Prince John Illustrazione Di U Libru

Press Kit

Unique Properties

The designer made an illustration so that it looks as if from an old book. Searching for a composition he came to the decision to divide the image into three parts. The central part unfolds the plot. The top and bottom parts are filled with the details that are connected with the central part narratively and psychologically. They complete and make the composition more expressive. The illustration is made with paints on a paper with the final touch on the graphic tablet.

Dimensions & Packaging

Paper, acryl, watercolors, oil paints 225x330 mm, graphic tablet.

Tags

Ivanhoe, Walter Scott, illustration, characters, Middle Ages, Renaissance painting, historical

Production Technology

Before drawing, Mykola toned the paper with strong tea. This process took place in such a way that an uneven coating resembling a marble texture turned out. In the finished work, this is almost imperceptible, but this method of tinting helped the designer to form some areas of the image and to imitate the chipped paint. The designer applied color in some areas with watercolors, and in some areas with oil using a glaze metad. The texture of the stone is made with acrylic applied to limited areas of the image with a paralon roller. On this texture, the details of the stone blocks were also made in the glazing technique.

Design Challenge

The work objective is to convey the atmosphere of the book full of dramatic events: love and hatred, friendship and hostility, dignity and dishonor. The secondary task is to achieve the historical accuracy of the characters and items portrayed. When working on the project, the main difficulties lay in the collection of the historical material and search for the personalities of the novel characters.

Research

Prince John stands against the wall where the flag of his royal house of the Plantagenets hangs. The wall has two exits. This detail hints the viewer that when people run out of patience and rebel, Prince John and his followers will escape through them. There are soldiers in the foreground, who keep a close eye on a viewer. Coin purses are depicted on the top of the illustration, these are for rich. Kitchen slops are depicted at the bottom of the illustration, these are for poor.

Inspiration

The Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, who is the founder of the historical novel genre, wrote the novel Ivanhoe in 1819. The main essence of this novel is to live by the laws of honor, fidelity, justice and love. The relevance of these eternal human principles inspired the designer to begin work on the project. While working on the illustration, the sources of inspiration are Bayeux Tapestry, miniatures of medieval manuscripts, paintings of Hans Holbein, Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn.

Project Duration

This illustration is a part of the art project and was completed in 6 weeks between April and June 2018. According to the author plan, the project consists of 21 illustrations on the full page, including 3 double page spreads. In addition to the illustrations, the text of the book is going to be complemented with initials and small decorative elements in the same style as the illustrations. The project is a personal initiative of the designer. Mykola works on the project in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Operation Flow

A detailed draughtsmanship should intensify visual expressiveness and attract a wide array of readers of the future book. People would like to see a beautiful, high quality book on their bookshelves. It is a delight to take such a book, thumb it and have a look at the illustrations, read. Such warmth and closeness to the writer and illustrator cannot be conveyed by an electronic book. As well as movies and television had not displaced theatre, electronic books did not displace printed books.