Celia Hyland Illustration Challenge

  (My personal Illustration Challenge for 2017 is to complete one 'page spread' from a popular, modern or classic children's story each week, picked randomly from a hat. Using lines from the original text, I am re-creating the 'imagery' in my own way, just for fun!) Soooo... Where do you start with the iconic Alice and the fabulous and much-loved characters created by Mr Carroll? Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll. Published in 1865. There are the very well-known illustrations by John Tenniel (you know, the Mad Hatter with the big head). Gorgeous! I walked into this challenge knowing that I have a tendency to draw 'lone figure against the world' type images, so I was hoping to get something that would offer some sort of interaction between characters. In theory, yes I could have chosen a specific scene (eg the tea party) from this book, but I suppose I was a little scared of doing a bad copy of previous ...

  (My personal Illustration Challenge for 2017 is to complete one 'page spread' from a popular, modern or classic children's story each week, picked randomly from a hat. Using lines from the original text, I am re-creating the 'imagery' in my own way, just for fun!) My kids are taking it in turns to (blindly) pull these titles out for me each week. My eldest is actually reading this novel at bedtime (another bizarre coincidence!) so she was able to pick holes in my work straight away, but hey! I am pleased with how it finally turned out, after almost scrapping the lot, and messing with colour for far too long, and getting very weary with it. The Railway Children , by Edith Nesbit, first published in 1906. It seemed that the train came on as fast as ever. It was very near now. "Stand back!" cried Peter, suddenly. But Bobbie cried, "Not yet, not yet!" and waved her two flags right over the line. The front of the engine looked black and enormous...

  (My personal Illustration Challenge for 2017 is to complete one 'page spread' from a popular, modern or classic children's story each week, picked randomly from a hat. Using lines from the original text, I am re-creating the 'imagery' in my own way, just for fun!) We have only just received a copy of this classic work by Shel Silverstein; the collection of his poems Where the Sidewalk Ends (first published 1974). And I love it. Both the kids and I dip into it, and always find something amusing. It was very hard to choose which poem to illustrate for this challenge (and I know, it's not strictly a story , more a collection) and of course there is the slight problem that Silverstein's own illustrations were created to work hand-in-hand with the text, but hey, it's all practice for me. Silverstein's drawings were simple black and white pen sketches, seemingly effortless, so I returned to pen for this one, but kept a bit of pencil texture in the b...

  (My personal Illustration Challenge for 2017 is to complete one 'page spread' from a popular, modern or classic children's story each week, picked randomly from a hat. Using lines from the original text, I am re-creating the 'imagery' in my own way, just for fun!) Again this week I made it all too complicated. I seem to work best when I leave myself 5 minutes to do something. Or maybe I never achieve my best this way!! So... Mr Big by Ed Vere, published in 2008. Ed both wrote and illustrated this one, along with all his other wonderful books. I LOVE his style - very graphic and colourful, bold, vibrant. And Mr Big is very special to us. We read it to both our daughters, but I suspect my husband loved it more than any other. He always reads it in a slow deep southern American drawl, something like Samuel L Jackson would do it, and this has become the LAW in our house. You have to say those first lines in a slow deep voice... "Let me tell you a story abou...

  (My personal Illustration Challenge for 2017 is to complete one 'double page spread' from a popular, modern or classic children's story each week, picked randomly from a hat. Using lines from the original text, I am re-creating the 'imagery' in my own way, just for fun!) Hmm, this one was tough. The Borrowers, written by Mary Norton, first published in 1952. It's hard work drawing three little people and all their little details, and then knowing that most of it will be hidden in the darkest part of the picture! So ! cheated. I drew the bits that are important, and left the rest to the imagination, and relied on digital colouring to complete the image. Not my favourite so far of this challenge, but it did bring back memories of the wonderful BBC TV series adaptation I watched as a child, starring Ian Holm and Penelope Wilton.

  (My personal Illustration Challenge for 2017 is to complete one 'double page spread' from a popular, modern or classic children's story each week, picked randomly from a hat. Using lines from the original text, I am re-creating the 'imagery' in my own way, just for fun!) This week's challenge was even harder! The Wind in the Willows , written by Kenneth Grahame, published in 1908. My daughter picked this one out of the hat for me, and immediately wanted to put the title back and choose another because she is reading this very story in class this term and is really not enjoying it... yet! Admittedly, there is a slow beginning (a lot of messing about in boats!) with Mole finding a friend in 'Ratty' the water vole, who teaches him the ways of the river, and adds a little adventure to Mole's comfortable existence. (Later on, Ratty is tempted by even bigger ideas; an invitation to board a ship with the Seafaring Rat. But Mole persuades him to stay...

  (My personal Illustration Challenge for 2017 is to complete one 'double page spread' from a popular, modern or classic children's story each week, picked randomly from a hat. Using lines from the original text, I am re-creating the 'imagery' in my own way, just for fun!) The first title out of the challenge hat is a children's book our family received only about 3 years ago, yet I feel I have known it all my life and am instantly transported back to that feeling of childhood when I open the covers. Where the Wild Things Are , written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, published in 1963. Those familiar with the book will know how Sendak depicted the 'wild things'; huge and hairy, some with beaks, some with horns, some with long hair, some with tails. So in week one I am faced with pushing those iconic beasts from my mind and re-imagining them for myself. I have discovered there is a reason Sendak drew them as he did. Big. Hairy. Large eyes and tee...