Showing posts with label the big book of nonsense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the big book of nonsense. Show all posts

Saturday, 19 April 2014

Colin West: The Big Book of Nonsense - Moose

The Big Book of Nonsense
First published in 2001

Text: Colin West
Illustrations: Colin West

The year 2001

I decided that I would research events that happened in the year The Big Book of Nonsense was published. I picked out things that could have influenced the art of the time. 
- The worlds first artificial heart is implanted into Robert Tools.
- Microsoft launches Windows XP.
- 9/11 attacks, World Trade Centre, New York. 
-A black monolith measuring approximately 9 feet tall apears in Seattle.
$100 million worth of art was destroyed in 9/11, works include that of Alexander Calder, Joan Miro and Roy Lichtenstein.


The Big Book of Nonsense was also on the list of books but it has now became something that we must do. I have to choose one poem from the book and create one illustration for it. I have decided to illustrate 'Moose' - "What use is a Moose? Except, perhaps, for coats and hats."
I am really looking forward to illustrating this because I have a really good idea of what I want to draw and how I would like to do it.


When I first read this poem I got an instant idea for what I would like to illustrate. My idea was to put a Moose head on a wooden plaque in the background and have a woman in the foreground wearing a fur coat and hat; to suggest the Moose fur has been used to make the hat and coat. After a lot of thinking I realised this could be a very sensitive and offensive subject considering a lot of people are against animal cruelty but I think with this idea I am creating a contrast between illustrations for kids and illustrations for adults. I have decided to proceed with this idea but I am in no way promoting animal cruelty. 








Choosing a book

My current project is Narrative Illustration and I was given a list of books to research and choose from. I have narrowed it down to 5 books that I would be quite interested in illustrating these include; The Witches by Roald Dahl, The Brother's Grimm Hansel and Gretel, The Orchard Book of Nursery Rhymes by Faith Jaques and The Big Book of Nonsense by Colin West.