Ingentaconnect.com. (2019). Searching for the Green Man: A sketchbook quest: Ingenta Connect. [online] Available at: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/intellect/jill/2014/00000001/00000001/art00009 [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].
The description of them thinking about what the book would look and feel like really excited me, it reminded me of films such as Miss Potter, where her illustration and publishing process was conveyed and also behind the scenes in TV programmes such as those featuring the illustrations and processes of Raymond Briggs. These depictions are so interesting to me and I was surprised at the detail described in the article, it was a really enjoyable read and I loved how Smy described her outings to allotments to really discover what things looked like and how she simplified her sketches to illustrate the main elements.
The brief sounded quite complex to me and I thought it amazing how Smy was so excited by the challenge. Her final image of the Green man was interesting. Looking at the images for the book I found myself looking at the figure text in order to understand where the Green man was located. Which I suppose you would call a success, since Smy wanted him to be unseen to some and seen to others in the book.
The initial sketches focus a lot on the actual allotment, the trees, the plants, the sheds. In her later sketch you get a sense of the Green man being present with the man sitting down by his shed and then in the final illustrations he is placed almost like a shadow among the bushes and then almost a silhouette walking down the road.
I thought about whether any of my own sketches relate to a story or text and I decided to look into 'Erie House' a bit more. I started by looking up the meaning:
Collinsdictionary.com. (2019). Erie definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary. [online] Available at: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/erie [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].
I was surprised that it has nothing to do with the word 'Eerie' as I first thought. It actually means 'language' spoken by Iroquoian people living South of Lake Erie.
So I decided to go a different route. A lot of my sketches are taking place in cafe's and a favourite author of mine, Erynn Mangum has several books where the characters are coffee mad and in her latest book
'Room for Cream: a Maya Davis novel (The Maya Davis Series Book 4)', the main character Presley ends up going to the local cafe' Cool Beans to cope with the stress of competing for a Zoo Director position at the Zoo she has spent years working her way up in for that very role.
Presley ends up becoming a regular at Cool Beans and making friends with the baristas, who always seem to know what she needs and make it before she even needs to say anything.
That reminds me of the cafe I go to, the staff are really friendly and all know me now. They quite often make my 'usual' without me needing to ask. If I decide to have something different, their reaction is quite funny.
My sketch of Michelle making coffee would be the one I feel works best for this scenario.
Amazon.co.uk. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Room-Cream-Maya-Davis-novel-ebook/dp/B07K7J5CW4/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2PQ06S5DAPBTB&keywords=erynn+mangum&qid=1571326095&sprefix=erynn%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-2 [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].
Michelle making coffee.
This was a really interesting research exercise and has sparked some excitement for me in developing these processes further in my future work.
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