Bringing Isadora’s world to life through 3D illustration

One of the best things about my job is being able to create and give life to magical worlds. I love the power of stories and illustrations to transport us to a fantastical new place. It’s even more exciting when you can actually see and touch a part of those magical worlds. That is why I have always loved miniatures and 3D illustration – and why I have spent the last few days putting together a 3D scene of Isadora Moon’s kitchen to take on tour with me.

At my last school visit I took in a couple of 3D sets I had made for I am a Witch’s Cat. The children were fascinated, which gave me the idea of making one for Isadora Moon. As I’m still having physio from straining my hand, I was a bit worried about getting it finished in time for Bath Children’s Literature Festival. However, I have filled our attic with 3D illustration sets from past projects, including the Glitterbelle series. I was able to repurpose some of those models, and I enlisted Henry to do some cutting out, which meant I was able to finish after all.

Making my 3D illustration

In case you’re wondering, the set is mainly made out of cardboard, paper and glitter. I used mount-board for the walls and floor.  These were stuck together using a glue gun. The cakes are made out of Fimo, while some of the bowls are painted dolls house accessories.

For the characters, I printed out illustrations I had already done from the books, stuck them onto card and cut them out. Some of them are supported by wire on the back, and Count Bartholomew is held in place with a wooden skewer.

The good and bad of 3D illustration

3D illustration is not commonly used, but I love it. I suspect there are three reasons you don’t see the technique very often:

1. You need a lot of materials – paints, paper and card is just the start. For some of my sets, I’ve had to specially buy dolls house lighting to get the atmosphere just right.
2. It gets very messy – my studio looks like a glitter and paper bomb has gone off every time I make one.
3. The finished sets take up a lot of space – did I mention our attic is full of them?

Despite this, I absolutely love the effect 3D illustration creates. Everything seems so tactile and real. It’s the same reason I love stop-motion animation. I find there are few books which feature 3D illustration, but I wish there were more. I did a post on my other blog about the 3D illustrated books I had discovered back in 2011.