![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
On illustrating poetry
Jan. 6th, 2012 04:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meeksHello, I'm meeks and...I suppose I'm a rather unlikely person to be hosting a poetry discussion, since I'm not a poet, and I can't honestly claim to know very much about poetry! As a reader, I'm primarily attracted to poems that tell a story or describe a scene, and as an artist, I've found they can be a lot of fun to illustrate (and a few people here seem to think I'm actually good at it ;D).
The first poem I illustrated was Lorelei has a Dream by Michael S. S. Thedford. It's made up of 17 rhyming couplets about a hedgehog with an active imagination and a whole lot of books. We spent about four months collaborating on what turned into a 40-page picture book (currently available as a PDF ebook with an iBooks compatible ePub in the works, and hopefully a print edition if Mike can find the time to finish the kickstarter video /shameless plug ;)) I enjoyed it more than any project I had done in years, and more importantly, I actually liked the results. That's basically what convinced me to get back into illustration after giving it up when I finished school.
I've since done illustrations for nine more poems, as part of my Story Sketches project, and I've learned that illustrating a narrative poem is in some ways very much like illustrating a story in prose. I'm a very visual person, and if a story is well written, I'm almost always able to 'watch' the action unfold in my head as I read. Some of the prompts I receive are easy; the image is fully formed in my head as soon as I read the relevant scene. Others take a bit more work, and I need to do a few thumbnails before settling on a composition. If I haven't been told to focus on a particular scene (or verse), I typically look for something with a bit of action and/or interaction between characters. My goal is to capture a moment that draws the viewer in and ideally makes you want to know what happens next.
The thing about poetry that makes it simultaneously delightful and difficult to work with is that whether it's The Cat in the Hat or The Canterbury Tales, a story told in verse has a distinct character that often suggests a visual style, while typically (not always) offering very little actual description. To borrow from the quote with whichjjhunter so aptly started the week: the challenge of poetry illustration is to translate the painting that is felt into a poem that can be seen. I don't know if I've always succeeded, but you're welcome to judge for yourself. :)
( this is getting rather long, so I'll put the images under a cut )
I think I've covered everything I wanted to write…feel free to ask me any questions!
meeks and...I suppose I'm a rather unlikely person to be hosting a poetry discussion, since I'm not a poet, and I can't honestly claim to know very much about poetry! As a reader, I'm primarily attracted to poems that tell a story or describe a scene, and as an artist, I've found they can be a lot of fun to illustrate (and a few people here seem to think I'm actually good at it ;D). The first poem I illustrated was Lorelei has a Dream by Michael S. S. Thedford. It's made up of 17 rhyming couplets about a hedgehog with an active imagination and a whole lot of books. We spent about four months collaborating on what turned into a 40-page picture book (currently available as a PDF ebook with an iBooks compatible ePub in the works, and hopefully a print edition if Mike can find the time to finish the kickstarter video /shameless plug ;)) I enjoyed it more than any project I had done in years, and more importantly, I actually liked the results. That's basically what convinced me to get back into illustration after giving it up when I finished school.
I've since done illustrations for nine more poems, as part of my Story Sketches project, and I've learned that illustrating a narrative poem is in some ways very much like illustrating a story in prose. I'm a very visual person, and if a story is well written, I'm almost always able to 'watch' the action unfold in my head as I read. Some of the prompts I receive are easy; the image is fully formed in my head as soon as I read the relevant scene. Others take a bit more work, and I need to do a few thumbnails before settling on a composition. If I haven't been told to focus on a particular scene (or verse), I typically look for something with a bit of action and/or interaction between characters. My goal is to capture a moment that draws the viewer in and ideally makes you want to know what happens next.
The thing about poetry that makes it simultaneously delightful and difficult to work with is that whether it's The Cat in the Hat or The Canterbury Tales, a story told in verse has a distinct character that often suggests a visual style, while typically (not always) offering very little actual description. To borrow from the quote with which
jjhunter so aptly started the week: the challenge of poetry illustration is to translate the painting that is felt into a poem that can be seen. I don't know if I've always succeeded, but you're welcome to judge for yourself. :)( this is getting rather long, so I'll put the images under a cut )
I think I've covered everything I wanted to write…feel free to ask me any questions!
