Multimodal Digital Texts

Click on the book cover to read it online.

This is a picture from the book, The Rabbits (1998). John Marsden wrote the book and Shaun created the illustrations. This is a complex picture with lots of detail across different sections. Shaun, like the other artists, has divided his picture into foreground and background. The rabbit-like creatures are creating new buildings. Other tiny creatures lie on the ground and smoke-like clouds float across the sky, creating a surreal dream-like atmosphere. Shaun invites us to look slowly and think carefully to try and make sense of what we are seeing.

Identify and discuss different aspects of Shaun’s illustration:

Who is in the picture, where are they and what are they doing? 
What messages or ideas do you get from this picture?
What do you see that makes you think that? 
Shaun has used two types of paint and coloured pencils to create this work.
What do you think the advantage of using colour pencils might be?

SOURCE: FUSE education (2016), Illustration by Shaun Tan: They made their own houses, Dept. Education & Training, Victoria, URL: https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/?BGQKS9

Meet the illustrator, Shaun Tan [Duration: 8:03 mins]

Shaun Tan is an Australian children's book illustrator. In this video, Shaun talks about his interest in books, especially books that have no words. He shows us his sketch books and how he creates little boxes to record his ideas, both for works and mini drawings. He likes using his dreams and his imagination when developing ideas for his picture story books. We watch Shaun draw with grey lead pencil, notice how quiet he is as he works.

Watch this interview with Shaun Tan and think about how Shaun works and what influences his illustrations

• Make a list of at least three things you learn from Shaun
• You might like to do quick sketches and write a few words to help you remember
• Discuss and share your ideas with each other.

Make notes and keep your observations fresh in your mind as you think about how you might write and illustrate your picture storybook.

SOURCE: FUSE education (2016), "Meet Illustrator Shaun Tan," Dept. Education & Training, Victoria, URL: https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/?GK5TS9