Monday, September 13, 2010

Jack and the Beanstalk...Last step: Collapse exhausted!


What a weekend!
The Mountains to Sea Festival was amazing for me in many ways.
It was the first time I've been an artist-in residence anywhere and the experience of working away while hundreds of people went about their business around me was very strange indeed.
I'll make a fuller post about all that went on at the Festival later, but for now I just wanted to show you how the painting turned out.
I chose to illustrate Jack and the Beanstalk in the end, because I thought it might have appeal to the range of age groups who were attending. Plus it is a story I had never illustrated before.
I did all the photo reference and photoshop preparatory work on Friday and sketched the outlines and did some underpainting on Friday night. All of the rest of the work was done at the event in Dun Laoghaire County Hall on Saturday and Sunday....in between events with the children and meeting other illustrators and authors. (I'll tell you more about my meeting with Kate DiCamillo) anon.

Anyway, somehow I got the picture pretty much finished in the three days, and here it is.

Thanks to Conor for the photo and all of his unflagging assistance throughout the weekend.

8 comments:

  1. Dear PJ,
    Wonderful work! I really look forward to next.
    Kind regards, Sadami

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  2. I have to say, my friend, I am blown away by this one. This is outstanding. You're going to have to start painting your childrens book illustrations large like this one, just like N.C. Wyeth used to do. WOW!

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  3. Wow, superb illustration, I really like the strong pose and your choice of colours.

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  4. Many thanks for those kind comments guys.
    I might do them the same size as NC Wyeth but they'll never be as good. His "Kidnapped" illustrations are some of my favourites.
    And re the colours... that frame is in gold acrylic. It's great fun, you should try it if you haven't already.
    Thanks again
    PJ

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  5. Very nice! love how the background just fades to the point it's almost untraceable. Great stuff as always. :]

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  6. This is just gorgeous. I always love your work, but there's something extra special about this image.

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  7. Thanks so much Kendra and jkluge
    regards
    PJ

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  8. Stunning painting!
    I adore every brush stroke on this!!

    Paschalis

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