Little Striped Books part 2

I have been very busy this year and as a consequence I've neglected my weblog somewhat, I'm very much afraid. However, now that I'm back again I'm just gonna pick up where I left off.

My previous entry was about the illustrations I made for a book called Kamelenkind. I ended that entry with the announcement that the next time I would tell you more about the illustrations I made for another book titled De Bezoekers van Zirk (Visitors from Zirk).

Both books are written by Emma van Andel and are part of a series called De Gestreepte Boekjes. One of the main characters of Kamelenkind is a girl named Jen. In De Bezoekers van Zirk Jen experiences another adventure. This time not with her father Tattoe, but with her neighbour Mik, who is a reporter for the local newspaper.
Here are some of the illustrations I made, which will give you an idea what this story is about.

I got some very complimentary comments on my last entry, for which I'm thankful. Especially the sketches seemed to please quite a few readers. With those sketches I wanted to show you the process of making an illustration - from the first rough sketch up to the execution of the finished illustration.
I would like to do that again. I think it will be sufficient to use a little less detailed explanation this time. After all, the process is very much the same as described in the previous entry and I don't want to repeat myself unnecessarily.

Let's take a closer look at the third illustration of the book. This scene depicts Mik and Jen on their way to a pasture just outside the village, where - according to Jen - an UFO might have landed. Mik is very eager to get a scoop so he really puts on a spurt.

Here's my initial rough sketch:

Although this is only a first attempt and nothing more than a hasty scribble, I immediately notice that I'm on the wrong track concerning the shape of Mik's head. To accentuate the speed that Mik's making, his chin has to be moved forward and his head has to be twisted a little more backward. Something like this:

Mik's countenance is still very rudimental. I don't know quite yet what I want Mik to look like. In the book Mik is described as someone with spiny hair and freckles, so these two features have to be applied to his looks for sure.
Readers of the previous blog entry can probably guess what the next step will be. In search for Mik's countenance I sketch various little portraits of him. I don't think too much about it while doing so. I make a scribble of anything that comes to mind, trying to find the right lines that will suit Mik's character.

The following images show the process of working out a sketch in detail. I still haven't made up my mind about Mik's looks. So while I plunge into working out the finesses of the sketch, I'm still exploring other variations on his physiognomy.

The sketch is actually ready now, but I'm still a bit uncertain about Mik's features. Sometimes it's better to put a sketch away for a week or two. When you take it out again after some time, you have a renewed vision. Suddenly you see much clearer what can be improved upon the sketch. Alas, most assignments usually come with a deadline. In practice it's almost impossible to make use of this tactic.
I'll have to come to a decision. Although Mik didn't look that bad at all in the previous two sketches, in the final sketch I decided it would be better to provide Mick's body with another head.

This is the sketch that will be presented to the publisher. It's quite customary to show a sketch to your principal. That way he or she can form an idea of what the illustration is going to look like when finished. It also gives the principal the opportunity to suggest some small corrections if necessary. Adjusting a sketch is easier then making alterations after the illustration is all done.
The author Emma van Andel also gets to see the sketches, which is quite self-evident since I'm visualising her brainchild. Emma made a small - but nevertheless significant - remark about the sketch shown right above. As I wrote before, Mik is very eager to get a scoop. That might be a bit of an understatement. In chapter one of the book Mik confides to Jen that he can't find a subject to write an article about for the local newspaper, simply because nothing ever happens in the small village. He's even afraid he might get fired if he doesn't come up with a story soon! One can well imagine how Mik is delirious with joy when Jen tells him she has spotted an UFO flying over the village.
However, Mik looks rather grumpy in my sketch. I'm afraid I've modelled Mik too much on myself in this particular case. I always look grumpy whilst cycling. Or with any other physical exertion, for that matter.

I alter Mik's facial expression so it fits his ecstatic mood. With this last adjustment the sketch is finally ready and I can start to ink.

For the background of the illustration I want a shape with a rough edge. To achieve this, I use watercolour paper with a rough surface. On this paper I draw the outline of the shape using a brush and ink. I make sure that there's not too much ink on the brush, which will result in a "dry" stroke. After I've drawn the outline, I fill in the shape itself. This can be done by simply using brush and ink, not using the dry brush technique this time. Another option is to scan the outline first and fill in the shape in Photoshop, using the paint bucket tool. It doesn't make any difference really. The result will be the same and will look like this:

One might also use other materials on watercolour paper to get more or less the same effect. Sometimes I use crayon or soft lead-pencils (from 2b up to 8b). I always use the black & white option on my scanner for these kind of images. Even so when the drawing itself is in grays, which will be the case when using pencils. The reason for all this is that I will need a digital file which is easy to edit. That would be rather difficult with a file consisting of numerous pixelated shades of gray!
Next step is making digital files of the background shape and the line drawing. With the use of Photoshop I retouch all the little slip ups of the line drawing, paste the shape into the background and fill in all the colours. At last, the illustration is all done!

I got two remarks on account of my previous blog entry. The first one was about the colouring. It wasn't all too clear if I did my colouring by hand or on my computer. Well, concerning my work which is meant for publication, all the colouring is done digitally. However, sometimes I make work that's all done by hand. The inducement to do that is generally when an exhibition is at hand. For the colouring of this kind of work I use a wide variation of materials, such as liquid watercolours, acrylic paint, colour pencils, pastel crayons, markers or even cut paper. Here is an example of such an original drawing, made with acrylic paint.

The other remark was a request to show more of the digital steps I take to complete an illustration. I'm afraid there isn't that much interesting to say about that. To tell the truth, I'm nothing like a computer wizard and I use as little filters and digital tools as possible. It's very unlikely that I could mention anything noteworthy that someone remotely familiar with Photoshop - the program I use for most of illustrations - wouldn't already know. Nevertheless, I'll give it a try.
My files are always at a resolution of 600 dpi. That's way more than needed for printwork, but a higher resolution avoids my inked lines getting too much pixelated. I also make sure that the anti-aliased checkbox in Photoshop is not checked, otherwise the lines or shapes I make in my file will get a bicubic blurry edge. These blurry edged lines and shapes are very unpractical to edit, for instance when I want to select them or change their colour.
For that same reason I'm not too fond of the tools in Photoshop with a dry brush, pastel, charcoal - or whatever there may be - effect. All these tools give the same blurry result. Besides, it seems a bit silly to me to use a digital effect that is an imitation, when it's just as easy to use the original drawing-materials on paper and make a digital scan of that.

I will try to make myself more clear by using a detail of the "Mik and Jen on a bicycle" illustration that so conveniently has been serving as a display model so far. If you look at this illustration, you'll notice that the cobblestones have a rough edge at the bottom. I could make such a rough edge in Photoshop by using the line tool with dry brush effect, but I will not do that for reasons I've given before. Instead I draw a line with a real dry brush on real watercolour paper and make a black and white scan of that line. Now I have a digital file of that line. I already had a digital file of the line drawing of the illustration, which I scanned before. Next step is to select the white background of the line drawing. Thereupon I reverse that selection. Having done so, I cut the background out of the rest of the illustration using "cut" and "paste". The illustration itself is now cut loose from its background and on a different layer. Next thing to do is to select the dry brush line, copy it and paste it into the illustration. I place the layer with the dry brush line in between the layer with the illustration and the background. Then I move the dry brush line to the right place in the illustration. That will be at the bottom of the cobblestones. With the use of the paint bucket tool I give the brush line the colour I had in mind for the cobblestones. I merge the layers back to one using "flatten image". Now it's quite easy to fill in the remaining cobbles with the same colour. As anyone who is familiar with Photoshop will know, you can fill in any space with colour using the paint bucket tool, provided that that space is enclosed by lines.

I have to admit, it's not that easy to describe all those digital steps in a few simple sentences. I can well imagine that you've lost track halfway my elucidation. Therefore I've made a diagram that gives a summary of this digital procedure in three surveyable steps:

It might well be that this is all common knowledge to some of you. On the other hand, it might be all technical balderdash to you, even utterly boring! But there it is. This is the best I can do.

Back to the subject of the book itself: aliens and UFO's. I would like to express that I was very pleased indeed with the assignment to illustrate this particular book, because drawing aliens and UFO's is fun! Needless to say I've drawn quite a few extraterrestrial creatures in my life, with or without their spacecrafts. Here are a few examples (click on image to enlarge):

Each image in itself is a topic for a new blog entry. I could pick one myself as the subject for a new entry, but I prefer giving my readers the opportunity to choose an image. So just let me know which one you would like to learn more about!

Little Striped Books part 1

The idea of illustrating a children's book has always appealed to me. So you can imagine I was very pleased indeed I was given the opportunity to illustrate the book Kamelenkind (Camel Child), written by Emma van Andel.


The book is part of a series called De Gestreepte Boekjes (Little Striped Books) and is published by Pica Educatief bv.
The parents of Dutch children can subscribe to De Gestreepte Boekjes. Once subscribed the parents (or rather their children) receive two books every month. One of the books is part of regular series about Borre, a character created by the writer Jeroen Aalbers and illustrator Stefan Tijs. The other book has a different writer and illustrator each month. Books can also be bought seperately by ordering them on the website of De Gestreepte Boekjes

Although illustrating a children's book every month - like Stefan Tijs has to do - might be a little bit too much of a good thing, I've enjoyed illustrating Kamelenkind ever so much. The book is made for children aged nine to ten (classified as Group 6 in the Netherlands). It's rather an adventurous book. The story is about the girl Jen and her father Tattoe (nicknamed that way because of his tattoos) who are leaving for Akkamassa in the Sahara to start up a camel rental company. A very unfortunate business while camel thieves are also hanging about . . . . .
Well, I won't tell too much of the story. I wouldn't like to spoil the fun for those who like to read the book themselves. For that same reason I won't show too many illustrations from the book. Just enough to make you - I hope - curious for more.


What I would like to do, is to tell you something about the making of the illustrations. Several times I've noticed that some people don't realize how an illustration is made and how much work is involved. One might think that I just take a sheet of white paper, draw some lines on it , add some colour and Bob's your uncle! Or one might even think that all my drawings are made with only the use of a computer (and what could be easier than that?). Nothing of the sort, I can assure you. It may look as if my illustrations are done with much ease, but appearances can be deceptive.

To show you the process of how an illustration is made, I will use the first illustration of the book as an example.
First of all I make a very small and rough sketch, just to see for myself what the main elements of the picture will be and what kind of composition I would like to use. In this particular case the first sketch is the actual size of the illustration that is going to be used in the book.


The next sketch is still very rough, but this time I try to fill in some of the details. I haven't figured out yet what the characters will look like. I give it a first attempt, but at this stage it's not the most important thing. This sketch is mainly to figure out what the posture of Jen's father will be. The first chapter of the book mentions the tattoo on his left upper arm. Of all the tattoos on Tattoe's body, this is the only one that is set out in detail. It's a significant tattoo, because it represents the bond between Tattoe, Jen and her mother who died when she was born. However, it's also mentioned that Tattoe enthusiastically spreads his arms when he tells Jen of his camel rental plan. This is the most essential scene in this chapter, but with Tattoe's arms spread out, the tattoo on his left upper arm is out of focus. So I'll have to make a choice.


After making this rough sketch in which Tattoe's tattoo is visible, I decide it's better to choose for the other option, because I think the contrast between Tattoe's keenness and Jen's scepticism is ever so characteristic for this chapter.
I also decide to adjust the perspective of the table so it's easier to distinguish the different objects on the breakfast table.


The basic construction is now good enough to be worked out in a more detailed sketch. With the use of a light box I make a mirrored image of the sketch. By doing so, I get a different view on what I've drawn. This way it's easier to spot little slip ups, such as a limb that's longer or shorter than the other one, or an unintentionallly askew face.
I read about this little trick in a book about the life and works of none other than the grandmaster of comics, Hergé. It was many, many years ago that I read this book, but I've been using this trick ever since. If a light box is not at hand, one can also hold the sketch before a mirror or even hold the sketch upside down to achieve the same effect.


I'm already quite pleased with the looks of Jen. Tattoe however, is not to my liking at all. So for the moment I put this sketch aside and draw my attention to his looks. In attempt to find a visual image suitable for Jen's father, I make quite a few scribbles. Some of those scribbles look rather stupid, don't they? But bare in mind that you've got to draw a lot of wrong lines in order to find the right ones. That's what sketching is all about.


In this sketched search for the right features for Tattoe, I finally find the lines that meet with my approval. Now that I've got more or less figured out what I want the illustration to look like, I can make a final sketch in detail.


Before I start to ink, I transfer the sketch to paper with a very smooth surface. Ink runs out on paper which hasn't got a smooth surface. Don't like that at all! But a smooth surface only isn't enough. You'll also need a brush with a sharp point in order to get a nice sharp line. I prefer to work with brush and Indian ink. A brush no.2 or no.3 - preferably one made with marten hair - will do the the trick. But Indian ink is quite aggressive and the brush will only last a couple of drawings. By then it has lost too many hairs to draw another decent line. Sometimes I use a brush pen. The point of a brush pen always stays sharp. However, the ink of a brush pen doesn't dry as quickly as Indian ink. It takes up to 24 hours to dry when used on a smooth surface! I always get smudges on my drawing whilst working with a brush pen, because my hand had accidentally touched an already inked part.
Of course all those smudges have to be retouched. I do a lot of retouching anyhow. Although I'm quite experienced with the use of brush and ink, my brush still slips every now and then. Like I wrote before, I like my lines sharp. So sloppy lines won't do at all!
I used to touch up my lines with Schmincke Dekweiss, the only paint that does that job well enough in my experience. But my local art supply dealer doesn't sell that brand anymore and ever since I make use of digital resources, it's just as easy to do the retouching on my computer.


Now that the inking is done, the next step will be to make a scan of the line drawing. There's still some work to be done before I can fill in the colours. I'll have to touch up the lines and I'll have to adjust Tattoe's tattoos, because I don't want black outlines there. The same goes for the cow and clouds on the milk carton. And of course I need a background. For the illustrations of this book I thought it would be nice to have a background with a rough edge. To achieve this effect I use watercolour paper with a very rough surface and a rather dry brush.
With this background and all the adjustments made, I can finally do the colouring of the illustration.


Although not bad for a first attempt, I'm not quite pleased with these colours. The dominant colour blue in this illustration gives it a rather cold feeling. That doesn't seem right. A warm, domesticated feeling seems much more in place for this scene. So I add a little yellow to the colours to give this illustration a little more warmth.


There, that's much better! This is how the illustration is published in Kamelenkind. Well, it took a lot of steps to come to this end result, now didn't it?
Some of you might have identified the - simplified - logo of the Ramones on Tattoe's T-shirt. I don't think that's something that today's children will immediately recognize, but I love to put such clues - or maybe a little homage might even be a better word - in an illustration if the oppurtunity arises. It's not unthinkable at all that some of these youngsters will discover many years from now what the emblem on the T-shirt stands for. Call me a silly old fart if you like, but that thought certainly gives me a little bit of fun.

If you like the illustrations shown in this entry, you might like to know that I've made the illustrations for a second book, also part of De Gestreepte Boekjes series and also written by Emma van Andel. It's called De Bezoekers van Zirk (Visitors from Zirk). I will tell you more about that book a next time.

Michel Da Capo

After a few months hard work I finally found the time to write a new weblog entry. It's a bit harsh that I should start again with some rather sad news. But nevertheless I feel the need to write something about Michel "Da Capo" Terstegen, who passed away on July 4, 2011.

Michel is of course best known for his record shop in Utrecht, but that's not how I became acquainted with him in the first place. Michel was also a frequent visitor (if not deejaying himself) of many sixties themed parties. Parties which I, not quite coincidently, also like to go to. On those parties I got to know Michel as a very enthusiastic, kind and warm-hearted person. Despite his age - he's about five years older than me - he had always kept a boyish charm, which made his companionship very pleasant indeed. No need to tell you we always welcomed Michel with open arms.

But there's more to Michel. Michel was part of the mod revival movement in the late 1970s/early 1980s. I've always been a bit envious of that. Or should I say fascinated? I guess a bit of both. When I was 14 years old I saw the motion picture Quadrophenia. I was quite impressed by that movie and walking out of the cinema that night I decided I wanted to be a mod too. But there weren't any mods in Rotterdam at that time and I had no frame of reference at all, other than the movie. I didn't know where to buy the right clothes and I didn't know where to buy the music. It didn't help either that I was a very shy boy and nothing like the adventurous kind. So I kept on daydreaming and stayed just how I was, which was nothing outspoken really. A year later I learned that there was a mod scene in Utrecht, but I did nothing with that knowledge. Utrecht was just a step too far away for a shy boy like me.
The early 1980s also had its rockabilly revival. My friends at that time were much more attracted to that rather than this mod thing and so they became rockabillies. Well, you know what they say; if you can't beat them, join them. I have to say, I've enjoyed being part of a youth culture and I still like a good rockabilly tune, but my fascination for everything mod kept on itching. By 1986, at the age of 21, I became more self confident and a little bit more adventurous. Consequentially my preferences for mod clothing and music became more outspoken. I guess that in the end I became, although not planned as such, a mocker.

I can't exactly remember when I met Michel Da Capo for the first time, but it must have been somewhere around the mid-nineties. From the moment that I found out that Michel had been part of that legendary mod revival scene in Utrecht, I always kept on asking him questions about that period. Luckily Michel was always happy to tell about those days. Listening to his stories it somehow made up for the all the things I missed out on because of my lack of will power to become a mod in the late 70s.

The last time I spoke with Michel was on August 28, 2010. That night I was questioning him again about the ol' days. Somewhere during the conversation I blurted out that one of the reasons why I appreciated mods, was that they were always well mannered (I'm not referring to the beach riots of 1965 of course). "Well mannered!?" Michel replied, "Pieter, you couldn't be more wrong! We weren't well mannered at all!" He told me that from time to time, whilst hanging out, the Utrecht mods got rowdy. When the battle cry "Slooopuuuhh!" sounded, these angry young men started to demolish anything on their way, like running over and jumping on parked cars and more of that sort of thing. Now of course I don't approve of that sort of behavior, but I just adored hearing Michel telling about it with that mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
On top of that, it was my last conversation with him and because of that I will always treasure this story.

Michel passed away way too soon. He was still in the midst of life. Also he wasn't given much time to say goodbye to the life he enjoyed so much. Hardly half a year after he had heard the horrible news that he was suffering from stomach cancer Michel's body gave up. I didn't see Michel whilst he was sick. I didn't see the decline of his body. In my memory I still see him as lively and cheerful as ever and that image is very vivid.
I went to his funeral last Saturday. I listened to the farewell words of his beloved ones and somehow it felt that something didn't fit. Sure enough these words were all about Michel Da Capo, but I could not match the farewell outings with Michel who's still so very alive in my memory. I just couldn't imagine him being dead. "This can't be the same Michel I know", I thought to myself. "You'll see for sure, the next 60s party we're having, he'll come walking in just as he always used to do". I don't think this feeling will change. At every party we'll enjoy in the future Michel will be present. Probably over the years my common sense will make me see that it isn't possible anymore that he'll be there in the flesh, but then again, in spirit he will always be.

Aeroplanes

In this entry I would like to bring up a topic that has nothing to do with my work as an illustrator. It's about illustrations alright, but these kind of illustrations haven't influenced my own work at all. To be honest, I couldn't make these kind of illustrations even if I wanted to. I just haven't got the skill.
It's about aeroplanes too. I like pictures of aeroplanes, especially aeroplanes made approximately between 1910 and 1960. So this entry of my weblog is strictly for my own - and hopefully yours too - visual enjoyment.

I came up with the idea for this entry when my friend Frits Jonker send me a trading cards album. The album is called Wings of Speed, 50 years of air speed breakers and was produced in 1960 by J.Lyons & Company Limited, Cadby Hall, London W14. Maybe that doesn't ring a bell, but Lyons Tea surely will. One could collect the cards for this album by buying packets of this brand of tea. The album I got from Frits is almost complete, except for the very last card, which coincidentally pictures the very same aeroplane which is on the front of the cover, according to the underline.


The album contains some very beautiful pictures of streamlined aeroplanes. The name of the artist is not credited in the album, but fortunately the artist was wise enough to sign the illustration on the cover. The style of the illustrations on the cards are very much alike to the one on the front cover, so one can safely assume that Mister Keane did all the colour illustrations in this album. I'm not sure about the black and white illustrations, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if he did those as well.
The lay-out of the pages is done with great taste and the handlettering is first rate. (click on pictures to enlarge)



As you well can imagine, J.Lyons & Company Limited weren't the only ones who made trading cards with pictures of aeroplanes. In my collection of scraps of old paper are some trading cards which were manufactured by Lubro Beschuit, a Dutch company that made beschuit (Dutch rusk) somewhere in the mid-twentieth century. Alas, I only have a couple of Lubro Beschuit cards. I don't have the accompanying album Wat is dat voor een vliegtuig? (what kind of aeroplane is that?). So you'll have to do with just these few cards.


I really don't know much about the picture you'll see below. I bought this sheet with pictures of aircrafts in the 1980s along with four other sheets with the same topic, as well as some others with pictures of animals. I always thought that these picture sheets were reproductions, because they were absolutely mint when I bought them. The shop had quite a stock too. But besides that, nothing really indicates that they're reproductions. Everything about them looks authentic. The pictures are even embossed! That's quite an expensive way to make reproductions. So whilst preparing this blog I started to think maybe they're not reproductions at all, but old stock. I know, it sounds too good to be true. But then again, the 1980s were marvellous times for buying the most incredible vintage stuff from the mid-twentieth century for almost nothing. So maybe I'm right, or maybe I'm wrong. I guess I'll never know.


You might wonder with what purpose these colour prints where manufactured. I'm afraid I don't know that either. The only clues to be found on the prints are a small logo and that they were made in England. The logo reads "MLP", but that's not much to go on. Some of the colour prints have the logo of Toffee Crefin, a Belgian candy manufacturer, on the back. So maybe these pictures were intended to be given away for free with the purchase of a Toffee Trefin product, just like the Lyons and Lubro trading cards.


I don't know if Toffee Crefin also produced paste-in albums for these pictures. I couldn't find anything that would indicate they did. There are a lot of questions unanswered for, but that doesn't spoil the beauty of the pictures themselves at all!

Beautiful pictures of aeroplanes are of course not only to be found on trading cards or similar prints, but also in books. I do love the children's book Airplanes, which is part of the famous Little Golden Books series.


The book is written Ruth Mabee Lachman and the illustrations are done by Steele Savage. Mind you, this is the 1959 edition in which the pictures of the aeroplanes are updated to its time. The first edition was published in 1953 with illustrations by Lenora and Herbert Combes. Sadly enough I don't have that edition, so I can't make a comparison.


Another book with smashing illustrations is All About Aeroplanes. I bought this book whilst visiting Dear Old Blighty on a book market in Wells, Somerset. The book is written and illustrated by Galbraith O'Leary, who also made a wonderful book about British trains, titled British Trains. All About Airplanes is published by The Heirloom Library, London.


The book is undated, but looking at the jet fighters, I would guess it was published somewhere between 1952 and 1957.


To conclude this entry I would like to show you this lovely jigsaw puzzle I got from my Australian friend Miike ( no misspelling there, that's how he writes his name). The jigsaw came without a box, so not a clue to any manufacturer or date. The only clue to its origin is in the abbreviation TAA, which stands for Trans Australian Airlines. But since I got this present from an Australian friend, that was already quite obvious.


Of course these are just a few pictures from my collection. It's not my intention at all to give you a complete conspectus of illustrated aeroplanes. I just wanted to show you some pictures I get enthousiastic about. I hope you've enjoyed them too.