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Billy the Punk
I tried to use colour to underline the 'emotion' or mood of the story. Billy walking to school is in a cool blue, to show his aloneness, or self-centredness. (Of course, other elements that emphasise this are the ‘from behind’ point of view, and the empty landscape).
When he’s being yelled at by his teacher, the colour surrounding her is hot, angry, orange.
The editor, Mark MacLeod suggested the cover concept. I did not like it as an idea. Now I love it.
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Spiky, Spunky, My Pet Monkey
In my experience genuine collaborations are pretty rare. But it is not uncommon to be on the same wavelength as the author. I do share Doug's sense of humour. He has a distinct visual sense of humour. His writing is full of images.
We also share an enjoyment of toilet humour. The drawing of King Ludwig on the toilet was edited out of the final book, but the drawing ofJulius Caesar was not.
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The Cabbage Patch Fib (series)
Dads are especially fun to draw, being usually wrinkled and whiskery.
One peculiarity of this four book series is that they have been done over a fifteen-year period. So the drawing style varies.
I think it is impossible to exactly match an earlier style.
My cousin Bob (pictured in photo) was -sort of - the model for Dad in these books.
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Sister Madge’s Book of Nuns
Doug MacLeod's humour is manic and irreverent. It seems there are no boundaries to his comic imagination. My job is to visualise it. Doug has already given it direction.
This book had a little difficulty being accepted in many Protestant, especially Lutheran schools, but has been much loved in many Catholic ones.
This black and white illustration is from the extended (black and white) Penguin edition.
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Where’s Mum?
Mum was late getting home - 'Where's Mum?'
I remember quite clearly – when I was very young – the stomach churning dread of Mum not getting home. Though I feared car accidents rather than wolves or trolls.
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Doctor Frank’s Monster
Nigel Gray’s wonderful variation of the Frankenstein story is gently, sadly funny - very poignant. But my drawings are surely not beautiful. They have a rough quality, what I would call underdrawn.
The editor, Mark MacLeod, requested the art-style. His art instincts are terrific, and I was excited to do the the illustrations in this unembellished way.
This apparently simple book is one of my very all-time favourites. I enjoy the storyline, but I love the language.
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A Day in the Life of Me
When the book was just about to go to press there were a number of brand names, food packages and logos shown in both the text and illustrations.
Copyright is a complex, unclear area, but it struck the editor and I that we had better seek permission from the various companies featured. All, but one, said NO! And one threatened to sue for defamation if the illustration as it was, was published.
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Troy Thompson’s Excellent Peotry Book
The drawings, doodles and collages were all done by Troy. Well, sort of done by Troy! Ms Kranke’ (the teacher’s) written comments on Troy’s exercises were all my work.
Gary is a warmly collaborative author and open to suggestions. (I would dearly love to be an author, but I don’t seem able to write anything other than captions).
I am particularly fond of this illo of the school urinal. (detail)
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Yay!
The editor wanted the illustrations to sort of suggest a groovy ‘Mambo’ style approach. Two of my favourite illustrations are Grandma in the Mirror Maze, and the boys looking into the wavy mirror. I love mirrors!
A third illustration in which Jason gets lost in the Mirror Maze has an excellent idea behind it – that Jason’s reflection can be seen from everywhere - but actually where is Jason? But my birds-eye view drawing of the Maze is too complex.
Sometimes these things only become clear much later.
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Pigtales
This under recognised book (did anyone buy a copy?) contains a favourite drawing... ‘In the back of a smallgoods van, hung a dejected Prince Porgy, awaiting his final deliverance.’ The drawing of Prince Porgy on the butchers hook is not elegant, but I’ve always loved the poignant characterisation of poor Porgy. I've wondered if my feeling for Porgy is because my childhood was close to a small abbattoir. These things do leave lasting impressions.
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Whistle Up the Chinmey
This was my first large colour work, and I made lots and lots of misjudgements. Some I solved by repainting bits then glueing them on top. The artwork barely made it to the printer before starting to come apart.
The recurring motif is trains and fireplaces. I'm not sure to what extent it's inspiration can be found in psychoanalytical theory.
I based Mrs Millie Mac on my Mum.
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The Birdsville Monster
More bizarre, cemetary humour from Doug. And more opportunities to offend good taste.
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Game Plan
The hope was to describe the sequence of events in a game of basketball, superbly conceived by the author.
To do this the comic strip form was used. With so much careful figure drawing, and shifting viewpoints, I struggled to keep it simple.
A feature was trying to 'paint' the bleached highlights of an Australian summer.
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Bob the Builder and the Elves
Bob the Builder moves through the book in a bewildered and slightly sad sort of way.
The illustrations are deliberately underdrawn, that is, kept simple. Just concentrating on body posture and expression.
Selected bibliography
My books are illustrated using different styles and techniques - but there is a similiar approach running through them. Following are a few favourites, in no particular order, with a note or two about why.
A full Bibliography (PDF) is available to download here.
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I Hate Fridays (series)
I cannot overstate my affection for this five book series. Rachel’s writing is sharp and dry and deeply funny. Her characters - both teachers and kids - are so very real and identifiable.
A lot of these drawings were done in different styles as if by these kids – luckily most of them couldn’t draw (except Thadeus, who is good at linocuts). This format allowed my own humour to be offbeat and ironic.
Black & white illustrations are especially fun to do. The pretend photos are a bit blurry... they were done before the invention of Photoshop®...
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Emily Eyefinger (series)
I thoroughly enjoy Duncan Ball’s clever, gentle storytelling. The stories (and drawings) have an old fashioned feel. Emily Eyefinger doesn't have 'attitude'. Or, if she does - I like her attitude.
Doing the cover is always a highlight. Always start by drawing the finger, the hand, the arm, and go on from there...
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Toocool (series)
Toocool is a winner at every sport he plays. Early in the project, we (the author and editor and myself) thought that Toocool would always beat his opponents of course, but it would be in his imagination. For instance, when Toocool plays tennis he plays against the garage wall. The garage wall being a fearsome opponent like Lleyton Hewitt.
With all the sports Toocool plays – 24 at last count – this idea was too hard to keep going. We realised he would need his mates to come over so Toocool could beat them.
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Redback on the Toilet Seat
Making the main characters cane toads made this story a little bit different, even a tiny bit political, and the humour even more absurd.
The army stuff, of course, alludes to the threat of invasion. So it deliberately looks like Australia's deep north around the 1940's.
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Fly
I loved drawing from extreme angles and using very bright colours. The main aim in the drawings was to ‘soften’ Dad’s hysteria as he was swiping at Fly.
The two covers shown here are from two different editions of the book. Which is better?
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Just You Wait!
In these illustrations I wanted to take advantage of the computers ability to have the outline drawing on one layer, and all the colour on another. (Usually ‘real’ painting eats into the linework).
I would like to use this digital technique to illustrate in an old-fashioned crosshatched way. Working on screen like this is not fast. In fact, it is physically draining.
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Tough Lester
It seemed like a good idea at the time, but this book probably uses too bright, too lurid colours in much too much of a zany hyper-active way. The effect is very lively! Too heavily influenced by TV
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The Giant’s Tooth
In drawing the giants I mostly drew from a low down point of view, to emphasise their giantness. That explains some of the wacky figure drawing.
These drawings are a homage to my hero, the German artist Friedrich Karl Waechtar. And to Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement.
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I Don’t Want to Go to School
The author had terrific ideas for several of the pictures that illustrated the little girl's anxiety about what school would be like.
Her suggestions were terrific and fun to re-draw in my own complicated way.
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Dreadful David
This book was drawn when my own children were very young.
As a consequence of sharing books with my kids, the particular qualities that make a good children’s book were up for question. Careful, finicky, tight rendering no longer seemed very important at all.
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Black Dog
My first book. Crosshatched in a long, careful and labourious way, using an ultra fine technical pen. In these ultra cautious illustrations I was struggling to work out when and how to apply formal design principles I'd recently learnt at Art School, including perspective and vanishing points.
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The Heebie-Jeebie Joke Book
Beautiful black and white. Felt like I was on a roll - every drawing a bit weird, but elegant in a way.
But, best of all, it has one good strong idea after another. Sometimes witty, mostly silly - pure pleasure to draw.
The Joke Book format allowed for this in a way that most storylines don't.
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Stanley Sticks Out
This theme of the story that I most enjoyed illustrating, was of the very suburban Claggerts loving being in nature. It seemed very familiar.
The authors telling of Stanley (the stick insect) as a showoff is hilarious. Interesting body language to draw!
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I Miss You
Mostly simple drawings matched to a simple storyline - but a storyline of much feeling, and experience, and respect.
It is about the consideration and connection between a young girl and her grandpa.
I love the dignity and warmth of this story.