The Illustration Style of Garth Williams
Several Laura Ingalls Wilder books were illustrated by Garth Williams. Williams was born in 1912 and died only a few year ago in 1996. During his lifetime he has illustrated more than sixty books for many well-known authors of children's books. He has also written and illustrated a few of his own books. In the following paragraphs you will read about the difference styles Williams used in Little House on the Prarie, by Lara Ingalls Wilder and Charlottes Web, E. B. White.
Williams's style of illustration is simple with great attention to details that are not written out in the texts that the picture belongs to. He uses basic black graphite or charcoal to make his drawings for Wilder and for Charlotte's Web by E.B. White as well.
In Wilder's, Little House on the Prairie, Williams illustrated an important event that contributes to a change, confrontation or celebration for the family. In the first few pages of the story Williams illustrated the dramatic good-byes the family receives from relatives and friends. Williams shows you a little bit of everything that is going on in the beginning in preparation for a long wagon trip. In the picture, the reader sees Pa and other men getting the horses ready to hitch to the wagon, as well as the families belongings packed in the wagon. One can also see by the lights and darks of the picture that it is still semi dark outside and probably fairly early in the morning. One can tell this by the glow of the lanterns that a few people are holding. Beyond the drawing of the wagon the readers is not able to see any facial expressions in this picture, but only their profiles of the people.
In comparison to Charlotte's Web, many techniques are shared. The graphite or charcoal drawings are simple yet well detailed. A difference in the style of illustration in Charlotte's Web is that Williams has made the main focus of the pictures the facial features and expressions. If one were to look on page two of Charlotte's Web, when Fern is trying to stop her father from killing the baby pig, the reader can see that Pa is quite shocked by his daughters reaction to the killing of a new born animal. Williams adds a little more to the story than just what is written in the text.
Julius Caesar is the leader of Rome and is seeking to become king in a matter of time. Though he is a good military strategist, he lacks knowledge in running government and is too greedy to have any concern for the peasants when he is alive. Caesar is all about conquering and power and he is afraid of nothing. Before he is murdered, he says “The things that threatened me ne’er looked but on my back. When they shall see the face of Caesar, they are vanished” (II, ii, 575). Th...
Ernie Barnes: Research of the Football Artist Ernie Barnes was and still is one of the most popular and well-respected black artists today. Born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, in 1938, during the time the south as segregated, Ernie Barnes was not expected to become a famous artist. However, as a young boy, Barnes would, “often [accompany] his mother to the home of the prominent attorney, Frank Fuller, Jr., where she worked as a [housekeeper]” (Artist Vitae, The Company of Art, 1999). Fuller was able to spark Barnes’ interest in art when he was only seven years old. Fuller told him about the various schools of art, his favorite painters, and the museums he visited (Barnes, 1995, p. 7).
Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2, 1904. His father worked in the family brewery, Kuhlmbach & Geisel, which locals pronounced, "come back and guzzle” until prohibition. His mother’s maiden name was Seuss. She was the daughter of a baker in Springfield. Seuss had an older sister named Marnie (Kibler, 1987).
Graeme Base uses lines of different thicknesses to make the drawing look more realistic. He also uses different tones of colours. An example would be from ‘Six Slithering Snakes Sliding Silently Southward’, the main snake’s body and tail contains at least four different colours. He also repeats the way the books are place in the library.
As he slouches in bed, a description of the bare trees and an old woman gathering coal are given to convey to the reader an idea of the times and the author's situation. "All groves are bare," and "unmarried women (are) sorting slate from arthracite." This image operates to tell the reader that it is a time of poverty, or a "yellow-bearded winter of depression." No one in the town has much to live for during this time. "Cold trees" along with deadness, through the image of "graves," help illustrate the author's impression of winter. Wright seems to be hibernating from this hard time of winter, "dreaming of green butterflies searching for diamonds in coal seams." This conveys a more colorful and happy image showing what he wishes was happening; however he knows that diamonds are not in coal seams and is brought back to the reality of winter. He talks of "hills of fresh graves" while dreaming, relating back to the reality of what is "beyond the streaked trees of (his) window," a dreary, povern-strucken, and cold winter.
While an artist uses a variety of colors and brushes to create a portrait, Charlotte Bronte used contrasting characters and their vivid personalities to create a masterpiece of her own. In her novel Jane Eyre, Bronte uses narration and her characters to portray the struggle between a society’s Victorian realism and the people’s repressed urges of Romanticism.
The Nebraskan prairies are beautiful and picturesque and set the scene for a memorable story. Big farm houses and windmills placed throughout the graceful flowing golden yellow grass become a nostalgic aspect of Jim as he leaves his childhood life behind. The frontier includes destructive and depressing winters and luscious summers that affect Jim's family and the immigrants. The gloominess of winter and the suicide of Mr. Shimerda provide memories that associate Jim's recollections with nature's seasons. The Christmas season provided faith to persevere through winter and the exchanging of gifts made happy memories, which Jim could not experience if snow darkness did not exist. The summers were most unforgettable though. The smoldering sun and fertile land made growing crops easy. The immigrants references of roads lined with sunflowers as opportunity inspired Jim to appreciate the splendor and bountifulness of the land. Later Jim encounters these pathways, now concealed because of erosion, remembering that "this was the road over which Antonia and I came when we got off the train . . . the feelings of that night had been so near that I could reach out and touch them with my hand. For Antonia and me, this had been the road of Destiny" (Cather237).
Julius Caesar was born on the 13th day of the month Quintilis (now July) in the year of 100 B.C. His full name was Gaius Julius Caesar, the same as his father's name. Gaius was his given name and Julius was his surname. Caesar was the name of one branch of the Julian family. Its original meaning was "hairy.” Caesar's family was not prominent, but they claimed to be descended from Venus as well as the kings of Alba Langa. In spite of that fiction, Caesar was well connected through his relatives and received some important government assignments during his youth. Julius Caesar was the dictator of Rome from 61-44 BC. At the time of his birth, Rome was still a republic and the empire was only beginning. Caesar made his way to be considered a head of Rome by 62 BC, but many of the senate felt him a dangerous, ambitious man. The senate did their best to keep him out of consulship. He finally became consul in 59 BC. In Caesar, they saw only the threat of a king, a word that was linked with the word “tyrant” that is cruel or unjust rule.
Williams’s parents were very supportive of his abilities and of whatever he would do. His parents enrolled him at a Paris drawing school at the age of ten. After finishing his school he was apprenticed to a master engraver at the age of fourteen. He was then sent to Westminster Abbey because they saw his abilities and talent. He was sent to Abbey to make drawings of monuments by James Basire. Abbey introduced William to the Gothic style of writing and this made his work unique. When he finished his apprenticeship he became a professional engraver. When he as twenty-one he engraved illustrations for Don Quixote.
In “The Farmer’s Children,” Elizabeth Bishop uses different literary techniques to portray her theme. “The Farmer’s Children” tells the story of two young brothers, Cato and Emerson, who have to sleep in the cold in their father’s barn in order to protect the tools inside. These brothers also have to endure parental neglect from their stepmother and father which causes them to freeze to death in the barn. One technique that is used by Bishop is the characterization of the parents. In addition, Bishop uses an allusion, which is a reference to a work of art in another work of art, and symbolism to further show how the characterization of the parents affected the two brothers. In “The Farmer’s Children,” Bishop uses the characterization of the parents of Cato and Emerson, the allusion to “Hansel and Grethel,” and the symbolism of the stepmother’s snowflake quilt to portray the theme of how parental neglect can lead to negative consequences.
Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Rome in July 100 BC. Rome was a Republic at this time. He was a statesman, Roman general, Consul, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a significant role in the events that led to the collapse of the Roman Republic and rise of the Roman Empire. He was a leader in a nation where the people were not involved in the government decision-making process. Thus, he had majority of the power in the Republic and was able to form a huge army. He was able to triumph, conquer new lands with the army at his grasp and command. As Caesar acquired more power over the years, som...
Caesar was born into a traditional influential and respected family. It is this influence that he used to make his way to the top of the Roman leadership. His use in warfare and military conquests are legendary although he had at first concentrated in pursuing political actions. He won the first elections in his political career at the early forties. He was el...
William had two influences in his life, his writing mentor, Phil Stone, and his childhood lover Estelle Oldham. Estelle dated other guys and eventually left William for a lawyer in Hawaii. After reading his writings, Stone noticed William.
In 1847, Charlotte Bronte, although a woman, published her semi autobiographical Jane Eyre. She wrote her novels in Thornton, Yorkshire, England. This novel later became a classic literature novel. ( Bronte) She wrote in the 1800’s and her novel reflects the time period, which she wrote in with the various techniques and themes. In the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses literary devices such as, imagery and themes like religion and feminism to demonstrate the time period in which she wrote.
"What Tests Might Be Ordered ." Penn Orthopaedics . N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. .