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Commuter and Transfer Stations In Art
These illustrations are views of the outside of commuter stations — train stations, lorry transfer stations. (I’m not including here illustrations of the insides of commuter stations.)
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Leaded Glass Windows In Art
PAINTINGS WHICH LOOK A LITTLE LIKE LEADED GLASS I have wondered if stained leaded glass artwork was inspired by the wings of butterflies. The same painting techniques artists use to illustrate butterflies can be applied equally to illustrations of stained glass. There is something otherworldly about all of Sime’s art. Even a simple landscape is […]
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Holes In Art and Storytelling
Be careful what you cast out — the vacancy is quickly filled. Austin Osman Spare SAM AND DAVE DIG A HOLE HOLES BY LOUIS SACHAR Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention […]
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Train Stations and Platforms in Art
A collection of art and illustrations in and around train stations.
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What do birds symbolize in literature?
Birds are much older than we are — living dinosaurs. Across cultures, birds function as smart collaborators with humans. We now know how smart (some) birds really are, but we have long had a sense of their canniness. The smartest bird in the world is currently thought to be the New Zealand Kea, which isn’t so great if you live…
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The Three Main Types of Graphics Tablets
DIGITISER TABLETS You plug these into a computer then draw onto the tablet while looking up at your monitor. Wacom calls them ‘pen tablets’. I’ve been using digitiser tablets for a decade — first a cheap Wacom Bamboo, then a large Wacom Intuos. I’ve heard people say it takes a couple of years to get […]
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The Illustrations of Charles Keeping
Charles Keeping (1924 – 1988) is one of my favourite 20th century illustrators. He rose to prominence by illustrating Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novels for children: I have always had a strong feeling that Charles was a true genius… it is my belief that he came to maturity very slowly (not in terms of technique, at […]
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Storms, Cyclones and Wind in Art and Storytelling
The wind blew as ’twad blawn its last; The rattling showers rose on the blast; The speedy gleams the darkness swallow’d; Loud, deep, and lang, the thunder bellow’d: That night, a child might understand, The Deil had business on his hand. Robert Burns “STORM” BY SARAH WEATHERALL In some parts of the world, wind is […]
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Yellow and Black in Illustration
Yellow and black is a fairly common palette in illustration. Hildilid’s Night, Mo’s Moustache, The Happy Day, My Heart and Float are a few picture book examples utilising a greyscale palette with the addition of yellow.
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Vibrant Palettes Of Czech And Eastern European Illustrators
If you’d like to see some hopeful, vibrant, brightly coloured illustration, let’s visit a part of the world known in recent history for oppessive governments.
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The Art Of Nightmares
Some dreams, some poems, some musical phrases, some pictures, wake feelings such as one never had before, new in colour and form—spiritual sensations, as it were, hitherto unproved… Lilith | George MacDonald How does an artist offer the viewer a sense of nightmare? Desaturation Over all, 12 percent of people dream entirely in black and white. … In […]
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What is psychedelic art?
Basically, the word ‘psychedelic’ started out in pharmacology. Because of the visual hallucinations it can cause, the word psychedelic came to apply later to art.
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Sequential Narrative Art In Picture Books
Sequential Narrative describes art which tells a story in a series of images making use of frames. Let’s say there are 7 main categories of Narrative art. Narrative art is art which tells a story. Monoscenic — represents a single scene with no repetition of characters and only one action taking place Sequential — very much like a continuous narrative […]
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Flat Black in Picture Books and Art
If you’ve ever heard advice to avoid black out of the tube when painting, this article is a good explainer for what that actually means in practice.
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Illustrating Ghosts
The day before the examination my father took me out for ice cream. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d done something together, just the two of us. He was always working, gone before the sun rose, sometimes not making it home at all, opting to sleep in the dorms at army headquarters. Like a […]