Initial ideas for America project...

I want to address the idea that American TV and movies (almost always) use beautiful, 'perfect', skinny female actresses. I, along with a large proportion of girls/young women today i should think, always compare myself to these women and wish that i had the physical features they do. I feel it definately is an American thing, if you compare Skins (uk) to 90210 (us), you can clearly see the difference between the 'normal' girls and the 'idealistic' ones. I'm not sure how i can address this issue in terms of graphic media or without creating something pointless. I want to really say something, create something personal to me and have a sense of emotion to attached to it because it's a big deal to me and something that i think about on a daily basis. I don't want it to end up as some wierd form of therapy either but i'd like to take the opportunity to approach this is brief in a personal way. So, in short, i'd like to approach the idea of televised/commercial beauty that is so influencial in American culture and show the negative effects on it's audience.

THE best trainers ever! (Pity i'm not a 3 year old boy...)

More finds at the comic-book store...

Roman Dirge is another illustrator i have recently become aware of, his stories of 'Lenore' - the cute little dead girl, are very funny (i read alot and very rarely does something make me really laugh but these stories had me giggling away!) Each book is beautifully printed and made up of many small storylines and individual drawings of the characters, aswell as drawings of Lenore by 'guest artists' which i think is a really good idea and similar to the BoomKids featuring a different illustrator on each issue. I have all three books in the series and am eagerly awaiting the next installment...

Toy Story - the graphic novel edition. Need i say more!?...

Browsing the comic-book store in town recently, i came across BoomKids which is a publishing house in America that recreates Disney and Disney-Pixar stories in a comicbook format. The comics and graphic novels are aimed at 7-12 year olds but i enjoy the stories all the same, they're quite comical and along with the fact that different illustrators work on each issue, really appeals to me because it presents you with different versions of familiar characters. I've liked Toy Story (and anything Toy Story related!) since i was 6 and the first film came out and so to see a comic-style version was quite exciting for me. I've got a few of the individual comics but they are hard to get hold of now and so the full graphic novel versions (including all issues) are now on their way to me from America. I really like the way this series demonstrates the diversity of interpretations of such familiar characters and they provide me with the inspiration to create my own versions.

Lauren Child... (the modern day Eric Carle?)

A few years ago my neice recieved a new storybook, something about a little girl not liking tomatoes and her older brother trying to get her to eat them. It quickly became her favourite story and i was endlessly reading the somewhat nonsensical and repetitive tale until i could take no more! Charlie and Lola had landed and honestly, i hated them. The story was difficult to read because it was written like: "Charlie did this, Lola said that, Charlie said no, Lola agreed" and so on, it was almost tongue-twisting and along with the unorthodox layout of type, it was just a headache... What i'm guessing to be 5 years on, my opinions have totally changed. The use of collage within the books, the variety of text layouts and type choices, the characters (stylised in a way reminiscent of Quentin Blake) and the comical storylines have formed somewhat of an industry and become very successful. Despite still not being the easiest text to read, the visual qualities far overcome this and have provided a me with a vast amount of inspiration.

Peppa Pig! (who is in-fact, a girl...)

The simplicity of Astley-Baker-Davies illustrations that create the wonderful world of Peppa and her friends is what is appealing to me. The block colours, the very basic shapes of objects/characters and surroundings has been proof to me, in a way, that you can create something extremely successful without using complex designs. As with so many designs nowadays, Peppa Pig has become something of a cult in the last year or so with a Peppa version of almost everything, most recently: the opening of Peppa Pig World in Somerset. However my interest is purely in the standard illustrations seen in the books and in a 2D format, rather than the animations and commercial products.

Children's Illustrators...

Illustration is something i've thought about for a few years but assumed that i wasn't competent enough with a pen or pencil to make it a career of my own. I've recently realised however that you don't have to be able to draw a figure or a bowl of fruit perfectly to be successful. Looking back at books from when i was young and now scavanging on the bottom shelves in charity shops, the diversity of illustrative styles is so vast and quite exciting to me because i've never sat down and really looked at them before. I've always been a collector/hoarder of books and now i feel like i have an excuse to buy more, for want of inspiration and also just as an interesting and somewhat beautiful collection to call my own. This is my latest 'craze' at the minute (for want of a better expression) and so you can expect to see random inclusions of illustrations i like...