Dan Santat has worked with a variety of mediums over the course of his career, ranging from detailed, colorful work to sparser, varying work. Over the course of his career you can find pencil drawings to 3D models, to items with hand-painted looks.
In his first work, The Guild of Geniuses, Dan Santat uses a cartoonish style which highlights his past fascination with comic books.
In Sidekicks, Dan Santat’s first graphic novel he continues the cartoonish style but has more of a hand-drawn quality within the book.
Drawn Together features bright, colored pencil lines working in conjunction with simplistic, black-and-white pencil lines.
Crankenstein was based on 3D models but ultimately used Photoshop to achieve a more polished look.
Oh No! Not Again! features overlaying screen-grabbed white screens from old movies to give each image a film-like quality.
According to Dan Santat, “When I work in picture books, my mind is thinking more painterly than my chapter book work, which is more line-driven…I personally think my line work is stronger than my painting ability, but I actually prefer working on picture books over chapter books, because the story relies so heavily on the visuals–and I feel I can contribute more to the storytelling medium from an illustration standpoint” (Jules, 2014).
While Dan Santat works primarily in picture books and graphic novels he has worked a bit with chapter books.
In comparison his chapter books are fully polished and contain almost realistic drawings where his picture books are more fantastical. At the same time it is clear his strength is in picture books. Without his illustrations the story would be lost. In the chapter books they add something but the book would function without them.
Jules (2014, May 27). Seven questions over breakfast with dan santat (your coffee pot will thank you). Retrieved from
http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=3414
INFO 263-10 Children's Materials Big Blog San Jose State University 