DIMPLOMA -> ARTEFACTS: 2011

Case Study of an Illustrator

Madeleine Robinson

Nick Sharratt

A Bit About His Work

This image uses solid lines and colours, to suggest it was done on Illustrator, possibly Photoshop.

It has lots of bold colours, and interesting shapes and pictures to make it appealing children (the audience)

Summary: Have you ever bashed your nose? Scraped your knee? Stubbed your toe? Then this story is just for you? Come and meet Paul, Greg and Jacinta who all know how to say, 'Ouch! I Need A Plaster!'.

It's his own book and was published in 2006, Scholastic, London.

Just like the above, he has used block colours, and lines, suggesting it was done on Illustrator or Photoshop, some of it possibly hand drawn.

It also uses bright colours and amusing images to grab the audience's attention.

Summary: "Why don't you ever say anything, Lizzie?" said Rory. "It's like you've got a zip across your mouth." Lizzie refuses to speak. She doesn't want to talk to Rory or Jake, her new stepbrothers, or Sam, their dad or even her mum. She's totally fed up at having to join a new family and nothing can coax her into speaking to them.

This book was written by Jacqueline Wilson and was published in 2000 with Young Corgi.

A Bit About Nick

Nick Sharratt was born in London, England in 1962. He was chosen to be to be the official illustrator for World Book Day 2006 and has illustrated around 200 books, 40 of which where by award winning author Jacqueline Wilson.

He grew up in Suffolk, Nottinghamshire and Manchester, and trained at St. Martins School of Art, doing graphic designs.

I'd say most of his work is done on illustrator as he uses quite sharp solid strokes, shapes and blocks of colour. His work is split between creating his own children's books and illustrating for other writers, most commonly Jacqueline Wilson and Jeremy Strong.

Sharratt has won many regional library book prizes in Nottinghamshire,Oxfordshire, Perth, Sheffield, Norfolk, Stockport, Southampton and Portsmouth. He has also been awarded with other awards including: Children's Book Awards, Nestle Children's Book Award, the Right Start Award, the Under Fives non-fiction She/WHSmith Award and the Educational Writers Award and shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2002. Nick's work has been exhibited in Britain, Italy, Japan and the USA.

His inspiration comes from the graphic and pop art from the 60s, which he experienced as a child. His bibliography includes: Pants, Eat Your Peas, Ouch, I need a plaster!, Ketchup on Your Cornflakes? and Mixed-Up Fairytales.

Quinten Blake.

A Bit About His Work

You can tell this image has been hand drawn with black ink as it is fast, scruffy lines, later gone on with colour, or possibly the colour has been put on before because the colour isn't perfectly inside the outline.

It has quite dull colours but still grabs attention with the funny images used.

Summary: Sid the pavement artist is sad because he wants to take part in the drawing competition but wonders how the judges will ever get to see his work? Corky and Loopy, two perfectly normal girls, who like to draw – and who also happen to be angels – decide to help and give Sid a very special pencil from their collection. So begins a bright and colourful adventure from the brilliant Quentin Blake.

It was published in 2004 by Jonathan Cape.

Like the other example, this is obviously hand drawn, but he has probably used Photoshop for the text 'Roald Dahl' as it seems more bold and sharp than the rest of the cover.

Unlike the last book this one has quite bold colours, but in more of a dim shape, with interesting images to capture the readers attention.

Summary: Mr. and Mrs. Twit are two ugly, smelly, nasty, stupid people who spend their lives playing nasty tricks on each other. They also enjoy being cruel to animals, which they do by luring birds to glue-smothered trees so they can be baked into bird pie, and tormenting their pet monkeys, Muggle-Wump and his family, by getting them to stand upside down, one on top of the other. They hate children, and Mrs. Twit often carries a walking stick in her right hand that she uses to hit children and animals.

This is the work of Roald Dahl who he is commonly associated with, and was published my Jonathan Cape in 1980.

A Bit About Blake

Quinten Blake was born in 16^th Decemeber 1932. He's an English cartoonist, illustrator and children's writer. Born in Sidcup, Kent, England.

He was educated at Chilsehurst and Sidcup Grammer School. During his time there he was influenced by his teacher JH Walsh to get involved and interested in literature.

When Blake was 16 he published his first drawing for the magazine Punch.

He studied at at Chelsea School of Art after studying literature at Downing College, Cambridge and receiving his postgraduate teaching diploma at University of London. He also gained another teaching diploma at the Institute of Education before before working at the Royal College of Art.

Blake had a reputation as a humorous and reliable illustrator with over 300 children's books, including work from Roald Dahl, Elizabeth Boden and work of his own.

For twenty years he taught at the Royal College of Art, being head at the Illustration department from 1978 to 1986.

He has a very distinct style with scribbly ink designs but with a very precise stroke, creating a sense of excitement. He first created a black pen and ink outlines, later using watercolour.

Blake was awarded with many awards throughout his career, winning the Whitbread Children's Book when he published How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen in 1974, OBE in 1988, 12 honorary degrees from places including Cambridge University and the Institute of Education, the open university and LoughBorough and is A Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2005 New Year's Honest List.

His bibliography includes work such as Jack and Nancy, Angelo, The Twits and The Witches.