Beyond the Medal
posted: December 1, 2009
 |
Here is a piece for Patrick JB Flynn at Rethinking Schools for a story about Caldecott Medal winning books for children containing ableist and discriminating stereotypes against people with physical,mental, or emotional disabilities. Unlike books intended for older audiences, picture books rely on visual art to convey meaning. Children can read these picture books on their own and don't need to have the meaning mediated by an adult.
I finished the sketches and went to send them to Patrick and right then, we had a power outage due to strong winds. It was a beautiful sunny but windy day so I went outside and worked in the yard. I thought about the assignment and the isolation that a child must feel with any disability in such a big world and I came up with this idea. I threw away my old ideas and sent him this.
I finished the sketches and went to send them to Patrick and right then, we had a power outage due to strong winds. It was a beautiful sunny but windy day so I went outside and worked in the yard. I thought about the assignment and the isolation that a child must feel with any disability in such a big world and I came up with this idea. I threw away my old ideas and sent him this.
Doug Fraser December 1, 2009
The objective diagrammatic line, and execution is what I find to be the compelling factor in this illustration.
Yuko December 1, 2009
Such a simple yet fantastic image for the story. Behind the scene / making of story add to it.
Drew Friedman December 1, 2009
Strong, powerful, perfect.
James Gary December 1, 2009
What Doug Fraser said. And I know from objective diagrammatic lines.
Leo Espinosa December 1, 2009
Richard, I found that the best creative process happens when one changes the usual ways of working (changing the technique, the place, even writing or riding a bike instead doing sketches). The discomfort triggers results as unique as the one you show here.
Brian Stauffer December 1, 2009
touching and dramatic.
Victor Juhasz December 1, 2009
Simple, powerful, poignant.
Zina December 2, 2009
Extremely nice piece and solution.
Don't Wake Me Up December 2, 2009
Love this! How do you get such a nice and precise line on you monoprints without smudging the black everywhere with your leaning hand? :)
Cathleen Toelke December 2, 2009
This is so reminiscent of a children's book illustration, and its direct simplicity makes the point on a emotional level.
Richard Downs December 2, 2009
Hey folks, I really appreciate the comments, thank you.
I didn't realize the drawing would look so diagrammatic, I worked very slow and precise and that's what came out.
Leo, Yes, I often work for a while on concepts and purposely throw them out to force myself to, "think differently". That has a certain ring to it but not,,, quite right.
Wake up, you have to construct a bridge that elevates the hand above the paper and lean on that.
thx.
Kyle T Webster December 2, 2009
Richard, this is a winner and I enjoyed reading about how the image came to be.
