October Illustrations

by Shannon Stamey
(Fayetteville, NC United States)

"Wynken, Blynken and Nod" - 2006 - 16"x20" oil, pencil and pastel on paper

If you were to put Maxfield Parrish, Arthur Rackham and Maurice Sendak in a blender and let Tim Burton put it on the walls of the Moulin Rouge, you'd have something very similar to what I try to accomplish on a piece of paper...

I'm usually putting small children in some very organic and interactive landscapes. Sometimes, the interaction is more narrative than others, but the picture is always showing the child in some sort of learning process.

My color schemes are heavily inspired by early 1900's French poster art and sepia-toned photographs. I like to make the illustration look and feel as if it came from a book written 50 years ago. Think: Grimm's Fairy Tales meets The Little Prince..... I am entirely self-taught and everything is done by hand, usually oil, pencil and pastel on paper or canvas. No digital art.

To see more of my work, please visit: October Illustrations and Shannon Stamey at My Art Space.