The Graveyard Book
Tim Burton’s art style feels like magic to me.
It makes me feel like though I was falling into a dark, magic fairytale swirl. He has said that he intentionally avoids using parallel lines when building the animation sets to create that dark, whimsical feeling, as well as employing a muted, dark color palette. This has given me inspiration for my illustration series of“The graveyard book”.
Research
Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas are my two favorite
stop-motion movies.The film Coraline was adapted from its original novel written by Neil Gaimen, who crafted the story for his own two daughters to teach them a lesson about courage. I have also read his other works, like the “A Study in Emerald” and “American Gods”. When I read “The Graveyard Book”, I fell in love with the world he created
and was determined to do an illustration series for it.
This is the version of book I have by hand.
After decided to illustrate this book, I take notes and bent corners of the pages when reading it the second and third time. I think about what scenes I want to illustrate and what critical moments that I have to include to tell the story.
Then, I drew thumbnail sketches according to the words I copied from the book that describe the environment or actions of the characters. Hence, I am able to make sure that I don’t miss any details.
As it is impossible to illustrate every single event in the book, I choose to emphasis the main character (Nobody Owen)’s personal growth and his adventure.
Sketches
End paper: the gate of the graveyard, as a metaphor of entering the story/graveyard/ the journey to know about Nodody’s life.
#1: Baby Nobody get adopted by the spirits in the graveyard
#2: Nobody learning lessons from the guard of graveyard in an abandoned chapel
#3: Nobody have the blessing from the graveyard that he can vanish into the dark. After the lessons, he learned to walk through the walls.
#4: Accidently, Nobody got kidnapped by the ghouls and went through the ghoul gate hidden in
the graveyard
#5: Jack, the assassin who killed Nobody’s parents came for him. He and his friend were caught off guard.
#6: Nobody summoned the siren, the ghostly creature that guards the alter in the oldest grave, to fight Jack and won. Nobody finally can have a peaceful life.
To preserve the natural texture of watercolors, I avoided excessive layering and instead chose to add details using oil-based colored pencils. The strong coverage provided by colored pencils allows for selective preservation or obscuring of the watercolor base. This enables adjustments to small portions of the color tone while incorporating ample details. Moreover, the granular feel that colored pencil leave on watercolor paper harmoniously blends with the watercolors, ensuring a cohesive integration.
Experiment & Progress
I tried several different brands of watercolors, including Winsor & Newton, Holbein, Kuretake, and others. Among them, I found that the effects of Schmincke are most suitable for this project. Its watermarks are very pronounced, and the edges of the mixed colors naturally form cauliflower-like shapes. Additionally, it has a strong texture, that adds a considerable amount of darkness and mystery to the entire picture.
When illustrating images of the graveyard, I didn't limit myself to using only shades of gray. I intentionally introduced various color nuances to enhance the overall visual richness.
In the last two indoor scenes, a touch of warm yellow ochre was added, creating a deliberate contrast with the purple tones that establish a mysterious atmosphere.
This interplay between contrasting colors also serves to suggest the collision and intense battle between the protagonist, Nobody, and his pursuer, Jack. For the final scene’s splatters, I created the effect by spraying alcohol onto the paint.