ILLUSTRATOR #6 HARRY BROCKWAY

Pictured:  HARRY BROCKWAY 

This is a Q&A session for Not Compulsory between the blog's author, Debra Hall and Harry Brockway (Book Illustrator; Wood Engraver; Stone Carver and Letter Cutter)

Q1: For the curiosity and interest of my readers, can I begin with requesting that you introduce yourself by sharing a snippet or two of autobiographical information?

HARRY BROCKWAY: I studied sculpture at art school in the early 1980s, and it was while at the Royal Academy Schools in London that I began to make wood engravings. A few years later I trained as a stone mason and I have been a self employed stone carver, letter cutter and wood engraver ever since. 

Q2: You are the first artist in my illustrator series who uses 3D techniques primarily. Will you please describe your approach (in stages) to producing a book illustration from start to finish?

Pictured: Harry Brockway working in his studio

HARRY BROCKWAY: Wood Engraving is a relief-printing technique. A design is cut into the surface of an end-grain wood block with small hand held chisels of various shapes and sizes.. The surface of the block is then inked up and a print taken.

Stage one: I read the book.

Stage two: Having now had a few ideas about the best scenes to illustrate -read the book again. This time making notes. It is important to note any details of a characters appearance and details of the setting.

Stage three: Do preliminary pencil sketches ensuring that the proportions correspond to the page layout.

Stage four: Once the final selection of scenes to illustrate has been made make carefully finished tonal pencil drawings and submit to the publisher for approval and make any necessary adjustments.

Stage five: Carefully trace the design onto the block (remembering to reverse the design as the print will come out the other way around!

Stage six: Engrave the block.

Stage seven: Print the block onto repro quality paper.

Final stage: Once the prints are dry, pack and post to the Folio Society with clear explanations of where the images are to go within the text.

Q3: What was your early influence(s) with the tradition that relates to your craft? For example: Was it examples of classical/relief sculpture that you saw somewhere? Was it an inspiring teacher that lit the fuse?

HARRY BROCKWAY: My teacher at the Royal Academy Schools was Sarah van Niekerk. It was with Sarah’s patient encouragement to persevere that I gained some competence with the technique. At the time I was starting to make stone and wood carvings as part of my post-graduate studies. I found that engraving and carving complimented each other well and I would carve during the day and engrave in the evening.  An early influence was the artist Eric Gill who was a master of both carving and wood engraving.

Q4: Wood engraving has been used to make illustrations for hundreds of years. How does it feel to be upholding such tried and tested tradition? 

HARRY BROCKWAY: It is interesting to trace back the ‘family tree’ of teachers and pupils. There are many amateur engravers around the world and a number of professionals who find that wood engraving, though painstaking and slow, has a unique quality that cannot be obtained by any more modern technique.

Q5: Do you enjoy working to an existing narrative, or prefer to create your own?

HARRY BROCKWAY: I do enjoy illustrating a text. It often leads me in directions I would not have thought to go and there is always room for personal expression in the style that is used and the details that are chosen to illustrate.

Image is the book over The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Folio Society
llustrated by Harry Brockway

Q6: Focusing on your illustrative contribution for The Folio Society’s Best Short Stories by Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky. How did you arrive at such a beautiful, book cover design for this collection of short stories?

HARRY BROCKWAY: The cover illustration needed to encapsulate a theme common to all the short stories. Dostoyevsky lived in St Petersburg. The massive equestrian statue of Nicholas II had recently been erected and I imagined the author wandering the  snowy streets seeking inspiration for his stories. There is a scene in Notes from the Underground that closely reflects this scene. The back cover shows part of my illustration for White Nights. Both stories reflect on a characters alienation from society – a common theme in Dostoyevsky’s work.

© Harry Brockway 2021 from The Folio Society edition of The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoyevsky

© Harry Brockway 2021 from The Folio Society edition of The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Q7: Furthermore, in regard to the publication mentioned in my previous question. Joyce Carol Oates mentioned in her introduction that ‘social realism’ held little interest for Dostoyevsky. Your illustrations are very dramatic: black and white, heavy outlines, dark and serious in tone, and mostly depictions of men with strong facial features. Do the illustrations in this book represent your signature style? Or were you simply reacting to the gothic storylines?

HARRY BROCKWAY: I do try to bend my style to suit the text being illustrated. Though having done illustrations for Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov for the Folio Society in the past it is difficult to say if my style suits or my style has been influenced by Dostoyevsky’s work.

Q8: Is there a piece of your work or a commission that stands out for you as a favourite?

HARRY BROCKWAY: I tend to think of a set of illustrations as a single work. Having now illustrated three volumes of Dostoyevsky, these books do represent an important part of my output. Of course there are illustrations that I prefer but, taken as a whole, I am proud of what I have achieved in these books and grateful to the Folio Society for giving me the opportunity.

**ENDS**

The Folio Society edition of The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, illustrated by Harry Brockway and introduced by Joyce Carol Oates, is available exclusively from www.foliosociety.com