Author: joshrobbinsoca

The final step is to draw something in the style of my two chosen illustrators. I decided to do the challenge by choosing the same subject for both drawings to really demonstrate the differences in style. I decided to draw a pig wearing a trench coat, because I felt like the imagery worked within the styles of both illustrators and also because I like pigs.

I started off with some loose sketches.

At this point I got the idea to include a background element. I thought about what imagery would work and straight away I thought of a nearby street in my hometown which I always liked for it’s old red brick buildings. I headed out and took a few reference photos.

Once I was there I thought I would move away from the flat perspective I initially sketched and try to challenge myself with a one-point perspective angle. I couldn’t get exactly what I wanted so in the end I decided to composite a few different references.

Using my (limited) knowledge of perspective I drew out some contruction lines before moving onto inking.

When doing the drawing in E.H. Shepard’s style, I wanted to stay out of my comfort zone and do the inking without first doing a pencil undersketch. I hoped that this would take advantage of the permanence of ink as a medium, and allow the work to be a little more expressive. For extra style points, I used an old fashioned dip pen and a jar of ink.

I’m not very used to using a dip pen, but I was excited by the challenge.

Here’s a work-in-progress shot of Mr. Pig.

I found it difficult to capture Shepard’s overall style and struggled with his way of crosshatching.

Looking at it now the perspective is definitely less than perfect, but I like the expression on Pig’s face. I couldn’t capture the expressiveness of Shepard, but I suppose that’s to be expected.

Moving on, I began drawing my Mignola tribute. I started with a pencil sketch and then went on to inking. I know from watching interviews that Mike uses a Staedtler fineliner, usually a 0.3 or 0.1mm. Luckily I happen to have the very same tools, so no need for my fancy dip pen!

To try and emulate the process a Mignola drawing goes through from sketch to print, I went ahead and scanned the image and began work digitally touching it up and filling in the blacks.

This exercise really made me appreciate Mignola’s masterful control over form, and his use of that deep black contrast to give definition and shape to his characters and backgrounds. Mine is a pretty weak emulation, but I still like its graphic nature.

Around this time I got the idea that I would paint over my Shepard drawing, just like how the coloured illustrations were in many of his books. Luckily I drew the picture on Bristol board. While not the best surface to paint on, it can take a neat layer of paint without excessive warping. I broke out my favourite set of Sennelier watercolours and got painting.

I tried to stick to the loose, solid-colour style you see in the Winnie-the-Pooh illustrations. It was hard to get even washes, which was at least partly due to the Bristol board. But I think it still captured that kind of childrens’ storybook vibe.

Then I began finishing touches drawing #2, tidying it up a bit and adding in colour.

I had one last idea. Transform the Mignola drawing into a cover for my porcine friend’s very own pulp serial, using the corniest title I could think of: P.I. Pig. I spent much longer drawing the title than I intended, but I’m pretty happy with the result.

To match, I made my Shepard drawing into a page from an illustrated children’s book. I just wrote whatever rubbish I could think of at the top of the page. Luckily this course isn’t about my creative writing skills! I decided to stick with my detective theme, digging his little scarf-trenchcoat ensemble.

Here’s the final pieces, and the completion of my first exercise for the course.

E.H. Shepard

Ernest Howard Shepard (1879-1976) was born in London. Interested in becoming an artist from early in his youth, he attended several art schools and eventually the Royal Academy.

Shepard said of himself that he was “no good” at oil painting, and decided to give up any fine art pursuits in favour of becoming a freelance professional illustrator.

Following a number of accepted contributions, Shepard was offered a seat at the table of Punch Magazine, a relationship that would span more than 50 years and 1,500 illustrations.

Shepard’s best known work is his illustrations for The Wind in the Willows and Winnie-the-Pooh, the latter of which he would purportedly go on to regret, lamenting that a “silly old bear” overshadowed much of his lifetime of work.

Nonetheless, Shepard is remembered today for his iconic line drawings whose charm was integral to the success of the original publications of Winnie-the-Pooh.

In terms of cultural context, Shepard survived two World Wars, which informed much of his political cartooning. He received the Military Cross for his service during WWI. In WWII, he lost his son, Graham, who served as much of the inspiration for Christopher Robin.

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When comparing the styles of my two chosen illustrators, Shepard and Mike Mignola, you immediately notice the round versus the straight. Shepard, all expressive, curved linework, and Mignola, geometry, angles, hard edges. Shepard uses gentle hatched shading, Mignola, heavy blacks, high contrast blocks of shadows.

Although both artists favour simple traditional tools, their production workflows would have been quite different. In Shepard’s time they would have used lithographic printing, a process he was likley quite removed from. Mignola’s books are usually coloured and lettered by different artists, a process that involves some collaboration, with Mignola famous for his choices of bold colours that are utilized for all sorts of interesting narrative effects. Mignola’s comics work is also coloured digitally, with much of modern production handled that way.

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Answering questions.

• Did the work of the illustrator you chose from the list seem old fashioned? If so what was it that made it seem so?

I suppose obviously in terms of subject matter- political cartoons in the 20th century and anthropomorphic animals in Edwardian Britain- Shepard’s work has a dated quality. The rendering too has a sort of rounded quality I notice in illustrators of that time.

• What was it about the contemporary artist that attracted you to their work?

Before I started reading any of Mignola’s comics, I fell in love with his covers. I love the bold contrast and geometry of it. He uses black in such a way not necessarily to accurately portray a light source, but to give his forms a certain shape that’s visually appealing.

After buying some of his collections, now I stick with him not just for his artwork but for his dry humour, interesting characters and dark, pulp-y stories.

• How did each artist produce their illustrations- what tools and materials did they use?

Both artists prefer a simple approach. Pencil sketches and ink pen rendering. While both have dabbled in more conventional fine art, their most celebrated work uses largely the same traditional materials.

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Exploring style

Below are some sketchbook pages examining the respective styles of the two illustrators.

I found this exercise pretty hard. I’m not used to emulating specific artist’s drawings. I found it very difficult to emulate E.H. Shepard in particular. The hatching style is not something I’m used to and it was difficult to make the drawings feel natural and expressive. Even though the Mignola sketches are a crude imitation, I found that after a while I got caught up in the types of shapes he likes to use and started to enjoy riffing on his style.

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References:

Benson, Tim. “The Man Who Hated Pooh.” BBC News. BBC News 6 March 2006. Web. 13 September 2018.

Daoust, Phil. ” ‘When I die, let him decorate my tomb’: Can you imagine Winnie the Pooh or Wind in the Willows without EH Shepard’s charming, carefree illustrations?” The Guardian. The Guardian 9 December 2000. Web. 13 September 2018.

Campbell, James. “E.H. Shepard and the First World War.” Art UK. Art UK 12 March 2016. Web. 13 September 2018.

“E.H. Shepard.” Illustration History. June 2018. Web. 13 September 2018.

From the list of illustrators available I chose E.H. Shepard.

http://www.artnet.com/artists/ernest-h-shepard/

I remember reading a beautiful hardbound copy of Winnie-the-Pooh when I was a child. The illustrations stuck with me over time, so choosing E.H. Shepard seemed obvious to me. His work has a sort of serene quality that hints at more complexity than the whimsical characters initially let on. Being personally a fan of satire and subversion, I was interested in reading about his life as a war artist and political cartoonist. His loose, sketchy approach was also appealing, with uneven, expressionistic linework and hatching.

I wasn’t able to find that book from my childhood, but I did visit my local library and managed to find something similar, a harcover edition of the original Pooh stories. I’ll include it below under references.

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http://www.artofmikemignola.com/art

For my modern illustrator I decided to celebrate my ongoing love affair with the work of Mike Mignola. I did this for two reasons:

1) I thought it would be an interesting juxtaposition given Mignola’s love of hard lines and very geometric shapes, clean hatching and lots of angles. But also with more similarities to Shepard than you might initially think. With both having a dry sense of wit, showing interesting and diverse characters and crucially having an almost melancholic undercurrent throughout their body of work. When I think of emotions I associate with both artists, I think of loneliness, anxiety, etc.

2) I find it personally amusing to compare Winnie-the-Pooh to my beloved Hellboy.

Rather than reeming off my whole collection, I thought I’d include two of my favourties, his seminal collection of Hellboy short stories, and his later work, the joyfully esoteric The Amazing Screw-on Head.

Sketchbook:

Refs:

Milne, A.A and Shepard, E.H. Winne-the-Pooh. Great Britain: Methuen, 1987.

Mignola, M. Hellboy: The Complete Short Stories Volume 1. China: Dark Horse, 2018.

Mignola, M. The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects. China: Dark Horse, 2010.