Take A Look Sunday – Iris Biran

CHRISTY: My initial reaction to these is that I am intrigued by these very stylized pieces. They are different, and I like that. The faces of the characters and the general body language and movement is a bit angular and harsh, and may not be appealing to someone looking for artwork to accompany a light and fluffy story. But it would work for the right project. This style is very special, but may not appeal to the masses.

I very much like the elements of cut paper in these pieces – the trees in the first, especially. But I wonder if it might be more constant with that style to then have the dog’s jacket and the doormat in the second image be collage as well? At first. I thought they were, but upon looking closer, they appear to be hand-drawn.

As far as storytelling goes, I don’t see these two images fitting together. One is an outdoor playground scene with lots of kids and animals enjoying themselves. I’m not sure who the “main” characters are, but it’s a nice scene. In the second image, a new girl (one who was not outside) is now inside and being glared at by a new character all together. There’s just not a lot of correlation between these two illustrations, so I’m unsure where this story is or where it’s going.

Over all, both of these have a “dreamlike” quality to them, which I like. It’s a little “Alice in Wonderland-y” with all of the strange things occurring in the details, and the darker, edginess of it – and that’s fun!

CHRIS: The story line of these two images isn’t totally clear to me as it seems to have different kids and animals in them. At least they ‘look’ different…clothes, size, characters. I like that the artist sent one outside and one inside scene however. This is a good practice for portfolios of any kind. I find the figures very ‘primitively’ done. This IS a style I realize oft used in children’s picture books, but the ones in the ‘swinging’ image are at times anatomically incorrect. The second indoor scene is better this way. Keep in mind that even a ‘primitive’ style needs to be well drawn and consistent within the story. Take care to properly draw legs attaching to hips, and arms to elbows and shoulders. Have legs and arms the proper length and equal etc. OR if the style is to exaggerate this ‘normalcy’ then that too has to be consistently done.

I rather like the cut paper additions to the scenes and clothing etc. but seems a bit arbitrarily placed. It doesn’t ‘fit’ with the crayon coloring as it might with some other media perhaps. The color hues are quite nice, appropriate for mood, and easy on the eyes however. I’d advise some more ‘color play’ and experimenting to find a very finished look for this artist’s visual presentations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iris Biran is a freelance illustrator based in Israel. She has published two self-published books, working traditionally with colored pencils, wax pastels, and collage.  You can see more of her work at her website: http://www.irisbiran.com

Thank you Chris & Christy for taking the time to share their expertise with us. It helps so many illustrators and is very much appreciated. Here is the CATugeau Agency website link: http://www.catugeau.com/

HERE IS HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE:

For the next few months illustrators can submit two consecutive story illustrations for critique by CATugeau Agency.

If you do not have an agent and would like to be featured and hear what you should do or how it could be tweaked to help you sell your work, then please send Two SEQUENTIAL illustrations – not just 2 pages of illustrations, but two with the SAME “story/characters‎” to:

Kathy.temean (at) gmail.com. Illustrations should be at least 500 pixels wide. Please put ILLUSTRATOR PORTFOLIO in the subject area and include a blurb about yourself that I can use to introduce you to everyone.

Each Sunday one illustrator will be chosen.

If everyone likes this, we will continue until the end of the year.

CALL FOR ILLUSTRATORS: Remember I’m always looking for illustrations I can use with articles I post. Send to: Kathy.temean (at) gmail.com. Put ILLUSTRATION FOR BLOG in the subject area. Remember all illustration need to be 500 pixels wide. Include a blurb about yourself, too.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy