THE SNOW QUEEN
SELF INITIATED BRONZE AWARD
PROFESSIONAL
2005 - IMAGES 29
After nearly twenty-five years since leaving Art School Tim still gets the same excitement and satisfaction today from drawing as he did when he first un-holstered his propelling pencil and held up a sheet of paper, demanding ‘hand over the money’ – he later found out this was called Illustration.
Tim has always loved the classic fairy tale illustrators and with a nod to W.H.Robinson here is his attempt. Tim wanted to show the old lady was not all that she seems, the shadow on the wall giving away her true nature. ‘We will see if we can live very happily together’ said the enchantress.
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BRIEF: A full page interior children’s book illustration from Hans Andersen’s the Snow Queen. The old woman locked the door, ‘I have long wanted a little girl like you’ she said.
MATERIALS: Pen and Ink, watercolour and gouache on Fabriano watercolour paper.
RESEARCH: Mainly of flowers and old ladies, so an afternoon or two in the park staring at old people and then a hasty escape before they called the police.
PROCESS: Mountains of roughs until a pretty much finished drawing is copied onto watercolour paper via an old light-box, stretched onto paper (yes, some of us still do that) in the bath (not whilst in it), then paint away until done. Serve whilst hot.
RESISTANCES: Just the old people and the police following me around the park.
INSIGHT: If you use gouache well enough no-one will ever know all the mistakes you made until you tell someone about them on a website…
DISTRACTIONS: Rainbows and clouds and robins singing of golden Suffolk cornfields.
NUMBERS: 0.7 propelling pencil lead, 50% cotton watercolour paper, 2 policemen.
FINAL THOUGHTS: I still love drawing and always try to include a little more to an illustration than the text describes without confusing the image. A strange shadow here, a cloud that looks like a…
Tim Stevens2005Tim-Stevens Image