SA Illustrators: Dale Blankenaar

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Name: Dale Blankenaar


’n Skrikkel/A Leap, by Dale Blankenaar

 

What is your day job?

I am a picture book illustrator and designer.

 

What road did you follow to launch your career as an illustrator?

It started a long time ago (longer than I can remember), with a feeling. I would open a good picture book and feel more than the need to own or read it. Only years later, during my time at university, did I understand that I wanted to create the worlds in picture books. Here I must promptly thank Piet Grobler, my mentor, with all my heart. For it was he who finally helped me discover this. It was not an easy road, but here I am, and I cannot imagine a better place to be.

 

Have your illustrations been published?

Yes. I have been fortunate enough to be commissioned by publishing houses such as NB, Protea Boekhuis, Lapa, Maskew Miller Longman, Vivlia and Fantasi.

What is your preferred medium, and why do you enjoy working in this particular medium?

My medium is a combination of techniques, I suppose. Line drawings, painting, texture and photography all form part of the world in which the stories unfold. I enjoy working this way because it gives my work some versatility within my established style. For instance, I have worked using mostly photography, imposing my characters into a more realistic world, and then at times photography might constitute only minor elements of the world.

Are there specific genres or types of texts that you enjoy illustrating?

Not particularly. Any good text has the potential of making a magical picture book. I enjoy taking stories that might seem to be less exciting and making them exciting. But if I had to narrow it down ... the stranger the text, the better!

Illustration form The Rabbit Problem by Emily Gravett

Who are your illustration heroes? Were your development as an illustrator and your personal style influenced by the work of other illustrators?

Piet Grobler is one of my definite heroes. He brought a sense of underlying darkness to his work which seemed to be as appropriate for adults as children. Some of my other favourites are Emily Gravett, Christian Voltz, Shaun Tan, Benjamin Lacombe, Oliver Jeffers, Paublo Bernasconi, Lane Smith and Poly Bernatine. I supposed I have learnt from all of these in some way, consciously or subconsciously.

Are you an avid reader? Who are your favourite authors?

I am a very avid reader and I wish I had more time to read. I tend to read classical literature more than contemporary. I do, however, enjoy reading Michael Cunningham and Thomas Cook. My favourite classic authors are Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf, JD Salinger, Baroness Orczy, Ernest Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald.

What is the one existing text that you would most want to illustrate?

For some reason I’ve got it into my head that I must somehow illustrate The Wind in the Willows and perhaps do a version of The Little Prince, one that really brings to life the universe of the strange little boy.

Which writer, living or dead, would you most like to collaborate with? What would the fictional book be about that you would work on together?

I think I would like to illustrate a book by Roald Dahl and it would be about ... a window in the sky.

Do you have an ideal audience/reader in mind when you create an image or a series of illustrations?

No, I don’t think so. Once I begin working on a text, it is the story and I and the world that’s unfolding. That is all.

 

What projects are you working on at the moment?

I have just finished a book for Lapa and another for Protea Boekhuis, and then I am working on a very strange but thrilling piece of work for Die Burger, Beeld and Volksblad.

Which one of your illustration projects so far stands out as a favourite, and why?

I would have to say Wurms met tamatiesous, written by Jaco Jacobs and published by Lapa Publishers. I absolutely loved it because they let me do exactly what I wanted and the book was the closest to what was intended when it has finally been produced.

Return to the SA Illustrators index page | Keer terug na die SA-illustreerders indeksblad.

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Kommentaar

  • Elmarie Waltman

    Hallo Dale

    I really like the work you did for Die Nuwe Kinderverseboek that Riana Scheepers and Suzette Kotze-Myburgh compiled.
    I am the Children's Librarian at Milnerton Library, Cape Town.
    Are you still based in South Africa?
    Would you consider doing a talk at the Library during Library Week in March 2016? It is from Monday, 14th to Friday 18th.
    If you could let me know?
    Kind Regards,
    Elmarie Waltman

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