Guest Post – The Pavee and the Buffer Girl Mini Animation – Cave by Emma Shoard
I am hugely excited to share with you a third stunningly brilliant animated gif to celebrate the release of The Pavee and the Buffer Girl by Siobhan Dowd illustrated the absolutely talented Emma Shoard.
This beautiful illustrated book was released on the 2nd March 2017 published by the lovely people at Barrington Stokes and I simply cannot wait to get my hands on it!
This mini animation is simply just gorgeous so sit back, relax and find out more about The Pavee and the Buffer Girl….
Jim and his family have halted by Dundray and the education people have been round mouthing the law. In school the Traveller kids suffer at the hands of teachers and other pupils alike, called ‘tinker-stinkers’, ‘dirty gyps’ and worse. Then the punches start. The only friendly face is Kit, a settled girl who takes Jim under her wing and teaches him to read in the great cathedral chamber of the cave below the town. With Kit and the reading, Jim seems to have found a way to exist in Dundray, but everyday prejudice and a shocking act of violence see his life uprooted once again.
The Pavee and the Buffer Girl – Mini Animation – Cave
I decided a while ago that after I had finished the illustrations for The Pavee and the Buffer Girl and the drawings decided upon had gone off to print, that I would like to animate a few scenes from the book. I studied animation a little bit at University but this would largely be a new process for me and it was exciting to imagine what it might bring to the illustrations. It was a way for me to continue developing a project that I have loved working on since receiving the commission back in 2015.
With these animations I wanted it to create the idea that the world inhabited by Jim and Kit continues beyond the page by introducing small movements to an illustration or having a character move through it. The three scenes I have chosen – the third of which appears here today – are all from different points in the book and hopefully tell you a little about the characters and setting of the story.
Cave
With two characters side by side and both moving independently, this was the most challenging illustration to animate. The background is very simple, all of the focus is on them so I needed to give them as much detail as possible. I planned the timing for when Kit would look up at Jim and enjoyed drawing her expressions changing as Jim’s stay neutral focussing on the book. There is quite a lot going on even in the moments where I have tried to create stillness, but I quite like some of the slightly unexpected movements created by the looped drawings, such as the way Kit’s fingers move from the page of the book back to her knee. And the way that the shadows move reminds me of the flickering light of a sea cave.
You can buy a copy of this book here or from you local bookshop
You can find some other mini The Pavee and the Buffer Girl animations over on the following blogs:
About Siobhan Dowd
Siobhan Dowd was a highly regarded author, winning the Branford Boase Award, the Bisto Award and, posthumously, the Carnegie Medal. She worked in human rights in the UK and America, particularly for writers’ organisation PEN. The Pavee and the Buffer Girl was her first story, followed by four remarkable novels written before her death at age 47 in 2007. Her legacy includes the Siobhan Dowd Trust, working to bring books to deprived children, and A Monster Calls , a novel adapted by Patrick Ness from one of her ideas.
You can find out more about Siobhan, her books and the Siobhan Dowd Trust on the website – www.siobhandowdtrust.com
Or why not follow on twitter – @sdowdtrust
About Emma Shoard
Emma Shoard is an illustrator and printmaker who graduated in 2011 from Kingston University’s Illustration & Animation course. She also works part-time as a bookseller. Emma lives in London on a barge on the Thames.
You can find out more about Emma on her website – www.emmashoard.co.uk
Or why not follow Emma on twitter – @EmmaShoard
A huge thank you to Emma for a fantastic post and gorgeous animation! Also a huge big thank you to Nina at Barrington Stokes for asking me to host.
What did you think of the animation? Are you tempted to go and grab a copy? I would love to hear from you! Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this review or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy!
Happy Reading!
Gorgeous animation! I got the book yesterday, and it is a thing of beauty!
It’s so so gorgeous x