Artist Research: Eric Carle

  Eric Carle is a recently passed (2021) American children’s story illustrator, most well known for his ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. Known for his unique transparent collage style it is said that he illustrated and published at least 70 children's story, many of which are still available today (The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, n.d.).

Illustration from ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’

 Carle’s stories invoke a feeling of childish wonder and dream-like experience, ‘For author and illustrator Eric Carle, creating comfort, understanding, and familiarity were among the top motivators for his books.’ as Diamond (2016) describes. His common use of animal characters, meaning that he has an Aesop style stories, and art style only emphasises this experience more as the visuals and experience is something that cannot be seen in real life and only in imaginations, especially in a wild one like a child’s. This contrasts to Beatrix Potter’s, where despite the stories and characters being unrealistic her realistic style anchors to the real world stronger.

 Despite his use of acrylics in his illustrations his works are translucent, almost as if it has bean made with coloured semi-transparent paper like ‘hanji’. This is because he creates his using thin layers of tissue paper that he stains and collages using tracing papers, then finishing the work with crayons (The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, n.d.). The brush strokes are visible through the layer of paper, seemingly whimsical and chaotic like a child. However due to this style his work is focused on the 2D element, with very little to no perspectives in his work (works are completely flat, no ‘3D’ space). This art style seems to be related to Leo Lionni, another children’s book illustrator, who was an inspiration for Carle and the one who helped him to go back to New York.

Illustration from ‘Slowly, Slowly, Slowly’

 I see Carle’s works as both chaotic and simple at the same time. The textures and patterns can be confusing to look at first, however when the overall composition is seen it is quite straightforward. Besides the flat formatting, the main visual points are focused on the centre of the page and the clear contrast of the reds (and red-browns) to the cool colours easily draws the focus of the viewers. This element of simplicity and focus would playa critical role in the structure of my illustrations as I have to utilise the character designs I have made to draw in the target viewer’s attention while not overloading them.

References:

Carle, E. (n.d.) ‘Illustration for “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”’. Available from: https://www.carlemuseum.org/explore-art/collections/featured-artists/eric-carle. (Accessed: 14 May 2023). 

Carle, E. (n.d.) ‘’Illustration for “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly”’. Available from: https://www.carlemuseum.org/explore-art/collections/featured-artists/eric-carle. (Accessed: 14 May 2023).

Diamond, A. (2016) ‘A Brief Introduction to Eric Carle’. Available from: https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/a-brief-introduction-to-eric-carle. (Accessed 14 May 2023).

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (n.d.) Artistic Process. Available from: https://www.carlemuseum.org/about/about-eric-carle/artistic-process. (Accessed: 15 May 2023). 

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (n.d.) Early Years. Available from: https://www.carlemuseum.org/about/about-eric-carle/early-years. (Accessed: 14 May 2023). 

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (n.d.) Picture Book Career. Available from: https://www.carlemuseum.org/about/about-eric-carle/picture-book-career. (Accessed: 15 May 2023). 

The Guardian (1999) The Very Busy Author. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/education/1999/nov/23/schools.theguardian3. (Accessed: 14 May 2023). 

Penguin Random House (n.d.) Eric Carle’s Biography. Available from: https://eric-carle.com/about-eric-carle/eric-carles-biography/. (Accessed: 14 May 2023).