CIRCUS CARNIVORE: Part I

I've put off talking about this book because I didn't know where to start. Being such a longwinded, labour-intensive project, there's no way I could cover every aspect of it in one post. I began this book back in 2001 soon after I was introduced to Mark Svendsen. For the next four years we developed it, throwing concepts back and forth, fleshing out themes and ideas. It was a fantastic and rewarding creative experience — a true, successful collaboration that resulted in subsequent collaborations and an ongoing friendship.

I thought the best way to scratch the surface of Circus Carnivore is to take one illustration from the book and delve into it's evolution from early sketchbook scratchings to finished piece.

With every text I start off developing the look of each character. Typically I look for cues in the name itself. Because Mark's text is nonsensical, including all the names, this helped me conjure some interesting shapes and figures.

The child was added to this story much later at the suggestion of our editor at Houghton Mifflin. She felt the audience might need an identifiable character to lead them through the story (we named her Kate, after our lovely editor).

The other main character of this story wasn't humanoid, rather an object: The 'Noise-a-matron'. Basically, in the story, this machine is designed purely for the sake of creating as much racket as possible. We wrote a list of every loud, annoying, or deeply unpleasant sound we could possibly think of, and I incorporated these into the over all design.

 

I tried to design each component in a way that the reader could figure out how each bit works, and how one bit affects another.

Next came the storyboard, which was extremely loose. We used these boards to try and sell the book.

Then once it was sold to Houghton Mifflin in the US, and Lothian in Australia, I did some tighter storyboards.

When it came to the roughs, I was faced with the daunting prospect of having to illustrate the Noise-a-matron several times throughout the book, from varying angles. I didn't really think of this when designing the thing. At the time I was a stickler for accuracy, I wanted the angles to be correct, but architecture and perspective are not my strong points. At one point I considered making an actual Noise-a-matron out of bits of junk, but I soon realised this would take me forever. So, I researched various 3D modelling programs and purchased one called Carrara 3D Basics. I quickly taught myself how to use it, and after much trial and error I'd created a 3D version of the Noise-a-matron in my Mac…

 I now had something I could view from any angle, and I could also light it in any direction. This model was invaluable reference material. And from this model I created constructional views. I asked Mark to come up with a list of nonsense names for each component of the Noise-a-matron, and I came up with a few of my own, all just for fun.

I liked these plans so much I incorporated them into the Endpapers of the book…

The next step was to piece together the rough in photoshop. Firstly, I had to get the angle and lighting right on the Noise-a-matron...

I then incorporated all the hand-drawn aspects...

Once the rough was approved, and an Arts Queensland Grant secured, in 2005 I commenced painting.

I used oil paints and collage for the whole book. It took me 9 months to complete, usually working 4-5 days/nights/mornings a week. I love working with oils for what they can do, but the fumes become intolerable before long. I was working and sleeping in the one room in a small flat at the time, so I'm sure this book has cost me a few years of life.

I have so much more to say about Circus Carnivore, but I'll save that for another post.

SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR

'See You Later Alligator' is written by Rina A. Foti, and published by Koala Books.

 This is the second of three books I've now done for Koala. Often, where I find appeal in a story is not always in the story itself, but usually the setting and/or characters. This story is set in a swamp, and I'd never done a book with a swamp setting, so that was enough to spark my interest. It's that simple (and somewhat shallow I know!). There was discussion at the start to change the setting of this story to Africa with African animals, but I'd already done Africa with Who Flung Dung? and Cheeky Charlie, so I pushed to keep it in a swamp. Now that I've done a swamp book, I'm less inclined to do another one. If I do, it has to be far different from this one.

Here's some early concept sketches of alligator...

And the supporting cast...

Originally the stork character was a Goose. I liked the Frog, Duck, and Turtle characters, because they were all very different visually, but a Goose felt too similar to the Duck. We threw some alternatives about, and we'd settled on a Flamingo for a little while...

I liked the long legs, because they'd bring a distinct characteristic to the swamp monster at the end, but I felt the Flamingo stood out (no pun) too much. I suggested a Stork, and that was settled.

I start my finished pictures by first working out the palette of each character...

I agonised over this Alligator's colour. I really didn't want to do a green Alligator, as every single cartoon Alligator is green in colour, and I thought it was painfully unoriginal to make him green. But no matter what I tried, nothing else seemed to work except green. Now, I'm pretty happy with it. It's grown on me, I can't see him any other way. As compensation I made sure I was slightly more adventurous with Turtle...

I put away the inks and went full acrylic with this book. I added finishing touches with Gouache.

 The above is a test picture. I did this back last September when I was invited to draw at a Librarian's Conference with a few other illustrators. I got a free feed that day! And here's how it appears in the book:

The eventual colour palette is dominated by greens — I referenced the Everglades of Florida mostly, which are rich in greens.

'See You Later Alligator' is out this year...