I’m writing this blog in a woolly jumper, with my feet firmly inside my fluffy slippers. Outside, I can see drifts of rust red and yellow leaves waiting for little wellies to crunch them. The seasons have certainly turned, and it’s unmistakably Autumn. I’ve been noticing seasons a lot because I’ve also been working on my first calendar, which uses my sketchbook drawings to chart the year 2025. The calendar project has made me a bit obsessed with weather and seasons in illustration, and how images can transport us to a particular time, place and feeling.
I’m interested in how illustrators have brought, and can bring, the seasons so clearly into an image thanks to choices in colour, tone, texture, light and all of the alchemy of making pictures. I’d like to get better at this myself, and that, for me, starts with really looking at work I admire. Here, I share some of my inspirations for Autumn.
Through the seasons - three illustrators and their seasonal books
John Burnigham
A slightly obvious, but nonetheless inspiring, place to start is with John Burningham’s ‘Seasons’ (1969). In this book, Burningham treats us to four poster style images, one from each season, of the same scene. It’s a simple but timeless idea done beautifully. This is Autumn.
Colour is the first thing that strikes me about this - a complete blast of deep orange. But it’s so much more than colour, too. The texture of the tree suggests the fragility of the leaves about to fall, and the softness of the light as the days get shorter. The pond, in a contrasting blue, sings from the page, and we can see a tractor move across the field.
Shirley Hughes
Shirley Hughes, another of my illustration heroes, is my next example. In ‘The Nursery Collection’ (1985), a collection of nursery rhymes and short stories, the reader follows Katie as the seasons change. They were compiled into ‘Seasons’ in 2022 by Walker, I believe to celebrate Hughes in the year of her death. Here is one of the images for Autumn.
The light in this is magical. The way it shines through the trees, which are loose in the background but also very clear just from a few brushstrokes. It feels like the end of the day, with the children and their families perhaps on the way home from feeding the ducks.
This year I’ve spent a lot more time around children, having recently become a parent. This has given me another layer of admiration for Hughes’ work, as it’s not only her excellently observed children but also the tired parents and grandparents that I can now see myself in.
Earlier this year, I was lucky to watch a talk on her work with Orange Beak Studio to celebrate the launch of the Shirley Hughes Award. We were shown her sketchbooks, which are a treasure trove of observational drawing and an almost diary-like source of inspiration that she used a lot while making her ‘final’ artwork. Drawing from life was a key part of her creative practice, as it is for mine, so her work has an added layer of resonance. It was special seeing her drawings of lots of children and parents in parks, as this has become my main subject matter this year!
Hughes’ sketches shine through in this piece, as I feel as if I am inside the picture. I can even feel how cold it might be, and what it smells like in the park when it’s a bit damp but there’s sun shining through. Maybe a bit of woodsmoke in the air.
Roger Duvoisin
Finally, I wanted to share an image by Roger Duvoisin. Similarly to Burningham, he made a series of images featuring the same view across the four seasons for ‘The House of Four Seasons’ (1956). Perhaps I should have started with him, seeing as his work was earliest? I wonder if it inspired Burningham. Probably? Here's his depiction of Autumn.
Anyway, if I could eat Duvoisin’s work for breakfast I absolutely would. It’s just delicious in my opinion, and I can never get enough of it. Look at those colours, bold lines and nostalgic mid Century magic. Yum.
I didn’t have any Duvoisin books as a child, but I did read quite a lot of European mid Century books because I spent a lot of time in The Netherlands and Switzerland as a young child. While Duvoisin lived for most of his life in the United States, he was born in Switzerland and I can see echoes of his work in Belemans and Jean de Brunhoff (of Madeleine and Barbar fame respectively). So perhaps this is why his work stirs something in me - perhaps memories from very early childhood.
Here’s an extra bit of Duvoisin just because why not. I don’t know this book, but what a wonderful representation of a New York Autumn. Or ‘Fall’ should I say.
The seasons through my own sketchbook work
To create my 2025 calendar, I had to choose twelve spreads - one for each month of the year. Twelve sounds like a lot at first, but I have lots of sketchbooks! It was quite a challenge to select which images I wanted to put in the calendar, and in fact lots of my favourite images didn’t make it.
This is the image I used for October. I remember the light was very beautiful that day. That clear, crisp Autumn weather where the sun is out but there's a chill on your cheeks.
This is the image I used for November.
I remember drawing this one early one morning when I used to live near Brockwell Park in South London. It was a really misty morning, so I decided when I woke up that I had to get out and make a drawing of it. I used grey pastel over the drawing to create the misty feel, and drew this tree that I always passed every day that was looking particularly Autumn-y.
There were other drawings I’d made in my sketchbook that were more Autumnal in terms of colour, but this one gave me more of an Autumn feeling. Looking back through my sketchbooks, I could see the seasons change as I flicked through them. As always happens when I re-visit old sketchbooks, memories of the days I drew them, and the life events that surrounded them came flooding back. This is one of my favourite things about drawing from life. It makes you look at the world more closely, and also be able to remember life that bit more vividly. And life’s for clinging on to. Especially at the moment with everything that’s been happening around the world.
If you buy a 2025 calendar you'll see the drawings I chose. You can let me know if you think I’ve picked well, or if there are any you think are missing from my sketchbook.
Comments