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The best place to walk the baby is of course nature, but adults who can't break free from the hustle and bustle of the city and social circles can't stay in nature, so people have many longings for nature and yearning for slow life. Such an imagination may only have the freshness and freedom of nature, and ignore its tranquility and loneliness, but there is one person who regards walking in nature as work, observation as enjoyment, and loneliness as wealth, and he is the 19th-century American writer, poet, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau.
Henry David Thoreau's Walden is famous for his reclusive life on Walden—walking, observing nature, thinking about life, and then writing down what he saw, heard, thought, and thought. American illustrator D.B Johnson used these stories as a model for five picture books, namely "Henry Hikes to Fitchburg", "Henry Goes To Climb the Mountain", "Henry Builds a Cabin", "Henry's Work" and "Henry's Night". Henry here refers to Henry David Thoreau. Expresses the vision of a commercial illustrator eager to enjoy the painting itself from his busyness.
"If I could enjoy the company that I bring all year round, then life would not be my burden", "The world is just a thing outside the body"... The famous quotes in "Walden" express Thoreau's care for nature and a simple attitude to life, and this spirit is even more clear under Johnson's brush.
Johnson also incorporated the technique of literary creation, in "Henry Hiking to Fitchburg", he set up a suspense in the opening paragraph, Henry and his friends both went to Fitchburg to see the countryside, but Henry chose to go on foot, and his friends chose to work first, earn enough money and buy train tickets. They decided to compare and see who reached their destination first. In Henry's Work, Henry tells everyone he meets on a walk that "I'm about to walk to work" until the reader turns to the last page to know what his job is.
The American thinker and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson also appears in these books. Walden's lakes, forests, and grounds were all the property of Emerson, and Thoreau lived in Emerson's house for most of his life from 1841 to 1844 and from 1847 to 1848. He also built his own cabins and had a wonderful time here. In Henry Builds a Cabin, Thoreau's friend Altko and Emerson's wife, Lydia, both "appeared" in the film.
Thoreau was not only an essayist, poet, but also a land surveyor and naturalist. In 1862, during a field survey of tree rings, because of the rain, he fell ill with bronchitis, aggravated his tuberculosis, and completed his short but great life. He is only 44 years old.
Henry's Night is the latest book in the Henry series. [Beauty] D.B Johnson, translated by Yang Jiasheng, Magic Elephant | Guangxi Normal University Press, November 2021. Age of readability: 3+
The article that the book reviewer took you to see today is from Zhang Xun, a lecturer at the School of Communication at Nanjing University of the Arts, who commented more on the characteristics of Johnson's picture creation, from which you can see the influence of Thoreau and Walden on a commercial illustrator.
Written by | Zhang Xun
01
Use ingenuity to introduce Thoreau's thoughts to children
Over the past 100 years, Illustrators in North America have gradually built up a mature business mechanism. According to the needs of the market, they provide customers with different media and various styles of illustrations. Advertisers or editors find them and often get the work they want. These illustrators generally have distinct creative characteristics, skilled painting skills, good communication skills and sensitive text sensitivity.
D.B Johnson is one of them. His paintings are rational and purposeful, providing appropriate pictorial interpretations of various journal articles. In his nearly 20-year career in commercial design, Johnson has been "well-cared for" to his clients, with "enjoying work" as the joy of painting. It wasn't until the creation of henry that he finally found the opportunity to "take a good hike" in the painting.
Henry's archetype was Henry David Thoreau, a writer who had a profound influence on the american spiritual world. More than 170 years ago, he built a log cabin on the shores of Lake Walden with an axe and walked every day in the forest of light and shadow. Thoreau was Johnson's idol, so Johnson's Henry also had messy hair, a hard, jagged beard, and a pair of long, seemingly eternally staring, clear eyes—these are typical features of Thoreau.
In "Henry Hikes to Fitchburg", Henry and his friends meet to see the countryside.
Henry's first appearance in "Henry's Trek to Fitchburg" is henry's first appearance, and he and his friends meet to go to Fitchburg. The friend is slightly fat, with two godless little bean eyes, and a pocket watch hinting at the theme of "walking slowly" around his waist. He was impatient in whatever he did and did not know how to enjoy the life of walking, and these actions set off Henry's wisdom and kindness. Henry quickly became a clever and harmless picture book star.
A reader wrote thanking Johnson for his ingenious introduction to Thoreau's ideas to the children. The letter mentions Thoreau's "indecent" experience of being arrested and imprisoned for refusing to pay taxes, arguing that the real Thoreau was not just a performer who took a selfie on foot, but also a philosopher who thought and practiced truth in a down-to-earth life, a fighter against slavery and a believer in "civil disobedience".
In "Henry Goes To Climb the Mountain", Henry's prison disaster.
After receiving the letter, Johnson immediately created "Henry Goes to Climb the Mountain" as a reply. Henry had to say, "Don't even think about it!" "You have to go to jail, but even if you go to jail, you can swim." During his wanderings, he meets a black slave brother who wears shackles on his feet and patches his pants, but sits on an equal footing with him. They blessed each other, waving to each other as they parted, as if to say, "Enjoy the journey to freedom." The phrase "enjoy" echoes in the valley and stretches from page to page. "Go to Fitchburg" and "Go Hiking" are works from different periods, but they are a whole, and the theme of "Enjoy" runs through the two books.
Walden Lake is not a holy place to escape from work, and Thoreau's reclusive life is the practice of philosophical ideals, the search for the true meaning of life. It is also a kind of work, and even if it is hard and dangerous, he has nothing to fear. In Henry's mind, the traveler's friends who crossed the mountains in pursuit of freedom were doing exactly this kind of work; in Johnson's mind, the pity for the traveler who symbolized the black slave even went beyond the "journey of enjoying freedom" itself, and the political significance seemed to be greater than the philosophical significance. Is this still Thoreau's ideas full of anarchism? Maybe not. But what does it matter? Johnson throws a challenging question here: Is Thoreau's voice still echoing more than 100 years later?
Henry was imprisoned but got the freedom to "climb the mountain" from painting on the wall.
Thoreau's answer in Walden is: "Echo, within a certain limit, is still the original sound, and its magic and cuteness are here." It repeats not only the bells that are worth repeating, but also part of the sounds of the woods; it is some of the nicknames and music sung by a forest banshee. ”
Compared with the neat drawing of "Fitchburg", the color of "Going to the Mountain" is more vivid, the composition is more dynamic, the emotion is more full, and Henry's stiff beard seems to be brighter. I often think that there are many outstanding figures in the United States, which has a strong commercial atmosphere and a pragmatic spirit, so why should everyone respect this independent "thorn head" Thoreau as the spiritual cornerstone? Perhaps because he lives on the other side of reality, with him, the American heart will reach a delicate balance, just like Lao Tzu left to the restrained Orientals willful and dashing attitude to life. This contradiction may be able to keep people alive, so that those "D.B. Johnsons" who work well have always kept a thought in their hearts, and they also have a hidden energy, so that they will not be completely swallowed up by reality. Thoreau always reminds us: Have you always wanted to go hiking in the forest?
Speaking of forests, it's easy to think of another French painter named Thoreau, Henri Rousseau. Thoreau was walking in the jungle when he was just born, and then lived most of his life in a disciplined manner, and one day suddenly picked up his paintbrush and painted the forest. In his works, all kinds of plants are densely packed, animals shuttle through them, and everything is full of primitive power. Picasso was startled when he saw it, thinking that this Rousseau lived not in the city but in the jungle. A century later, Johnson also hiked in the forest and then walked into the studio to work. Whether it's a forest in a dream or a forest in reality, they can be full of magic. So, what will Johnson collect in the forest?
Although the traveler has shackles on his feet, he is happy inside.
02
Integrate Thoreau's life experience into five picture book creations
Johnson uses the more common drawing techniques in American commercial illustration: flat geometric cartoon shapes, design of contradictory spaces, and full composition. They often used acrylic paint to paint flat, on top of which to create shadows and gradient effects, and finally used colored pencil to add texture, mix colors or portray details. Spray painting is a painting technique that dilutes the pigment into a delicate spray gun, and then uses the power of the air pump to spray the paint out. The painter can control the gradient effect of the color and the thickness of the particles with the help of the switch on the spray gun, the distance between the muzzle and the picture, and the angle of tilt.
This technique has full characteristics of industrial painting. Johnson's painting process is like a process in the workshop, one after another, rigorous and precise. Of course, there is also room for play: when people spray paint, they can use the occlusion technique to draw a clear edge line, or a soft gradient boundary. In the five books featuring Henry, Johnson uses the occlusion technique to flexibly create various wrinkles and shadows in the clothing, blades, and ground in the book, which is where his creativity lies.
At this time, however, Johnson's paintings were more like a product, far less indulgent than Rousseau's. Its characters are often summarized in regular straight lines or curves, and the rich forest plants are often processed into three or four simple styles, and everything in the painting appears regular and uniform. Is this really a wild forest? Perhaps after 20 years of "good work" and preparing to "enjoy hiking" in painting, Johnson still can't let go of the sense of security of habit.
He also tried to play tricks, such as borrowing Cubist techniques to organize the picture and let Henry walk through the walls of his cell, or borrowing the spray painting technique to cut the picture to create the effect of interlacing space. But it all always seems a bit like an origami game. Johnson filled the picture with all sorts of elements, and it seemed that it wasn't the elements of the forest that interested him—he was working responsibly, organizing the natural scene neatly and surrounding the clever Henry—perhaps he cared only about Henry, or more accurately, Thoreau. It's also possible that he's concentrating on his work.
Henry's own cottage was small, but he enjoyed life here.
After completing four books, Johnson paused the series and seemed to have finished telling Thoreau's story. Five years later, with the help of his wife, he launched his fifth picture book featuring Henry, Henry's Night. By replacing the traditional spray gun technique with computer spray painting, Johnson had more opportunities to experiment with techniques. What's more, Henry, the symbol of Thoreau, no longer seems to be an image to be eagerly celebrated, and Thoreau's life experience begins to surface in Johnson's "hikes" again and again. Unable to sleep, Henry gave up his protagonist position, and the light took his place. Moonlight through the speckles of leaves, the waves of a stream in the jungle, the refracted light in the rain, the early morning sunlight that slants into the room – the book is sprinkled with momentarily changing light and shadow. Henry's shape melts into it, and the deliberate depiction of objects begins to give way to the rendering of the atmosphere. Johnson may have found his own forest magic.
If "Fitchburg" is the beginning of Johnson's hike, or just the "work" of "enjoying the hike", then "Henry's Night" marks the author's long way forward and begins to enjoy the process of hiking. But ultimately, where is Fitchburg? I don't know. Henry found it, and Thoreau pondered for a long time, believing that Johnson would find it too. Enjoy your hike and don't worry, friends.