THE PICTURE STORIES

Six worlds.
Plenty to notice.

Search a detail, choose a theme or simply read from top to bottom. Each illustration comes with a short story and a small creative exercise.

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Story theme

6 picture stories shown

A huge pink and cobalt spiral lolly bursts through a comic constellation of orange jelly slices, raspberry gummies, wrapped sweets and yellow stars. — PICTURE STORY 01 / ORIGINAL DIGITAL COMIC ART

colour

A little sugar. A lot of story.

A spiral is a very useful troublemaker. It gives the eye a place to begin, then refuses to let it sit still. On this cover, the lolly is deliberately too large to behave like a polite little sweet. Orange wedges push in from the edge; smaller gummies and wrappers scatter around it.

The colour does some of the storytelling. Cobalt outlines keep the crowded scene readable, cream highlights interrupt the brightest areas, and little dots make broad patches of ink feel lively. Nothing here needs to look like a photograph to feel full of texture.

Try this: Choose one everyday shape and make it much too large. What else has to move to make room?

A pop-art volcano built from citrus jelly and striped candy erupts in fizzy stars, ribbons and raspberry gumdrops above a rich confectionery landscape. — PICTURE STORY 02 / ORIGINAL DIGITAL COMIC ART

worlds

The sherbet situation

The forecast is bright, with a strong chance of sherbet. Our volcano has exchanged ordinary rock for stacked citrus slices and striped sweets. A trail of bonbons climbs from the foreground, giving the enormous eruption a surprisingly small beginning.

Notice the different kinds of movement: the path winds slowly, the mountain rises steadily, and the spray breaks into quick scattered marks. If every line moved at the same speed, the scene would lose much of its energy. The quiet blue sky is doing useful work too.

Try this: Draw one scene using a slow line, a steady line and a sudden line. Give each a different job.

A raspberry gummy train with peppermint wheels races along a diagonal liquorice track over a colourful canyon of candy houses and jelly fruit. — PICTURE STORY 03 / ORIGINAL DIGITAL COMIC ART

worlds

All aboard the gummy express

There is no timetable for this train. Its peppermint wheels are far too pleased with themselves, and its raspberry boiler seems to have packed enough enthusiasm for the whole journey. Citrus and gummy cargo trail away towards the upper corner.

The diagonal track makes the train feel quick before you have noticed a single speed line. Large wheels close to the viewer become smaller in the distance. That change of scale is a simple way to make a flat image feel as if it is arriving somewhere.

Try this: Put three versions of a shape along a diagonal: large, medium and small. Add a line that connects them.

Comic lolly and strawberry musicians play peppermint drums, a blue liquorice bass and a striped trumpet with an orange-jelly bell for an audience of wrapped sweets. — PICTURE STORY 04 / ORIGINAL DIGITAL COMIC ART

characters

A very sweet racket

The drummer is a spiral lolly. The bass has a liquorice-blue body. Somewhere near the front, an orange-jelly trumpet is taking its solo much too seriously. The audience appears delighted, although several of them are simply very well wrapped.

Round drums, curved instruments and a repeated rhythm of hands and mallets link the characters together. Their expressions are simple; the surrounding shapes do most of the work. A stage can feel busy without giving every performer the same pose.

Try this: Turn two sweets into instruments. Give one a long note and the other a short, surprised sound.

characters

A forecast of jelly

A good umbrella is important when the weather has decided to become confectionery. These gummy residents have chosen orange slices, while a much larger lolly shelters an entire corner of the street. Blue syrup runs between the paving stones.

This is a small everyday story inside a very unlikely world. The familiar act of walking in the rain gives the extraordinary setting something to hold onto. Look for the nearest character, then follow the shrinking umbrellas into the distance.

Try this: Give a fantastical character an ordinary errand. What simple object would they carry?

An overhead pop-art coral gift box holds spiral lollies, striped bonbons, raspberry gummies and orange jelly triangles beneath a sharp yellow beam on cobalt dots. — PICTURE STORY 06 / ORIGINAL DIGITAL COMIC ART

colour

The parcel after dark

The last picture turns down the noise. A box, a ribbon, a handful of sweets and one hard-edged beam are enough to make a little mystery. A few pieces have escaped the parcel; the empty spaces around them matter as much as the full box.

An overhead view removes the horizon and makes arrangement the main event. The yellow beam divides the blue field into two moods. Repeated bonbon shapes make a pattern, but the stars and citrus triangles stop it becoming too orderly.

Try this: Arrange five objects from above. Move one away from the group and see how the story changes.