Here is my artist copy of an illustration done by John Lawrence. I created it by using lino to carve out the drawing, then to cut out each individual section of the drawing separating each colour. After this I then printing them and created the background by scratching into paint with a knife, once I had made each section I scanned them in and put them together on photoshop adding some effects to it there.
JOHN LAWRENCE CASE STUDY
What drew my attention was the unique technique of the background; contrasting colours making certain bits stand out and the distinctive style of the picture, creating a powerful memorable image. The image looks like an old fashioned drawing of plants especially the black and white prints. It makes you feel intrigued about what the parts of the picture are and how it is made. What I like about it is the technique and complexity of making it stand out especially with the use of colour and bold outline. The part I dislike is how the writing style stands out as being very simple compared to the rest of the picture.
The piece has been done for a children's book for Martin Waddell called Tiny's Big Adventure. It includes the scene of a mouse jumping through some plants. The overarching theme of this book is that you can be timid but someone can show you how big and wonderful the world outside can be. The protagonist of the image is the mouse flying through the plants on the front cover. The contextual matters that have influenced this work are that the book wanted a really handmade, old fashioned style of work that suited the overall style of the book, with very little alteration from computers making it have a more natural and intimate feel. Similar works include that of John McNought who also uses lino. The audience that it is aimed at are the parents that will buy the book but also the children that will have to like it once they have it.
The colour palette uses very complimentary colours with there being subjective colour as the grass is blue, however this then makes the orange stand out even more. The image has no depth giving you no concept to how different parts of the piece are sized. Lino was used to give the idea of texture and definition. This picture is made to look like it was done by chance but is very controlled by the way it is cut out not perfectly and the varying sizes of the lines. The evidence of the hand that made it is the wash and the cutting out of the flowers as well as the scratchy texture of the background. The composition in the picture is that leading lines and framing draws your eyes to the main character as well as it having no background making it stand out more creating a hierarchy to the image. In the picture the orange of the flowers is juxtaposed to the blue lines, as well as the text being juxtaposed against the background. Also the colours have a high saturation on the cover.
The process includes a background which has been scratched with sandpaper. The lino of the grass and plants has been printed on top of that, however, the prints of the flowers have been done separately and stuck on later. There is also a watercolour wash within the leaves of the plant. Skills the artist needs are patience and imagination to create the lino print as well as being able to think outside the box with colour schemes. Within the piece you can see the cutting marks from the printing technique and the brush marks in the wash from the watercolour.
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