nights. The text reworked by Hedwig Smola, translated into Afrikaans by Andre Brink and above all illustrated by Janusz Grabianski.
As a child I loved Grabianski’s vivid colours and strong brushwork – the storytelling in the pictures is just as lively as that in the text. Here you can see the first meeting of Aladdin with the evil magician, pretending to be his long lost uncle. More
02 Jun 2008
by mashadutoit
in Art, books, Illustration, Inspiration
Tags: drawing, Gormengast, gothic, Illustration, Mervyn Peake, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, writer_artist
Inevitably I have come to Mervyn Peake. Mervyn Peake! That name casts a shadow. Have you read Titus Groan, or Gormenghast? Did you realise he was well known as an illustrator for such classics as Alice in Wonderland, and Treasure Island?
If you have not read him yet, Mervyn Peake is the master of true, dark goth. His creations live below the page, he sculpts his characters and crosshatches them with words. No one else writes, or draws, like Mervyn Peake.
More
23 May 2008
by mashadutoit
in books, Colour, Illustration, Inspiration
Tags: children's books, children's illustration, cinderella, Errol le cain, Illustration
Here is a magical book for you to have a look at: Cinderella by Errol Le Cain. This process of sharing my favorite illustrators has helped me realise how profoundly they have influenced me . When I am asked what my influences are, I tend to think about serious fine artists. Audrey Beardsley maybe? But in all honesty, it is people like Errol Le Cain who have shaped the way I look at things.
I wish I could draw like Errol Le Cain! Here is Cinderella doing her embroidery under the watchful eye of her stepmother and stepsisters. More
20 May 2008
by mashadutoit
in Art, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews
Tags: bakgat, david kramer, south african music
Sometimes you meet a someone who can put your thoughts into words; who can articulate those vague opinions that have been bouncing around your head for years. The great South African musician, composer and songwriter David Kramer came to speak to our students today, and I kept wanting to stand up and shout “listen to him! LISTEN to what he is saying!”.
He is also very difficult to draw!
More
16 May 2008
by mashadutoit
in Art, books, Colour, Illustration, Inspiration
Tags: charles keeping, children's books, children's illustration, Illustration, josef se plant, joseph's yard, writer_artist
Charles Keeping was a powerful force in my childhood. I was scared and fascinated by his books . The drawings burn on the page, and the stories cut into your heart. I was deeply influenced by his drawing style – that muscular scrawl with ink and wash. In this post I want to share one particular book: “Joseph’s Yard” which I grew up knowing as “Josef se plant”, in its Afrikaans version.
More
26 Apr 2008
by mashadutoit
in books, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews
Tags: children's books, fantasy books
I recently came across this quote in an interview with fantasy author Garth Nix – speaking about the importance of a moral message in children’s books:
“I subscribe to the belief that if you want to send a message, use Western Union.”
This reminded me of the famous Tolkien quote, from his introduction to The Lord of the Rings:
” I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.”
And yet when stories deal with the issues we have to face in our lives, we feel the rightness of it. More
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