William Joyce is an American illustrator, writer and filmmaker. He's famous for his artwork he creates for his novels, and they are displayed around the United States. Some of his better known work is from the children's book series, 'The Guardians of Childhood.'
Joyce's illustrations in the series are often grayscale, and done with a scumbling effect. Scumbling is a technique I learned right at the start of this college year, and finding that an illustrator I admire is also using this technique gives me a better understanding of how it's done. Joyce shades in smooth, scumbling, which allows him to draw natural parts of the environment with ease.
Another thing he does is composition. The centre images are a great example of how Joyce uses perspective to not only convey a story, but also to explain or give context on a character. The top centre is an upward perspective, with light shining down. This could elude to a scary scene. The bottom centre is of a woman with wings and two scimitars, which gives off the impression that she's fierce, dangerous or protective.
Joyce also works with colour, and paints on a canvas. He keeps his scumbling technique in his paintings, are all parts of the images are textured differently. Unlike other art styles, Joyce doesn't use definite outlines in his work, which allows him give interesting and imaginative shapes to the subjects of his paintings.
The subjects of all his paintings are all from 'The Guardians of Childhood' series, and depict fantasy and magical elements. The colours he chooses are also important. For example, if the centre right picture had a white boat in it instead, it wouldn't contrast with the moon.
As someone who's read the first few novels in 'The Guardians of Childhood' series, it was interesting to dive into more depth on William Joyce's style. I love the way that the shading he does gets rid of the need for bold outlines, although this isn't something I'm certain about implementing into my own art.
I also love the way he designs and presents his characters and landscapes. Joyce gives each of them an identifiable physical trait, like particular colour pallet, a mannerism, a pose they often make. This is something I want to play around with in future, as it would allow me to draw characters and also give a glimpse of their personality without needing to explain.