Yesterday I was trying to find some photos to use as guides for my graphic novel. I had tidied my studio a while back, and knew these images were somewhere. I sorted through my piles of sketch pads in the cupboard, in my desk drawers, the wooden trunk in the lounge, and back through the cupboard again. I found other, probably more exciting finds in there, related to illustrating work I did some years back. So, rather than some current sketches today, I thought I’d show you some oldies.
I have been working on a ‘memoir’ in pictures based on my younger years and have been wrestling with just how I wished to present this. You may have seen my last post, which shows some progress with the sketches, and although I think I know what I wish to portray, I am still looking for how I shall achieve this. Naturally I have been thinking back to early memories, and particular things which have been salient throughout my life, and helped shaped my adult self. Books certainly. So, yesterday I looked up the names of books which I remember loving in my Primary school years. Five stood out.
‘What Katy Did’ series, by Susan Coolidge (American), Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner (Australian), My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durell (British), The Silver Sword by Ian Serrailier, (British) and The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller (American).
It began many years back, when I was was helping a ten-year-old with ideas for a story. In a nutshell, her ideas fed mine, and set me thinking of my own story for children. This would of course be an illustrated story, done by yours truly. After writing many drafts, I decided on creating the first illustration; something that might work for the cover. Apart from the grandfather, who features in the story, the drawing above features all the other main characters in The Lost Civilisation. From top left, clockwise; the parrot Herakles, Penelope, Achilles the dog, Helen of Troy, the cat, and Archimedes, the goldfish, all named after figures in Greek mythology.
I came across more illustrations in one of my art pads; images I planned as part of a children’s picture book called Toby and the Tuatara. (see above). As in Flora’s story (2 posts back), I forwarded this work to a publisher. Again, there was praise for my illustrations, and a polite reason as to why the story did not fit their ‘lists’. I was subdued, maybe a little sad, that my stories were not considered good enough for publication. But did I let it bug me? Continue reading
