Friday, March 30, 2012

little by little

You may remember that some time back I created this drawing, above, as the publicitiy image for Buxton Festival's production of James and the Giant Peach.
Well, they kinda liked it and asked if I would do a series of illustrations that would become the back drop for the actual prodcution. I've never done anything like that before and I thought it would be cool to see my illustrations become something bigger, so to speak.
I thought it might be interesting to blog this process, starting these are the first rough sketches. At this point I am just mapping out the drawings.
I was a Roald Dahl freak when I was young. In fact, Danny Champion of the World is still in my top ten favourite books (maybe even top 5). I have a vague memory of reading James, but I've never seen the film. I did consider watching it but decided against it in the end. I don't really want to be influenced by anything else.
I shall watch it after the event. Which will be a nice way to end a project. I'll post all ten (!) of the drawings as I complete them.

16 comments:

bellefrogworks said...

What fun - love the sketches. Will be great to follow the progress.

bellefrogworks said...

What fun - love the sketches. Will be great to see how they progress.

Constantina Kalimeris said...

How exciting Andrea! So happy for you and loving the sketches so far. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the illustrations. Happy drawing!

Vicky said...

Congratulations! It will be fun to watch your tiny drawings become enormous.

Janet White said...

I agree, this is going to be fun to watch. Congrats on the job!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on getting the project, I think this will be a fantastic project for you. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress and pictures of the final, full sized backgrounds.

CHRIS MURRAY said...

Big fan of Roald Dahl and looking forward to your sketches.

dinahmow said...

Well done!
And I loved "Danny" too, although I didn't read it til I was doing school readings, just a few years ago! All those chickens in a pram!

T. Roger Thomas said...

I really like the look of these so far!

Jennifer Edwards said...

Can't wait to see them all...and I love seeing the process!

Kaitlyn S. C Hatch said...

I adore Roald Dahl and Danny, The Champion of the World was my favourite one too - although Matilda came in a close second.

I have to say, I didn't enjoy the film of the book. It was alright but had some key changes in the plot which seemed unnecessary to me. I'm a bit of a purist when books get turned into film though.

Lynne the Pencil said...

Really lovely sketches - particularly like the last one. Don't watch the film - you'll be completely unable to think for yourself if you do!!

Joan Y said...

Absolutely fantastic Andrea! i am so so so excited for you!

Unknown said...

Congratulations, I'm so glad!

Alison said...

I've just read this with my children and your illustrations capture the mood of the book perfectly.

andrea joseph's sketchblog said...

Thank you all, guys.

What a response?! I'm always surprised by the things people respond too.

Kaitlyn, I think I remember the film but I never saw it. I won't anymore. I feel the same and I can't remember a film living up to a good book. Oh, apart from To Kill A Mockingbird (ther's always an exception). I do believe it was exactly what I saw in my head when I read it.

Thanks folks, the drawings will come up shortly.