#book jamboree

[bookjamboree]

I went ahead and did another early scene in the book, this is the bar scene that took up almost all of the first chapter. I decided to do this all in charcoal so its looser than my usual style, but I thought I would throw it up here anyways.

[marisamidori]

One of the reasons that I love side projects so much is that they act as an opportunity for me to explore new processes and techniques that I wouldn't necessarily pull out for client work. I recently finished this illustration for Book Jamboree. The Iron Giant has so much fantastic imagery (I had about four quick sketches done within the first ten minutes of starting the book) and provided the perfect platform for me to try out a few things I've been wanting to experiment with: pushing traditional compositional sizes, working in a monochromatic colour scheme, playing with scale, and creating a piece with a bit more depth and environment as opposed to the usual flat subject on white that is typical in a lot of my illustrations.

Somehow, all of these techniques seemed to meld perfectly for this one sketch I had fired off with a tall linear composition. Contrasting the size of the Iron Giant with the tiny tanker was the jumping off point for this idea (or maybe it's just because I've had Pacific Rim on the brain....the scene where Gipsy Danger wails on that one kaiju with a cargo freighter is my favourite part of the entire movie). I wanted to play with the lighting as the water gradually becomes deeper and murkier and see what sort of depth I could achieve through this.

The illustration remained in the blue/green range until I was about 80% done with it. I always try a hue adjustment layer near the very end just to see how things look in a different colour scheme than what I had originally envisioned. Usually, I shift things slightly because of this just to get some better colour and value reads but the drastic change to the yellow/green was actually really appealing once I had run the gamut. I loved the nostalgic and melancholy slant it seemed to bring to the illustration. 

Super pleased with how this one turned out and can't wait to experiment some more!

[bookjamboree]

"Above and Below" by Marisa Seguin.

I loved imagining the Iron Giant wandering the depths of the ocean. It's a place that we know so little about and the isolation experienced by the Iron Giant seemed well matched with the unexplored mysteries of the sea.

[bookjamboree]

I like the idea of all the cows just staring up at the giant as he eats their fence. Nom nom nom.

Illustration by Abigail Shaw

[bookjamboree]

My illustration is based off of the passage on pg 35 about the space-bat-angel-dragon:

"So his fearful shape, slowly swimming through the night sky, didn't frighten people, because it was dark and he couldn't be seen. But the whole world could hear him, a strange soft music that seemed to fill the whole of space, a deep weird singing, like millions of voices singing together."

Illustration by Anna Hart Turner.

[bookjamboree]

We're a little over half way through May and I just wanted to pop in with a friendly reminder that The Iron Giant is our reading selection for this month! It's a very manageable and fun read (especially compared to last month's pick...my bad) so if you haven't started yet there is still plenty of time to give it a read!

I'd like to mention that any illustrations that are clearly inspired by the movie rather than the book will not be posted (sorry kids, gotta do your homework!). As much as I love this movie (and I do, really), it is very different from the book so I'd like to encourage you to check it out (and then build a blanket fort and rewatch the movie after). 

Can't wait to see everyone's art! You have until May 31st.

--Marisa

[bookjamboree]

"The Girls" by Marisa Seguin.

I knew that I wanted to draw something that involved Mrs. Whatsit in some way. From the moment she bursts into the book during the thunderstorm and her disheveled attire is described, I wanted to draw this crazy layering in some way.

I chose the moment when they tesser to  Uriel and appear in the beautiful field surrounded by flowers and butterflies because I loved the contrast of their human appearances with their beautiful new surroundings. Also, this meant that I got to draw Mrs. Who's magic glasses (which I always imagine to be like Iris Apfel's). 

[bookjamboree]

Illustration by Abigail Shaw.

A work in progress, I wanted to challenge myself by doing something a bit more atmospheric than I usually attempt. Eventually I'd like to fully color it up and tidy things up a bit, but for now here are Calvin, Meg, Charles Wallace, and Fortinbras headed toward the spooky old house in the woods.