Book study: The Giant of Jum

This picture book has been written by Elli Woollard and illustrated by Benji Davies. The reason I have chosen to study this book is that I will be attending a workshop in Bath which will be run by Benji. The workshop is more likely to be aimed at kids although gaining an insight into how he thinks or works could prove very useful, also interested to see how the workshop is delivered.
The story itself is rather like an adaptation or spin off from Jack and the beanstalk but without Jack. The use of the words fee, fi, of and fum are what really links it back to the original tale although they are said differently they are used throughout the story in a similar technique described in my study of Julia Donaldson's The Scarecrows Wedding. For this study I wish to concentrate more on the illustrations to try and gain an understanding of Benji's work.
The images in this book are fairly subtle in the use of colours with a greater emphasis on textures. Most images keep to one style although early in the book more stark contrasting images are used to portrait the giant as these are more likely to build a sense of fear within the reader (Fig 1).

Fig 1

The main things I have noticed within the illustrations are the inclusion of several little characters who are never mentioned but help build the story and scene. These include animals scared to make a noise indicating that they are scared of being eaten. Pets of the children which will create empathy with the reader and are all done in a far more subtle style of illustration. This helps define the main character who is much softer than his brother who is portrait in the sharp first image shown above. The various animals brought into the illustrations are highlighted below and work well as little sub stories or the for the child to find as the turn each page.

The other main factor within this picture book is how Benji has managed to show a sense of scale which is very important as the main character is  a giant. This is evident in the images below and give an insight into how an illustrator must think. This study was actually done prior to me going down to Bath but I had only saved rather than publishing for some reason.