2023 Children's Book Illustration: Introduction (Class at Rhode Island School of Design)
Our final assignment was to take a scene from Chapter 8 of The Wizard of Oz and illustrate it. I chose the scene where the Scarecrow is rescued by the stork and returned to his friends. I liked the idea of having multiple scenes all in one spread so I incorporated a detailed border that includes the fruit the Scarecrow found for Dorothy's breakfast and the poppies foreshadowing the next danger they will encounter. The slideshow of initial sketches shows how I developed some of the ideas for the final composition.
Initial sketches
Notes about sketches
Option 1: Scarecrow is my personal favorite, so I chose the text of the Stork rescuing him from the river. Here there is a border of where they came from noted by the raft and the peaches and plums and nuts which will be in the top of the border and where they are going, the poppies in the bottom of the border.
Option 2: This is another border option. The vignette on the left gives a little peek at the scene of the stranded scarecrow from the previous page. The main scene is the Scarecrow greeting his friends as he is flown in. Also in the upper right is the Stork’s nest which is where she will exit our story.
Option 3: In this option the poppies take front and center to warn of what is coming in the later part of the chapter. I have the friends interacting as the stork brings the scarecrow in for a landing. The Cowardly lion is covering his eyes with his paws as the scarecrow is flown in for a landing. But he is peeking, because he really isn’t as cowardly as he believes he is.
Option 4: In this last version the Scarecrow has landed, his hand outstretched to Dorothy who grasps it.
Option 1: Scarecrow is my personal favorite, so I chose the text of the Stork rescuing him from the river. Here there is a border of where they came from noted by the raft and the peaches and plums and nuts which will be in the top of the border and where they are going, the poppies in the bottom of the border.
Option 2: This is another border option. The vignette on the left gives a little peek at the scene of the stranded scarecrow from the previous page. The main scene is the Scarecrow greeting his friends as he is flown in. Also in the upper right is the Stork’s nest which is where she will exit our story.
Option 3: In this option the poppies take front and center to warn of what is coming in the later part of the chapter. I have the friends interacting as the stork brings the scarecrow in for a landing. The Cowardly lion is covering his eyes with his paws as the scarecrow is flown in for a landing. But he is peeking, because he really isn’t as cowardly as he believes he is.
Option 4: In this last version the Scarecrow has landed, his hand outstretched to Dorothy who grasps it.