Monday, August 4, 2014

Feature Illustrator: Benjamin Chaud

Every time I go to the library or bookstore and scan the illustrations of children's books, I find myself gravitating towards the works of UK and French illustrators. It made me wonder why. There's definitely a look and feel to their illustrations that is more fluid, more organic and endearing to me. The works of Benjamin Chaud is an example.

Benjamin Chaud (Illustrator)
A quick web search shows him to be  French illustrator who studied in Paris and is now based in Marseille. 
He is an award-winning author and illustrator of more than 60 books which includes The Pomelo series, The Bear's Song and I Didn't Do My Homework Because. There's not a lot of information about him on the web but there are snippets of interviews with him (in French) and he maintains a facebook account. (Links below)

His illustrations are quite colorful and dynamic. I love that he uses pencil for the outlines and colors them digitally. His color palette is limited but are bright and very attractive. Below are examples of his pencil sketches with digital coloring, taken from his facebook account. So rich in detail!








The below two images are some of my favorites taken from his book, The Bear Song. More about it here:
http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=2625



His work is a great example of the pencil + digital technique. After seeing them, one cannot underestimate the power of the lowly pencil again. Here is a delightful short video using the illustrations of his new book. Pretty inspiring!   http://vimeo.com/101277400

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