Oliver Jeffers has a strong and established background as an artist outside of his illustration career. He began to develop his artistic style growing up as a teenager in Ireland. His love of the Northern Ireland countryside can be seen in the beautifully simple and natural landscapes used in his books. Predominantly a figurative painter, Jeffers carries this abstract style into his illustrations (Jeffers, 2016). However, he also began to branch out into mixed medium artwork. Very noticeable in his illustrations is the combination of uncommon artistic media pairings.
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The Incredible Book Eating Boy
by Oliver Jeffers - p. 13 |
Retrieved from http://oliverjeffers.com/picture-books/this-moose-belongs-to-me
In This Moose Belongs to Me, Jeffers combines a large variety of different art styles. Many of the pages include backgrounds from old Siberian oil paintings. Others use linotype prints from the Victorian era. Still others combine the two on top of each other. To add characters to these backgrounds, Jeffers used dry brush acrylic paint to give extra texture and depth (Penguin Random House, 2016). In additional to all of this, he also employed oil pastels to draw lines, scribbles, shadows, weather, and even add hand written dialogue. These pastel scribbles and writing is a common theme in many of his books. Also common to Jeffers illustrations is the prominent use of white space. This white on the page is often used to slow the story down or draw the reader’s attention to a particular spot on the page.
Retrieved from http://www.oliverjeffers.com/news/how-to-draw-a-moose
Tatyana Feeney, in essence, lived a life opposite of Jeffers. She grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and was heavily influence by the presence of the University of North Carolina campus, where she received her bachelor’s degree in art history. From there she moved to Budapest, Hungary before finally settling in Ireland with her husband and daughter. Feeney’s life of travel greatly influenced her work, and she believes her sparsely illustrated pages are influenced by her time spent in Eastern Europe (Feeney, 2016). While Jeffers, now living in New York City, has established his studio space separate from his living quarters, Feeney created her workspace in her home’s laundry room. Here, she feels she can be most comfortable and creative, with a beautiful view of her garden and Irish countryside. (Robots, 2012).
Small Elephant's Bathtime
by Tatyana Feeney - p. 14-15
by Tatyana Feeney - p. 14-15
Feeney uses a combination of print and collage materials in her illustrations. The characters are typically drawn very simply, and often resemble a doodle more than a cartoon. To add color to each page, she sparingly stamps or prints with special inks. This method often leaves the color fill slightly off from the drawing. Different textures of stamps and printing techniques add to this slightly askew aesthetic (Feeney, 2016). This effect can best be seen in Small Elephant’s Bathtime. Here, colors range from solid to almost translucent. Much like Jeffers, Feeney also uses a large amount of white space on her pages. However, she uses the white to make the colors on the page appear more vibrant. With such simple illustrations, the added white space draws the reader’s eye directly to wherever there is color on the page. In Small Elephant’s Bathtime, this effect draws the reader’s attention to the bright red text on each page.
Small Elephant's Bathtime
by Tatyana Feeney - p. 12-13
by Tatyana Feeney - p. 12-13
Despite creating illustrations remarkably different from each other, both Jeffers and Feeney use similar styles and techniques to produce their art. This can partially be attributed to their common experience of Irish culture. Water color, another medium predominately featured in both of their works, has a long and important history in Ireland (Visual Arts Cork, 2016). Additionally, both of their stories are incredibly popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Both illustrators have received many esteemed awards and recognition in these countries.
This Moose Belongs to Me
by Oliver Jeffers - p. 12-13 (use of white space) |
Small Bunny's Blue Blanket
by Tatyana Feeney - p. 5 (use of white space) |