An early sketch for ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ threw up several questions about the final image. Should it be 3-d somehow? Is it too scary for young children? I’m now experimenting a little more with the treatment of the artwork and it’s so much fun!
Another visual for a new nursery rhyme book. ©ken wilson-max 2011
Kimane Maruge was the world’s oldest student, starting in his eighties because he wanted to be able to read the bible. His story has inspired millions from his humble existence in Kenya. He showed that when the spirit is will ing the mind and body will comply.
If you live in Europe or the US but don’t come from there, chances are that you will be buying and reading stories to your children that won’t always reflect their background. Publishers in these areas will naturally be targeting the market that will bring them the largest profit so smaller communities, or should I say less financially strong are going to be left out to a certain extent. I don’t believe its a conspiracy or anything, just business.
Business is changing though, especially the business of publishing, and there is a shift towards companies servicing a communities that they have nurtured with the products they want. The communities, aren’t fixed. They they have a multitude of interests and stories that define them so can belong to several communities through the internet and in real life.
What do you if you can’t see yourself in the stories? The answer is simple. Make you own. Share your stories with your friends. Let your community tell its own stories. It’s not always about money, but it should be about how you measure success and how high you set the standard for your project.
Think about the tools available to you; your brain, your work experience, the home computer, video camera, pencil and paper. Make your own definition of a story, and then a book so you know exactly what you are aiming for.
Everyone has a story to tell and a particular way to tell it
I first came across black American (was it Afro-American those days?) entertainment as a child in the 70s. It was enlightening ti say the least. People like me on the TV! We started mimicking the accents, the walk, the dress sense where we could. The power of the media was at its purest; people like me saw that our lives had another possibility, perhaps just like our parents came to realise a decade or two earlier when they also became mesmerised by America’s black culture. We needed to be mesmerised. Life in southern Africa at that time was mapped out for us. There was limited opportunity for people who were not white.
I think the authorities underestimated the power of media. In the 70s many more young people managed to win scholarships to study abroad than ever before and I think they had to have had that idea from somewhere else than school…
MY book always have a bit of the 70′s in them. I try very hard to include the showmanship, flair and slight excess that captivated me as a child. It doesn’t always translate to this new century where media power is much more understood.
I thought of including, for a little while, some of the phrases that made the 1970′s in this blog. Enjoy.
This is a typical illustrator/editorial collaboration for an educational illustration project, even though we were continents apart…
The brief comes in; mostly written with a few examples of what has been done already. In this case it was for one illustration for an educational publication.You sketch and send back the first draft of ideas. They are almost always sent back with notes, like a positional guide. You make another round of sketches, this time following the brief more tightly and accurately. For me the second or third round of sketches is the last one and I make the sketches more finished In this case I pointed out where I had placed the required features. If there is time (often there isn’t) I’ll add some colour or my signature black line in the hope of giving some extra assurance that I have got it right (finally). A couple of days later you get the go-ahead to do the colour art (I prefer to sketch and sketch but to paint less). I will have already decided how I would tackle the colour, or been asked to work in a certain way.
We have a few t-shirts for sale at http://www.mysoti.com/mysoti/designer/DesignTribe. This is one of our best ones designed by Chaz Maviyane-Davies.
Zimbabwean born GRaphic designer Chaz Maviyane-Davies lives and teaches in the US. He challenges his students to avoid being proponents of “homogenized blandness” – the practice of embracing technology to the detriment of our idiosyncratic visual languages. The result being uniform mediocrity. He extends this challenge in particular, to his fellow Africans:
“It’s about breaking down and finding the inherited, mythically infused iconography and then rebuilding it in order to fit the feeling and nature of where we are now. The tone, rhythm and depth of our identity is special and can be used to talk to each other today. And we have to use that visual language to slowly try to bring some of our personality and presence into the design arena.”
(sources: www.afri-love.com & AIGA.org)
The top ten rising stars of picture book illustration were unveiled at an exhibition in central London on Tuesday 22 March 2011.
Chosen by a stellar panel of judges, Children’s Laureate Anthony Browne; Director of Literature Strategy at Arts Council England, Antonia Byatt; author/illustrator Lauren Child; founder of the Illustration Cupboard John Huddy and author/illustrator Ken Wilson-Max, the winners have been crowned the Booktrust Best New Illustrators 2011.
http://www.booktrustchildrensbooks.org.uk/show/feature/Home/Best-New-Illustrators-2011-winners
Anthony Browne gave a great interview about the picture books and children’s illustration in general to the Guardian.
http://gu.com/p/2zva8
© Ken Wilson-Max 2011
Developing an idea is a process. Its full of holes and spaces into which you can fall and be lost forever, though. For some the thrill comes from avoiding the creative pitfalls. For others the result is the thing. Shaping an idea is not an exact science and very few come out ready to use and there is a balance between being practical and ‘out there’ that has to be maintained.
Its great when the result works. Its great when it doesn’t (once you stop crying or destroying the studio) because you’ve learned something more about what you are capable of achieving. For me, ideas are best developed with others.
An orange truck this time…
What is happening to libraries in the UK is shocking. I read this quote in the Guardian recently, from Margaret Hodge, the Culture Minister; ”I do care passionately about libraries,” she says, “but they have to change. The footfall is down and book issues are massively down. Only 14 of 151 local authorities have libraries that offer e-books.” She said that in March, 2010.
In February,2011, 375 public libraries across the UK face closure, with dropping numbers in visits and tightening council budgets to blame.
To me the library is not only about books but about information housed in a central place freely available to all. It’s not about footfall either. It is a symbol of knowledge and hope.
As a child in Africa and I heard more stories than I read. Books were not in the front of my mind until I reached my late teens and libraries less so. Ironically, I now make my living by writing and illustrating books. I couldn’t say I saw that coming!
I’ve visited a fair number of libraries all over the United Kingdom and the United States, each with their own personality, each with dedicated and knowledgeable staff and most importantly strong and involved communities. Librarians have innovated and turned their libraries into community hubs where more than books are on offer.
My young daughter reads more than I ever did at her age and part of that is down to the local library. She reads to me at night, and just before I nod off I feel as though I am re-living a slightly different version of my own childhood. Putting that aside, books have made my daughter more imaginative, more chatty, more witty and more curious.
Meanwhile, ancient books and manuscripts are being digitized in far away places such Timbuktu, Mali. Up to 150,000 manuscripts, some of which date from the 13th century and document subjects ranging from science and the arts to social and business trends of the day are available to view on-screen in a high-tech facility. The same is happening in museums all over the world.
At a time when the battle between the digital and monologue worlds is raging the loss of a number of libraries seems to show that victory belongs to the digital world. There is a clear line between those who want to keep the printed word on paper and those who strongly believe the future of the printed word is on-screen.
I have come to see the printed and displayed word as completely separate products carrying the same content.
The modern library might turn out to be a place where books are part of the solution and the librarian is still the user or visitor’s guide. The key to the library’s survival, therefore is the librarian and the accessibility of the information.
Further information;
Octavo (www.octavo.com) use ‘the best in advanced technology to uncover and enhance the seminal ideas of the past in ways that will offer inspiration for the present and future.’
The Domino Project (http://www.thedominoproject.com/), the brainchild of American marketing expert Seth Godin seeks to reinvent “what it means to be a publisher, and along the way, spreading ideas that we’re proud to spread.”
Ken
