This one is based on Frederick McCubbin’s iconic painting.
For those of you interested, I painted the background using some semi-transparent brushes in Photoshop. I drew the foreground quokkas with pen and ink, then coloured the lines in photoshop… I figured leaving the black lines in wouldn’t sit right with the painterly background.
Remember getting all your new books and stationery for the year?
Labelling your pencils and textas… spelling out your name on your pencil case using the pre-cut letters… getting a new school bag… I always felt a nerdy excitement leading up to this yearly ritual.
But there was one stressful part I dreaded- covering my books.
When I first started, there were pockets of air everywhere. It looked like I’d covered my books with bubblewrap. But as years passed, my skill level increased. I was able to branch out from hardcovers to softcovers, even ring-bound books. No challenge was too great. I surpassed my mentor (my mum), then travelled to India to study with the greatest book coverer of our time- Swami Contakta Bhukava.
Swami Contakta lives in a cave in the Himalayas. The rough rock walls of the cave are entirely coated with adhesive plastic sheeting, with not a bubble to be seen anywhere. Swami says the cave has been like this since the beginning of time- in fact, the whole world used to be covered in plastic, and one day it will be again. I’m not exactly sure how that will work, but I do know that everything will be easy to wipe clean.
Here’s a photo reference for an upcoming Quokka cover- the painting ‘Down on His Luck’, by Frederick McCubbin (1889). It’s owned by the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
I’ve added in the original caption, found amongst Fred’s journals.
Here’s the first rough sketch I did for the cover. We binned it after I realised it didn’t make any sense without the first image. Still, it made me laugh.
Every Australia Day, Perth has a huge fireworks display.
Some fisherpeople and boat-docking enthusiasts might recognise this as the Coode St Jetty in South Perth.
Here’s the reference photo I used-
It’s great to see a marsupial working in a job normally reserved for humans. They’ve been discriminated in the workforce for far too long. Quokkas are people too.
Local members of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) are part way through painting a cow.
Why, I hear you ask? Before you call the RSPCC, it’s not a real cow… it’s an art project for the Cow Parade, coming to Margaret River in March.
Have a squiz at Frane Lessac’s blog for more pictures of our group at work.
Here’s the first cover for 2010- which will be on the 700th issue of Quokka.
This has to be the cleanest skate park ever- not a hint of graffiti to be found. Truth be told, I ran out of time with this one and would have liked it to be more authentic. Still, it was fun shading all the different levels and slopes in the park.
Another big one this week.
The lighting in this one was a lot of fun. I’m not sure how quokkas would go being shepherds, seeing as how they’re a little bit smaller than sheep…
Merry Christmas everyone, thanks for reading the Quokka this year… thanks for all your comments. Have a safe holiday break.
James 🙂
It’s a big cover this week, for the bumper Christmas edition.
James Foley 