Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon

The Chinese images of dragons are so arresting, so magnificent! Here are some images from the book that I illustrated for Childrens' Press, "The Fourth Question". (Now it is out of print, but I can still find it on Amazon) (Someone please re-publish this, it is such a great story).

I used a lot of research for this River Dragon, from my own photos and trip to China, to museums, and a Chinese cookie tin that I keep because of the dragon on the top.

In this last illustration, do you see the dragon toy that the father is playing with to amuse his baby son? This is a traditional chinese toy,made of paper. I am going to make these with my art classes tomorrow, what fun and so colorful.

wishes for the New Year

Today is Three Kings Day, or the Feast of the Epiphany. Tradition has it that this is the day that the Wise Men of the Orient visited the baby Jesus and gave him gifts they carried from afar. I knew some folks who didn't open Christmas presents with their children until January 6 because that was the day that Jesus got his first presents. I kind of like that idea, take advantage of the end of December sales, and take the craziness out of the cultural holiday around us.
This illustration appeared in Moody Monthly magazine, with a series of stories that I illustrated.
My wishes for the New Year are for Peace! On Earth! And best wishes for health, contentment , and prosperity in the next year for all who are reading this. During this holiday time, I looked over at my husband across a table full of family and whispered, "We are so rich! Rich in family".

and the end of the story

This is the end of my story and fittingly, the end of this wonderful year.

I ended the storybook with a full-spread illustration that repeated my opening scene of the Storyteller and the three children. I fear that some people thought I had just repeated my first spread but, it is a completely different illustration with different expressions to show the reactions at the end of the story.

Here is the last spread, I had to split it in half to scan it. I especially love the laughing appreciative expression on the children's faces. And the sly sideways look out of the picture on the girl on the far left.
Mischievous?
This little girl is definitely thinking her own trickster ideas.

Snake

Tricking a huge Snake was easy, Anansi simply appealed to vanity. He challenged the Snake to prove that it was longer than the longest piece of bamboo in the forest. Snake complied and Anansi quickly tied him to the bamboo pole.
This art is all rendered with prismacolor pencils, layered and burnished. Lots and lots of pencils!

Leopard

 In order to trick The Leopard and tie him up for delivery to the sky, Anansi first digs a deep hole and sets a trap. Just try, I ask you, to think about how to show a spider with his eight tiny arms holding a device with which to dig a huge hole. Suspension of disbelief is called for when telling and illustrating these stories.
Anansi does manage to distract and trap the Leopard, then convinces him that if his tail is tied to a tree, Anansi can get him out of the trap.

Hornet and Gourd

 Anansi has to trick and capture the hornet and deliver to the Sky god. He concocts a scheme involving a gourd filled with water.
For the gourd art I used a real decorated gourd that was brought from Ghana by friends. It is just a souvenir and a tourist item, but it was interesting as art itself.

The trickster

There are many Anansi the Spider stories. All have the common theme of Anansi trying to trick somone out of something and getting tricked himself in the end. In this story Anansi wants whatever the Sky god has in his bag, which is supposed to be all the stories in the world. The Sky god says he can have it if Anansi can capture and bring to the sky The Hornet, The Snake , and The Leopard.

Spider

Some things are difficult to illustrate and to inject with personality. Either they just are not cute or visually appealing (as with the South American Condor in my Girl from the Sky book) or they are very tiny, like the spider here and changing the normal dimensions of the creature can turn into a horror scene.

So Anansi who actually does not have features, like a pair of cute eyes to give expression or a mouth to talk with must indeed be animated. He is the main character and he is a trickster. I guess what I did to solve the problem was to use his "hands" all eight of them to tell the story. I really did study the actions of spiders to figure this out.

hands that tell the story

   Storytelling is best done with lots of hand movement. I focused on the hands on both the character of the Storyteller and of the Sky god.  I used the art of the hands to express the emotions and energy in the story.

The Sky god and the Storybag

I researched for the creation of the Sky god by visiting museums in my own area.The DuSable Museum of African American History, and The Art Institute of Chicago exhibit African masks and other artifacts. Here are some sketches from my observations.

The Storybag was an invention from my imagination made of Kente cloth designs, and more colorful images I collected at museums. I have not had an opportunity to visit Africa, I certainly hope to go someday. 

details

Details of the storyteller's face and each of the children from my illustrations for "How Anansi Obtained the Sky God's Stories" an African Folktale from the Ashanti, published by Childrens Press of Chicago.
Another element that was a major decision when I illustrated this book was how I would use media.
What type of media?  Watercolor,pastels, acrylic,pencils or oil? This is a question I have often wrestled with. At that time I didn't feel like I had a strong style. And I had training at The Art Center College in so many types of media and styles that I spent some time after school wondering what felt best for me. I have now realized that this question really doesn't suddenly answer itself, you pick something, work as hard as you can with it, eventually a personal style emerges after much time and many hours.

I spent a great deal of time researching images and information about Ghana and the Ashanti people for this book. I also looked at lots of award-winning children's illustration, the styles and media used.
I decided to work with Prismacolor pencils with a very heavy, blended application. I wanted to get the colors as dense and rich as possible. One reason for this is the color scheme that I imagined for the African folktale. And the other reason was that I had been looking, at the library and at bookstores, at too many children's books illustrated with very light pencil or ink lines and light pastel toned washes. I wanted my work to stand apart from that type of look.

storyteller

The Storyteller is essential to this traditional type of tale, telling the story that has been passed on for generations. I used a photo reference of the professional storyteller who recorded on a tape that came with the published book. I picture her with children I imagined listening by firelight in a far-away African village. 

I actually used my own children as models for this pose. They are not of african descent, but happily understood that Momma just needs them as general models. This is a part of their unique childhood memory, Momma drawing them!

Anansi the Spider stories

I posted a picture of a spider back around Halloween time. This is Anansi, a character with as much or more literary history than Charlotte of "the Web' and Brer Rabbit to whom he is related. Stories about Anansi, the trickster, come from West Africa. Clever Anansi who usually appears as a spider often has his trick backfire in some comical way.
I illustrated one of the Anansi stories for Childrens Press as part of the Adventures in Storytelling series. The cover art shown above has all the characters who appear in the story, the Sky God, a snake, a hornet, a leopard, and the spider.

where stories are told

The opening spread from my children's book "How Anansi Obtained the Sky God's Stories" published by Childrens Press, Chicago.
This is one of my favorite spreads. I took great delight in drawing that tree, it has a personality all by itself.

I imagined a village nestled under a huge baobob tree, in my research I had come across some fascinating images. These trees provide shelter, wood, shade,medicine, and fruit. They are deciduous which explains why I kept finding images with no leaves in what I thought was a tropical country.

And I imagined the storyteller with an audience around a village fire in the early evening, the sun  just down and a full moon is above.

halloween and some spiders

Spiders!
Halloween decorations are taking over my suburban neighborhood. Actually, they have been displayed for many weeks now. I really don't like them. they give me the heebie-jeebies. I don't like to walk by yards full of gravestones, and skeletons. (I prefer to look at my skeletons in life drawing class).
The most egregious display that I pass while out running with my dog (who hates the decor too) is a yard with life-size dressed human figures hanging from the trees.
( I really hope they aren't real). Oh, that place really makes me uncomfortable.

The only thing I don't mind is spiders.
I rather like them.
The spider pictured here is Anansi, a famous literary spider from West African stories. I illustrated a storybook with one of the Anansi stories. And don't forget about the beloved Charlotte of literary spider fame.
The art in this book was all made with colored pencils.

scary story time with Grandpa

Scary stories told in the dark.
The winds were gusting fiercely one night and the power was out.
I believe I did this illustration for a McGraw-Hill project, but it was a few years ago. This has always been one of my favorites because of the warmth of the family scene.
This is a digital illustration, freehand line art and photoshop painting.

the sad ending of the girl from the sky

Again, our hero has to find his friend, the Condor, to fly back to his home. He knows he will never be able to live with his love from the stars. But he can never forget the beautiful girl who stole both his father's potatoes and his heart.Along with the research about Bolivia and the Andes, I had to figure out how to portray a condor.

Although a magnificent bird in flight, up close, not too attractive.

The bird was a charming character in the story so I illustrated him with that personality and some spark. I had to work around the homely face and wrinkles.

All of these illustrations were painted with acrylic and colored pencil.

girl flies away

The beautiful star girl escapes and flies off. She loves the young man, our hero in the story, but cannot live on earth with him.

The young man is heart-broken and starts off on a journey to the end of the earth to find her.

On the top of the highest mountain he meets a giant Andean condor who offers to take him to the sky kingdom.

After a year and a day they reach a marvelous place very high and far away on the shores of a huge lake. The star girl is found living near the temples of the sun and the moon.

She is very happy to see her potato farmer husband and invites him to stay with her in her fabulous house.

As happens so often in such stories, in spite of the good food and love of the beautiful girl, the boy cannot live in the sky. He is sick and must return to earth.Lake Titicaca is a huge fresh water inland lake on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is 12,500 ft above sea level and has Inca ruins including sacred temples dedicated to the sun and the moon. Reed boats constructed like those of the ancient Incas are still used on the lake.

The hillsides that rise up near the lake are terraced and planted with potatoes. Long stone fences divide the land where alpacas and llama graze.

Another element that went into this story is the story of the models who posed for me as the girl and the boy. My own sister and her husband cheerfully acted this out for me. My sister tried many interesting flying poses, holding her basket and leaping through the air. This is what you must do if you have a family member in the arts.

The happy ending is that the model pair are still married, in love, and now the parents of three beautiful children.

boy catches girl

Of course, the boy is quick and catches the closest girl. All the rest of the star girls fly back into the night sky.

"So it was you who took my father's potatoes," he says, but then immediately falls in love as she gazes back into his eyes.

He takes her home and asks his parents if she can be his wife.

They agree, she is so beautiful, and they try to make her feel at home and welcome.

The mother gives her earth clothes and hides away the shining star dress.

Even though the young man loves her with all his heart, she is very sad and begins to die in the earthy home where she does not belong.

I created small black and white icon drawings to repeat throughout the book of Inca images such as llamas, potatoes, jaguar, and guinea pigs. The Andean people eat the guinea pigs they keep in the home, so I put them in a corner.