Pen and Ink

We have been working on some illustrations inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. We have design a set of illustrations inspired by the playful and well-known characters such as Baloo the bear and Mowgli.

We started of by sketching the characters in different positions and capturing their movements and overall body language. We then used black inks to outline the characters and add subtle areas of shading with a soft paintbrush. We then created details such as fur and created delicate line work with a fine-line pen.

Mowgli in pen and inks

A Cosy Cat

Designing a fun cat character in a cosy jumper. Love playing with pattens and textures to create this cosy cat. We often get an idea for a picture book sparking of one character and love playing around with a character, getting to know them and drawing them in lots of poses. When we created this character it sparked a series of questions ‘Why is he wearing a jumper?’ maybe it was knitted for him by a kind granny for him when he was just a little kitten. “ What kind of Jumper?’ A knitted one, slightly too big. ‘What could happen next?’ Maybe the jumper starts to unravel and cause lots of chaos!

We begin to create a framework around this character and his beloved knitted jumper. We are not yet sure where its going to take us and are continuing to develop the character and his story.

#PBCrtiqueFest

We are Joining in with #PBcritiqueFest on picture book spotlight. This event and give-away is to celebrate picture book writers and illustrators and offer writers and illustrators a chance to get their work critiqued. The event also helps to build our kidlit community and connections within the illustrator and writer community.

Picture Book Spotlight is created by Brian Gehrlein and is set up to champion picture book authors, illustrators and agents and celebrate picture books in the industry. Its a great resource for debut illustrators and authors and especially those who are querying.

Here is a link to PB Spotlight-https://www.pbspotlight.com

Critique Fest: https://www.pbspotlight.com/pbcritiquefest​

Also On PB Spotlight there is lots interesting of author and illustrator interviews and spotlights. There is also fantastic picture book give-aways to join in with. #PBcritiqueFest is a great opptunitiy to engage with like minded authors and illustrators as well as being in with the chance to have your worked criqtued.

Picture Book Spotlight

Climate Change illustrations

Designed some illustrations to support KidLit4Climate on twitter.

Kidlit4climate Illustration. Polar bears.

Kidlit4climate Illustration. Panda rides his bike.

Sketching

Sketching out some characters today.

Animal Alphabet

Here are some of our favourite illustrations we did for Colin West’s Animal Alphabet Poems and Rhymes ( #westbestiary on social media). One of which includes this very excited pig baking a cake in the kitchen.

---

We responded to Coin West’s wonderful poems, featuring animals from the letters A to Z. This charming zebra is done in coloured pencils and inks.

---

One of our favourite things about illustrating Colin’s poems was coming up with playful and often humours animal characters, such as this flamingo wearing roller-skates. To see more of our responses to Colin’s poems visit- https://twitter.com/pipandrach or #westbestiary

Character designs

One of our favourite parts of illustration is designing characters. From coming up with an initial idea for a character to sketching them out in different scenarios and giving them a world to inhabit. When coming up with characters to design, we begin by gathering references, looking closely at facial expressions and getting an overall idea for their personality. We draw our character in lots of different poses. Often we sketch the character over and over again, giving them facial expressions and emotions which helps make them more believable.

When drawing child characters we like to exaggerate their movements. We find that by giving them lots of movement enhances the personality of the character and gives a playful feel to our work. When adding colour to our characters we try to keep in mind the original sketches, so as not to loose the original playfulness and spontaneity of the sketch.

Printable paper masks

We have designed some playful animal masks to cut out and colour in. You can download them by clicking on the masks bellow. There is a fantastic fox mask with a crown and a little finger puppet for you to cut out and colour. These is also a wise owl mask with fancy glasses. To download simply click on the image then right click again and select download. Print them out and have fun colouring in the masks. Then cut them out and hole punch either side of the mask and thread a piece of sting through each hole so that it stays in place on your head. These masks are for personal use only and not for re-sale.

View fullsize

Fabulous Fox mask with finger puppet, crown and speech bubble.

View fullsize

Wise Owl mask with funky glasses, cut out feathers and ‘Hoot’ speech bubble.

Creating playful scenes

When coming up with ideas for illustrations for book ideas, we often sketch rough ideas of what the characters look like, what they are doing, the environment the book is set and the world they inhabit. We come up with lots of designs. Often our sketches are quite unrefined at this stage, scribbling down lots of ideas for scenes and characters. Later we start to think about layout and perspective and creating an intriguing atmosphere.

We love to experiment with creating intriguing and playful environments, thinking about if its a cold or hot enviroment, what season is it set in, is it night time, who lives there. We also like to think about what colours we want to use. Sometimes its a lot of bright colours, like greens and oranges and yellows, to create a really vibrant scene, full of life. Other times we use just one or two colours, like blues and greys, to create a cold wintery environment.

Little brother and sister sitting in their bedroom

Sketchbook

One of our favourite things about illustration is creating and drawing characters. We reference from lots of different photos and practice drawing different poses and facial expressions. We love giving our characters different personalties and making them come to life.

We experiment with adding colours to the characters clothing, using only a few colours gives our characters a nice feel. We use simple line work to create detail and texture, especially in the hair and on the clothing.