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ANALYSIS

Quentin Blake,  is a british illustrador, writer and artist. Most known for his illustratrion in children's literature. Some of his most important works are "Feeding the Birds", "Dragon Disguise" and "Mrs Amirtage Queen of the Road".

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"Mrs Amirtage on Wheels" is about a lady who inherits and old car from her uncle. Then she decides to take a walk with her dog Mambrú. While they are in their walk, the car destroys little by little until it is left alone with the chassis. Her uncle and his friends stare in wonder at Mrs Amirtage's car and invite her to be part in his group of bikers.

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According to the following  illustration, we can say that Quentin Blake did not make a background in his works. Also,in order to draw his sketches he made thin lines, did not make them straight and drew many of them. He also create lots of details and objects that make the illustration look overcrow. Blake uses bright and water colors. In terms of the figures, we can say that the artist made the character's nose with the shape of a thin triangle and draw their eyes with dots. 

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I chose Quentin Blake as my first reference because I consider Blake is an artist that uses techniques that are not commonly used such as making the noses of the characters in a pointy way. He creates figures and do not color them completely. Also, he uses a special type of marker in order to obtein different thicknesses. 

At the moment when the artist is illustrating and writing his books, he must be aware he is only writing for kids. I find very interesting that he must use an adequate vocabulary and make the drawings very entertainment.

 

With the link below, you can visit Quentin Blake's official page.

https://www.quentinblake.com/about-drawing/how-i-draw

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DANGEROUS VALLEY

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In 1991 and 2009 in Valle del Cauca,Colombia hundreds of families desappeared from their houses after being threated and lost their homes or crops in the constant struggle between guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug traffickers in their dispute over territorial control.

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Bolivar is located between the Westerns and Eastern mountain range. About 97% of the hectares that composed it are highland and 3% of the land was taken by armed groups to traffic guns and drugs. For example, El Cañón de Garrapatas was used as used as a center of the armed groups where were cuased fights.

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"Carlos Enrique Salazar, alias Guerrero, quien era el jefe de 'los Rastrojos' en el Cañón de las Garrapatas, Valle." 

Taken from: http://www.elpais.com.co/elpais/sites/default/files/2013/07/dfhasdjklfajsldf.jpg

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The most affected sectors because of the conflict were La Tulia, el Naranjal and Betania. According to La Unidad de Restuticion, on May 31, 2013; 73 families had requested the restitution of 69 estates that add 4 thousand 200 hectares that were violent outbursts to them.

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Most of the victimis were eldery, sick and with low economic resources people from 70 to 90 years old that as a result of the armed conflict have been displaced to other estates from el Valle.

 

At the begging of the 80s, Bolivar started with an era of violence when the highland was used to cultivate coca crops. At that time, La Unidad de Restitucion declared the first murders and also ilegal sells in especific places like Cañon de Garrapatas and San Quitin.  

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Quentin Blake talks abouts his techniques to illustrate.

From the book Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road. Page 4

Mind Map showing the techniques the artist used in the page 4 of the book..

"MAGDALENAS POR EL CAUCA"

According to Centro de Memoria Historica, "Magdalenas por el Cauca es una iniciativa de los artistas Gabriel Posada y Yorlady Ruiz que rinde homenaje a las personas desaparecidas y a sus madres, mientras denuncia el horror que han tenido que vivir los habitantes de poblaciones a las orillas del río Cauca. Es un proyecto colectivo y colaborativo con las comunidades más afectadas por la violencia como los habitantes de Trujillo y Cartago. Posada y Ruiz lideran talleres donde se definen los temas y las imágenes más significativas de los desaparecidos para la comunidad, se construyen las balsas y por último, convocan a un acto simbólico en la orilla del río para ponerlas a navegar."

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The handmade boats load images of the desappear people, things that represented them and memories of poeple whose bodies have floated on the waters of the Cause River. As a result of this, Posada and Ruiz created performance that connects those murders with the legend La Llorona that transmits the loneliness of women that demand justice.

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"Magdalenas" floating on the Cauca River carryiing images of disappear people.

November 2, 2008 at 8:30 am. El Puente Anacaro connects different cities from Valle del Cauca like Cartago and Ansermanuevo. 

Additionally, the newspaper El Tiempo informed about the project Magdalenas por el Cauca"

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