Migy has gone through a tremendous amount of development both stylistically and career-wise since being one of our first featured illustrators back in 2009.
We talk to him about what’s changed and what he’s learnt about his work and the industry.
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While fun and colour had already established themselves as a driving element for Migy when we first took a look at his work, they were part of a slightly more abstract aesthetic, especially figuratively. The characters we see in his illustrations now are a lot more literal, although still containing a unique charm that comes from his personal design.
It’s interesting that this change was fuelled by the need of the kind of work he was heading towards. The need to embody particular expressions and poses in his more narrative picture books for children led him to explore more detail in his characters.
He talks to us in detail about this change, what brought it about, and the books he has produced over the years.
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Over the years I have worked in many facets of illustration, slowly plying my trade and learning as I go. I was lucky and got lots of editorial illustration work and developed my style on the job. Each new job stretched the way I worked and improved my techniques.
Through an experimental period (work dried up!) I pushed the style in a different direction and then suddenly started picking up more advertising and branding work.
I worked in these areas bouncing between the two for about 4 years, it was fast paced and I had a good turnover.
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After a while, working this way took its toll. I started questioning what I wanted. I had had a meeting with a children’s book publisher in London and walking in there just lit a spark. I left the meeting and went and sat in a bookshop for hours taking in all the amazing kids books.
From that point on, I made it my goal to get published. At that time, I thought how hard could it be, I was getting meetings with publishers and had interest.
It actually took about 4 years of experimentation and pain to learn the lessons and get the style working in a way that worked for picture books. Originally, my images were just eye candy but now the characters within the images needed to express emotion and come alive, tell stories.
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Eventually, I did it. I wrote a simple story and with the help of my agent and a publisher who was really keen on a concept image I produced my first book.
‘And Away We Go!’ was published by Henry Holt in the US two years ago. Since then, I have finished 3 more books.
‘Cinderella’s Stepsister and the BIG BAD WOLF’ published by Nosy Crow. A retelling of the classic ‘The Jungle Book’ for Harper Collins (US) and many more in the pipes yet to come.
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To produce the work, I rough and sketch everything. I storyboard all the spreads of the book and gradually refine and add detail and ideas. I amass as much reference material as possible and then I spend most of a project refining sketches. I then ink out the shapes and colour in Photoshop.
I have a large number of custom brushes I use in Photoshop. It’s a library I have built and adapted over the years. I also spend a hell of a lot of time getting the colours just right.
These first few images of a book can take a huge amount of time to get perfect. Once the first few images are coloured, the rest tend to follow more quickly. It’s a fight!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
© Migy, 2015