Hedgehog Queen Emily Wayne and a PRIZE!

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Emily Wane is simply amazing. I'm not sure if it's the hedgehogs or her artwork that makes her so amazing (the hedgehogs give her the edge either way). I love all the adorable artwork that Emily does. I have the sneaking suspicion I met Emily first on #kidlitart chat. It's hard to say, but I do know that her and her hedgehog love have left quite the impression.

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What makes a successful illustration? If you asked ten different people, I imagine you’d get ten different answers. And they would certainly all be valid, because everyone places importance on different aspects – but for me those aspects are the two E’s of Expression and Emotion. When you boil an illustration down to its essence, you’re going to strip away the setting, the props, the clothing – and focus in on your character; what are they thinking, and what are they feeling? A beautiful scene, skillfully rendered – while pleasing to look at, will still fall flat without emotion. But a standalone character with a spot-on expression will succeed, even on a stark white background in the absence of any setting at all.

Let’s start with Expression. Your character’s expression says a lot about who they are. What they’re thinking and feeling, and how they’re reacting to what’s happening around them. This doesn’t have to be complicated at all. Sometimes even the simplest things can convey the most. Take Jon Klassen for example; he does so much with so little. Most of his characters don’t even have other facial features, but with just the slightest change in his eyes, he can make a complete shift in the character’s expression A bit wider, a bit narrower, moving the pupils from right to left or top to bottom – it really doesn’t take much, but it’s crucial to get that little bit right.

Like a lot of other artists, I use myself as reference most often. If I need to get an expression right I might make faces in the mirror, or take a picture to study from. But even without looking at a reference, I can get an awful lot of what I need by feeling it. Need to make a character skeptical? Make that expression yourself, and really feel what’s happening in your face as you do. Notice how your eyes narrow down, and your mouth goes flat. Your nostrils might flare, and maybe one eyebrow goes up. That’s a wealth of information right there, and you haven’t even seen any of it, but you know exactly how to convey that expression now, because you know what it feels like to make it, and which parts of the face you need to adjust to get that expression across in a drawing.

Now let’s move on to the real MVP – emotion. Emotion can certainly come across in an expression, but you can’t rely on an expression alone. What if your character doesn’t have facial features? Or what if it’s not even the character you’re working with, but you want to infuse setting or background elements with extra emotion. So much of that emotion is expressed through body language. Perhaps you’ve seen the flour sack example used by Disney animators to show how you can give even an inanimate object emotion simply through body language. I’m going to use a slightly different example here with this adorable ravioli that my friend and teammate Priscilla Alpaugh  created based on Disney’s flour sack because it’s just so cute, and I love any excuse to put in a plug for one of my pals.  Another great example of this same principle that I will grab from Disney is in Aladdin. Who else loves Aladdin? It’s one of my all-time favorites. And Carpet is a fantastic example of the importance of body language to convey an emotion; he has no facial features at all, but you always know exactly how he’s feeling all the same because of the way he moves.

Think about this in the same way as I mentioned with expression earlier. What emotion are you trying to convey? How do you move when you’re feeling that way? Pose yourself as you would your character, and feel into that emotion. What does it look like to be excited, or angry? You’re probably very rigid, with straight bold lines full of energy. What about sad? You’re going to be slumped over, with more curves and softer lines. Exaggerate those action lines to really dial in the emotion. Think about the overall shape of your character, but don’t forget to consider all the small movements that can also carry emotion

Animals are often my subjects of choice, and they’re a prime example of this. How does a dog show emotion when it’s happy to see you? Its ears perk up, its tail is raised high and waving frantically. What about when it’s made a mess and is sure it’s going be scolded? Its ears droop, and its tail hangs low and tucked between its legs. How about a cat, who’s scared of that dog? Its fur bristles up, it arches its back, and its tail stands straight up. Or if it’s angry, it might pull its ears flat and back on its head and twitch just the tip of its tail. Animals show emotion in a million tiny ways, and while we as humans can’t move our ears up and down (well most of us can’t!), and don’t have a tail to twitch, there are still plenty of small ways that we show emotion in our bodies as well.

Start paying attention to yourself as you go about your day, the ways you move your face and body depending on how you’re feeling, and use that knowledge to draw upon the next time you’re looking to add a specific expression or an extra bit of emotion to your illustrations.

Bio: Emily Wayne is an author, illustrator, storyteller and artist, a kitty lover and a hedgehog enthusiast, a curious human, a Wonderland-obsessed princess of positivity, and she may or may not be related to Batman – shh! She has more books than bookshelves, and hoards art supplies like a dragon hoarding gold. She is based in beautiful Western, MA where she lives with her human family and a small zoo comprised of a Chihuahua, two cats, two hedgehogs, a conure, a cockatiel, and two lovebirds.

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My Links:

Website: www.emilywayne.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emilywayneillustration/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilywayneillustration/

(or https://www.instagram.com/emmarooooo/ if you want to see a gratuitous amount of hedgie pics)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/emilywayneart

PRIZE

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Emily Wayne is giving out a prize! This 5x7" illustration could be yours. Just leave a comment and enter the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway