This week I sketched layouts for the first four illustrations of Lucy's Dance, Deb Vanasse's forthcoming picture book celebrating the Yup'ik dance festival/potlatch. These sketches are meant to be primitive rather than finished drawings. I've included some greeking (sample text) here to show where the story might appear. The wider images will fill two pages. These layouts may have to change a bit later to create a gutter for the binding crease.
The first and third illustrations show overviews of the village, which is inspired by the village of Stebbins, Alaska. My setting studies helpfully acquainted me with a view of the Stebbins coastline. The first view shows the village in its original state, with kayaks, a fish-drying rack, and winter subterranean dwellings called qasgiq and ena.
The opening words of Lucy's Dance mention the potlatch, called Curukaq, so I wanted to show the potlatch somewhere in the first picture. In the book, Stebbins Dance Festival , Yup'ik elder Anatole Bogeyaktuk mentions that his people often expanded qasgiq for the festival by attaching a tent. He recalls, "The huge tent looked like a slice of bread. They would split it open with a knife and allow people to see the dancing"(73). I think I'll show the village at night, in the wintery spring, with glowing light emitting from the tent* opening to reveal the Curukaq festival inside.
The third view shows Stebbins after the arrival of European and American settlers.
The final illustration shows Lucy approaching Apa (Grandpa) to ask him about Curukaq. I wanted to draw Apa with his hood up to mask his face for now, as if he has just entered from walking or doing something outside. I hope to show more detail in all the clothing items in the final illustration. I might try re-drawing this page showing both characters from the front, over the table. Anyone who thinks this view would look better is welcome to vote.
The second-page drawing (dance scene) shows an indoor view of the dance festival, and is by far the most challenging illustration of the book, both in terms of the research it demands and the number of people to draw. I have studied a number of images of Yup'ik dance arrangements, and it seems that drummers usually sit in the back with men holding dance sticks on either side. Women with fans dance in the next row, and then men dance on their knees in the very front.
As I mocked up the dance scene I researched clothing futher. Descriptions of the women's qaspek garment are easy to find, but men's dancing garmets are a bit more obscure. Few of the UAF archived photographs seem to predate 1938 or so. Some of my best resources so far include an 1899 book called The Eskimo About Bering Strait. Another surprisingly useful source is an online database known as the Costumer's Manifesto, which yielded the following fascinating bit:
"In pre-contact times animal skin garments were thought to impart to the wearers the characteristics of the original animals, and garments were often constructed using skin parts comparable to human parts of the body: legs for arms and legs, backs for backs, etc. . . . Contrasting colors of skins were used in a kind of patchwork style to make decorative effects along joint marks which were thought to be the location of souls." I have never heard of this before--the joint as the source of a human soul.
Both Inupiat and Yup'ik men dress up in squirrel-skin parkas.* On these parkas, "The back of the hood is made from skin from the nose section of many squirrel pelts" (38). I wonder whether the squirrel is admired or perceived as intelligent, for people covered their own heads with the virtues of squirrels' heads during special occasions.
My earliest fashion image is a sketch from the diaries of explorer Captain James Cook, titled Inhabitants of Norton Sound. I find the sketch interesting, as I recall reading that there was no European contact with Yup'iks before 1800. Technically, Cook sketched this while standing on his ship without setting foot on land, so I'm not sure whether it counts as contact. Of course, the man in the picture may not be Yup'ik. I'd love to hear more informed responses.
Feel free to send me flattering praise or stern corrections . . . or even flattering corrections. Thank you to my art directors at Stebbins School; Dylan, Paul James, Sidney, and all the members of the 5th and 6th grade. I had no idea that the tufts on the dance fan were made from caribou beard.
* My research of Yup'ik tents led me to this image of the yaranga. I welcome other photos sources.
* I learned about squirrel parkas in a book called Secrets of Eskimo Skin Sewing* by Edna Wilder. I didn't expect to find such a specific book on shelf at the Denver Public Library. There it sat, however, next to a book about making and collecting novelty tape measures-- that is, tape measures shaped like noses, the Eiffel Tower, or--you guessed it--squirrels. The library sells books that no one reads, so someone, somewhere in Denver has been checking out the tape measure book. I'm sorry, friends, but I have now found a new craft, and will have to give up drawing.
The first and third illustrations show overviews of the village, which is inspired by the village of Stebbins, Alaska. My setting studies helpfully acquainted me with a view of the Stebbins coastline. The first view shows the village in its original state, with kayaks, a fish-drying rack, and winter subterranean dwellings called qasgiq and ena.
The opening words of Lucy's Dance mention the potlatch, called Curukaq, so I wanted to show the potlatch somewhere in the first picture. In the book, Stebbins Dance Festival , Yup'ik elder Anatole Bogeyaktuk mentions that his people often expanded qasgiq for the festival by attaching a tent. He recalls, "The huge tent looked like a slice of bread. They would split it open with a knife and allow people to see the dancing"(73). I think I'll show the village at night, in the wintery spring, with glowing light emitting from the tent* opening to reveal the Curukaq festival inside.
The third view shows Stebbins after the arrival of European and American settlers.
The final illustration shows Lucy approaching Apa (Grandpa) to ask him about Curukaq. I wanted to draw Apa with his hood up to mask his face for now, as if he has just entered from walking or doing something outside. I hope to show more detail in all the clothing items in the final illustration. I might try re-drawing this page showing both characters from the front, over the table. Anyone who thinks this view would look better is welcome to vote.
The second-page drawing (dance scene) shows an indoor view of the dance festival, and is by far the most challenging illustration of the book, both in terms of the research it demands and the number of people to draw. I have studied a number of images of Yup'ik dance arrangements, and it seems that drummers usually sit in the back with men holding dance sticks on either side. Women with fans dance in the next row, and then men dance on their knees in the very front.
As I mocked up the dance scene I researched clothing futher. Descriptions of the women's qaspek garment are easy to find, but men's dancing garmets are a bit more obscure. Few of the UAF archived photographs seem to predate 1938 or so. Some of my best resources so far include an 1899 book called The Eskimo About Bering Strait. Another surprisingly useful source is an online database known as the Costumer's Manifesto, which yielded the following fascinating bit:
"In pre-contact times animal skin garments were thought to impart to the wearers the characteristics of the original animals, and garments were often constructed using skin parts comparable to human parts of the body: legs for arms and legs, backs for backs, etc. . . . Contrasting colors of skins were used in a kind of patchwork style to make decorative effects along joint marks which were thought to be the location of souls." I have never heard of this before--the joint as the source of a human soul.
Both Inupiat and Yup'ik men dress up in squirrel-skin parkas.* On these parkas, "The back of the hood is made from skin from the nose section of many squirrel pelts" (38). I wonder whether the squirrel is admired or perceived as intelligent, for people covered their own heads with the virtues of squirrels' heads during special occasions.
My earliest fashion image is a sketch from the diaries of explorer Captain James Cook, titled Inhabitants of Norton Sound. I find the sketch interesting, as I recall reading that there was no European contact with Yup'iks before 1800. Technically, Cook sketched this while standing on his ship without setting foot on land, so I'm not sure whether it counts as contact. Of course, the man in the picture may not be Yup'ik. I'd love to hear more informed responses.
Feel free to send me flattering praise or stern corrections . . . or even flattering corrections. Thank you to my art directors at Stebbins School; Dylan, Paul James, Sidney, and all the members of the 5th and 6th grade. I had no idea that the tufts on the dance fan were made from caribou beard.
* My research of Yup'ik tents led me to this image of the yaranga. I welcome other photos sources.
* I learned about squirrel parkas in a book called Secrets of Eskimo Skin Sewing* by Edna Wilder. I didn't expect to find such a specific book on shelf at the Denver Public Library. There it sat, however, next to a book about making and collecting novelty tape measures-- that is, tape measures shaped like noses, the Eiffel Tower, or--you guessed it--squirrels. The library sells books that no one reads, so someone, somewhere in Denver has been checking out the tape measure book. I'm sorry, friends, but I have now found a new craft, and will have to give up drawing.
Comments
Post a Comment