[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-nosy-crows-illustratorsalon-with-steven-lenton":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Last night my studio mate Elissa Elwick and I went straight from the studio to the first in a new series of \u003Cb>Illustrator Salon\u003C/b> events, featuring illustrator, animator and writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.2dscrumptious.com/\">Steven Lenton\u003C/a> being interviewed by Nosy Crow publisher Kate Wilson. Here's a little drawing I made of them:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kate_steve_doodle_zpspv4sitmt-f33ecb9599.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here you can see some of the books Steven's illustrated for Nosy Crow! We've recently seen some great picture books by people who come from an animation background, such as \u003Ca href=\"http://www.benjidavies.com/blog/\">Benji Davies\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/burstofbeaden\">Jon Klassen\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jimfield.co.uk/\">Jim Field\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.vrombaut.co.uk/\">An Vrombaut\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jonny-duddle.com/\">Jonny Duddle\u003C/a>. (Can anyone help me add some more female animators to that list?) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/lenton_books_zpsa5z6u5nl-5cf3aa8966.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSteven talked about character design being his key element in setting up a story, and you can see some of his canine personalities here: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/lenton_illos_zps6nt2dfng-148864e4f3.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nLike most animators and illustrators I know, Steven mentioned his huge love of early Disney artist \u003Ca href=\"http://magicofmaryblair.com/\">Mary Blair\u003C/a>'s artwork. ...Ha ha, I was just writing this blog post and mentioned that to Elissa, and she turned around with two Mary Blair books in hand: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/elissa_maryblair_zpswzgnevyh-cdccd24556.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI'd previously heard a talk by Jon Klassen, who much prefers settings and backgrounds, and finds the characters the hardest thing to come up with, so it was interesting to hear that Steven's the oppositive. But both love shape over line, and try to get rid of a lot of their line work (outlines) in their final art, even if they use a lot of lines in their rough sketches. Steven and Kate both talked about the benefits of working digitally; how it gets rid of the cost and time involved in having to get artwork scanned. I can imagine the Photoshop layers also make the artwork much easier to convert into moving parts for apps. But when Kate asked him about some of his favourite illustrators, he mentioned \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidrobertsillustration.com/\">David Roberts\u003C/a>, who works with real pens and paint and submits his artwork to be scanned. Steven said that if he ever gets in a rut, he might spent a couple months working on getting away from digital artwork and using more traditional materials. \\r\n\\r\nI know what he means, I keep thinking I could try to rely less on line (I'm \u003Ci>so\u003C/i> attached to using lines!), but I'd need some time to explore that way of working before launching straight into a book with it. And I've just downloaded loads of amazing Photoshop digital brushes from \u003Ca href=\"http://www.kyletwebster.com/\">Kyle T. Webster\u003C/a> but the trick is going to be getting time to learn how they work. Steven talked about spending a lot of time promoting his books, and having big ideas but not always the budget. I've been seeing him loads on the festival circuit, usually with his fab writer co-author \u003Ca href=\"http://www.traceycorderoy.com/\">Tracey Corderoy\u003C/a>. Here's a photo I took of them and their custom-designed friends at \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/716238.html\">Edinburgh Book Festival\u003C/a> this year:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/716238.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/IMG_steventracey_zpsmdrq1sfd-5c45c6628e.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nIt was great to see lots of familiar faces in the audience, including a gang of us who are all represented by \u003Ca href=\"http://unitedagents.co.uk/jodie-hodges\">Jodie Hodges\u003C/a> at United Agents (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/JodieHodges31\">@JodieHodges31\u003C/a> on Twitter): \u003Ca href=\"http://karlnewson.com/\">Karl Newson\u003C/a> (who's just recently signed on and check out his work; it's amazing, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Karlwheel\">@Karlwheel\u003C/a>), Elissa Elwick (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ElissaElwick\">@ElissaElwick\u003C/a>), my amazing \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jampires.com\">\u003Ci>Jampires\u003C/i>\u003C/a> co-author \u003Ca href=\"http://davidoconnell.uk/\">David O'Connell\u003C/a> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/davidoconnell\">@davidoconnell\u003C/a>) and me! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jodiegang_zpsvp0npzg3-7b12b28312.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI really appreciate Kate and editor \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/tombonnick\">Tom Bonnick\u003C/a> at Nosy Crow responding to the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.picturesmeanbusiness.com\">#PicturesMeanBusiness campaign\u003C/a> to credit illustrators by profiling them in this way. They're going to ask lots of illustrators to speak, not just Nosy Crow illustrators, and keep an eye out on the \u003Ca href=\"http://nosycrow.com/blog/\">Nosy Crow blog\u003C/a> and Kate's Twitter (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NosyCrow\">@NosyCrow\u003C/a> for future events. I really liked the venue, too - \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TheBookClubEC2\">The Book Club\u003C/a> in Shoreditch - funny lightbulbs stuck to the ceiling like we were in some sort of wasps' nest, and a good range of drinks and cocktails. I think my only suggestion for future events would be to offer name tags at the door, and encourage people to write their Twitter names as well. Elissa, Dave and I went for pizza afterward and as we talked over who'd been there, I kept having the awful realisation that I'd met loads of people I knew fairly well from Twitter and would've loved to have talked with longer, but never managed on the night to figure out who they were in person. ARGHH. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bulbceiling_zpsc9ym9j9f-e90fa3054e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks for a great evening, Kate, Tom, Steven, the bartender, and everyone who made it so much fun! I'm really looking forward to the next one. You can follow Steven on Twitter at \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/2dscrumptious\">@2dscrumptious\u003C/a> and do be sure to check out new \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=%23picturesmeanbusiness&src=typd\">#PicturesMeanBusiness\u003C/a> comments on Twitter, and feel free to leave some yourself!\\r\n\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Edit\u003C/b>: Yay! Steven has tweeted me some names of female illustrator-animators. Thanks, Steven! They include: \u003Ca href=\"http://www.yasmeenismail.co.uk/\">Yasmeen Ismail\u003C/a> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/YasmeenMay\">@YasmeenMay\u003C/a>), \u003Ca href=\"http://www.wonkybutton.com/\">Leigh Hodgkinson\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hoonbutton\">@hoonbutton\u003C/a> (I didn't realise Leigh was an animator!), \u003Ca href=\"http://www.fionawoodcock.com/\">Fiona Woodcock\u003C/a> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/FionaWoodcock\">@FionaWoodcock\u003C/a>) and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.candyguard.co.uk/\">Candy Guard\u003C/a> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Candy_Guard\">@Candy_Guard\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.yasmeenismail.co.uk/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/fred_yasmeen_zpss0sl3lyg-2ec3ea9dbd.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003Ci>Fred\u003C/i>, by Yasmeen Ismail\\r\n\\r\nOo, I'm spotting a few more: here's \u003Ca href=\"http://helenanimate.com/\">Helen Piercy\u003C/a> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/HelenAnimate\">@HelenAnimate\u003C/a>) and \u003Ca href=\"http://emmareynoldsdesign.com/\">Emma Reynolds\u003C/a> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/EmmaIllustrate\">@EmmaIllustrate\u003C/a>). Emma refered me to \u003Ca href=\"http://iamsamjones.co.uk/\">Sam Jones\u003C/a> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/iam_samjones\">@iam_samjones\u003C/a>). Also \u003Ca href=\"http://www.juliawoolfillustration.com/\">Julia Woolf\u003C/a> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Juliawoolf\">@Juliawoolf\u003C/a>).\\r\n\\r\nAnd you can read more about the evening over on \u003Ca href=\"http://bookmachine.org/2015/09/15/10-things-we-learnt-from-the-first-nosy-crow-illustrator-salon/\">BookMachine's blog\u003C/a>!","2015-09-15T11:22:00.000Z","nosy-crows-illustratorsalon-with-steven-lenton",[],"nosy crow's #illustratorsalon with steven lenton",1776628727812]