Ink and style

I lucky enough to stumble across an original ink drawing in an antique shop recently. The image was in a tatty old frame with no artist listed on the work(image below). On closer inspection, I could just make out the faint remains of the pencil sketch work in places and see the ink nib marks, it had all of the hall marks of an image in the created around the same time and a using similar techniques to that of Sir John Tenniel (19820 – 1914).

So $50 and some research later, I found out the artist was Frank Reyonlds, (1876 – 1953) and the etching created from this drawing appeared in the January 1920 edition of Punch magazine.

The slightly deaf footman (Reynolds, 1920)

 

I love this style of illustration and the work of Reynolds more famous contemporaries, such as E.H. Shepard (1879 – 1976)

Drawn from life (Shepard, 1962)

And Sir John Tenniel (1820 – 1914)

John Tenniel  – self-portrait.

The discovery of Reynolds illustration reminded me of a number of images that I have created using a similar style of line work in recent years. Inspired I set about creating a range of new images both for the pure pleasure of using such a rich illustration style and also to understand the style more deeply.

Here are some of the results;

 

Miffy the Samurai (ink, watercolour and pencil on paper), 2019

Shinobi Pug (ink, watercolour and pencil on paper), 2019

 

Cooking with an octopus (ink, watercolour and pencil on paper), 2019

Just in case your interested and have managed to read this far, here is the print version (as appeared in Punch, Jan 1920) of the illustration that I purchased.

See if you can spot the differences between the original drawing and the finished work.

References:

Reynolds, F. (1920). Slightly Deaf Footman (pp. Ink drawing). London, UK: Punch magazine.

Shepard, E. H. (1962). Drawn from life. Michigan, USA: Dutton.

Inspiration

People seek inspiration in a wide variety of way. When I had to create a design for ‘Inspiration’ I didn’t look too far from home.

In my latest series with Nick Falk, the “How To…” series (1^st book ‘How to stop an alien invasion using Shakespeare’) Inspiration is the Mighty Professor Skeletron’s cat. The Mighty Professor Skeletron is an evil genius (boy) that invents all kind of weird thing. One of these inventions is a pair goggles (Diabolical Prognosticator) that his cat can wear to see into the future. The professors blue print diagrams are always complex, scientific packed blends of the real and the ridiculous. The reality always looks a bit simpler. Mainly because he builds everything out of cardboard boxes, sticky tape ad other household items. His Diabolical Prognosticator are made out of pipe cleaners.

 

When I started to work on the rough sketches for ‘Inspiration’, my cat Daisy jumped onto my lap and demanded attention. The choice for Inspiration was obvious. The cat had to be Daisy.

 

The best thing is that like all cats, she sits around a lot, so she is a great model. She also like to sit onto my drawings when I work. So I can say that she has approved the use of image (otherwise she would scratch them up!).

 

Draft covers (spot Daisy)