In a previous blog, I demonstrated pen/ink/wash as a medium. This illustration, which I did for a magazine called Child Education employs the same technique. It is infinitely more complex with over a hundred figures around the giant Gulliver.

All of this required a huge amount of planning. Every figure and group of figures, all drawn from imagination, had to be carefully drawn in, and masked out with masking fluid. I needed to do this so that I was then free to apply large areas of watercolour washes for grass and sky. When these were dry, the masking fluid was removed and the blank figures redrawn and coloured.
In certain areas such as the trees and the giant’s shoes I applied body colour.i.e.opaque gouache. This allows one to get a stronger depth of tone.
This illustration was great fun to do as it involved a huge amount of preparatory research. It is clear that I was deeply influenced by 17th century Dutch painting and the work of Breughel in particular!