'Button Thief' for sale

The children's book that I have spent the past year illustrating has finally been published, and is now available for purchase for NZ$19.99 each.

Latesha Randall, ill. Esther Griffiths, Button Thief, Button Books Ltd., Dargaville, 2009.

Button Thief is a book about friendship, forgiveness.... and buttons! It is aimed at 3-7 year-old girls - and with some trickier words it is one that is intended to be read aloud to kids.

If you would like to purchase a book, either...

- Contact me directly

- Email our newly established publishing company, Button Books Ltd., at buybuttonthief@gmail.com.

For more information, visit our website.

I will be uploading more images onto my blog over the next little while. The original drypoint prints are now for sale, for between $30 and $120 each. WATCH THIS SPACE!!!

Button Jars

Another drypoint print for the children's book that I'm illustrating... We now have a date set with the printers, so I'll have to get a wriggle on and finish off the last couple of illustrations!

Esther Griffiths, Button Jars, 2009

Drypoint print on paper

13.5 cm x 27.0 cm

These prints will be for sale once the book has been published (hopefully the first week of December - just in time for Christmas!).

Buttons

Part of the children's book that I am illustrating...

Esther Griffiths, Buttons, 2009

Drypoint print and watercolour on paper (digitally enhanced)

13.5 x 27.0 cm

(Please note that the coloured version of this image is digitally enhanced, and is therefore not for sale as it appears on screen! Original prints (both coloured and uncoloured) will be for sale once the book has been published.)

Colour experiments

Here are a couple of experiments with colour. The going is so slow. I'm working on the book illustrations in very short and irregular bursts... in-between assignments!

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. Feel free to send me an email (under my profile). I'd love to hear from you!

More prints for the book

The following images are unfinished illustrations for the children's book I've been working on over the past few months. (I'm finally getting back into the swing of drypoint printing! New inks, new paper, new mull cloth - ahhhhh.... pure bliss!)

The next step is to add some colour... Experiments coming soon.

Work in Progress: Book Illustrations

Over the past several months I have been (slowly!) illustrating a children's book for a friend. The final illustrations will be hand-coloured drypoint prints - a favourite medium of mine. The story is written in rhyme, and is about two young girls and their button collection... A lot of fun to illustrate! We will be self-publishing the book before the end of this year.

This is my first full-length book illustration project, and I'm absolutely loving it. I must admit that I've had to learn a lot on the job... And I still have a lot to learn yet! Below I describe the process so far, and include some images of works in progress.


The very first thing that I did was draw up little thumbnails of each page. This helped me to decide how the verses and illustrations would fit together and flow from one page to the next. This is a very important step and I'm grateful that I put the time into it right at the beginning.

For each illustration...

1. I start of by developing each thumbnail further, experimenting with different compositions until I come up with something that looks good.

2. In return for chocolate (okay, only sometimes do they get chocolate!), I then get my younger sisters to pose for me and take reference photographs. My sisters have been very useful, and always so cheerful and willing to help. Thanks girls!

3. Using the photographs as a reference, I then sketch out how the illustration will look (using a page template to make sure it is the correct size). These "sketches" started off as beautifully rendered drawings for the first several illustrations, but as time marches on I've been spending less and less time on this stage of the process...!


4. Then I scan the drawing, email it to the author for feedback, and print it in reverse to the correct size.

5. Having cut a piece of clear drypoint plastic to the correct size (either to fit the border within the page or leaving enough room to bleed it out), I then tape it over the top of the reversed drawing and start scratching the image into the plastic. This is the step that takes the most time. A lot of fun but rather tiresome...

6. Once I have a few drypoint plates ready, I take them down to the press at polytech and print them. At the moment I'm experimenting with different papers and inks, so have had to deal with quite a number of bad prints... But there's always at least one good one in each batch.


7. After sorting through my prints and choosing the best, I then colour them with watercolour washes. This step is the most exciting! The images come alive, and feel ready to be part of a book.



Once I have finished all of the illustrations, I will scan them into the computer and arrange them with the text before (finally!) taking the whole thing to the printers.

ANY FEEDBACK on my illustrations thus far would be greatly appreciated! Please leave your comments.

More to come... Keep an eye out!

'Beautiful Girlhood', 2007

Esther Griffiths, 'Daydreamer', 2007
Intaglio print on paper, 9.8 x 9.8 cm

These works are a series of intaglio prints based on a celebration of girlhood and biblical femininity. They convey a sense of quietness, simplicity, and strength.

Esther Griffiths, 'Little Girl', 2007
Intaglio print on paper, 14.8 x 10.6 cm

“Strength and honour are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come.” Proverbs 31:25

Esther Griffiths, 'One Day...', 2007
Intaglio print on paper, 11.4 x 8.8 cm

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward… rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

Esther Griffiths, 'Daughter of the King', 2007
Intaglio print on paper, 15.4 x 9.8 cm