I recently started studying on the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, and we are currently looking at tone and framing.
Tone
We have been studying tonal values within images, and I wanted to share these illustrations by Tove Jansson that show her approaches to using tonal values in her work.
Tove Jansson, via https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/tove-jansson/
Tove Jansson, via https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/tove-jansson-moomin-world/
It’s fascinating to see these two illustration versions made with different types of media. I wonder if the painting on the left was a preparatory study to plan her tonal range for the drawing on the right? I can’t find any information about it, so that’s just my guess.
I’m so intrigued by Tove’s use of mark-making to depict tone, with the light areas and negative space untouched to show the original off-white of the paper, some black areas to contrast and show depth, and then variations of mid-tones drawn as ink dashes, creating a range of values depending on the space between them. Somehow she manages to make the dashes flow effortlessly, whilst describing the solidity and forms of the underwater realm. I’ve never been much of a planner when it comes to illustration, I tend to go straight in to the final piece, but am learning to use more considered approaches to create a more dynamic image. A lot more thought goes into these illustrations than I realised!