Toot Toot Tootie Toot: an Illustrator Captures Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite
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Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite, written by Anna Harwell Celenza, is the most recent book I’ve had the pleasure of illustrating. It will publish later this year with Charlesbridge Publishing. It’s a nonfiction picture book that tells the story of how Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn collaborated to reinvent a holiday tradition, by remaking Tchaikovsky’s famous Nutcracker Suite into a jazz album. The book will include a CD recording of The Duke’s Nutcracker Suite!
The image below was an initial character study rendered in acrylic. I liked this technique; however it’s not the technique I settled on. Ultimately I donated this piece to a Texas Library Association fundraiser.
For this book, I wanted to do something different, style-wise, though I almost always vary style and technique from book to book. I also faced a challenge with deadline. I had to find a way to make the illustrations happen within a short window of time.
I’d studied jazz album covers of the 1960s, artists like Jim Flora, David Stone Martin, Cliff Roberts. They employed very loose, whimsical ink-line techniques, overlaying solid colors or washes. I wanted to achieve that same look without getting too cartoony in style.
Up until that point, I hadn’t done much ink work, and it had been years since I used watercolors. But many editors and art directors I’d worked with had complimented my pencil line work on dummy books, so I felt confident in giving it a try.
My first few pieces were awful, and I almost abandoned the idea all together. But that would have meant returning to my typical technique of acrylic painting, layering and layering transparent colors. There was absolutely no time for that, and besides, I’d already invested way too much money in watercolor paper, acrylic watercolor, India ink, watercolor brushes. There was no turning back.
First I inked the images on 140-pound Artistico Fabriano watercolor paper. I’m probably late to the game, but with this project I also discovered the Windsor & Newton Series 7 brushes. Expensive as all get-out, but I instantly fell in love with these brushes. They hold a lot of ink, and lay a nice line, from fat to skinny, with no breaks:
At first I was going to use blacks, browns and beiges, which had nothing to do with Ellington’s “Black and Tan Fantasy,” or with his “Black, Brown and Beige” performance. I simply thought the muted color pallet would give a certain desired dated look. But I didn’t like the results of the test pieces. Beige just doesn’t work on anything, except for maybe a couch.
Instead I ended up using bright, contrasting colors. I wanted a certain improvised spontaneity, but I had trouble loosening up. I normally paint very tight, very planned. Hopefully I accomplished a little of both. Ellington’s music has a certain spontaneity, but at the same time, it’s meticulously planned out down to the last note.
Here I lay down a very loose wash, with no regards to coloring in the lines. I really wanted that spontaneous look:
My big-time spender, from Dance of the Floreadores:
Here was my work area. Had my netbook close at hand, so that I could check my Facebook . . . er, I mean search Google for images of Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, band members.
This is the art for the front cover. To get the textured effect, I used a toothbrush to splatter the paint:
Here the band jams away during a recording session:
Remember the Sugar Plum Fairy? Meet Sugar Rum Cherry:
And here’s my rendition of Ellington’s “Arabesque Cookie”:
I used every surface of my studio. Here I’m on the floor, splattering paint. I used the hair dryer to hasten drying time:
Before illustrating this book, I never even considered listening to Ellington music — or Tchaikovsky either, for that matter. Big band jazz? Classical? That’s for old people, was my thinking. I’ll stick to my R&B, funk, hip-hop. But research for the book led me to Ellington’s and Tchaikovsky’s music. While I worked, I be-bopped to Toot Toot Tootie Toot and Zeet Zurzday. And before long, I was downloading jazz and classical music. I became a fan of both musical genres, and I hope this book will have the same effect on kids.
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Great interview Don!! I am so glad you did not give up on the new approach to your work. It’s just beautiful!
Thanks for sharing your process, Don. The illustrations you shared are so expressive and “jazzy”. Good choice to nix the tan.
Don, what a rewarding post! It’s great seeing your photos and reading how you approached “Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite”, deciding what you were after with the pictures and how the process unfolded.
Thanks, Marsha!
Wonderful expressive illustrations. And your colors are perfect!!! I also enjoyed reading about your process of these illustrations.
Thanks everyone!
This is wonderful, Don, love your process, your art and your generous interview! I have a book I’m working on about the Duke and a friend of mine. Now you have me reconsidering the style of my renderings… shall have to play with it more, because this is BRILLIANT! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this great interview – and all the images. This looks like the perfect book for me to share with my little choir group
Cool that you have the freedom to change your style per book! Allows for some nice exploring that must be pure fun.