Artist & Book Research: Bear Island
Matthew Cordell is the author and illustrator of Bear Island. His style is very loose and expressive, using rough lines, simple shapes, and soft colour to tell the story. The book follows a girl who travels to an island filled with bears, and instead of focusing on a detailed or complex narrative, it feels more about atmosphere, imagination, and personal experience.
What stands out in Cordell’s work is how simple the drawings are, but still feel very expressive. The lines are rough and not overly clean, which makes the images feel more natural and less controlled. The use of watercolour adds soft textures and gives the scenes a calm and slightly dreamlike quality, especially in the sea and landscape. He doesn’t rely on detail, but instead focuses on mood and feeling through composition, colour, and mark-making.
This links to my project because it shows how effective simple drawings can be without needing a lot of detail or realism. It relates to my own work in animation where I am using basic line work and focusing more on clarity and visual style rather than making everything perfect. Cordell’s work encourages me to be more confident with loose marks and to allow the drawings to feel more natural and expressive instead of overworking them.
This is why I have picked this book to be my main inspiration for this project.