Awe-inspiring Illustration
As a fascinated illustration enthusiast I’ve always looked on in awe of certain illustrators’ styles. They are a signature, in a medium that suits them, that in turn lends its own quirks and variables which make that finished piece all the more awe-worthy. In this creative spotlight I want to take you through some brilliant illustration work that I have been captured by for a number of years and others that are newer to me. Each artist has their own story, their own journey to reach a final piece and I hope you that you’re as inspired by my selection as I am.
The first person whose work I’d like to show you is Amanda Hall. She’s a children’s illustrator who really captured me when I first encountered the book The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau.
This was a style of illustration I was very familiar with. I recalled old fairytale books kept at my gran and papa’s house, which were my dad and uncle’s when they were young. They were big books (2 foot tall at least!), they were bound with cloth and the illustrations took over the pages; spilling across spreads and intertwining with the copy.
The huge-eyed characters, the bright but textured colouring, great use of perspective and so much detail brought me right back to sitting on the rug at my papa’s knee, asking for words to be said aloud and defined. Every page held a tiny world and the scenery was filled with interesting objects to look at.
Hall uses bold colouring to invite you into this magical world where the characters live. Here it is lavish and rich, she uses watercolour inks to block out the colour initially, on smooth board, then works into this once dry with crayon pencils; a medium I haven’t yet worked in (there’s always time!). The crayon allows layering of colour and Hall works from dark to light leaving marks that give a 3D characteristic to the work. Utterly beautiful, utterly awe-inspiring.
Johanna Basford is home grown talent, hailing from Aberdeen, who I think most of you will have come across in the last few years. Her client list is impressive, and I first came into contact with her work whilst on placement at Whitespace. Basford had created the Fringe Guide cover art for that year and it was a thing of beauty. Everything she creates starts as a simple sketch, which grows arms and legs (sometimes literally) to create intricate black and white inky masterpieces.
As you can see from my first two illustrators I have a real soft spot for the detailed. I love that people could go back time and again to discover the undiscovered in a piece of work. Basford’s work is the kind I’d love to have in my hallway. Every morning as you pop on your coat you could look at the same friendly owl as it waves you off to enjoy your day but your eyes could wander slightly one morning and you clock a really pretty leaf. You might have noticed it before, but today it is the most glaringly beautiful thing in the whole piece. Always room for surprises.
Basford has created 4 colouring books to date and they are breathtaking. Through her Instagram, I have followed as she shares her fans’ colouring work. On her website there is a gallery of more of the same which you could look at all day and I think she has a unique way of connecting with her audience as an illustrator.
Basford works in pencil then draws over the pencil marks, adding in patterns and colour fills as she goes; really letting the piece be as organic as it can be (which I guess must be slightly harder to do with a client brief in mind). She uses my preferred pen, a Staedtler Fine Liner, and shares a geeky passion for what can be created off screen.
I love Johanna Basford and her illustrations because they feel like a wonderland. She has worked incredibly hard to be where she is and she creates a product that allows her audience to become part of her story. Each person armed with her colouring book and a set of pencils can create something magical and awe-inspiring.
My third and final illustrator is a very new one for me. Mayuko Fujino is a mixed media artist. She lives in Queens, New York and is from Tokyo originally. She works with paper cuts to create multifaceted pieces that beg for you to look deeper. She is also a graphic designer and someone I have instantly taken to after being introduced to her work through Pinterest.
Her style is bold, Japanese and feels like stencil work. What really captivates me though is how clean and sharp the final pieces are. You know each cut has been carefully pondered over. The paper cut layers frames and occasionally adds colour to her work. Japanese culture holds paper in high esteem. This top layer of paper cut holds the meaning for Fujino.
She worked for years to mix the two styles of collage and paper cut. The collage layer (the bottom layer) is the layer of chaos and unmeaning. She says that as she is creating the two layers they become mixed, switch up roles and sometimes in her mind’s eye she is adding a third layer. I find all of this so fascinating. When I look closely at her artwork I want to believe in the pattern, the collage layer. It holds the secrets I need to know to understand this piece a little more; but that isn’t always the case.
Her pieces capture the imagination, they are whimsical and the characters - and dreamscapes - are simple and intricate. It’s a balance of attributes that I hope to achieve someday. She creates depth and texture with the top layer; often it is an off-white artists paper, a rough board or watercolour paper. The fragmented collage underneath is already broken up by the paper cut but in many of the pieces you can sense the layering here too.
A little part of me wants to see what the collage looks like without the paper cut on top. To lift the bonnet and see what didn’t become framed in a paper window. But then it would just be chaos and unmeaning; wouldn't that still be awesome?
