Visiting children’s book artists always have the difficulty
of trying to address two groups – the children who read their books and the
adults who buy them. Touring French picture book artists Eric Veillé and
Clotilde Perrin dealt with the problem with Gallic aplomb. Their first
Christchurch session was held in the book palace known locally as Scorpio Books.
A wide range of felt pens and paper had been provided to enable enthusiastic
children to be initiated into the craft of picture-book making.
Unfortunately no Christchurch children had made it to the
central city venue by the starting time of 3.30 pm. Undaunted Clotilde and Eric dragooned a large
contingent of teachers, librarians, booklovers and grandparents – some qualifying
for inclusion in several of these categories – to take up their pens and have a
go.
Both artists showed the draft illustrations they had used in
beginning two of their recent books Eric’s Encyclopedia of Grannies and Clotilde’s
Inside
the Villains (both published in NZ by Gecko Press). Clotilde showed how
she prepared her pictures, complete with carefully designed flaps and openings,
as maquettes (preliminary sketches).
Eric displayed a huge array of pictures of Grannies and
explained that he drew them with a felt pen, scanned them into his computer and
then chose the ones he likes best. Colouring follows. Asked how he chooses
them, Eric replied, ‘Sometimes, I know that it is a good picture, when it makes
me laugh. I laugh out loud as I am drawing it.’
Using an easel, the pair took it in turns to create a
picture, inviting their ‘students’ to follow suit on their sheets of paper.
Clotilde began by drawing an eye which rapidly became part of a furry head and
finally turned into the hungry wolf, the villain occupying the cover of her
book. Clotilde’s brushwork was quick and confident and soon she had used
watercolour to create a thoroughly convincing wolf.
Eric then showed how to draw a Grannie. Even though his
illustration was quite small, his ‘students’ produced reasonable copies.
Then came the surprise. Clotilde used a Stanley knife to make a semi-circular cut in the wolf’s belly, following which she glued Eric’s Grannie picture on the back of her wolf picture. Finally, she lifted the flap to reveal Grannie inside the wolf’s stomach. It was a lovely moment of revelation when we could all appreciate their combination of skill and imagination.
Later Eric added a highly ambiguous speech balloon for the
wolf, ‘I love the Grannies of Christchurch city.’
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