Bristowl Part II



So here are two more images from the 'Bristowl' book I've been illustrating.

With the first I've tried to make the titular owl a little less horrifying than my previous attempt a few entries ago (http://sundaydogparade.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-bristowl.html). Although, looking at it now the "kind, grandfatherly" air I was trying to imbue him with is somewhat undermined by the giant staring orange eyeball. In my defence, owls do have these. If you need proof then come and have a look at my room - the walls are covered with reference photographs and printouts of owls that in no way make me look like a lunatic.

The second image comes later in the story when Ollie the Ostrich (our hero) is undergoing a particularly frightening ordeal. I would like to point out that I have not made this image unnecessarily scary (the text does not describe a visit to the jolly local GP or a Mayday picnic for example) and it's supposed to be quite dark.

In my opinion, all the best kids books are kind of scary. Or at least kind of disturbed. Or at least, the ones that I liked to read were - Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen and Hubert Selby Jr.'s The Room were all books that preteen Ryan would stretch on his tiptoes to take down from the shelf and read until they were dog-eared and battered. They were all pretty dark (particularly In the Night Kitchen) and it definitely didn't do me any harm.

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