Narrative Illustration/ A mid-century twist

Before I start my artist research I have given some fort to the look I wish to achieve for my James and the giant peach illustrations. I was wanting to try something a bit out of my comfit zone with this project. 

The mid-century modern movement was a time of colourful and creative illustration. This style of work has become popular in book illustration for its quick eye grabbing appeal. The style was popular with animated cartoons such as “the looney tunes” four there back drop designs. Theas works wear often ever painted using gouache paints or traditional printing techniques. With advances in technology most modern day takes of this style have moved on to programs like Photoshop or illustrator. 

I wish to look in to some examples of this style in my later research. I will also look at previse interpretations of James and the giant peach illustration and other children’s book illustrators.

Narrative Illustration/ My thoughts on the Movie

Cover art by Lane Smith

After reading the James and the Giant Peach novel I fourth it would be interesting to watch the 1996 movie interpretation. There are some very noticeable differences in the two stories, one of the most important is the removal of the cloud men. They wear a big part of the book but play no part in the movie also, the rhino from the beginning of the book plays a much bigger part as he seems to follow James thru the story. Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker don’t die in the movie interpretation. The shark scene is much different as instead of a shola of sharks the team are faced with a giant mechanised shark. This seems a bit odd after reading the book but it’s interesting to think about. The movie adds an entirely new plot driver as the team wish to find a compass which can only be found in a sunken pirate ship. This leads to an action scene which is not in the book.

One of the characters was removed in the movie, this being Silk Worm. The character didn’t do much in the book which is why I think the decision was made. Despite the missing character I think the move dose a much better job of hindering the bug’s characters. I think the seam more defined in the movie as I thought the only bug characters which had a lot of personality in the book wear Centipede and Earth Worm.

I think the art style is also worth of note as it’s quite interesting. Most of the movie is animated using stop motion animation. The puppets which are used have very destined designs which I think fit the feel of the story. Being a movie there wear a lot of creative which worked on this project which makes it difficult to pin point a particular designer. I still want to bear this art style I mined when I move on to my design work.

Narrative Illustration Research. Target age range

When I began looking in to the James and the giant peach noel I couldn’t decide what the target age was. According to Waterstones book store the novel publication is aimed at around 9 to 12 years old. This seems a bit old to me but the picture book variant is aimed at children as young as 4 years. This means the story is aimed at children as young as 4 and as old as 12, I think older readers can enjoy to story but I think this seems right four the target age range. The illustrations remain the same in both copies as they are the classics by Quentin Blake. The picture book just has them printed in colour and is a much larger book.

The original addition of James and the giant peach was published in 1961, much has changes since then in children’s media. Even though the book has some darker undertones I think it still fits well as a children’s book in the current market. A lot of cartoons created with in the last 20 years or so have had inappropriate references which far surpass the righting in this book. 

When I come to my research and design work I need to remember the book is meant for mostly young readers. There are some dark parts to the story but they should be subtly hinted at in the illustration. This book could be taken down a dark rout but I would much proffer to have a wacky childish tack on the book.