Ken Wilson-Max | The Illustrationist

Splash Joshua Splash

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Posted on September 28, 2011 by Ken

Splash Joshua Splash by Malachy Doyle and Ken Wilson-Max

Joshua and his grandmother spend a day experiencing H2O in its many forms. The delighted boy feeds ducks on the river, runs through puddles, plays at a drinking fountain, swims in a pool, and snuggles up for a rainy “cosy, dozy” bus ride home. The child speaks only three words but his favorite is “splash,” which appears hand-lettered in block form. The lines of type are set at slight angles to one another to mimic flowing water. Though not a rhyming story, the words flow with easy-on-the-tongue phrases such as “Deep down, under the water,/under the water, deep down./Into the froth and the foam,/and the bubbles,/splashing and crashing,/fizzing and sparkling.” The bright, saturated illustrations are eye-catching in their colorful simplicity. One slight discrepancy: Joshua appears to change sizes, sometimes only coming up to Granny’s waist while at other times almost to her shoulders. Very young children who are fascinated with water will enjoy hearing about Joshua’s day.

-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI

Booklist Review: The Little Plant Doctor

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Posted on September 2, 2011 by Ken

Booklist review

The Little Plant Doctor: A Story about George Washington Carver.

Marzollo, Jean (Author) , Wilson-Max, Ken (Illustrator) Apr 2011. 32 p. Holiday, hardcover, $16.95. (9780823423255). 630.92.

Told from the viewpoint of a talking tree on the plantation where George Washington Carver spent his young childhood, this handsome picture-book biography tells how the famous African American scientist always nurtured plants and studied them, but the law did not allow black children to go to school. Finally, at age 12, Carver tells his beloved tree the exciting news that he is leaving for school. Today, the tree is part of the national historic site where crowds come to see for themselves where Carver grew up. The fantasy elements distract from the amazing details of Carver’s life. It is Wilson-Max’s beautiful, unframed acrylic paintings that will grab readers with images of the boy with his beloved plants and delighting in books, as well as the clearly labeled images of the peanut plant on the end pages. Extensive final notes with questions and answers for young children and for older readers fill in more fascinating facts about science and history, including the note that Carver discovered more than 300 uses for the peanut.

— Hazel Rochman

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

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Posted on August 27, 2011 by Ken

Detail from Lenny has Lunch, published by Frances Lincoln, UK

Row, row, row the boat
gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily merrily
Life is but a dream.

Ai Weiwei

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Posted on June 28, 2011 by Ken

What’s your story?

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Posted on June 4, 2011 by Ken

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

Can you dig it?

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Posted on May 30, 2011 by Ken

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.

The joys of parenting

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Posted on May 27, 2011 by Ken

In Baby Ruby Bawled, published by Tamarind books in the UK, baby Ruby will not stop crying. All the grown ups try every remedy they can think of with no success. It is left to her slightly older brother to come to the rescue. The task, as I saw it, was to try to convey the super control being practised by the adults, giving them expressionless faces, or slight frowns. If you are a parent you might know what I mean. This was opposed to the total abandonment of baby Ruby’s bawling which had to be over the top and piercingly loud. A third factor to convey was the eager-to-help expression of Ruby’s brother, ignored by the grown ups (probably because they were too busy trying to stay calm).

From sketch to final art

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Posted on May 24, 2011 by Ken

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.