Shaun Tan: CR

Just thought i'd stick this in while I'm on a roll here. It's just an email between me and Shaun Tan from my foundation year. It was from when i first saw his artwork, and my favourite piece of his intrigued me so much i thought i'd just go out there and ask. This was a decision i made off my own back, and i didn't think i was even going to get a response since he's been involved in films like Wall-e, so was pretty excited when he replied. This will give me the confidence to contact future illustrators.

Hi Kyle,

Thanks for the email. Unfortunately, I don't have much time these days to comment on student's work or offer advice about technique, colour or composition. Of Grandpa's Story, I can briefly say that the medium used here is a cheap, fine-tip ballpoint pen, over ink and thin gouache washes, on watercolour paper. The effect is a bit like etching, but far simpler, and not very technical. As far as other tips, the best I can do is just point to the images themselves - all answers are there :)

Good luck with your diploma!

Cheers,

Shaun Tan

Las Meninas: Swap Two

Here is Paul's "Ghost" Interpretation... guest edited by me! I really loved what Paul had done with the project, so was pretty reluctant to change much of it. I really need more guts! So i decided to have a little play with photoshop in preparation for the up and coming challenges i might be facing. I had fun playing with the levels, trying to get a good strong colour that would represent how naturally beautiful the girl in the drawing is. But it still seemed to be lacking something, so i used the flowers from my own frame, scanned them in a resized/ rearranged them to make a cool nature background that also shares a link with my piece. At first all the flowers also had vibrant colours, but it was just too much to look at. So in the end i thought the flowers should just be secondary to the face, and i reckon its turned out pretty good! Cant wait to see what the finished piece with look like!