Let’s Draw a Story is the very first picture book illustrator Elīna Brasliņa has written herself. Recently, it won the Latvian book design award Golden Apple and was also included in the 100 Outstanding Picture Books selection of the international picture book platform DPictus. In the Nice Touch section, Elīna shares a valuable insight that helps her to draw engaging characters.
«In the book Understanding Comics by the American comic book author Scott McCloud, I found an explanation of the link between stylisation and identification with the reader: the more laconically stylised an image is, the more it reflects our own inner self, which we perceive rather vaguely. Consequently, it is easier for the reader to identify with it. The more realistic and detailed the image, the more distant, external, and alienated it becomes. This was my «aha!» moment about what I have always liked in other people’s work and what I have always done intuitively but now can continue to do (and explore) consciously.»
Elīna Brasliņa is best known as a children’s book illustrator, with more than 30 books in her portfolio. Her first self-written picture book, Let’s Draw a Story, won this year’s Latvian book design award, the Golden Apple, in the children’s and young adult category, while DPictus, the international platform for picture book publishers and agents, included it in this year’s selection of 100 Outstanding Picturebooks, which was on display at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
Elīna also works as an animation artist and is currently drawing the backgrounds for Edmund Jansons’ animated film The Lucky Ones. In her free time, Elīna plays with her daughter, reads comics, and thinks about what she will draw next. More about Elīna on her website and Instagram.
Viedokļi