childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - lydia jane
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - lydia jane
John Aardema
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illustration - 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. - Aardema, John
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.
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Next four illustrations from John Aardema:
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.
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - lydia jane childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - lydia jane
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - lydia jane
childrensillustrators.com - illustrator - John Aardema - lydia jane
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