Editorial Illustration on the Road: an inspirational trip to the Denver Art Museum

As a professional in illustration design, it's always an exciting surprise for me when an art museum chooses to showcase an illustration idol. So when I saw the Denver Art Museum was showcasing the art and children's illustration of Maurice Sendak, I knew I had to carve out the time in my schedule to make the visit. And of course my sketchbook came with me so I could keep my illustration skills sharp.

If you're not particularly familiar with the children's illustration world you might not have recognized the name Maurice Sendak right away but you probably do know his work. His most famous work was Where the Wild Things. All of the originals from the book where on view as well as work from his many other underrated children's books, as well as some advertising illustration and work done in collaborations with theater and opera productions. Needless to say I soaked up every minute of the inspiration!

If you're curious about the exhibit or the Denver Art Museum you can read more here: https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/wild-things-art-of-maurice-sendak

The exhibit is up there until the 17th of this month.

I normally do a ton of sketching on museum visits, but this time I was visiting with family and only got the chance for a one sketch in the permeant collection and a quick doodle from across the gift shop. However one benefit of traveling with family is that I wasn't the one doing the driving and I had plenty of time to do some travel sketching on the way there and back.

If you'd like to see more similar work, you can see more of my travel illustrations here, I've got a lot of work form other museums: https://www.kamillaillustration.com/sketchbook

While I was sketch in the landscape that was going by outside my car window, I couldn't help but think about how I might apply the inspiration I took in to my own work in editorial and children's illustration design.

I hope you're feeling as inspired as I did after seeing Maurice Sendak's work! And if you're also thinking about that one project you've been putting off or you want to capture the imagination the same way Sendak did I'd love to work together! You can most easily reach me via email at kamilla@kamillaillustraiton.com

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