Alice Ratterree | Children's Book Illustrator

Tag: drawing

  • Using Life’s Inspiration for Your Art

    Using Life’s Inspiration for Your Art

    The idea of students walking to school probably brings into mind the old cliché stories of our grandparents – “When I was your age, I used to walk 5 miles to school in the snow!” (That gap between home and school proudly growing larger each time the tale is delivered) We may also regard walking to school as something archaic and “old fashioned” (imagine Laura and Mary Ingles trotting down a sun-dappled dirt path swinging books neatly buckled with a leather strap).

    I myself never walked to school. Carpooling in a large station wagon was how my friends and I got around. Then about ten years ago I moved to Greenville to a neighborhood with an elementary school nestled only two blocks away. On the first day of my son’s first grade year, we walked.

    We saw a bunny.

    We listened to birds.

    Watched the way the leaves changed color throughout the year.

    We talked to other kids, other parents.

    Strangers became friends.

    My children are older now, but I still see others buddying up and walking up that hill, their crowns sweetly tilted inward as they talk. I’m confident they will have much better stories to tell about walking to school when they are grandparents.

    Happy Earth Day.

    In this painting, I drew inspiration from this life memory….it starts with the sketchbook:

    1) Sketch
    Sketchbook page (Usually worked on in the carpool line of my daughter’s after-school program)
    Sketch #2
    The sketch is scanned and cropped, then levels intensified (in Photoshop) for better visibility when transferring. I then print this out.

    I use an Artograph Light Pad I bought from Michaels (if you pay attention to the coupon savings, you can get these for half the cost!) Place the printed copy of the sketch onto the light pad, and watercolor paper on top. Then trace for a fresh drawing. (Side note: I love listening to podcasts during this phase. One of my very favorites: 99% invisible from Radiotopia. If you haven’t heard of it, carve out 20 minutes today to start enjoying. Hours of discovery awaits you! You can also browse other amazing Radiotopia shows like Criminal, and The Truth)

    The art table at a glance…

    Process
    The process… *note: the watercolor paper washed in green was a first pass/practice on a monochrome surface (I usually keep test washes laying around and draw/paint on top of them for fun) I repeated the process with a clean piece of watercolor paper and added color (see final below)

    Then begins the really fun part: bringing it to life with more definition and color….

    "School Days" in honor of Earth Day 2021
    The final painting (version 2) 4/15/21

    For more peeks into process, visit these other posts: Steps… | Illustrating “The Princess and the Pea” using life reference process | Illustrating Mother Goose | How to illustrate a map in a hand drawn style | How to use collage for visual reference

  • Illustrating with boundaries

    Illustrating with boundaries

    This past weekend, SCBWI Carolinas celebrated their 20th annual conference in Charlotte, NC. I love returning to the well. Inspiring keynotes and energizing breakouts filled our time for three whole days! Illustrators arrived early on Friday for an intensive session with the charming illustrator Priscilla Burris. We were given an assignment ahead of time which was:

    1. Characters Page:  Create and develop two characters.  Name them.
    2. Main Image: Create and Color Finish an image involving both characters, interacting. (Either one page or 2-pg spread)
    3. Before Image: Create and Sketch an image that shows what happened before the Main Image part of the story.
    4. After Image: Create and Sketch an image that shows what happens after the Main Image part of the story.

    Daunting to say the least. No restrictions, not even dimensions. Wide open. I have to admit, when I received this challenge, I was rather disappointed, and frankly had a bad attitude. I wanted something to work with. Please oh please don’t leave me alone in the dark recesses of my shallow creativity to make something completely original! I felt like I was suddenly being asked to write, and I wanted to illustrate! Sadly, I realized that I’ve been relying on someone else’s work to propel me into my work. How was I going to start with a completely blank canvas?

    The answer was in creating boundaries. I’ve heard it said that if children are playing in a large field with no fence, they will gather together in a tight radius near the middle and not venture out very far from each other, playing within a very limited space. If, however they are provided a fenced in perimeter, they will utilize all the space for play. I read that Dr. Seuss had only a 225 word list with which to work from in writing Cat in the Hat. Boundaries propel us into creative thinking by forcing us to solve problems. Last year at the convention, writer John Bemis left us with a most inspiring keynote that provided some tools to work with when we are faced with creative blocks. We were all asked to write 20 words, then step back and look at them. What did they say? Where was the common thread? Is there any imagery that comes to mind? Next he shared with us a game that included asking a question, then find a picture (from a magazine or a book). The last step is to connect your question with the image you found. How does the image you found answer your question?

    So I decided to play this type of game with my lucid characters I had floating around in my head. I knew I wanted a doll and an owl, but that was where my big idea ended. So I played what I call the “Blind Dictionary” game. This is where you close your eyes and open the dictionary and point. My goal was to find 10 nouns and 10 verbs. Of course I came upon some adjectives and adverbs, but I moved on and didn’t use those. Here were the 10 nouns: (doll and owl I already had), harlequin, thread, hame, factory, kimono, shilling, wheelie, lichen. The 10 verbs were: conspire, spy, twitch, liberate, lick, burn, blow, scoop, retain.Well, I guess that turned out to be only 9, but what resulted was this lush visual material I had now to work with!

    So without further ado, meet Commelina:

    and her various transformations:

    and the clockwork owl, Li:

    The illustrated plot sequence:

    In the end, I realized I may have some stories to tell after all. If the material is not provided for me, there is material out there if I cut and paste it together and make boundaries. Thank you, Priscilla Burris, and once again, thank you SCBWI!

     

    Today's illustrator promo: Rebecca Evans

     

  • Freelancing: What’s in it for me?

    Freelancing: What’s in it for me?

    There are plenty of resources out there about how to put a price tag on our work. Some metric is lying around out there that perfectly calculates time spent on a project, education and training, taxes (eek!), and just good old fashioned supply and demand (although the truth is, as illustrators, we all offer something completely unique that cannot be imitated, right? Well, at least that’s the life-long goal)

    But that’s not the question I’m asking.

    I want something a little more intangible, but a lot more valuable. I want something that I will live off of the rest of my life (that’s not imprinted with past presidents) I want learn something about myself and about my craft. I want to be charged creatively, and desire to go to work each day. I want to WANT to wake up early and stay up late getting it right. I want inspiration and challenge. I want to dive into the deeper recesses of myself and find a way to put a little part of my heart on to that paper that will be here (hopefully) long after I’m gone.

    Is that too much to ask of a client? Of course. But it is not too much to ask of myself.

    Whatever the task, it is up to us as illustrators to discover something new about ourselves and our work, our process, our creative energy. It is up to us to generate or seek out the source of inspiration for our projects.What can I learn from this experience? How can I grow as an artist? What would make this project creatively challenging for me? How can I learn to increase quality and decrease time spent, therefore being more EFFICIENT? When do I work best? When should I stop and rest? The path to this creative balance or nirvana, is loaded with questions. Questions that need to be explored, not necessarily answered once- but over and over again.

    Promo note: visit Diandra Mae fellow SCBWI member and illustrator. Her blog hosts “Sweet Squares”, a daily practice activity challenge similar to P3. I love it!

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  • Materials

    Materials

    Materials, from Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

    “The materials of art, like the thumbnail sketch, seduce us with their potential. The texture of the paper, the smell of the paint, the weight of the stone – all cast hints and innuendoes, beckoning our fantasies…But where materials have potential, they also have limits. Ink wants to flow, but not across just any surface; clay wants to hold shape, but not just any shape. And in any case, without your active participation their potential remains just that – potential…What counts, in making art, is the actual fit between the contents of your head and the qualities of your materials.”

    Promo note: visit Jessica Lanan, friend and fellow SCBWI mentee, who is also tackling the Petite Painting Project!

     

    P3 8/29/2012

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  • Creativity while travelling

    Creativity while travelling

    The Petite Painting Project travelled last week. For seven days I was out of my usual creative space with two small children in tow. It was almost next to impossible, but I did it. The posting slowed, but I kept coming back to the paper each day and here’s what I learned. If I don’t do this in the morning hours, the work suffers. I loose my enthusiasm, energy and desire to be creative as the day wears on. Morning has always been a time of inspiration for me. I remember waking up as a child giddy with excitement about the acres of time that lay before me with endless possibilities of how to spend it.

    At the SCBWI conference this summer, Tony DiTerlizzi spoke about reaching back into our past to unearth what inspired us when we were children. What made 10 year old Alice get up early to play? What charged child Alice into creative action? In order to go forward, I have to go backward – back to the child self and rediscover that which makes me truly uniquely me. As my skills develop and my ability allows me to achieve success, I also become detached from that child who is the key to making it all work in the first place. Skill can be developed to near perfection, but if the youthful magic is lost, then what good is all the training?

    So for me, P3 must happen in the morning, when I am excited about the possibilities. One of my favorite books is Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. It’s a tiny thin book packed with lessons and observations about how art gets made. In one passage, the authors discuss how painting a picture is an act of diminishing possibilities. A blank canvas holds the most opportunity. Anything can happen, and the moment that the first stroke is made, then thousands of options immediately are wiped out. Each successive stroke therefore eliminates possibility until the end, where the final stroke can exist in no other realm except within that painting. I suppose that is why joy cometh in the morning, why babies hold our dreams, and why wonder lies at the beginning of an uncertain journey.

    Last weekend, my grandmother was finally put to rest. The curtain was closed on her life and we all gathered and dwelled for a few days in the twilight of living things. Her home still holds picture frames and ticking clocks, china plates carefully selected, toys for grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her perfume, her pillow. I dream she is at the beginning of a new an uncertain journey where possibilities are endless.

    P3 8/18/2012
    In memoriam: Roselyn B Thomas

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