Here are two illustrators that have over the years inspired me to create a number of my own illustrations.
The first of the illustrators is Alan Lee, well known for his Tolkien based art work, as well as his input into the making of firstly The Lord of the Rings films made ten years ago, as well as his recent work on the Hobbit. Alan Lee creates mainly watercolour images, but also occasionally does just pencil drawings.
This is one of Alan Lee's pencil drawings, it's an Illustration from 'The Tales of the Perilous Realm, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'. The Illustration itself is called 'The Man in the Moon stayed up too late,' The Illustration is showing the story, told in a song.
"There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown
That the Man in the Moon himself came down
one night to drink his fill.
The ostler has a tipsy cat
that plays a five-stringed fiddle;
And up and down her runs his bow,
Now squeaking high, now purring low,
now sawing in the middle.
The landlord keeps a little dog
that is mighty fond of jokes;
When there's good cheer among the guests,
He cocks an ear at all the jests
and laughs until he chokes."
This is just part of the song, which is actually sung at one point by Frodo when he's in the Prancing Pony, (The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Rings, Book 1)
The main thing I love about Alan Lee's work is how beautiful it is. This image of the City of Gondor, Minas Tirith, is a remarkable image showing a labyrinth of streets and rooftops.
And this image on the right is an illustration from the Hobbit of the Dwarves passing over the bridge to the Elvish City of Rivendell.
The Second Illustrator is Jill Murphy, illustrator of books like 'Peace at Last', 'All in One Piece' as well as The Worst Witch series, the illustrations from the Worst Witch stories are some of my favourite, I've always liked the simplicity of the pen drawings, often just simple silhouettes. That just shows some times you can capture the imagination of a child without over doing it.
These black and white drawings of Mildred Hubble have created a fixed image of the Worst Witch Book's leading character in my mind since I was a young girl. With Mildred's long black unkempt hair loose platted blowing in the wind as she rides on her broom stick, her boot laces untied really for her to either have an accident or be told off my Miss Hardbroom. With Tabby riding on the back of her broom looking on terrified of Mildred Hubble's flying.
'Onward, ever striving onward,
Proudly on our brooms we fly,
Straight and true above the treetops,
Shadows on the moonlit sky.
Ne'er a day will pass before us,
When we have not tried our best,
Kept our Cauldrons bubbling nicely,
Cats our spells with zest.'
To anyone who has ever read the books or even watched the television show, will know the school song for Cackle's Academy. In the Academy for girls singing is a big part of the curriculum, Mildred Hubble (the girl in the middle) and Maud Moonshine (the smaller girl on the right) and best friends, and it's during a chanting lesson with Miss Bat that they hear the out of tune singing of Enid Nightshade (the girl on the left) and after a few problems are over come, the threes girls become best friends, and go on to create trouble at the academy.
Jill Murphy also does coloured illustrations, using vivid tones, as well as comedic elements, to create light hearted images.
Even though the stories for these illustrations are not as well known to me as the Worst Witch Stories, the pictures themselves still create a very clear image of bedtime for me when I was a child, when I would flick through my big book of children's bedtime stories only to look at the illustrations.
Even the little pieces of dirt falling from the tunnel roof get some detail.
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