Finding our own style

curated by

Anna Castagnoli

Teacher
Anna Castagnoli

Finding a personal and original synthesis of reality is not easy, because we often tend to copy a synthesis that other illustrators or artists have already found, without really understanding ‘because’ that way of drawing communicates an emotion or another. How, then, can we find our own synthesis, our own unique and unmistakable sign? Style is the best tool to give a certain taste to a story, a certain narrative tone: be it poetic, dreamy, ironic or dramatic. Style also should know how embody itself in a composition: passing through lines, colours, perspectives, strokes and signs. How do a pictorial technique and a style interact? We will therefore learn to look, as if for the first time, objects and forms in real life, in order to find our own unmistakable and original synthesis.
We will explore three great style groups: realistic, lyric and graphic, in orderd to understand which emotions do they communicate. We will learn how not to lose the mark of our sensibility in the event that we are required to adapt it to a text, or to the publishing market demands. The teaching methodology of the course aims at introducing creative exercises on texts and poetries, experimentations with different pictorial techniques (monotype, wax engraving, acrylic, collage) and at providing some background theory on the style of the greatest illustrators of the past and of the present, in order to discover all their secrets.
Every trainee will be followed in therealization of a final illustration for each of the styles introduced. These techniques are the perfect tool to get over our fear to make mistakes.

Program
The line: different types of contour lines of the characters.
The chiaroscuro: how it is realized; what is its purpose; what happens if we don’t use it.
How forms and colours communicate emotions: chromatic combinations; the main tricks for an effective image composition; the language of abstract art.
Realistic, lyric and graphic styles: the great stylistic families, following  on the examples of the albums that constitute the history of illustration.
Styles and texts: how to suit the style for a type of text.
Finding our own style: exercises to learn and to trust on our individual expressive universe.
The course is aimed at whomever is looking for his/her own style, in order to become an illustrator or for personal passion, to participate in a contest or to introduce himself/herself to a publisher; or to whomever believes to already have his/her own style, but wishes to make it even more expressive.
Every trainee will be followed individually, regardless of his/her level.

The course is open to teenagers (provided they are able to face seven hours in class per day) and adults.

More information about this course at this link:
http://www.lefiguredeilibri.com/2013/03/21/alla-ricerca-del-proprio-stile-corso-con-anna-castagnoli-sarmede-giugno-2013/

Course materials

The artistic and technical material is at the trainee’s expense.
Colors and material that you usually use (a few colored pencils, a couple of acrylic tubes, two or three oil crayons, for exemple. You’ll use some of the material you already have in your house; if you dont’t already have it, buy only the material shown below).
Brushes: those you usually use;
glue stick; graphite pencil (B and 3B for example);
rubber; sharpener; a white handkerchief to be soiled;
an album or single sheets of paper for sketches (format at the choice); paper for the final works: a block or single sheets of paper (at least 5) for the “fair copy” (it is recommend to work in A4 format); the paper must be smooth (satiné) and of good substance (from 180 to 300 gr), the ideal paper, if you find it, it’s the Canson Illustration, Bd, Manga (http://it.canson.com / art-graphics / canson-illustration); some tracing paper; a black thin cardboard bristol A3 to be used as background; various pieces of coloured paper for the collage (opaque paper, that doesn’t reflect the light) or a pair of magazines to cut out (the magazines vintages are perfect for the collage). Some magazines will be put at the students’ disposal for this specific use during the course.
Please bring along at least one of your favorite children books, in order to create a temporary library.

Technique 1: Engraving on oil pastel
A flat acrylic brush (a cheap and good brand is DaVinci) and a soft synthetic brush. To engrave the wax on the paper: a cheap engraving tip and some needles. A tube of Liquitex acrylic from the Professional Heavy Body series: raw titanium, white or parchment. Acrylic colors, even two small tubes for children are fine. Black indelible China: the best brand is Winsor & Newton. Pelikan is no good. One or two oil pastels of the Van Gogh brand colorless (series number 120.5). It is necessary that the pastel is of the Van Gogh brand and colorless. If you can’t find it, we will organize ourselves in the classroom in some way.

Technique 2: Liquin and oil pastel
3 or 4 colored oil pastels and/or indelible NEOCOLOR 1 Caran d’Ache pastels. A small jar of Original Winsor & Newton Liquin. A soft graphite pencil (3B or 4B)

Technique 3: Pochoire
A round flat brush; one or two watercolor tubes (also cheap and small, but they must be in tubes) to colour the backgrounds (blue, yellow or green, for example).

Note: please do not exaggerate with the material, as during the course we will realize at the most three or four definitive works and some sketches.
In Sarmede there aren’t any art supply shops, and the nearest shop is in Vittorio Veneto. The classroom will be equipped with wi-fi connection and two overhead projectors.

 

 


Teacher's indications

To get ready for the course (optional): train ‘to read’ the style of other illustrators, and make this exercise on a notebook: dedicate a double page to every illustrator that you love (or you don’t! It’s even more interesting) and analyse how s/he uses the line around objects and characters. Questions that you should ask yourself are for example: is the line continuous? Is it uniform? Does it totter? Is it by pencil or china? Is it present or absent? Thin or thick? With a pencil or a nib, try to replicate with some examples the type of line of every illustrator. You can use exhibition or contests catalogues that you can find in specialized libraries, or look for images on the Web.

Date Timetables
17 Jun 2019 09.30 – 18.30
18 Jun 2019 09.30 – 18.30
19 Jun 2019 09.30 – 18.30
20 Jun 2019 09.30 – 18.30
21 Jun 2019 09.30 – 18.30
22 Jun 2019 09.30 – 12.30

Location: Centro Sociale di Rugolo

Price: 370 euro

Deadline for entering : The enrolment deadline is one month before the beginning of the course, unless otherwise specified. Late enrolments will be accepted dependent upon available places.

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