Blair Sayer puts a lighter spin on his illustration style |
Nov 6 2010 |
The illustrations were commissioned for a Story Starter Spinner. Children spin a pointer and whatever it points to gives them a starting line to base their own story on. The lines were very varied, which required an illustrator with the ability to draw subject matter that ranged from fairy tales and enchanted forests, to cityscapes and castles.
Blair has the ability to draw almost anything and, as mentioned before he has a fantastic conceptual mind for tackling visual problems. Here’s a quote from Blair which will give you an insight into how he does it:
“I took the approach that each corner has its own theme: a city, a forest filled with animals, a ‘fairytale’ scenery with castle and king, and an enchanted forest.Scroll down to see Blair’s pencils and finished fantastic finished story spinner and click here or on any image below to see more of his portfolio.
From there, I had to fill each space with characters and animals, each with their own narrative. This was the most fun part for me, finding a story to visualise within each area, and sometimes each character.
For example, the lone bat, flying out in the daylight, has left his brothers behind since he found some sunglasses. And the old wizard frogs, although very wise and magical, still can’t resist the flying snacks that the forest has to offer.
Or the King who is waiting for the Leprechaun to finish his muffin laced with a sleeping potion, thats already taken effect on the mouse who has a bite out of one. But then there’s also areas that would make the kids query the images. Like why has the lady taxi driver got lost in the snake infested jungle?”
