Recreating a figure from a Chinese painting in the gongbi style. Gongbi paintings are characterised by meticulous brushwork and highly coloured palettes.
Chinese ink is made in a solid form, and needs to be ground and mixed with water. A full-size line drawing, known in Chinese as huago, is made on paper with a brush and ink. The outline of the figure is carefully drawn.
A piece of silk is selected for its weave and texture. Raw silk is non-absorbent, so it needs to be treated in a process called sizing. A solution of glue and alum is used to make the ink pigments stick to the silk. The ratio of glue and alum must be carefully balanced. Too much alum makes the surface difficult to paint, but too little means that pigments will not adhere properly. The solution is spread with a flat brush. The silk is stretched over a board or stretcher with paste. When the treated silk has dried, it is ready for painting.
The silk is placed over the drawing and the lines are carefully traced with ink. The artist can change the weight of the line by varying the pressure. Because silk is thin, colour needs to be built up through a process called tuose. An even layer of paint is applied to the back of the work. White pigment is usually used. Darker pigment is used for the dark areas.
After the paint on the back has dried, the front is ready to be painted. First a base layer is painted. Colour pigments are prepared one by one. The painter carefully fills in the smaller areas. Two brushes are used to create colour washes. Layers of light wash are applied over painted areas until the artist gets the right tone. The process of building up colour and creating the right tone is painstaking and can take a long time. Fine details such as facial features and clothing patterns can now be added. The figure's outline is accentuated with black ink or colour for the final time.
Political cartoonist Martin Rowson discusses his graphic novel adaptation of Laurence Sterne's anti-novel, "The Life and Opinons of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman".
He is in conversation with Resonance FM's Alex Fitch at London's Cartoon Museum. The piece was recorded in 2010 just before the launch party at the museum, which celebrated a new hardback edition of the book.
This short video combines audio extracts of the interview with images from the book and footage of Martin Rowson illustrating a limited edition bookplate for the new hardback edition of the graphic novel for London graphic novel publisher SelfMadeHero.
The unedited audio of the interview can be heard here:
Will-o'-the-wisp (noun): A natural phenomenon in which a pocket of swamp gas is somehow lit, producing a blue flame that hovers a few feet above the swamp.
This rare occurrence, part of Southern United States folklore, provided inspiration for the new graphic novel, "An Aurora Grimeon Story: Will O' the Wisp." The story's namesake reflects the setting of the Atchafalaya Swamp in Southern Louisiana and acts as its villain. We sat down with writer Tom Hammock and illustrator Megan Hutchison to find out how the Louisiana locale—and the folklore and traditions that come from this side of the world—helped set the scene for the first in a proposed series about young heroine Aurora Grimeon and her adventures living on the mystical swamp island Ossuary Isle.
The fact the novel is based on a real-life location and culture is not the only unique quality in "Will O' the Wisp"; the protagonist of the story is a young girl, something Hutchison and Hammock hope will draw young female readers who might feel underrepresented in the world of comics.
The first two digital issues of "Will O' the Wisp" are currently available on Comixology, and the novel will be officially released on January 22 by Archaia. Visit http://www.ossuaryisle.com for more information.
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by K.G. Campbell
On Sale September 2013
Holy unanticipated occurrences! A cynic meets an unlikely superhero in a genre-breaking new novel by master storyteller Kate DiCamillo.
It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is the just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry -- and that Flora will be changed too, as she discovers the possibility of hope and the promise of a capacious heart. From #1 New York Times best-selling author Kate DiCamillo comes a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters and featuring an exciting new format -- a novel interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black-and-white by up-and-coming artist K. G. Campbell.