Tmag

Yesterday Robbie and I visited Tmag, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart. It was a spur of the moment, what to do on Sunday idea, but it turned out to have a lot of relevance to what's been on my mind lately.

I have been thinking a lot about publishing, children's publishing and illustration, and have been looking at people doing great things in this field. I've been visiting contemporary children's stores and trying to not make a complete bee line for the kid's book section at bookstores and libraries. It's exciting to see the books and zines I've been reading about on the web in person. To be able to flick through them and experience them - like a kid.

They're simple because they're well resolved, and I think it's a great skill to have the ability communicate quickly and concisely, in fewer words with a few images.

As a result I have been thinking about the illustrators and illustrations that I grew up with, including team Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, an appreciation for Ernest Howard Shepard's Winnie the Pooh, and many largely through television, including Ludwig Bemelman's Madeline, and Spot by Eric Hill.

I wonder if these have shaped the illustrations that catch my attention today (immediacy, ink and rough colour), such as the sketches of Alan Fletcher and Bob Gill.

In the gift shop (my favourite!) I spotted two great books for kids (which I would be keen on buying for myself), The Colouring Book by Herve Tullet, and Drawing: For the Artistically Undiscovered by Quentin Blake, which led me to this video. I think the appeal of these black ink lines with spilling watercolour in between may also have to do with the watercolour books my Grandma used to give me (where you just use water on a paintbrush and the colour appears on the page bleeding from ink dots).
:)