nafftastic blog: November 2012

Wednesday, November 14

Doodles 3

Today I present you with a weird bin lady that similar to Oscar the Grouch and the Cookie Monster combined; and then a tribal person I was tinkering with for a book illustration.

Friday, November 9

From my trip to London, oh so many weeks ago, we took a visit to the Tate Modern, and whilst I wasn't amazed by the exhibitions there, I found some pretty interesting-looking children's books in their shop. So here you go:

'Maude: The Not-So-Noticeable Shrimpton' is a new book by Lauren Child, more known for her Charlie & Lola books (which are awesome, and still retain their charm when animated), I'm always interested in seeing what else she branches into! I enjoyed the full page spreads of each illustration, allowing Child to incorporate a lot of action on each turn of the page.
Also, just a random note, I've recently read Daphne Du Maurier's 'The Parasites', which involved an extravagant showbiz family quite similar to the one featured in Child's book, which made me wonder how these illustrations would look accompanying Du Maurier's novel? I think with a couple of tweaks, it would look pretty darn good! (Maybe something to experiment with?)

Although I've seen this technique employed before (Lauren Child employing a variation of it in her 'Princess & the Pea' book), these lovely paper sculptures really lend themselves to a fairy tale story. These constructions were created by Su Blackwell, whilst the stories are re-told by Wendy Jones. You can see more of Blackwell's work in book sculpture at her website HERE. They are pretty whimsical.

Another photographic technique which is employed in a completely different manner! Carl Warner is the master behind these foody worlds, and I've found that he creates these landscapes with real food, but in several layers (as otherwise some parts of the world would be rotting if taken in one shot!) Carl's website stores a whole treasure trove of his work, so you should go check it out!

The simple stylings of this book intrigued me. The Conductor by Laetitia Devernay. The style seems to have a hint of the influence of Edward Gorey I feel!

I really like the watercolour stylings used by Jon Klassen in 'House Held up by Trees'. Its interesting to see Klassen employ quite a messy, spontaneous medium in an ordered fashion - all the shapes appear quite precise, almost as if they've been stencilled on there! Jon Klassen also wrote and illustrated 'I Want my Hat Back'.

La Machine à Lettres by Julien Magnani - unfortunately theres not many images of this book about, but I liked the simple colours and the shapes reminded me of a certain toy you could get as a kid (which I can no longer remember the name of...)

I discovered a re-telling of 'A Thousand and One Nights' illustrated by Jan Pienkowski, which has been out for a number of years now. I love Pienkowski's delicate silhouettes set against bright and multi-coloured backdrops, enhancing the whimsical/magical nature of the stories (whimsical is the word of today's blog post! Woo!) And to my surprise, I found that as well as these beautiful pictures, Jan Pienkowski illustrated the Meg and Mog series - picture books I recall very clearly from my early school days! So there you go!

And finally 'Whizz Pop Granny Stop!' written by Tracey Corderoy and illustrated by Joe Berger. Reminiscent of old Ronald Searle, I love a messy looking inky illustration - I also find the unique use of colour rather interesting as well!

So thar we go! Another rambling blog post full of pics of books! But oh, I do love a good book illustration.