CHARACTER CONSISTENCY

One of the many responsibilities of a children's book illustrator, is to keep the characters in your illustrations, consistent. This is also one of the most, if not the most, difficult to do! The shape of the head, body,... actually everything must stay the same throughout the whole book. Eye color? Hair color? Pudgy cheeks? YES! Even the style of the artwork, as well. Would it not be confusing to have the beginning of a book painted in a carefree, fun, watercolor wash and then have it end with realistic, tight, oil paintings?

I find I ask myself several questions along the character development stage. How old do I want this character to be? How tall? Skinny or not? Freckles? Once Ive decided on the basic character traits, many sketches are done for each pose and each page of the book. I find it very important to review the character throughout the book. Unless the character had a hair cut, hair dyed, lost or gained weight, got sunburned, etc., the character on the first page of the book, should look like the same person/character on the last page of the book.

Here's a few paintings I've done recently. I won't go into details about the story behind the illustrations because the book's not published yet, but, hopefully, you can see that this is the same child (and cat) in each illustration.

And here's how the final page will look.

ART CLASS FOR KIDS

A friend of mine approached me last year and asked if I would consider giving her son art lessons. I know how serious he is about art and his desire to learn so I decided to give it a try. After thinking about it for awhile, I decided to include other children. I thought he would have more fun if there were others his same age attending.

Each month, I am focusing on a different aspect of art. This month, I am having the kids focus on imagination. Imagination is a major key element in drawing. Artists don't just draw what they see. They add and/or subtract from their subject matter. Imagination is also one of the first characteristics children lose as they transition into adulthood. If an artist can utilize the imagination they had as a child, their art will benefit, greatly.

I held my second class this evening and would like to show you a little bit of what we did.

First, I allowed the kids to pick an animal from my stack of pictures. Since I had recently attended the zoo, I chose some zoo animals for them to use.

I asked them to study the animal they chose. "What makes an ostrich an ostrich, or a giraffe a giraffe?" I asked. Then I asked them to draw their animal based off of their observation.

Next, I asked them to pick a tool from the options I had placed on the table.

I asked them to study the tool they had chosen (What makes a hammer a hammer, etc.?), and then for them to draw that tool.

I then asked them to make a creature by combining the two (animal + tool). This child made an ostri-hammer! I LOVE it!

And then, going off of the picture of the creature they had just created, I asked them to make their creature in clay.

Isn't this sculpture AMAZING?! This kid did such a great job! I think he had a lot of fun tonight! I sure had fun watching him!