Friday, December 16, 2011

"Turkey Lurkey, Chicken Licken and Ducky Daddles", Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award Entry by Lori Taylor

"so they went along and went along until they met Turkey Lurkey..."
Illustration by Lori Taylor
www.loritaylorart.com
loonwoman@gmail.com
I was excited to illustrate this excerpt of the story of Chicken Licken. It was a favorite story of mine as a child and it still tickles me today.

I began the layout of this sketch while waiting for breakfast in the Green House Cafe in Traverse City. The cafe (which serves super, amazing breakfasts!) offers brown paper and crayons at each table. Then after you finish your art they hang your masterpiece on the wall.

I scribbled and scrawled and soon had the "bones" of the illustration down. I loved it so much I hated to leave it behind. so we took a photo of the piece for me to bring home and begin the art.

I sat with our flock of chickens and rooster and sketched and snapped photos of them and after they signed a release and I fed them rice, I began the watercolor painting.

As usual--I am in love with the raw energy of my original sketch!

"Chicken Crayon Scratching"- Green House Cafe, TC - Oct. 21, 2011
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 16, 2011 at 8:01 AM

    I also liked the energy of the finished piece!
    Thanks for posting the updates on the MichKids list so everyone can come on over and poke around.

    Kristin

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  2. Lori TaylorDecember 21, 2011 at 6:35 AM

    I too, love the raw energy of your original sketch. Your final is cool but not as much fun--too much realism I think? Can't you do those orig. sketches on nicer paper and keep them? Submit them? think how much faster you'd go?

    Leslie Helakoski

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  3. Lori TaylorDecember 21, 2011 at 6:41 AM

    Leslie:

    Thanks for your comment. ThisYou bring up valid concern of mine, something that we briefly touched on with Matt Faulkner in our fall workshop--how to keep the raw energy stage and doing the art (skill) from that.

    That first sketch I posted was a quick idea (I had JUST finished a mural in Traverse and my brain was moving on to the next phase and project) so the paper at hand was just that! Brown table covering! I have a hard time when it comes to converting that inital image to the required image. Yeeks! I freeze. I even mentioned to Ruth Mc-B that I froze during our illustration competition with the finishing stage of my piece.
    So I love both styles--realism and cartoonish style. There is a need for both. And each delivers a different story as you can clearly see. The challenge is in the keeping of the energy and final outcome to jive!

    Thanks Leslie for your comment that I posted above for you!



    It's keeping the illustration loose and keeping the inital energy that I need to work on and not overdo it.



    Thanks again!

    Lori

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