Paul Hess.

On friday the 22nd of March, we received a visit from a well  known children's book illustrator, Paul Hess. Hess has worked on a variety of book covers for children, mainly focusing on fairy tale and nursery rhyme stories than more contemporary ones.
We learned that Paul had studied in Sydney, Australia, and at first, wasn't sure what aspect of Art he would specialise in, as he first began under the pretences of being an Art Director (being in charge of an art gallery,) however he slowly moved onto illustration.
I found listening to Hess about the choices he made and the steps he took, benefited me greatly, as I find myself in a similar position to what he was in too.

 I found out a number of things I wanted to know, such as how to go about becoming a freelance illustrator, obtaining an agent who would organise work for me, who knew the right people to give me chances of work, and who would fit all work in a schedule for me, giving me time to break, concentrate on other pieces of work or spend time on holiday if there is any reason to be.

The more I listened to Paul explain his career to us, the more excited I got. I knew this would be along the lines of the career path I am aiming to take, and that's when he started to go through his process of work. 

Hess has worked in mainly watercolour for the majority of his work, showing us in great detail his process of using block colour, and slowly adding shading and texture to his work. 

He then went on to show us his digital art, which was in his distinguished style, as well as showing us his studio, his daily routines, showing how one doesn't just get up when they like and begin to draw. We also had a discussion about giving our ideas and reading into what we are going to create, as illustrators; this was done by the class receiving a copy of Hess's ghost story he had been working on, set in Africa and about two boys who take fruit from the tree that a ghost has made it's home. Using the description of the ghost in Hess's story, we were asked to create our own version of what we thought the ghost looked like;

• "Hideous Creature with foaming red eyes, every other tooth missing, dead grass filled with bugs instead of hair, and a raspy, breathy laugh. " - These are my outcomes;

I feel as though I followed the description rather well; although I added limbs in the first image, and skinny ribs to the second, the images are over all terrifying and not what I'd consider putting in a child's book.