Playtime Is Over

My latest assignment was to interpret an article and create an illustration for it. The article I chose is called Playtime Is Over, written by David Elkind for the NY times. He writes about the growing problem of bullying, teasing and discrimination in schools and how the school system is trying to address it. He goes on to say that the rise in bullying is in part caused by the decreasing amount of time children spend playing with other children.

The Selfish Giant

I had a really fun project recently that required making a 3-D set. I've never played much with clay or sculpey since I was about 12, so this was a really fun discovery exercise. I chose to create a scene from The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde.
In this scene, the selfish giant has come home from a 7 year vacation when he finds children playing in his beautiful garden. He gets really angry because he doesn't like sharing his garden with others, so he scares them away.

I had no idea what I was doing, and so I found out from some classmates that if you use sculpey, you have to start with a wire structure. Then you wrap the wire in aluminum foil to give it volume and then finally put on a thin layer of sculpey. This ensures that the sculpey bakes evenly, and does not burn.

This gives you an idea of the scale of the models. I had to work pretty small because there was a size limit on the project. I don't own any clay modeling tools, so all I had were an exacto knife and a little metal pick for picking lobster meat out of its shell.


The shot above gives you a good look at the giant's face. He was my favourite.



This is my favourite photo of the scene.

Christmas Eve

Here is the image I created for the Christmas Eve pamphlet cover at our church. It looks a lot different on my computer than it looks when it's printed. Unfortunately the printout was very dark.

The Three Robbers Part IV

Here is the final scene that I did.

The text:
Dressed in red caps and capes, the children moved into their new house. Stories of the castle spread throughout the land. New children came or were brought each day
to the doorsteps of the three robbers. The children grew until they were old enough to marry. Then they built houses around the castle. A village grew up,
full of people dressed in red caps and capes. These people, in memory of their kind foster fathers, built three tall, high-roofed towers.
One for each of the three robbers.



See
The Three Robbers Part I
The Three Robbers Part II
The Three Robbers Part III

The Three Robbers Part III

This is the third scene I did for the Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer.
The text:

They made up a soft bed for her in a corner of the cave. And there she slept. The next morning she awoke a find herself surrounded by trunks of glittering riches.

"What is all this for?" she asked. The robbers choked and sputtered. They had never thought of spending their wealth. So to use their treasure they gathered up
all the lost, unhappy, and abandoned children they could find. They bought a beautiful castle where all of them could live.

See:
The Three Robbers Part I
The Three Robbers Part II

The Three Robbers Part II

This is the second scene from the story The Three Robbers.

The text:
But one bitter, black night the robbers stopped a carriage that had but one passenger, an orphan named Tiffany. She was on her way to live with a wicked aunt.
Tiffany was delighted to meet the robbers. Since there was no treasure but Tiffany, the thieves bundled her in a warm cape and carried her away.

Go to:
The Three Robbers Part I

The Three Robbers Part 1

I recently finished an assignment where I had to illustrate a story. I was required to do 4 illustrations for the story "The Three Robbers" by Tomi Ungerer.
Unfortunately, I have handed in the first panel and I have not scanned it in. So here is the first panel that I did in rough.
And here is the text to go with it:

Once upon a time there were three fierce robbers. They went about hidden under large black capes and tall black hats.

The first had a blunderbuss. The second had a pepper-blower. And the third had a huge red axe. In the dark of night they walked the roads, searching for victims.
They terrified everyone. Brave women fainted. Brave men ran. Dogs fled.

To stop carriages, the robbers blew pepper in the horses' eyes. With the axe, they smashed the carriage wheels. And with the blunderbuss, they threatened the passengers and plundered them.

The robbers' hide-out was a cave high up in the mountains. There they carried their loot. They had trunks full of gold, jewels, money, watches, wedding rings, and precious stones.

Stay tuned for the next panel!