PPP Introductory task: Part II

These are five images that I believe best demonstrate my interest in illustration.

1. Letter Maker by Eric Ravillious

Eric Ravillious' series of High-Street images are some of my absolute favourites. I just love his use of colour and his instantly recognisable style. There is a such a sense of life and animation that comes through in these images. 

2. Still Life with Birds by Emily Sutton

Emily Sutton is possibly my favourite contemporary illustrator. Her understanding of line and colour brings such vitality to all her work, and her meticulous eye for detail is second-to-none. Lots of Sutton's work, especially her still life work in centered around trinkets and curious, relics of a bygone era. Despite the nature of these articles, Sutton always manages to steer away from mawkish  cuteness, whilst still retaining huge amounts of personality and style within her work.

3. Illustration from 'I Want my Hat Back' by Jon Klassen

Jon Klassen is another current favourite illustrator of mine. What I most admire about Klassen's illustrative work is his understanding and use of blank space. He allows his characters to take focus, often pressed against the most simplistic and minimalist backgrounds. There is a wonderfully deadpan humor in Klassen's work that perfectly complements his use of very simple shapes and detail.

4. Liverpool St. Station by Edward Bawden

This image is perhaps by favourite of Bawden's copper engravings, Bawden's use of line  and mark-making has been a major influence to me in beginning to develop my own visual voice.There is such detail and expression in what is, essentially, just very careful and effective use of very simple mark making - there is not a line out of place, nothing is over drawn or overworked. 

5. The Moomins by Tove Jansson

Now is time for an old favourite!! It was impossible for me to choose just one Moomins illustration that I loved above the others, so I settled for just one of the many that I am very attached to. It was Jansson's illustrations for The Moomins that first interested me in drawing and in stories, and Jansson's charming, fantastical, and often darkly humorous world of The Moomins holds a special place in my heart. In my opinion, Jansson's illustrations for her 'The Moomins' stories are perhaps the best of example of a perfect marriage of image and word - the two complement each other in a way quite unlike any other; the images are just jam packed with beautiful, whimsically strange detail, much like the world Jansson wrote for her characters.