childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema
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Showing illustrations: 1 - 20 of 21 | next page
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - pussageno-Of course, Papageno is the bird-catching character from Mozart's "The Magic Flute". I must tell you that inspiration for this picture also came from Nick Cave's Soundsuits. How many birds do you know? A robin? A black-capped chickadee? A blue jay? A red-headed woodpecker? An owl? A red-winged blackbird? A parakeet? A parrot? A quail? A grackle? A cockatoo? A toucan? A sparrow? A pheasant? A cardinal? A bluebird? A kingfisher? An oriole? A purple finch? A yellow finch? A scarlet tanager? A creeping nuthatch? A ruby-throated hummingbird? See, I bet you know a lot more than you thought you did!
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - Kitty Kanji and the Summer Science Squad-Who says science is boring? It's not when you hang with this crew!
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - the wizard's chair-Happy Halloween! What happens when a girl wanders into the Wizard King’s haunted house, puts on his hat, and sits in his chair? I have no idea, but it doesn’t look like anyone in the house does either. I’m not sure, but I think a story is starting to form. I was only making a painting for my October postcard, but it looks like I’ve got a children’s book along with it, to boot!
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - artemis & acteon-This picture is a bit of an extrapolation of the Greek myth of Actaeon. Artemis is the Greek name for the goddess the Romans later named Diana. Both were goddesses of the forests and also of hunting. When the tales came to Britain, Diana became Titania, and the goddess became the queen of the fairies. In some alchemical texts (which are concerned with spiritual transformation), the soul of Actaeon is reborn in the numinous realm as Diana’s consort. Purple represents blood, especially the blood of holy sacrifice—as does wine. Since Diana was the goddess of the hunt, she was also identified with the moon, specifically when the moon becomes sliver-like and resembles a bow. She also has bows on her bonnet, but of a different kind.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - claude claude the vampire moth-This is Claude Claude. He's the main character in my picture book dummy--Claude Claude, The Vampire Moth-- which won first place in the 2006 SmartWriters.com book dummy division! Yay, me!
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - claude's class-This is Claude Claude's classroom. He's not there because he's skipping school. He must be celebrating the fact that I won first place in the 2006 SmartWriters.com book dummy division.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - verve-An art director told me she really liked my work, but asked if I could draw a character consistently over the amount of illustrations needed for a picture book. She suggested that I draw some animal characters in different positions and add it to my portfolio. I wanted animals that were very different from each other, and I decided the group would consist of a mammal, a bird, and an amphibian. South Africa’s indigenous species gave me a variety to choose from. Here is the next character study in the series. Verve is the first character I drew. I picked a vervet monkey because I liked the challenge of drawing a character with a face that is all black. It’s a unique look and it gave me a character that’s very visually striking.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - crockadilly-Here is the another character study in the series. I drew the bird and the monkey, and had decided the next character would be an amphibian. I wanted a water character to keep the group well-rounded. I chose a crocodile because that would give me a tall, upright character. I also decided to make the crocodile uncrocodile-like by giving her the personality of a little girl. The color pink was an afterthought. Since the other two characters were of a warm palette, and the environment she would be drawn in would either be blue (water) or green (jungle), I picked a color that would visually tie her to the other characters and make her stand out from the background.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - The Spirit of Christmas-The Spirit of Christmas is everywhere. But we have to look for it. I think most people don't see it at all. But for the very young--or young at heart--they can find it. I drew this in three parts--the buildings were one part, Santa, the boy, and his mom were another, and the crowd, another. I combined them using Photoshop. I find that's easier when the backgrounds are complex.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - the ramayana-I was listening to a radio program about the Ramayana, and while I was listening, I sketched this picture. I liked it so much, I refined it and painted it. Prince Rama has been living in the forest with his wife Sita. He has just learned from Jatayu that his wife has been abducted by the ten-headed demon, Ravana. Even though he was gravely wounded while defending Sita, Jatayu brings the news to Prince Rama and dies in his arms. Hanuman, the leader of the monkeys—who is deeply devoted to Prince Rama—gathers the animals together who pledge to help him on his quest to find his wife, Sita. The animals shown are native to India, including the lesser-known luna moth and the raccoon-like red panda.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - homeless ghosts of new orleans-When I visited New Orleans, I really wanted to take a “ghost tour”, but circumstances kept me from doing so. So later, when I heard about the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina, I whimsically thought of how phantoms might react to a flood. I completed this painting before the enormity of the destruction was revealed. I realized I had an image that might seem too light-hearted for the serious nature of the disaster. I put it away. One year later I still have a painting that no one has seen until now. My style is what it is. This image that I’ve created does not match the seriousness of the disaster, nor exemplify the horror that so many must have faced. But I do believe that it touches on the sorrow that we must feel for the people who lost so much.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - jack frost-When I decided that I’d make an illustration of Jack Frost, I didn’t realize until I started on the colors that I’d end up painting someone wearing silver and white in silvery-white snow next to a silvery-white snowman. While it’s snowing. It worked out because there’s a number of things going on, and since Jack is the same color as the background, it’s good not to have distracting colors directing the viewer’s eye away from the center of action. The limited color palette allows me to keep the illustration extra frosty.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - peace on earth-This is my Christmas card that I sent to my clients. I was listening to a little Handel the other day, and I got the idea to use the image of the Lamb of God with the banner that said “Halleluia!” But then I got thinking about all these wars, and I decided to go with “Peace on Earth…” instead. That lead me to the idea of the lion laying down with the lamb. I reversed the roles as I thought the Christ-like lamb should be the dominant figure.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - lydia jane-Two of my ex-neighbors (they moved, I’m still here) had a baby they named Lydia Jane. Her mother is Chinese and her father is Dutch. So I was wondering about her, and things like, What will she look like when she gets older? What color will her hair be, her eyes, her skin? And what will it be like the first time she visits relatives in China? Will she find it strange, or wonderful? In this piece, I wanted to make the background as interesting as the subject, without losing the focus of the main character. I’ve also been experimenting with a more delicate line, with less emphasis on heavy inks.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - breakfast fragment-So, there's this girl in my SCBWI group. I thought she was cute, so I drew her. That's the story, morning glory.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - die zauberflöte-..or in English, The Magic Flute. It’s an opera by Mozart. He was the guy the movie Amadeus was about. Anyway, he wrote this trippy masonic opera—it’s like the Freemasons meet Cirque du Soleil. I saw some opera posters that a friend of mine had, and I thought I’d like to make one myself. The characters shown in the poster are Tamino, the prince; Pamina, daughter of the wicked Queen of the Night; and Papageno, official birdcatcher for the aforementioned queen. They don’t actually ride beasts in the opera (at least not in any production I’ve ever heard of) but they do travel around a lot. I thought it would be cool to have vehicles that are representations of their personalities.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - frankenberry-I had a little fun with this image. I saw a picture of an old box of Franken Berry cereal, and realized that he had fingernails that look like strawberries. "Who does his nails?" I thought. Well, he does, of course!
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - blind lemon jefferson-I was in the library the other day, looking through the music collection for something new to listen to. I find that the library is a great way to not only find new artists, but to try out new genres that may not be available on your local radio stations. I ran across a musician with an interesting name: Blind Lemon Jefferson—King of the Country Blues. It’s great music to listen to on languid summer days sitting on the veranda with a cool glass of lemonade!
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - miss poos-I used up the last of my season tickets to the opera last weekend. I saw “Der Rosenkavalier” by Strauss. Lots of rich costuming. Lots of waltzing. It was really terrific, even though the entire opera clocked in at four hours! Anyway, on the train ride home, I sketched this whimsical little number. Not that there’s any costumed cats in the show, of course. Although it would be fun to try my hand at drawing something from Janácek’s opera “The Cunning Little Vixen”.
illustrator - portfolio - Aardema, John - faery kin-One day I decided to create a journal containing only images of faeries. I picked up a blank book from Barnes & Noble and drew enough images for each spread. Currently the book sits on my shelf unfinished, with little faerie sketches scattered between the leaves. This image was one of the most interesting—showing faery children on a great rural plain with their critters—so I finished it as a stand-alone illustration outside the confines of the faerie book.
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John Aardema
After ten years working as an art director in both children's and parenting magazines, I've decided to step into children's illustration full-time. When I'm not working on projects for my clients, I write and draw my own book dummies. "Claude Claude the Vampire Moth" won first place in the Smart Writers 2006 Write It Now Competition in the Dummy Book category. Yay, me!
Contact info
Website: http://www.inkyboy.com
E-mail: john@inkyboy.com
Telephone: (630)244-4858
Address: 2216 Wharf Drive #2007
Woodridge
IL, 60517
United States

 

 
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