Going back to old policy of posting links to individual articles I publish this year. Let’s see how long this lasts…
READING / INTERVIEWSAaron Becker takes children on an illustrated Journey
Posted by Zack Smith @thezacksmith on Wed, Jan 1, 2014 at 10:36 AM
- Aaron Becker
- Journey Cover
Aaron Becker has worked on such big-budget CGI-animated films asThe Polar Express and A Christmas Carol. But for his first picture book,Journey (Candlewick Press, $15.99), he turned to a simpler, old-school format. Although he uses computer models of his landscapes to help figure out the look and lighting cues for his dream-like landscapes, the final results are less digital than manual.
“The computer tends to be the beginning of the process, when I’m figuring out compositions, laying out scenes and stuff,” says Becker on the phone from a visit to his family in Chapel Hill. “It sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is.” The end result of his process are simple pen-and-ink drawings painted over in watercolor—though the world he creates is as deep and vivid as anything seen on screen.
