Heléna's PDP Blog: Illustrator Investigations - Eric Carle - BAIL104 (Also relevant artist for BAIL201)

*Update November 2017* Eric Carle is a very relevant artist to look at for my BAIL201 narrative project. The way that I plan to render my final narrative (using textures and shapes), echoes Carle's practice very closely.

Who are they?

Eric Carle is 87 years old (born June 25th 1929), and is from Syracuse, New York. His first illustrated book, 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You see?', was published in 1967. Since then, he has illustrated over 70 books, his best known being 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' (1969), which has sold over 41 million copies in 62 different languages.

Fields and Outlets

Carle mainly focuses on children's book illustrations, however did originally start by doing editorial illustrations for The New York Times. He got a job as a graphic designer in the promotion department in 1952, which was what lead him to his first book commission. Later he became the art director of an advertising agency.

Many of his most successful books were expanded into ranges of promotional products, such as toys and stationary for kids. He also founded ' The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art' in Amherst, Massachusetts (2002), which celebrates children's book illustrations [5]

Outlets and Representation

Many of Carle's books are published by 'Simon and Schuster' [3], and the licensing agency 'Joester Loria Group' are responsible for extending the brand of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' into a range of children's products [4]

Carle shares his work on is website, blog, and in his museum.

Visual Identity

I think that Eric Carle's style is very unique to him, and is instantly recognisable. All of his books can instantly linked together due to his consistent visual identity. Although there are many artists that use paper college to create illustrations, I think Carle's is unique as he uses tissue paper which gives a lovely transparency when the layers overlap - this is something that I haven't seen elsewhere. Also his use of bright colours is something that is very unique, and although his characters aren't biologically perfect, but they are still recognisable and evoke imagination and creativity in children.

This playful quality is also added through die-cut shapes and sound buttons in his books, which add another dimension to his stories. The collage element in his illustrations also help to inspire children to create work similar to Carle's style - encouraging creativity and learning further.

Below is a video which shows his technique when creating his illustrations:

Prolificness

Eric Carle has created over 70 illustrated books in his lifetime (so far)! Although he doesn't create the volume of work as he used to, he still plays a role in children's book illustrations as his most recent book 'The Nonsense Show' was published in 2015. As his books are still popular to this day, I feel like he doesn't have to produce as much work, as he is still receiving royalties from the books and products. A list of all of his illustrated books can be found here.

Humour and Storytelling

Carle's work is very lighthearted and cheerful. Many of his books contain some humorous elements for children, but most importantly are themed around the love for nature - which is also an interest shared by children.

"Besides being beautiful and entertaining, his books always offer the child the opportunity to learn something, for their feelings and their inquisitiveness, for their creativity and their intellectual growth that, in addition to his beautiful artwork, makes the reading of his books such a stimulating and lasting experience" [1]

Influence

After working with collage and painted textures, it was after my first module when I made the connection to Eric Carle's work. Maybe it was a subconscious thing, because I felt like I was automatically drawn to including texture into my work, and I loved 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' when I was young.

In terms of moving forward, I think I will continue to try and include texture in my work, and to also try and think about simplicity in terms of shapes and composition in my illustrations. Eric Carle is a very successful illustrator, which I'm sure inspires so many other inspiring illustrators all around the world - including myself.

Breadth

I think that Carle's illustration style has stayed relatively consistent throughout all his books. From his very first illustration he made from The New York Times, to the illustrations made for his books, it is easy to see that he has remained consistent in his style, process & technique.