Artus Scheiner

Discovered a great blog post on an illustrator from the turn of the century named Artus Scheiner, here.

And here's some background:

Scheiner, working as a financial clerk in Prague, began drawing as a hobby. He was completely self-taught. Soon magazines in Austria, Germany, and Hungary began publishing his drawings. From 1897 he began publishing in various Czech magazines, and 1902 saw the release of his first book of fairy tale illustrations.

And here's some images, a number of them not included in the other post:

Note: This is a folktale called Otesanek, by K.J. Erben. It was made into a great movie by Jan Švankmajer, Little Otik.

Duck Island Color Final, some Thoughts on P.D. Eastman and Edmond Dulac

The color is subject to change--I may have gone a bit too dark. What do you think?

This scene is very loosely inspired by this one in P.D. Eastman's Go, Dog, Go!

I loved this scene a kid! Still do. A real classic. For some Eastman's name isn't as known as illustrator's less popular and less enduring, but the same folks are often instantly familiar with books like Go, Dog, Go! and Are You My Mother, growing up with them alongside Doctor Seuss and Arnold Lobel.

This is the discovery of the doings on Duck Island scene. At first I thought I'd go more in a whimsical, fantasy direction, but decided that lots of ducks doing ordinary duck things would do the job. Earlier attempts to make some kind of more fantastic duck village were looking a little too Ewok village for my taste. Ducks are fascinating all on their own.

 I originally wanted to go more pastel all around with Duck Island, but I thought that darker would give it more of a sense of being deep in the heart of this place that was hidden and magical. Scenes off the island will be more sunny and pastel, while as they go deeper it gets darker and darker until we get to this little clearing with its beam of light. It's easy to highlight your focal point with a spotlight, but it's also a device best reserved for when absolutely warranted. 

Sometimes just a little fantasy goes a long way. I like the juxtaposition of very real elements with fantasy elements. In my Ladybug and Gentleman Beetle proposal I originally described the interior of the pumpkin as a "ballroom" but decided that the inside of a Jack O'Lantern from a bug's eye view was grand and impressive all on it's own. You can see it here  if you'd like (scroll down).

The color in this one is inspired by Edmond Dulac:

I generally tend to have a fear of going dark, so lately I've been trying to overcome it. Dulac's palette was rich, but often subdued, and I think it really worked. Compared to Dulac, my image looks almost washed out, but I didn't want it to be too much of a departure from the pastel I'll be using earlier in the book.

This one is perhaps my favorite of Dulac's:

I just love that single illuminated lantern with the light reflected on his face with all his ornate surroundings shrouded in darkness. Its so tempting, after putting a lot of detail in an image, to show everything, to make sure no one misses any of your clever little touches and nuances, but it's not always the wisest thing. The details are still there to be discovered, but a little selective light can make it so much richer in the right circumstances. Not always, but sometimes.

Another Secret to Getting Better

It's always good to keep seeking out and discovering new images. When I was in college I was more interested in modernism than the classic illustrators, but now, as an adult, I'm discovering them for the first time and wondering how I'd missed them all these years.

I think a vocabulary of Modernism gives you a toolbox for experimentation, but a classic illustration background provides a toolbox for effective storytelling. You don't want media and style to interfere with the clarity of your storytelling, but at the same time it's good not to get too comfortable with the tried and true. On the other hand, I try not too veer too far into exercises in style and technique. In the end, my goal is to tell stories and tell them well by whatever means at my disposal.

Picture making for it's own sake is an entirely different discipline from illustration, and should be judged in an entirely different way. In this regard, comparing a painter like Degas to an illustrator like Dulac divorced of context outside of the fact that both make pictures does a disservice to both. Both share similar concerns--the art of picture making is no small part of that--but ultimately its in the service of different aims.

Seeing what works successfully for others both in the illustration and fine art world provide you with precedents you can incorporate into your own work, and even better, to mix and match. If you borrow a little bit of this and a little bit of that you can recombine them to make new discoveries of your own, and find your own voice. There's nothing wrong with borrowing from others as long as it's from lots and lots of others and not a single source. Steal, but steal eclectically. Sometimes when I've done something I'm uncertain about, finding someone else who has done something similar and  has made it work gives me the confidence to push further.

Of course, even more important, draw and draw a lot! Drawing is always the fastest way to get better.

Figures, Expression and Body Language

Last rough for Duck Island, my new early reader in progress:

This is the climax of the story, and what I was trying to get a across was a kind of boundless joy. It seemed simple enough, but this was one of the hardest parts of the book to draw.

Expression and Body language in Kid's Books, or: Why am I so Damned Slow? 

So you've got 25 pages, and just a handful of words to tell  a story. So everything has to count. Which means every figure has to say something with few or no words to say it.

Recently I've been kicking myself for taking too long to draw figures. At times it's taken me two full work days to resolve one single figure. I can draw an entire landscape of animals, but figures are the killer.

Alex Raymond: Beautiful Figures and  Broad Strokes

As a fan of comic books as a kid (and I continue to be a fan), particularly superhero and adventure comics, I envied and marveled at how artists were able to draw sometimes hundreds of figures every month. Then it occurred to me more recently that most of these figures had a range of about three or four expressions. This is more than adequate for an adventure story based on action and movement--where the figure's dynamism is more important than emotion. Every once in a while  there would be a figure that would convey something subtle in their stance or expression, but largely it was about lyrical movement and action. Other times the figures were more iconic, like cyphers, as in the case of Tintin. Alex Raymond, who did Flash Gordon of the 30s, was and still is a favorite:

When I was first developing my kid's book portfolio, it was enough for me just to get kid anatomy right.  Now I'm thinking more and more about how to convey emotion, and more importantly, how kids convey emotion. Andwhen you take a closer look at some of the best of the children's illustrators, there's a little more going on in this department:

Maurice Sendak

Hilary Knight

Arnold Lobdell

But some of the best comics artists are also capable of a little subtlety when called for:

Dan Clowes

Jaime Hernandez

So without the tyranny of a comic book artist's deadline, I'm still feeling my way through this. And so it's taking some time.

Revisions, Revisions, Revisions

More Revisions on my soon to be submitted book dummy.

My writing buddy Shannon pointed out something I knew I needed to do but was too lazy to follow through with. the pumpkin needed to match the same level of render as the bugs on this one. I also beefed up the moon, adding a glow and some realistic moon texture:

I really think this improves the image dramatically and more accurately reflects the interior art, so yay, Shannon!

At the as usual right on target advice of my agent Abigail, I added more darks to this one, and used some more dry brush to make it look more rounded. I distorted the base of the candle to follow the contour of the inner wall of the pumpkin and added shadows to make it look more grounded. I also added a purple compliment into the bugs cast shadow. I like the new dry brush as well because it gives the candle more radiance.

I just finished all the rough art for my other dummy in progress,  Duck Island (you may have noticed that I've been posting that art periodically) and am in progress on a couple of finishes which I should be posting soon.

Once again, loving InDesign as a compositional tool. It's so easy to move pages and add pages and delete pages. It really gives you a sense of the ultimate layout of the book, makes it easier to break the text down into pages. It's also an instant digital dummy if you want to send it to a POD printer to get a hard copy. 

New Duck Island Rough

Mock-up Cover For Ladybug and Gentlemen Beetle.

I recently redid the original drawing that inspired my book in progress, Ladybug and Gentlemen Beetle as a cover for the Book Dummy. The dummy is a mock-up of the book to give the editors an idea of what the finished book will look like. It's composed of all the illustrations roughed out, with a few finishes. Here's the original:

The first thing I did was redraw the original images of Ladybug and Gentlemen Beetle to match my new character designs. The changes were minor, and so I was able to use some of the original coloring and modeling that still existed on a layer in the original Photoshop file.

I zoomed in, got rid of the branches to make room for the lettering. I also took out the light coming from the moon so the lettering would contrast more with the background. The lettering is hand drawn. To make the lettering look spontaneous, but still deliberate and clean, I draw each letterform numerous times until I get the lettering I want. I want the lettering to be distinct with its own identity, so it doesn't look like any other title lettering that I've done, but is still in my style. The lettering is done with cheap rough brush from Michael's to give it that hand-painted look.

And here's the finished cover:

Inevitably they're going to want to go with a different cover for the finished book, but this should do nicely for the dummy. Already I'm thinking that I want the pumpkin to be a bit more modeled in the finished book, with more natural texture, but at this point I think it does the job it needs to. 

New Ladybug and Gentleman Beetle Color Spread

So I'm working with my agent Abigail Samoun to get this Ladybug and Gentleman Beetle picture book dummy into shape before we sent it off. she suggested I render one more finish, the spread where Gentlemen Beetle shows Ladybug the interior of the pumpkin.

Here's the texture for the interior done up in dry brush. I ultimately did a lot of photoshop tweaks on this to get it the shape I needed. Abi and I discussed how the interior should have a pulpy feel.

And the inks for the candle:

inspirational Work by A. Paul Weber

Andreas Paul Weber (1893-1980) was born in Arnstadt Thuringia and worked principally in the Weimar period when all those great German Expressionists were doing their German Expressionist thing. He illustrated Baron of Münchhausen, among other books, and spent 3 years in jail for criticizing the Third Reich.

Good Stuff!

New Figure Drawing, and Sucking Less

After being ill for so long I've only recently gotten back into drawing the figure from life, and it's definitely true: if you don't use it, you lose it. It's taken me a few sessions to get back to something resembling my old groove. I'm pretty happy with this one, considering.

And a gesture:

Another Duck Island Rough, Working With My Favorite Model

Kid poses are getting a little easier. I had some photo ref, but not these specific poses. When you try to get a seven year old to pose, they look very...posed. So I just gave my favorite model some general instructions.

"You're talking to the ducks!"

"You're shaking hands with a duck!"

"You're sneaking up on them!"

"Dancing! No, just silly dancing this time! Not ballet dancing!"

It's as fun as it sounds. And exhausting. It's exhausting just watching a seven year old. I don't know how you parents do it. The photos give me a feel of the general action and the body language of a real kid and I work from there. As a general rule, I age down. The kid's book kid age is usually around 5, but I've found that 5 year olds are even more unruly than 7 year olds, so 7 tends to do the job.

 The worst is a reluctant kid. They really have to be into it, or it's a no go! The most frustrating thing in the world is trying to get a reluctant kid to work with you. So the last time I had a kid model I tried to make sure by asking, "are they into it? Because if they're not into the idea, then it's probably not going to work. I'm always grateful to the adults and to the kids of course, but it's better when they want to be there and aren't compelled to be there.

As a reward I give them posters of some of my work (if you'd like a poster of your own, you can get one, here at an economical price), which the kids seem happy with. Awhile back I let my favorite model keep the foam rubber sword and axe I got from Target for a buck each when we were doing pirates, and she seemed to appreciate it.

Always searching for cooperative and enthusiastic kid models in the Davis area. And now that it's summer I also provide popsicles!

Oops!

I just realized I accidentally reused two ducks in this illustration from the previous image! Those ducks were far in the background, and mostly cropped and will  eventually be re-inked and probably a little redrawn in the finish so it shouldn't matter much, but reusing art always seems like a cheat, so it's something I really try to avoid.

So do you think you can spot the culprits in the previous post? That'll keep you busy on your coffee break...

New Rough Spread for "Duck Island" Work in Progress

Another rough for my early reader book in progress. I wanted all the ducks to have a certain amount of personality and naturalistic attitude, and drew about 50 or so in total, but these were the ones that made the cut. there were a few others that I would have liked to have included, but there just wasn't room. I still have a few more pages I might squeeze them into.

Another Rough Spread For my Early Reader Book in Progress

Now that the Ladybug and Gentleman Beetle dummy is done, I'm back to the dummy for the early reader book I was working on. This one is coming along briskly! I went back and forth between portraying the ducks in a more realistic way and this more cartoony portrayal, finally opting for cartoony. It fits the tone of the story better, and gives me more options for expression.

A Review and Remembrance of Power Pack Classic by Louise Simonson and June Brigman

Power Pack was my favorite comic book.

OK, officially it was the X-Men and my favorite character was Wolverine because I knew Power Pack was a kid’s comic and wasn’t cool, even though I was 11, a year younger than the oldest of the characters in the comic, Alex..

 While most comics were 22 story pages and 75 cents, the first issue of Power Pack was a “King-Sized Collector’s item” 32 pages and a buck, my complete allowance for the week. I remember it being a lot bigger. In fact, reading it again for the first time in years, I still had to check because Louise Simonson packed (no pun intended) so much story in those 32 pages.

At the time superhero comics dominated. Archie Comics were still in print, but the Harvey Comics like Richie Rich and Hot Stuff that I had grown up on had just ceased publication just a year or two earlier. It was a time when superhero comics were still accessible to young readers, even though their readership was just beginning to skew older. So a true kid comic with true kid protagonists was not to be found anywhere. With the exception of Power Pack.

Though I first bought Power Pack at my local comic store (later I got a subscription), it could still be found on the spinner rack at grocery stores and 7-11s. A comic book was only a little more than a candy bar and just as much of an impulse item for your average kid. Not that kids don’t still buy comics, but when they do, they’re not superhero comics, and they have to commit to a graphic novel which can run 10 bucks or more, not exactly pocket money. Pamphlet comics like the kind I bought as a kid can only be purchased in comics stores at 3 to 4 bucks a pop, and they're no longer written for kids, and kids don’t buy them. The average comics shop patron is over 30, the same readers that bought superhero comics in earlier decades, grown up.

Power Pack Classic, the recently published reprint series, has been marketed to this audience. It’s sold alongside superhero books from the same era as a nostalgia product, and nostalgia is the stuff that superhero comics live and breath on. It is not marketed to kids, but Power Pack remains an excellent and very accessible kid’s comic. And thanks to Marvel’s marketing department, Kids don’t know it exists.

The Story

Four kids, Alex, Jack, Katie and Julie Power live in a beach house with their physicist dad and illustrator mom. There are reports of UFOs in the news, and Katie, the youngest, is sure she’s seen one. Katie, like C.S. Lewis’ Lucy in the Narnia books, is not immediately believed, but the UFOs were in the news and the kids are curious. They decide to camp out on their deck just in case they might catch sight of one. Jack is skeptical (or pretends to be) and Alex, the science kid, wants to see if he can see one through his new telescope.

 Katie  is the first to see what turns out to be a spaceship that’s crash-landed on the beach just behind their house.The spaceship is Friday, an artificial intelligence or “smart ship” (which in a world of smart phones and Siri turned out to be a nice bit of unintended prescience) piloted by an injured alien (nicknamed “Whitey”) with the head of a seahorse. They're being chased by lizard-like Snarks, a pernicious alien race that is after the plans for a matter-anti-matter device the kid’s physicist dad has invented. When the same device was developed by Whitey’s ancestors, his entire planet was wiped out, so it's Whitey's mission to prevent this from happening to our own planet, but the Snarks want to build the device to use as as a weapon. After searching the Power’s home the Snarks are unable to find the plans, so they abduct the kid’s parents.

What the Snarks don’t know is that the device has already been built, and is set to be tested by their Dad's boss Carmody the following day, only hours away from wiping out the earth.

Meanwhile Whitey is dying. But there’s one last hope. Among other powers, Whitey can produce force fields and teleport short distances. Before he dies he can transfer some of his powers to the kids, but it’s dangerous and might not work, or worse,could turn them into monsters. The kid’s agree that there’s nothing else to be done, and so before Whitey dies, he gives them his powers. At first the transfer doesn't seem to have worked. With the help of Friday, they try to save their parents from the Snarks, and in the attempt their powers emerge, and each of them get a different power.

The first issue ends on a cliffhanger—they’ve got to save their parents, stop the Snarks from getting the plans for the device, and stop the device from destroying the world. Since this is a superhero comic, the kids decide to each adopt superhero names, a trope that seems a lot more natural coming out of the mouths of kids than adults.

So in all of 36 pages, not only do we get an origin story and a briskly told adventure, but Louise Simonson and June Brigman manage to give each of the Power kids unique personalities, rather than the typical archetypal shorthand that often served for character development in most superhero comics at the time. These are genuine, believable kids, rare not only in comics, but in middle-grade fiction in general, which is the market where the book would easily fall if it were sold today to actual kids instead of aging adults.

One of my favorites is Jack. As a kid I identified with Alex and Julie and didn't like Jack at all, at least initially. He's always teasing--and sometimes bullying--his siblings and making smart-alacky remarks. But even in this first issue we get enough of Jack's vulnerability and insecurity to identify with him--all that bravado is just a mask for his fears. This makes it all the more admirable when he exhibits bravery and generosity as the story progresses.

The first volume of Power Pack Classic reprints the first 10 issues spanning 250 pages. And of course the kids save the world and have other adventures, and continue to develop and grow as characters in a way that few characters in superhero comics do, but I’ll let you enjoy the rest of the story on your own.

Great Feet!

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about June Brigman, the artist who brought Simonson’s script to life. Brigman can draw believable kids with real kid bodies, a rare talent in artists who draw superheroes for a living.  I remember noticing this strange phenomenon even at the time—when some of the best of the superhero artists would draw kids they always tended to look weird. The proportions were off, the body language was exaggerated and they looked more like dwarfs than kids. Brigman's figures didn’t just look like kids, they held themselves like kids, and moved and and expressed themselves like kids. And now, as an adult and professional illustrator as I admired the art for some reason out of everything else I couldn't help thinking, “she draws such great feet!”

Even as a kid I knew the book was well-drawn—I of course had surprisingly good taste—but Brigman was also a a great storyteller. She knew how to crop an image just right to imply action. The action flowed in a way that was clear and easily readable, while a lot of superhero comics portrayed choppy breaks in the action to the point where you couldn't tell who is punching who, or what had just happened before. 

Though. as a kid I continued to follow the comic through at least half of its run, once Brigman left it was never the same. The artist who followed her, Brent Anderson--who also drew the last story in this collection--did a laudable job, but he didn’t have that talent for drawing kids that June did. As the series went on, the stories became increasingly dependent on the inclusion of other Marvel Comics characters into the mix. Even in this volume we get guest stars like Spider-Man and Cloak and Dagger. Early on, the kid’s interactions with these characters made for good stories. There’s a particularly effective tale where they have to hide Dragon Man in their basement, a child-like truck-sized monster.

I can’t help thinking that all these guest stars were a mistake. The guest stars had a tendency to pull the focus away from the kids, and Power Pack stories without them were always better for it. There was one exception: Franklin Richards, the 6 year old son of Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman from The Fantastic Four, a character that Simonson and Brigman gave more life and depth to than any writer on the Fantastic Four had ever managed.

My guess is that these guest stars were included to attract more readers, but after a while it was as if they couldn’t sell the book without them. The series lasted 62 issues, but I stopped reading when Louise Simonson left earlier in its run. After Brigman left, the comic was running largely on fumes, and once Simonson was gone as well all bets were off.

Where Is Power Pack Now, When We Need it?

There have been many revivals and revamps of the characters of the years. In a desperate attempt to appeal to kids, there was even a version that was done in a more contemporary manga style. But as far as I’m concerned, this is not a franchise where the talent is interchangeable. Louise Simonson and June Brigman are the true heart of the book, and without them Power Pack isn't Power Pack.

 If Brigman and Simonson ever did revisit to the book and Marvel had the smarts to market it to its rightful audience, my hope would be that they would dispense with the guest stars and get back to focusing on the core kid characters. Tying the book to Marvel’s 1980s continuity is the only thing that makes this reprint edition less accessible to a contemporary kid audience. Otherwise I could see it selling well alongside contemporary kid-focused fantasy comics like Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet.

 Power Pack is a rare and underappreciated gem that deserves its place among the best contemporary kid lit.