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Realistic Paint Studio Digital Art Software Review
Digital art software keeps getting better and better, which is no surprise, since computer processing power also keeps getting better and better. Drip engines, paint blending and large canvas sizes simply weren’t possible until the average user upgraded. In the past I have played around with a lesser-known art software called PaintStorm Studio. This morning…
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Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell Analysis
Wolf in the Snow (2017) is an almost wordless picture book written and illustrated by Matthew Cordell, with links to the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. All picturebooks are puzzles. The details of pictures invite attention to their implications. The unmoving pictures require viewers to solve the puzzle of what actions and motions they…
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Extra Yarn by Barnett and Klassen Analysis
Extra Yarn (2012) is a picture book written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen. Although this is a contemporary story, it utilises fairytale tropes, in a mostly fairytale setting.
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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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Arthur’s Eyes by Marc Brown Analysis
Arthur’s Eyes (1979) by Marc Brown is an early story of the popular Arthur series, about an ambiguously animal creature (only after looking it up do I understand he’s a brown aardvark) who lives with his nuclear family in an American suburb. This is a well-crafted story and really speaks to its young audience. The…
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The Fog by Maclear and Pak
The Fog is a picture book by written by Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Kenard Pak. This is an example of a story for children that starts out in comical fashion, but you soon realise there’s a horrifying environmental message. The metaphor of fog serves double duty as a symbol of climate change and as…
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Gaston by DiPucchio and Robinson Analysis
Gaston is a picture book written by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated in beautiful naive style by Christian Robinson. The colour palette is gorgeous. I liken Gaston to another popular contemporary picture book: Drew Daywalt’s The Day The Crayons Quit. The plots are not at all similar, but they share the same ideological problems, intending to…
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Creepy Carrots by Reynolds and Brown Analysis
Creepy Carrots (2012) is a picture book written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown. For anyone wondering how to create a scary book for the very young reader without keeping them awake all night, this book is our masterclass in the horror-comedy blend. First of all, the story is about carrots — a…
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Illustrating Rain, Droplets and Rainclouds
A collection of art featuring rain, some realistic, some cartoonish, some stylised.
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Danny The Champion Of The World by Roald Dahl Novel Study
As an English speaking child of the 80s I grew up on a heavy diet of Roald Dahl. Danny The Champion Of The World (1975) stands out in my adult memory my favourite Dahl story, perhaps only bested by the frisson of horror left by The Witches (in which I actually examined my J2 teacher,…
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Moving Molly by Shirley Hughes Analysis
Moving Molly may sound like a drug dealer’s handbook but is also a children’s picture book written and illustrated by Shirley Hughes (1981). Shirley Hughes is one of the big name picture book storytellers from my childhood. Another favourite is Dogger. I’ve also analysed Up and Up on this blog. I know that Shirley Hughes’s…
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The Hare and the Tortoise
You win some, you lose some. Aesop was an equal opportunity storyteller and the tortoise of fables sometimes gets a raw deal. But not this particular tortoise. Sometimes it’s “The Hare and the Tortoise”, sometimes it’s “The Tortoise and the Hare”. This tortoise just goes about his business and wins the day. I’ve never once…
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The Doll House Picture Book by Karas and Riches Analysis
The Doll House is a 1993 picture book written by Jacqueline Karas and illustrated by Judith Riches. Yesterday I took a close look at a short horror story by M.R. James called “The Haunted Dolls’ House” so today I thought I’d take a closer look at how picture book storytellers deal with the trope of…
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The Haunted Dolls’ House by M.R. James Short Story Analysis
“The Haunted Dolls’ House” (1923) is a short ghost story by Montague Rhodes James. Being out of copyright, you can read it at Project Gutenberg. WHERE TO LISTEN You may be able to unearth the BBC dramatization of this short story somewhere e.g. on YouTube. “The Haunted Dolls’ House” was broadcast 1 January 1998. Here’s…
