Let’s start with the kitten. A few weeks ago a stray cat with her three kittens started coming into our garden. They were all quite timid except for the tiniest one, who would purr whenever she was near us. She very quickly made herself at home, found her favourite chair and won our hearts for good. Meet Pépite!
Next I wanted to show you some work that has been published recently in a French children’s magazine called Baïka. I was commissioned to illustrate an adaptation of El Gaucho Martín Fierro, the Argentinian epic poem by José Hernández. The project was daunting as it required drawing groups of people and horses, a first for me, but I learned a lot and enjoyed it immensely. The illustrations and some process sketches were also exhibited at the Salon du Livre (book fair) in Troyes!
I wanted to share a bit of the process behind them here, too. First I had to familiarise myself with the subject matter (I wasn’t one of those poney-obsessed girls at school, alas). I was lucky enough to know someone with horses, so I spent an afternoon making studies from life, and I also studied the drawings of Delacroix. I “visited” La Pampa via Google street view and made drawings “on location”. I took stills from film adaptations of Martín Fierro and documentaries on gauchos. I put a hat on a friend and made him pose for me.
Next I made rough compositional sketches on paper and refined them on my iPad. I chose a limited palette (cobalt blue, yellow ochre, permanent rose, burnt umber) to keep everything cohesive between the illustrations. When it came to painting, I just kind of “went for it” to keep things spontaneous, whilst being prepared to make several versions per piece and refine them digitally.
Here is how that process looked for one of the illustrations:
Last month I took a trip back to England. On one of the days I met up with Suzanna Hubbard (if you don’t already know her work I recommend checking it out, it’s lovely!) and we sketched the boats in Weymouth. I dropped my pencil in the water, but managed to retrieve it, and we were offered apple pies by some fishermen.
After England, my husband and I visited his family in Charente. I went into full holiday mode and just wanted to draw all day in my sketchbook without the pressure to produce anything finished. It was great!
There’s something about the ephemeral that sends me into a drawing frenzy. Give me a sunset or a place I’ll be leaving in a few days, and I’ll be manically scribbling in my sketchbook in no time. Are you the same?
That’s all from me. Take care, stay warm,
So lovely seeing your process! The illustration with the three men on horses came out so beautifully.
Wonderful post! Lovely sketches and beautiful work for the magazine, and of course wonderful colourful Weymouth! Pure joy :)