Laura Wood Enchanting children’s illustrator
Laura Wood is an illustrator in her early twenties, living in Melbourne, Australia. She has monsters in her head.
She is inspired by Mother Nature, which she describes as ‘an invisible and eternal presence that looks after our planet Earth’ along with rainy days, music and exciting briefs (of the work variety !). She admires people who are brave enough to do something different and unexpected from time to time. Laura herself moved from Italy after completing a Bachelor of Cinema and Multimedia she followed the little voice in her head to Australia and is attending a Diploma of Illustration at NMIT.
She has skills with maps.
She can put a fresh look to an old tale.
She takes allover print designs in her stride.
Makes song lyrics into interesting book covers,
and has even ventured into outer space. What more could you ask for !
I got in touch with Laura and she kindly answered some quick questions for us…
Who influences your style ?
My style is influenced by children’s books that I read when I was a child. Also, I like everything that is organic and rustic so I always try to recreate this in my illustrations.
What do you like to illustrate the most?
Monsters, nature, animals and flowers.
What do you find challenging in becoming an illustrator ?
Honestly, it’s difficult to choose just one. I guess the most challenging thing is to get people trust you enough to give you work. It is crucial to demonstrate you’re not just a creative person but also reliable and professional.
Any aims / ambitions ?
At the moment my ultimate goal as an illustrator is to live off this profession and make a living producing children’s books and other fun stuff.
What are you working on right now ?
Here’s an image of something I’ve just finished. It is a piece called “Blooming city” that I created for an exhibition called “This is Melbourne” which will part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival (see here). The exhibition will be taking place from September 26th to October 13th.
Wow that looks more like the UK than sunny Melbourne lol You can also check out Laura’s blog here, for some great features on children’s book writing. Thanks to the visual diary for more info and if you like her work, you may also like the work of Meg Hunt I’ve blogged about before.
40 Fest Celebrating life in the slow lane !
This time last weekend I was in a field in Brailes, Warwickshire, celebrating three friends reaching the grand old age of 40 ! The activities kicked off with a rocking cake judging competition. The three girls took appearance, decoration and of course taste into consideration.. as we all did after the judging was over. It’s tough and hungry work being a judge, and I thought they all deserved a prize just for being fabulously tasty chocolatey deserts for the taking !
The girls had organised a wonderful line up of events including, friendly DJ’s and two superb bands who came and serenaded us into the wee hours.
There was everything we needed onsite. A village hall for the Olympic watchers and for when it rained, a huge cricket ground to pitch our tents on. A hog roast, and tons of food and great people to spend the time with. These were some of our views over the long weekend.
There were big kids and little kids (not always sure which were which), zombie games and far, far too many guns to not get hit by the odd whizzing soft bullet.
There were Pandas with panache and adults who just amused themselves for hours by folding tents.
We did a short walk to Brailes Village. Past the well organised allotments.
Ending up at St. George’s Church. Who for some odd reason used to like ringing their church bells at 4am, and camping nearby, you realise the outside world is suddenly your bedroom lol.
I really liked this village stained glass window and the cheeky grinning grotesque. Many thanks to the lovely staff of the Brailes Village Hall and especially to Jo, Kara and Melanie (and partners) for all their hard work in making such an amazing weekend event happen.
I’m already looking forward to the joint 50th !
Felipe Jimenez Talented Young Photographer
Felipe Jimenez is a fresh faced 22 year old living in Orlando, Florida, with an eye for what makes a great image.
He is self taught and told me ‘as far as inspiration goes, I don’t really look at other photographer’s work. I actually find the subject I’m photographing to be inspiring. Everybody has just such a natural beauty, and that beauty is shown through their personality. That’s basically what I like to capture.’
‘ My goal is just to inspire. I like when people tell me that I’m different, and that my style has a value of truth. I shoot a lot more lifestyle, but I love fashion as well. I’m hoping to continue learning the ropes of the industry, and just keep getting better and better, and finding even more people to allow me to capture that vulnerable beauty we all have.’ I can’t quite decide whether he has a whole host of beautiful friends or a rare talent for creating stunning imagery, or both !
Felipe goes on to say ‘ I’m going to try to work with magazines, but I’m not sure which ones just yet. I’m new to this whole modeling industry because I’ve worked mostly with my friends and clients back in my little town where I go to school. I’ve never taken a photography course in my life. I started with design back in high school, and I’ve just always had a good eye for colours and creativity. I picked up my first camera in my sophomore year, and then got my own in my senior year. I’ve used that one until just recently when I upgraded to a brand new camera.’
Great to see such attention to detail and contact between model and photographer and consequently model and viewer.
Somehow I don’t think it will be long before this talented photographer’s work is sought after from higher entities. Great to meet a young guy online who clearly has such direction and self belief in his work, that it positively shines out. You can see more of his work on his Facebook page here. Stunning work Felipe, remember us when you’re shooting for Vogue won’t you !
I want to Be … Fishink Children’s Book Illustration
This is another idea for a Children’s book, I thought I’d share with you. What do you think ?
It’s been a ‘Yo Ho Ho’ and a breath of fresh air to work in a new and totally different way for me. I’ve enjoyed the subject matter too. What do boys and girls want to be when they grow up these days ? I’d like some non stereotypical suggestions too. All comments welcome, and if anyone is interested in publishing this or should anyone know of someone who might be then please get in touch or pass the link onto them. Many thanks ‘me arties’ !
Vintage Children’s Books.
I’ve been casually ‘grazing’ through the wonderful images in mid century kid’s books and getting very excited about the style of them, the feel of their graphics, the way in which the illustrations are assembled, their colourations and … well… just allowing myself to get caught up in the look of another era.
There are a few series that I really like, all from the USA and mostly from the 60’s and early 70’s. One is called ‘Let’s Read and Find Out’, another is ‘Let’s Find Out About’ and lastly the ‘All Around’ Series.
Illustrators from abroad like Karoly Reich.
After my recent post about the wonderful Helen Borten who illustrated some of the Let’s Read and Find Out Science series of books, I’m sure there will be many other illustrators like Ed Emberley, Don Madden and Bernice Myers to name but a few, that I’ll want to talk about in the coming months.
What a wealth of styles and textures.
More to come.
Joseph Pearson Talented Mid century Illustrator.
Anyone who is a regular reader of this blog will remember that I’ve featured the work of Joseph Pearson before. I first came across his work in Betty Crocker’s New Picture book and mentioned him in a post here. A brief recap will reveal that very little is known about this talented artist. I even contacted the Betty Crocker Corp too, but even they couldn’t shed any more background information. One reader from the last blog post told me about another book Joe was involved with called ‘ The Southern and Southwestern Cookbook ‘. I found one illustration here, if anyone has a copy of this book and could provide me with some decent scans of the illustrations in this book, please let me know. He is also linked to two old school books called The New People and Progress and More People and Progress
© 1955 by Scott, Foresman and Company
More of Joe’s inspirational work below.
There is a ‘Charley Harper feeling’ to Joseph’s work. He demonstrates flair and confidence and creates charm and warmth in all of his illustrated situations.
If anyone has any information about this artist or indeed anymore of Joe’s images that we could share on here, please let me know.
I may have enough images from the Betty Crocker book to do one more post about Joe’s work. Such a talented guy.
Kristyna Litten Illustrator in Yorkshire.
Kristyna Litten graduated from Edinburgh college of art back in 2010, with a pretty clear objective in mind.. to write children’s books. By 2012 this was already a reality.
With a fabulous book about Little Pippa. A young chicken, who when told at school that chickens can’t see in the dark, sets out to prove the myth wrong. Although everyone doubts her, Little Pippa goes to the local supermarket, and buys all the carrots to make lots of carroty treats to encourage her friends to challenge the Old Hen’s tale. After everyone joins in with the feast they look up and see the stars and the moon, and realise that chickens can see in the dark!
Busy Kristyna is already onto her second book, called ‘Pigeon Pie, Oh My’. written by Debbie Singleton. She has also worked with an impressive list of clients including, Walker Books, Oxford University Press, Egmont, Quarto Books and Candis Magazine. Here’s some illustration work she did for National Geographic Magazine.
And a variety of other work.
Including another book for Boden.
Some stunning book covers.
When I recently got in touch with Kristyna she told me ‘I am inspired by Kevin Waldron, Brian Wildsmith, Oliver Jeffers and more recently Sara Ogilvie and if I had to name three things I’d like to do at this moment, they would be… work with Julia Donaldson, create an animation and have one of my stories read on BBC bedtime stories’ I’m sure these things are just a matter of time ! She’s even got ideas about ceramics. Here’s some older and more recent images of her work in this area.
These were some illustrations she did for a recent library competition at the John Rylands Library.
Funnily I also entered the same competition and these were my drawings for it, not quite so rounded and animated.
More information about Kristyna on her blog and a great interview with Book Lovers Anonymous too. An Illustrator to watch out for !
A feather in my cap !
I was out and about in Chorlton yesterday, luckily with my camera, and look who I bumped into !
The owner has hand reared this European Eagle Owl from being just a few months old. It is now aged four and still growing. He was tame enough to stroke and had the most incredible eyes that almost glowed in the sunshine. Apparently in the wild it can take down a fully grown deer by attacking it in the neck region ! It has no problem with other smaller animals, and so I was glad it was lassoed to the guys wrist with all the tempting pet dogs that were out for a walk with their owners. A beautiful sight.
Manchester Graffiti and local mosaics.
I spent a half day yesterday soaking up the warm sun and Manchester street art. Some excellent graffiti and mosaics hidden around the streets and alley ways as usual. These were around the Northern Quarter, the more edgy, yet arty side of the city.
These fabulous mosaics above Pop cafe and boutique on Oldham street, that I must have walked past a few times and not stopped to look at. With my 1960’s obsession with kid’s books, the spaceman on the moon one is my No 1 choice.
Afflecks’ Palace or more recently just Afflecks has some lovely work on the side of its building and some celebrity and celebratory mosaics of a Mancunian flavour. Coronation Street characters, Factory Records and Manchester United are all captured on its walls.
Even Banksy has been getting into the Olympic spirit of things according to the Daily Mail Online site with this graffiti in London.
Sad News
I’m sorry this is such a sad story to tell but the little blackbird I mentioned two days ago didn’t make it through today. I fear that a cat managed to get into the garden last night as we saw a small pile of feathers in the centre of the lawn and although it was alive today, it was also very docile and hidden away for most of the day. We decided to try and move it from where it was, to somewhere better as the mother was struggling to get to it to feed from where it had wedged itself. However sadly it passed away as we tried to give it water, it was so weak, all its spirit and fight had gone. After it had died we noticed a scar on its back, that could have been from a cat.
Needless to say something about the whole bonding experience with its mother made me quite sad today and it’s been even worse to see her still bringing worms to a youngster that isn’t alive any longer and sitting around in the tree making the same noises for communication as it did when it was alive. Here are some images I took of the mother bird yesterday. We did have a small funeral for it and posted a bird card with some warm sentiments on it too.
She has been such a strong character and loyal mother throughout. Alerting us to when cats or magpies posed a threat and constantly feeding, on the lookout, busy finding food and keeping in touch with her young. This is a small tribute to the youngster, I hope it’s flying somewhere warm and happy, wherever it is now.
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