Animals and creatures: artist research

Quentin Blake
 Whilst studying animals and creatures, I found some artists who have inspired my practice throughout. One of my favourite childrens book illustrators is Quentin Blake, whose artwork is very playful, colourful and creative. It seems to come alive on the page, and I quite wanted to create this feeling in my own studies. Quentin Blake is an incredibly successful artist loved by children and adults, and has been exhibiting since the 1990s. I think that the life in his drawings is incredible but I particularly took notice to this when studying Animals and Creatures, because I wanted my own studies to look lively.

found here

I took particular notice to the fluidity of the coloured marks in his work and the playful lines he uses, bringing each of his characters to life be it human or animal. I think his vibrant use of colour also plays a part in this. I took influence from his work especially in the following study:

I used watered down brusho to try to get the same vibrant colours expressed in the artists work and used ink to draw the lines on top of this. I quite enjoyed working this way and would like to experiment further in the future.

Jackie Morris

Another one of my favourites is Jackie Morris, a talented illustrator who works for both children and adults. Her work is a lot more delicate in colour but is very beautiful, gentle and captivating. I find inspiration from her work a lot, and I took notice of her work when I practiced with watercolour. I find her work fascinating, and find that she captures animals incredibly well in her work, making them look realistic and beautiful. She studies their characteristics and portrays them accurately and powerfully in her work. Here is an image of a tiger created by her, and then one of my own where she has inspired me somewhat in my creating:

Beautiful work of hers found here

My own study inspired by her

E.H. Shepard

I think above all, the artist I have found the most inspiration from that I researched is E.H. Shepard, who is mostly known for his illustrations for the classic Winnie the Pooh books, by A.A. Milne. This is where I actually found my inspiration, because although I greatly admire all of this illustrators work, like the previous artists I have discussed, E.H. Shepard has a unique way of bringing his characters to life, by using a very traditional approach. I admire the artists use of media and when taking into consideration the length of time ago these drawings first came on to the scene, they are quite quirky but with a delicate feel, theres very much a feeling of innocence in the artist work.
I have mostly been inspired by the way the artist has illustrated the character 'Rabbit' in the Winnie the Pooh drawings, here is an example:

found here

In these drawings the artist uses the correct proportions and also delicately adds the detail of the fur giving a slightly realistic quality to the character. His studies inspired me and when I was drawing rabbits in my books, I referred to E.H. Shepherd's work and he influenced my choice of media (dry) and the way I placed my marks. Here is an example.

my hare drawing

I took influence from the way his work looked alive on the page, and this is a look I hope to achieve when I continue my studies - I will keep in mind each artist but especially E.H. Shepard and will hopefully manage to create more studies like the above one which I enjoyed creating.