Virtual space and time

Whilst reading the book Reading the Visual by Frank Serafini I became aware of advice he gives to his students about exposing themselves to many different artists and forms of picture books. This is something I had included in my concept development as I had realised that influence comes through exposure. Over the course of this project I have looked through many picture books but have not mentioned them in my blog. This is mainly due to me not seeing them as studies in particular but more as inspirations or making myself aware of what already exists.
One artist I had looked at was Jon Klassen and his illustrations in I Want My Hat Back and also House Held Up By Trees. The most interesting or elements that had the most impact were how he has used the illustrations to depict space and time. I Want My Hat Back has no real setting, hints of a forest are given by broken branches but the backgrounds remain fairly blank. However a sense of space is created by the direction in which the character faces. The bear seems to stroll through from left to right asking each character if they have seen his hat. Once he realises he has already seen it on one of their heads he decides to run back to get it. This means he then runs from right to left which is unusually for a picture book but it definitely works this way. This is because the character is back the way and so he must turn to go back through this virtual space that has been created. This change of direction is shown below and highlights how our minds still manage to create a sense of space or a world even if it is not shown through the illustrations themselves.

The book House Held Up By Trees manages to show a passage of time through the growth of children into adults, the dilapidation of a home left in disrepair and the reclaiming of land by nature. These elements are all shown very simply but also in such a strong manner through the illustrations that enhance the textual story being told. A long period of time is covered within this book but it is easily understood through the illustrations which are shown below.