WHEN PAPER BECOMES THE PEN
Client: Puffin Books - designed as a part of a pitch, London, 2012
As an illustrator I don’t restrict myself to conventional media. We draw and write on paper, but what happens when we draw ‘with’ paper? Torn, cut, folded, bent, twisted, creased and rolled; its physical qualities make possible a different style of illustration where leafless trees, spires of smoke, windows and towers are reduced to the bare essentials of their real selves. Paper - a designer’s everyday ‘staple’, has evolved from a blank canvas to a three dimensional object taking on new avatars.
The Grimms Fairy Tales book cover was a pitch for Puffin Books. Not wanting to focus on one particular story or character, I chose instead to capture the darkness of the stories through mysterious blue smoke, barren trees, grim castle windows and ominous birds. This experiment culminated in a detailed artwork that bordered on being a photograph, a paper sculpture, and an illustration. All at once.