Sunday, April 10, 2011

"BAAAAAA!"


Like the illustration in the previous post, this one also began as a sketch that was too much fun not to develop further. The difference being that this time, the sketching process started with a more studied approach as part of developing an idea for a kids' book with a friend, Alaa Kabalan (although it's now moved to a place where it might not necessarily be for children anymore).

It's drawn in pencil with some adjustment of the contrast on Photoshop. What I like most about this technique is that it gives a grainy feel, almost like an old movie. It's also a rather dark drawing so for me, it functions as a reminder of the sort of stories that I was most affected by as a kid. As I see it, getting a little frightened, creeped-out or sad is more memorable as there's a lot more to learn form that.

The most recent example of such a story I've come across was Henry Selick's animated version of Coraline. I've yet to read the original book so I'm not in a position to offer a comparison but the drawing in this post and the story it was made for were greatly inspired by the movie. Something that's often annoyed me is the number of encounters I've had with parents who deemed it too scary too show to their kids. A child's intelligence deserves more respect than that so I wanted to end this post with a recommendation.