1. Narrative Illustration Project
Key Words
• Narrative
• Illustration
• Illustrator
• Silhouette
• Paper Cuts
• Atmosphere
• Mood
• Light and Shadow
• Contrast
• Character
• Roughs and thumbnails
Geoff Grandfield

2. NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATION
by John Vernon Lord
The main function of the
narrative illustrator is to
represent, interpret, and
heighten the meaning of
a selected passage of
text (in a complementary
way) by means of
pictures, with the aim of
contributing to the
reader's appreciation of
the narrative.

3. Step 1: Introduction

4. Heinrich Hoffmann
(June 13, 1809 - September 20, 1894) was a German
psychiatrist, who also wrote some short works including
Der Struwwelpeter, an illustrated book portraying
children misbehaving.
Hoffmann wrote Struwwelpeter in reaction to the lack of
good children's books. Intending to buy a picture book as
a Christmas present for his three-year-old son, Hoffmann
instead wrote and illustrated his own book.
Learning objective:
Understand the context and intentions of the poems by Heinrich Hoffmann
Activity:
In small groups look at one poem by Heinrich Hoffmann and accompanying
illustrations. Prepare a short presentation for later in the lesson. During the
presentation you will have to:
• Read the poem aloud (people could have different parts)
• Explain what the moral is. What is the message of the poem?
• Discuss whether you think the message of your poem is still relevant to
children today and whether the poem and the illustrations would deter you from
misbehaving.

5. Struwwelpeter
Just look at him! there he stands,
With his nasty hair and hands.
See! his nails are never cut;
They are grimed as black as soot;
And the sloven, I declare,
Never once has combed his hair;
Anything to me is sweeter
Than to see Shock-headed Peter.
You must do the following in your presentation:
Read the poem aloud (people could have different parts)
Explain what the moral is, what is the message of the poem.
Discuss whether you think the message of your poem is still relevant to children today and whether the poem and the
illustrations would deter you from misbehaving.

6. The Story of Flying Robert
You must do the following in your presentation:
Read the poem aloud (people could have different parts)
Explain what the moral is, what is the message of the poem.
Discuss whether you think the message of your poem is still relevant to children today and whether the poem and the
illustrations would deter you from misbehaving.
When the rain comes tumbling down
In the country or the town,
All good little girls and boys
Stay at home and mind their toys.
Robert thought, "No, when it pours,
It is better out of doors."
Rain it did, and in a minute
Bob was in it.
Here you see him, silly fellow,
Underneath his red umbrella.
What a wind! oh! how it whistles
Through the trees and flowers and thistles!
It has caught his red umbrella:
Now look at him, silly fellow--
Up he flies
To the skies.
No one heard his screams and cries;
Through the clouds the rude wind bore him,
And his hat flew on before him.
Soon they got to such a height,
They were nearly out of sight.
And the hat went up so high,
That it nearly touched the sky.
No one ever yet could tell
Where they stopped, or where they fell:
Only this one thing is plain,
Bob was never seen again!

7. Phoebe Ann, the Proud Girl
You must do the following in your presentation:
Read the poem aloud (people could have different parts)
Explain what the moral is, what is the message of the poem.
Discuss whether you think the message of your poem is still relevant to children today and whether the poem and the
illustrations would deter you from misbehaving.
This Phoebe Ann was a very proud girl,
Her nose had always an upward curl.
She thought herself better than all others beside,
And beat even the peacock himself in pride.
She thought the earth was so dirty and brown,
That never, by chance, would she look down;
And she held up her head in the air so high
That her neck began stretching by and by.
It stretched and it stretched; and it grew so long
That her parents thought something must be wrong.
It stretched and stretched, and they soon began
To look up with fear at their Phoebe Ann.
They prayed her to stop her upward gaze,
But Phoebe kept on in her old proud ways,
Until her neck had grown so long and spare
That her head was more than her neck could bear-
And it bent to the ground, like a willow tree,
And brought down the head of this proud Phoebe,
Until whenever she went out a walk to take,
The boys would shout, 'Here comes a snake!’
Her head got to be so heavy to drag on,
That she had to put it on a little wagon.
So don't, my friends, hold your head too high,
Or your neck may stretch, too, by and by.

8. Augustus who would not have any soup
You must do the following in your presentation:
Read the poem aloud (people could have different parts)
Explain what the moral is, what is the message of the poem.
Discuss whether you think the message of your poem is still relevant to children today and whether the poem and the
illustrations would deter you from misbehaving.
Augustus was a chubby lad;
Fat ruddy cheeks Augustus had:
And everybody saw with joy
The plump and hearty, healthy boy.
He ate and drank as he was told,
And never let his soup get cold.
But one day, one cold winter's day,
He screamed out "Take the soup away!
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today."
Next day, now look, the picture shows
How lank and lean Augustus grows!
Yet, though he feels so weak and ill,
The naughty fellow cries out still
"Not any soup for me, I say:
O take the nasty soup away!
I _won't_ have any soup today."
The third day comes: Oh what a sin!
To make himself so pale and thin.
Yet, when the soup is put on table,
He screams, as loud as he is able,
"Not any soup for me, I say:
O take the nasty soup away!
I WON'T have any soup today."
Look at him, now the fourth day's come!
He scarcely weighs a sugar-plum;
He's like a little bit of thread,
And, on the fifth day, he was--dead!

9. Little Suck-a-Thumb
You must do the following in your presentation:
Read the poem aloud (people could have different parts)
Explain what the moral is, what is the message of the poem.
Discuss whether you think the message of your poem is still relevant to children today and whether the poem and the
illustrations would deter you from misbehaving.
One day Mamma said "Conrad dear,
I must go out and leave you here.
But mind now, Conrad, what I say,
Don't suck your thumb while I'm away.
The great tall tailor always comes
To little boys who suck their thumbs;
And ere they dream what he's about,
He takes his great sharp scissors out,
And cuts their thumbs clean off--and then,
You know, they never grow again."
Mamma had scarcely turned her back,
The thumb was in, Alack! Alack!
The door flew open, in he ran,
The great, long, red-legged scissor-man.
Oh! children, see! the tailor's come
And caught out little Suck-a-Thumb.
Snip! Snap! Snip! the scissors go;
And Conrad cries out "Oh! Oh! Oh!"
Snip! Snap! Snip! They go so fast,
That both his thumbs are off at last.
Mamma comes home: there Conrad stands,
And looks quite sad, and shows his hands;
"Ah!" said Mamma, "I knew he'd come
To naughty little Suck-a-Thumb.”

10. Pauline and the Matches
You must do the following in your presentation:
Read the poem aloud (people could have different parts)
Explain what the moral is, what is the message of the poem.
Discuss whether you think the message of your poem is still relevant to children today and whether the poem and the illustrations would deter you from
misbehaving.
It almost makes me cry to tell
What foolish Pauline befell.
Mamma and Nurse went out one day
And left her all alone at play.
Now, on the table close at hand,
A box of matches chanced to stand;
And kind Mamma and Nurse had told her,
That, if she touched them, they would scold her.
But Pauline said: "Oh, what a pity!
For, when they burn, it is so pretty;
They crackle so, and spit, and flame:
Mamma, too, often does the same."
The pussy-cats heard this,
And they began to hiss,
And stretch their claws,
And raise their paws;
"Me-ow," they said, "me-ow, me-o,
You'll burn to death, if you do so."
But Pauline would not take advice:
She lit a match, it was so nice!
It crackled so, it burned so clear—
Exactly like the picture here.
She jumped for joy and ran about
And was too pleased to put it out.
The Pussy-cats saw this
And said: "Oh, naughty, naughty Miss!”
And stretched their claws,
And raised their paws:
"'Tis very, very wrong, you know,
Me-ow, me-o, me-ow, me-o,
You will be burnt, if you do so.”
And see! oh, what dreadful thing!
The fire has caught her apron-string;
Her apron burns, her arms, her hair—
She burns all over everywhere.
Then how the pussy-cats did mew—
What else, poor pussies, could they do?
They screamed for help, 'twas all in vain!
So then they said: "We'll scream again;
Make haste, make haste, me-ow, me-o,
She'll burn to death; we told her so.”
So she was burnt, with all her clothes,
And arms, and hands, and eyes, and nose;
Till she had nothing more to lose
Except her little scarlet shoes;
And nothing else but these was found
Among her ashes on the ground.
And when the good cats sat beside
The smoking ashes, how they cried!
"Me-ow, me-oo, me-ow, me-oo,
What will Mamma and Nursey do?”
Their tears ran down their cheeks so fast,
They made a little pond at last.

11. Click here for a video of the work. (Not all pieces were completed!)
Project Brief
• Illustrate one of the poems you have heard today.
• You can choose to illustrate part of the poem or the whole thing.
• Your illustration must consider foreground, mid ground and background.
Examples:
Phoebe Ann the Proud Girl
Augustus who would not have any soup
In 2012, year 7 students wrote compositions in Music to accompany shadow
puppets that they made and filmed in Art.

12. Homework
Visual References have to be
gathered to help you create your
illustrations.
Complete the following tasks:
1. One drawing from direct
observation of an object in your
story;
2. One drawing from visual memory
and imagination of a place in your
story;
3. Collect a range of images that you
will need for reference for your
illustrations for the characters,
costumes and background
scenery. Present these as a
mood board across two pages in
your sketchbook.

13. Step 2: Drawing

14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Illustrators use crosshatching to build areas of tone by layering
parallel lines, like this example by David Hockney on the right.
Task
Complete the tonal strip using hatching in each box except box 7.
Box 1 should be black, 4 should be a middle grey and 7 should
remain white.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Illustrators use crosshatching to build areas of tone by layering
parallel lines, like this example by David Hockney on the right.
Task
Complete the tonal strip using hatching in each box except box 7.
Box 1 should be black, 4 should be a middle grey and 7 should
remain white.

15. In 1999 illustrator, Sarita Vendeta and
writer Jack Zipes collaborated on a new
publication of Struwwelpeter and other
stories by Hoffmann.
How do the illustrations by Sarita Vendeta
compare to Hoffmann’s hand coloured
originals?
What are the similarities / differences?
Do you think that the illustrations would
stop you from misbehaving? Why / why
not?
Copy one of Sarita Vendetta’s illustrations
on a page in your sketchbook using cross
hatching to show different tones.
Ned the Toy Breaker

16. Augustus, the boy who would not eat his soup Pauline and the Matches

17. Phoebe Ann, The Proud Girl Little Suck-a-Thumb

18. Ned the Toy BreakerStruwwelpeter

19. Step 3: Design & Experimentation

20. Your illustration for your chosen poem will be built up in three layers.
Background
Mid-ground
Foreground

21. In this example for Augustus,
the boy who wouldn’t eat his
soup the background is the
Dining Room, the mid-ground
is the boy’s emaciated body
and the foreground is his
mouth.
Design the three layers for
your illustration in your
sketchbook. Consider:
Symbolism
Realism
Using text
Proportion
You should have already
several pages in your book of
images you have drawn and
found to help you.

22. Scene Setting
The scene setting or location where the action takes place,
has to be thought about. The background setting may be
carried out in such a way as to emphasise mood and
expression as well as our experiencing a sense of
movement in the picture.
View Point
The choice of viewpoint (angle of vision or eye-level) has
to be established for each picture.

24. Compositional Exercises
Create compositional boxes showing your chosen part of the poem in different
ways.
Illustrations by
Geoff Grandfield
http://geoffgrandfield.co.uk/

25. Composition Here are a few headings to think about:
• Tone and colour contrasts;
• Figure and ground possibilities - dark against light and light against
dark;
• Contrasts of scale and proportional changes;
• Different perspectival views;
• Opposites - near and far;
• Simplicity against complexity;
• Passive and active;
• Vertical, horizontal and diagonal stresses;
• Curved and angular shapes;
• Using constants (ie the grid) as a means of orchestrating
compositional elements;

26. Step 4: Silhouette

27. Lotte Reiniger
The mid-ground and foreground of your illustration will be cut outs within a frame.
Considerations:
The foreground cannot be
too solid or complicated as
we have to see both the
mid-ground and he
background beyond it.
Think carefully about how
the components will attach
to the frame. You can hang
pieces from the frame with
thread.

28. Lotte Reiniger
Lotte Reiniger Documentary
Lotte Reiniger 'Cinderella'

29. Chris Natrop

30. Kara Walker

31. Rob Ryan

32. Andrew Scott Ross

33. Step 5: Media

34. Experiment with different techniques and ways to combine media…..
Wax Resist Sgraffito
Ink and Wash Layering and stitching paper and/or fabric.

35. Step 6: Final piece

36. Final piece:
1.Draw the fore, mid and backgrounds on three separate strips of card.
2.Score each strip into four equal parts to bend later.
3.Add the effects / media / techniques that have been most successful to the
three layers.
4.Cut out the negative space from the mid and fore grounds.
5.Join the three piece at the outer most edges. Bend them along the three
folds made earlier.
Phoebe Ann the Proud Girl
Augustus who would not have any soup