They describe the method as: 'A children's picture book out of practical art.', 'handmade artwork', 'The old 60s and 70s books had this similar style where they built the whole sets and filmed them as pages and I always thought that was really a beautiful technique and nobody really does that anymore.'
They've been really active online on social media throughout the process, sharing behind the scenes images and footage of the team on-set which is lovely to see as it makes the entire product more personal and inviting. The creators are only human and they have made all this work! Using Instagram in this way demonstrates just how much work they have put into the book too. I think this would help to sell the book as it is intriguing and engaging for artists and art-lovers to see this kind of content that goes into the production, they know that the book is a product of value and that the team have put a great deal of work into making the story that they might buy in order to support these artists.
There might not be many but there are other artists around making work SIMILAR to this... other artists working in puppet illustration/puppet story books (Chris Sickels, Maggie Rudy), but I do think that this process makes the images different and distinct from traditional illustration, so it is really refreshing and unusual to see.
'The Whatamagump is an incredibly unusual book in the way it was illustrated. While most picture books are drawn, painted or rendered on a computer, Broken Eagle Studio decided to take it a few steps further by creating every element in Tyrone's story by hand and photographing the images with a camera.'
The story is quite simple and has potential to be extended into a series, an animation and merchandise. The book comes with a soundtrack, since the author is also a musician, so reading the book becomes an interactive and immersive activity. The size of the books makes the product even more exciting as it is really huge, bigger than a child's face so they can really immerse themselves within the pages.
'The process was incredibly tedious and time consuming, more akin to a stop motion film than a book, but the result is a book that stands alone in it's unique approach and artistry.'
'I’d love to continue seeing this resurgence we’re experiencing in handmade art. I feel like miniatures and their many applications are the perfect medium for it too. It’s pretty magical looking at a miniature that is sculpted well in that it skews the reality we’re all familiar with. Digital technology just doesn’t do it, at least for me. Handmade leaves a fingerprint of humanity and that’s what makes it special. I think support and interest in mediums like stop motion, dioramas, books, and places like dailymini that highlight these crafts are essential. There used to be this whole attitude of keeping trade secrets a secret, but I’m more of the mind that we should share it all so that more people are inclined to try making something too! It will keep pushing the medium into new places and hopefully more career opportunities for many passionate artists.'
http://thedailymini.com/daily-mini-interview-whatamagump-broken-eagle-llc/
The book was funded as a Kickstarter project. Anyone could donate to this project and 'pledge' money towards is production. This is a great way of raising money towards a big project and they managed to fully fund it in time. They gave away some of the characters and props as rewards for pledges. Pledgers receive updates on the progress of the book, making them feel like part of the project and building anticipation towards the book's release.
I think the path looks just a little bit too flat! It should have more imperfections and random weeds sprouting. It seems a bit too clean and perfect, but then perhaps this suits the family and the house that the garden belongs to, but it does seem a little false. I would add some muddy footprints/slight ageing to the stone in places, some cracks and wear as though it has been used. The grass is also just a bit too neat, too short and too even. Unless the grass had JUST been trimmed and the path had JUST been cleaned, then this isn't the way it would look. However, this is an image from a WORLD that Broken Eagle have created and they make the rules as to what is real/what is realistic in their land. Perhaps that's the aesthetic of the book but I would prefer just a bit more imperfection and rough edges, after all it is the human element and evidence of the maker's hand that makes this book different.
This image is so well-lit. The natural lighting outside the house is really convincing and soft. It's a late-afternoon sun laying low in the sky and pushes through the fence. The light fills the outside but also pours into the room, creating a warm glow on the curtains and casts shadows (behind the lamp). The image gives a lot of information about the atmosphere: it's quiet, the room is empty but people (including a child) live here; it's either Spring/Summer and the weather is fine - it's warm but not warm enough for the window to be open and the air is still, there is no breeze today. The household items are arranged and carefully considered, they all match a specific colour scheme, but they have been scattered to look like a realistic house, recently played in and well lived-in. There are so many tiny props that aren't prominent in the picture but add information and interest to the scene: magazines, piles of videos, toys etc. I imagine that children would find this fascinating to look at and try to identify all of the different objects around the scene.
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