In Activity 5,our African Storybook Champion Mimi Werna shared with us how stories have helped colour her world during the Covid-19 pandemic. This week for Activity 6, a young South African illustrator, Tebogo Boikanyo Matshana participated in an African Storybook challenge to create illustrations for three stories in two weeks. Part of the challenge was that these artists didn't have any previous experience in storybook illustration, although they were keen to learn! She shares her reflection on her experiences with us.
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I gravitated to this story Heidi, my dog because it is about a relationship and there is a lot of love demonstrated in this story. With its themes of love and friendship, illustrating the story was more than a pleasant experience on my part. My mother also read the story to me in Setswana Ntšwa ya me, Heidi and I found I had a further connection with the story.
The project began with a brainstorm about the stories with Lisa (African Storybook publisher) and fellow artists, Kamogelo Matlawe and Simangaliso Sibiya (who were also working on storybooks). Following the informal briefing session, I focused on the story’s star herself, Heidi – looking at photographs and drawings of dogs for inspiration. When creating rough sketches of a cross between a Jack Russell dog and a teddy bear, the character came to life!
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Sketching the main Character
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Then, I sourced more reference material that would guide me in composing each scene, other characters, and the overarching visual-artistic style. I looked at work by other children’s illustrators and narrowed down my own visual approach. (An illustrator who inspired me for this storybook is Rebecca Ivacson.) I created scenarios and scenes in rough sketches, thinking about how a little girl would relate to her dog in each moment.
Using the tools Adobe Photoshop (software for working with pictures) as well as a Wacom tablet (a device for creating pictures digitally – directly on computer), I began to build up the illustrations. I use a digital pen (stylus) to draw on the tablet, and the drawing is displayed on my computer.
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Laptop with Drawing tablet and pen
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Initially, I drew over reference material and exaggerated different shapes that would eventually make up different components in each scene. I also experimented with textures and brushes, before I decided on a charcoal brush (part of the software tools).
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Reference Material and a digital sketch
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A week after the first meeting, we got together again to look at the sketches and discuss feedback. Afterwards, I finalised the line drawings and added colours to bring the scene to life.
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I have learned that when illustrating a narrative, it is important to consider the most efficient way to say more by also showing less. Too much detail and clutter can overload the reader/viewer with information, in the same breath though, by adding subtle details, one can really illustrate very important nuances and ‘say more’.For example, simply by adding or omitting a bracelet,one can visually communicate so much ‘more’ about a character. The same applies when one creates an environment. This is something I have taken away from the illustration process.
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