Prince with Deer, from the Hind in the Wood, by Walter Crane, (1845-1915)

Walter Crane is viewed as one of the most well remembered artists of his generation with his book illustrations. In the earlier days even children’s books illustrations were considered high profile and seen as exhibited art to the public. Crane had the capabilities of doing detailed art as shown by his earlier work but later became inspired by how the Japanese art was portrayed more than his previous acrylic or oil paintings. The stylised pieces of art are considered to be his own in an almost trademark way. Despite being influenced by the Japanese art method, Crane has something Greek like about his art that especially flourishes when he does the older stories pertaining to this era. A lot of the time he managed to capture what the culture is like in his illustrations by researching instead of using imagination. While many artists could give a gritty approach to their retelling of the old fairy tales Walter Crane made it more cheery by simplifying the line art so the textures and colours would appear more prominent. The colours in his work were incredibly vivid when used on any surface, they all go together with enough contrast to stand out without making it out of place. Crane also did stained glass pieces along with trying other specialist areas. The stained glass and his illustrations go together as they’re connected with how he uses thick linear art and bright shades to create both. The stained glass process was done with thick lines and vivid colours as it’s the structure of the glass and the illustrations as it was his chosen method.

The art of Walter Crane is able to both simplify and stylise as he knows how to draw realistically well. I intend to try line art and possibly water colour to see if I can make potentially good results. The boldness of his line work is what I really hope to transfer to my work as this is how I hope all of my illustrations may look towards the end when they're final outcomes.

Alice in Wonderland by Arthur Rackham - 10 - Off with her head!

Arthur Rackham has worked with various illustrations in books such as fairy tales ranging from Alice in Wonder, Peter Pan and Lord of the rings. His technique has an almost mighty appearance in regards to colour and tone. The colour scale uses mostly greys and light shades and assists in bringing out the linear work making the artwork seem rather dark and sketchy. The process he uses is unique to him and has been compared to photographic work. Rackham started the process by sketching out what he wanted then placing over the shapes and details, afterwards the process would be about adding ink line art. How much effort and attention to detail that he did shows how experimenting with techniques can make development work an art form. He even continued this experimental streak when he went on to make out cuts of figures and stories. Closely resembling shadow figures, this different style change happened after the war and it seems much more simplistic, perhaps he didn't wish to have the gritty style associated with his work any more. As he illustrated stories targeted for children and his old art may inspire negative emotions that isn't ideal after a war.

One thing that can be easily noted is how much detail and texture that gets placed into the illustrations overall; they’re all incredibly attention drawing, every section making its own detailed pattern, like articles of clothing or wood. This all together makes the art have less of an area of focus as many art pieces tend to do. After looking at this I would like to try and spend more time on my own drawings seeing what fits best and try giving each section its own pattern with attention to detail as Arthur Rackham has achieved in his art.