Had a lot of fun illustrating these two poems in the past week for School Magazine. Both are quite clever in different ways. 'The Quarrel' by Eleanor Farjeon is a poem about two stubborn brothers who have a really good argument over something that is long forgotten. The line that stood out for me was, 'the afternoon turned black' and I used this as the central idea for the illustration.
The other poem was very different. So many nonsensical elements which is generally the case in a Spike Milligan poem. I'm a huge fan of his brand of wackiness so illustrating 'On The Ning Nang Nong' was a nice challenge for me. I did my best to be as equally silly but it's a tough act to follow. Spike's just too damn crazy. At the very least I captured some of the poem's pervading madness. Hopefully.
Both illustrations were done primarily with collage. It's such a fantastically diverse medium. Over the years I have amassed a large collection of painted tissue papers, pattered art papers, interesting washes, old books, postcards & ads that I can use. It's a lot of fun working out what should go where.
Anyhoo, better get back to it I guess. Stay well peoples.
2 Comments on Two Poems, last added: 6/30/2010
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They both look great Gus.I love the poem 'On The Ning Nang Nong'. That must have been fun.
PS The twitterverse misses you.
Hi there Katrina! Thank you, they were fun, especially 'On The Ning Nang Nong.' I've always loved that poem - delightfully silly.
You know, I missed twitter for a little while then....it went away. It was surprising. Wired to embrace distraction, I really don't need another excuse to float merrily around the internet. Nice to be missed tho! x