A Moment with You #1

August

Welcome to the very first issue of A Moment with You! I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon of making a newsletter. Most of us are getting burnt out on social media, and I love the idea of this being a sort of check in and journal, a place I can get more in-depth with things I’ve been working on and thinking about during the month.

A little introduction to me: My name’s Lauren Degraaf, I’m an illustrator living in Ontario, Canada. I work mostly traditionally, my favourite mediums are watercolour pencil, gouache, watercolour crayons and, more recently, oil pastel. I like tea, frogs, mushrooms, autumn, you know, typical ‘millennial who wishes she could live in the woods’ stuff.

I figure I’ll structure this newsletter loosely around a couple recurring themes, like what I’ve been up to this month, WIPs, tips I’ve learned, new inspirations and monthly favourites etc. I’m going to aim for an issue a month, but who knows? Maybe I’ll get super into it and get one out weekly? (Doubtful)

An interesting rock I found at the beach

This month I was working on some submissions for a show at Gallery Nucleus Portland, called Power in Numbers. The rules are you make an entirely traditional piece on a 5x7 piece of card (postcard size). I decided to do some super self-indulgent unicorns since there was no set theme this time around.

I finished them pretty quickly, I got one done on the first try and the other on the second. I try to not pressure myself to get an illustration perfect when I first try it out on paper. Even though I do a lot of planning I still have times where I go through 3 or 4 different versions before I’m happy with it.

Recently I got some oil pastels (Gallery Mungyo for anyone interested) and I think they’ve really elevated my work. I was looking at a lot of Bernadette Watts illustrations and she has this textured and lively way of drawing foliage that I was trying to emulate.

Little Red Riding Hood by Bernadette Watts

First pass at one of the unicorn illustrations

Final Illustrations on my website

Another artist I found this month is Evaline Ness, who I suspect also uses oil pastel in some of her work

So dynamic

Using a sgraffito technique (scratching into the medium to show the colour underneath) is such a fun feature of oil pastel. I want to get a set of proper tools but right now I just have a large paperclip I’ve bent.

Part of the fun is getting creative with your tools

Earlier this month I watched a really interesting video by Benjamin Schipper where he looked at a version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears from 1948. He pointed out how the continuity with the setting was really inconsistent, but in a way that better served the story and illustrations. I really recommend watching the video, but he also very helpfully uploaded some images to show what he means:

Completely different beds! The chairs and the outside of the house changes too, but none of this is noticeable while reading the book because they have been designed to be the best version for what the individual illustration needs. They are so well drawn they don’t give the reader time to go “Hey, wait…” because they’ve sucked you into the story. This blew my mind honestly. I always assumed everyone would notice if something was a little off from one illustration to the other, but it really shows how if your changes serve the story and impact of the illustration, it’s really not noticeable. Definitely something to think about!

Well, I think this is long enough, I hope you enjoyed this little moment we spent together and please share it with your friends! I’d love to hear any thoughts you have in the comments, and maybe suggestions for anything you’d like to read about in a future issue (I get questions about my process sometimes so stuff like that!)

All the best,

Lauren Degraaf