We are absolutely delighted to share the first of two posts celebrating one of the most imaginative assignments on our Illustrating Children’s Books Diploma Course. Students were asked to create an illustration called Sink City, a world built under, around or inspired by a kitchen sink, populated with characters and full of story. The results have to be seen to be believed.
What makes this assignment so special is the way it unleashes creative thinking. There is no single right answer, no single visual solution, and the five pieces we are sharing today prove exactly that. Five students, one brief, five completely different worlds.
Natalia Romankova has imagined Sink City as a magical hidden world inside a cabinet, a wonderland of water slides, tiny theatres, swimming pools and adventure, packed with so much detail and joy that you could spend hours discovering new things in every corner.
Beata Mostowska has taken an entirely different and breathtakingly atmospheric approach, creating a dark, moody cityscape that feels like Venice reimagined under the pipes, complete with canals, bridges, bubble factories and wonderfully quirky characters going about their watery business. The contrast between the shadowy left side and the warm, glowing right side of the composition is masterful.
Marta Brzezinska has given us a quirky industrial city populated by charming pink worm-like creatures going about their working day amongst enormous pipes and tanks, the whole thing rendered in a loose, confident watercolour line style that is full of personality.
Jackie Ling has shot Sink City into outer space, placing an impossibly colourful and intricate space station against a deep black sky, with a tiny astronaut floating nearby, the whole composition buzzing with energy and invention.
And then there is Dean Jones, who has perhaps made us laugh the most with his gloriously conceived Wild West Sink City. Cleaning spray bottles become saloons, hotels and sheriff’s offices, rubber gloves stand in for cacti, wooden pegs are the townsfolk, and a wanted poster for “Sebastian the Kid” completes the scene perfectly. It is witty, beautifully executed and utterly original.
If this kind of imaginative, story-driven illustration is something that excites you, do take a look at our Illustrating Children’s Books Diploma Course to find out more.
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