Nie Jun, Chinese Illustrator

We don't get to see many illustrated books translated from Chinese author / illustrators, but one book that made the journey is My Beijing by Nie Jun.

It tells four stories about a girl named Yu'er and her adventures with her Grandpa. The stories have a gentle human warmth, sense of fantasy, and optimistic spirit.

The style and character designs are different from what we're used to seeing, but they're remarkably accessible.

The stories give a glimpse into the daily life of a traditional Hutong neighborhood, based on sketches Nie Jun did on location. In the back of the book is a "Huton Sketchbook," reproducing some of those sketches. 

Nie Jun was born in 1975 and grew up inspired by pirated editions of TinTin and comic work by Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) and Zhang Leping (1910-1992). He was also influenced by Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo, plus the French comic artist Moebius.

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 My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder by Nie Jun

Panel at Lightbox Expo on Illustrated Novels

This panel at Lightbox Expo should be a lively discussion about picture books and graphic novels. Each of us will share what goes into our creative process when we make long-form illustrated stories.

For those who can't make it to Pasadena, I believe it will be made available on YouTube in 2024.

 

A Neon Sign in Montreal

Wing's Noodles is a small neon sign on a nondescript building in Montreal, but it represents a major manufacturer of Chinese noodles, egg roll covers, and wonton covers.
 

Talking About Lighting

 

At my talk on lighting at Lightbox Expo, I'll be covering a lot of useful stuff you probably didn't get in art school. And the talk is not just for concept artists and illustrators. It's for everyone.

A Program That Describes Images

A free and open-source model called Llava lets you upload an image and ask it a question about that image. For example, I asked it what's going on in this one:

"The image depicts a busy street scene with a large yellow robot or machine in the middle of the road, causing a traffic jam. The robot is surrounded by several cars, including a truck, which are stopped or slowed down due to the unusual presence. There are numerous people in the scene, some of them standing near the robot, while others are scattered around the street. A few individuals are closer to the foreground, while others are further back, possibly observing the situation or waiting to cross the street. In addition to the vehicles and people, there are two traffic lights visible in the scene, one on the left side and another on the right side of the road. A McDonald's restaurant can also be seen in the background, adding to the urban atmosphere of the scene."

That's pretty good, but it seemed to miss the flipped car, the crime-scene tape, and the police car. So I tried it again on a very different picture:

"The image is a painting of a man and a woman, both wearing blue shirts. The man is standing on the left side of the painting, while the woman is on the right. The man is holding a paintbrush, seemingly painting the woman's portrait. The woman appears to be looking at the man as he works on the painting. The painting is set in a room with a chair located in the middle of the scene. The man and woman are the main subjects of the painting, and their expressions and postures convey the artist's focus on capturing their likeness."

No deep insights here, but it seemed to get the basics of what I was trying to show. Try Llava on one of your photos or paintings. You can ask "What's going on in this picture?" or a more focused query. It's free and doesn't require a signup.

Durango

Durango, Colorado, casein, plein air. 

Hotspot priming helps achieve this light effect.

Madeleine-Jeanne Lemaire's Flowers and Faeries

Madeleine-Jeanne Lemaire (1845-1928) painted scenes of women in interiors, faeries, and flowers, using oil and watercolor.

Madeleine-Jeanne Lemaire, The Faeries, 1908, watercolor

According to S. Elizabeth in the new book The Art of Fantasy, "during her lifetime she created hundreds, quite possibly thousands of paintings of flowers and other plants."

Elizabeth continues: "Alexandre Dumas is noted to have said that 'Only God had created more roses than Madeleine Lemaire."  

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Wikipedia on Madeleine-Jeanne Lemaire

New illustrated book: The Art of Fantasy. "Profusely illustrated with museum quality, full color artwork, The Art of Fantasy: A Visual Sourcebook of All That is Unreal is an impressively informative and truly inspiring collection."―Midwest Book Review

'Norman Rockwell Paints Modern America'

It's been a while since I posted about AI art, and it's amazing how far it has come.

These images appeared on Twitter (X) under the title: "Norman Rockwell Paints Modern America."

This one is called "Body Count."

I’m struck not only by the coherence of the images and the accuracy of the “1940s Illustration Propaganda” style, but by the high-level satirical insights about our culture's foibles. 

Does anyone know, was this generated with Dall-e3, and what were the prompts?

Planter in Watercolor

I’m interested in the pattern of leaves, which are mostly light against a darker background. I paint around the leaf shapes, then color the leaves with a variety of light yellow greens and pale blue greens. The cast shadow appears bluer at its edges, and darker in the occlusion shadow near the base of the pot. I’m intrigued by the way the cast shadows stretch diagonally across the front plane of the square concrete base.


 

The Round Table

Arthur Denison calls a meeting in Waterfall City. At the Round Table, the humans sit on high chairs to be at the level of the dinosaurs.

Oil illustration from the book Dinotopia: The World Beneath.