Rice, P. (2015) Soppy. Great Britain: Square Peg, imprint of Penguin Random House
I recently visited the college library and, in the Illustration section, came across this rather charming book; Soppy by Philippa Rice. I took it out immediately (after browsing some other books, that I will review in due course) and flicked through it during my lunch break. What I really like about this book, described as a graphic novel, is the very limited colour palette of red, black and white as well as the adorably illustrated main characters - a boy and girl, based on the author and her boyfriend (both illustrators themselves), who fall in love at a print fair and eventually move in together.
The illustrations highlight the ups and downs of adjusting to a new life when living with a new person and discovering how to balance alone-time and togetherness to make it work. Rice uses a mixture of black india ink, Letraset Promarkers, Sharpies and brush pens to create her highly-saturated blocks of contrasting colour. The illustrations themselves use basic shapes and forms to convey characters and environments, but it is the mark-making and patterns that are really special to me. Dots, dashes, squiggles, cross-hatches and circles work harmoniously with the flat expanses to create beautifully simplistic pages of varying visual language and detail - portraying movement, environment and emotion.
The page layouts are similarly of interest, with no two-page spread being the same. Rice plays with both borderless and bordered illustrations comprising of 2, 4, 8 and 16 pictures to a page. It is this variation that also makes turning each page a delight. While I do like the smaller illustrations, I much prefer when Rice takes advantage of a two-page spread to illustrate one image. With my visual impairment, it is much easier for me to see - and Rice really shines when adding more landscape detailing.
The illustrations highlight the ups and downs of adjusting to a new life when living with a new person and discovering how to balance alone-time and togetherness to make it work. Rice uses a mixture of black india ink, Letraset Promarkers, Sharpies and brush pens to create her highly-saturated blocks of contrasting colour. The illustrations themselves use basic shapes and forms to convey characters and environments, but it is the mark-making and patterns that are really special to me. Dots, dashes, squiggles, cross-hatches and circles work harmoniously with the flat expanses to create beautifully simplistic pages of varying visual language and detail - portraying movement, environment and emotion.
The page layouts are similarly of interest, with no two-page spread being the same. Rice plays with both borderless and bordered illustrations comprising of 2, 4, 8 and 16 pictures to a page. It is this variation that also makes turning each page a delight. While I do like the smaller illustrations, I much prefer when Rice takes advantage of a two-page spread to illustrate one image. With my visual impairment, it is much easier for me to see - and Rice really shines when adding more landscape detailing.
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