Fada Moranga: collage

Showing posts with label collage. Show all posts

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Meet AnnaLaura!

AnnaLaura Cantone wanted to be an artist from the time she was a child. She hated school and just wanted to draw. In fact, when she had writing assignments, she would write very large and would include lots of drawings.

She was born in 1977 in a city called Alessandria, near Turin, Italy, and attended the Istituto de Arte and the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan. AnnaLaura is now a children's book illustrator with books published in several countries and an instructor in illustration at the Istituto Europeo di Design.

"Push children to use lots of imagination. Use everyday materials and recycle things to create something new. That allows all of us to be free to try something new and different. If you use expensive materials you are going to be afraid to try for fear of wasting precious materials."

How does she create her illustrations? She draws with pencil, acrylics and brushes and does a lot of collages with all sorts of materials: small squares of cotton fabric, rubber, metal stamps, beads, sometimes clay (to create the eyes for some of her characters), painted coffee beans, pompoms, matchsticks, and even the discarded packaging from cookies. AnnaLaura is an environmentally-friendly artist, and likes to get a little dirt on her hands while working.

She loves the 3-D effect and she scans fabrics and coloured paper to help create the characters, background and the colour fields. She uses two lines around the characters: one black to define the character and one red to give it a vibrant effect. She also uses a sewing machine to stitch some of the designs and borders on the pages.

AnnaLaura’s favorite artist is Picasso. She also likes Robert Rauschenberg, the Pop Artist, for collage and the abstract expressionist, Mark Rothko for colour.

Her two favorite children's book illustrators: Wolf Erlbruch and Carll Cneut.

AnnaLaura's new book is Prudence and Moxie by Deborah Noyes, a picture book about an unusual friendship.

www.annalauracantone.com

LINKS
http://www.marlenaagency.com/alaura/alaura014.html
http://www.edizioniel.com/DB/scheda.asp?idl=1749
http://www.childrenslit.com/childrenslit/mai_cantone_annalaura.html

BOOKS
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_2?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Anna-Laura%20Cantone

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

“With many of my books I attempt to bridge the gap between the home and school. To me home represents, or should represent; warmth, security, toys, holding hands, being held. School is a strange and new place for a child. Will it be a happy place? There are new people, a teacher, classmates — will they be friendly? I believe the passage from home to school is the second biggest trauma of childhood; the first is, of course, being born. Indeed, in both cases we leave a place of warmth and protection for one that is unknown. The unknown often brings fear with it. In my books I try to counteract this fear, to replace it with a positive message. I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn. I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun.” Eric Carle

THE AUTHOR

He loves Blackforest honey for breakfast :-)

Eric Carle is acclaimed and beloved as the creator of brilliantly illustrated and innovatively designed picture books for very young children. His best-known work, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has eaten its way into the hearts of literally millions of children all over the world and has been translated into more than 47 languages and sold over 29 million copies. Since the Caterpillar was published in 1969, Eric Carle has illustrated more than seventy books, many best sellers, most of which he also wrote, and more than 88 million copies of his books have sold around the world.

This year he is celebrating two birthdays, his own 80th and the 40th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. There are many events and programs happening around the world for The Very Hungry Caterpillar's 40th and there is an exhibit currently on view at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art called 80/40: Celebrating the Birthdays of Eric Carle and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. For more information and for a little preview of the exhibition, visit the Museum's web site.

click and watch a video of Eric Carle working on his caterpiller