Yesterday I attended the last of the picture hooks talks with illustrator Debi Gilori who mentored Jonathan Bishop. Debi has been illustrating picture books for many years and works using traditional methods or materials. She showed some of her work which included images created using charcoal with secondary images in colour with pastels. These would be blended together by the designer who works for the publishers. Debi also discussed working with agents and publishers, the money side of things and confirmed as many others have that it is a job for enjoyment rather than riches and fame.
Running events in schools, libraries etc has become a major part of her work as this help to keep a steady income with around three days a week left for illustrating. These are the types of issues I must consider if I want to pursue such a career.
Johnathan was a student at Dundee University several years ago but had never found ways of entering the publishing world. This was in some ways due to lack of forcing himself to approach publishers. The picture hooks mentoring scheme has given him the confidence to now take such action. His initial sketchbook was full of characters but giving them backgrounds had always been something he has had issues with. Debi helped with this challenge and seen it a key element of picture books. The previous works that had backgrounds were pieced together and seemed a little incoherent but the images produced for display in the National Gallery have far more unity. Johnathan uses traditional materials but creates everything digitally, essentially scanning in all the work then removing edges,warping and playing with opacity etc. This gives his images a traditional feel as he does not add by digitally painting but rather removes leaving only the texture and colours created traditionally. This was interesting to discuss with him and could be something I try myself.
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