Nearing The End

I'm still regularly updating the Picture Book Archive and this research is having a profoundly positive effect on what I produce. I've recieved another large brief from the company for whom I am illustrating product concepts, and I'm still drawing and painting through tropical imagery for the ongoing project of illustrating the birth of Krishna (Janmashtami) story.

Other imagery I've been making over the past few days:

In my final major project, the western influences seem to have been mostly from the golden age of illustration; 1870-1920 approx. and of course, as much Indian sacred art as possible, which has been documented in full in earlier posts in this blog.

Slowing Down Here & Branching Out There

The best thing I have gained from this project is a more mature attitude to learning. I have more defined (and new) interests, and I feel creative input and output is flourishing.

The collecting of childrens' books enables me to really study how they are put together, and pay well deserved respect to the work that has gone into their creation. Because I am really enjoying doing this, and working through all the racks in Peckham library, I will set up a separate blog devoted to displaying my favourite writing and artwork for children. There!: http://picturebookarchive.blogspot.com/

Recently I have amassed this set, featuring: ~ Earthways Earthwise: poems on conservation, edited by Judith Nicholls and illustrated by various artists, What Shape Is An Elephant?: An indian fable written by Rumi, illustrated by Feeroozeh Golmohammadi in the traditional Indian textile art of Kalamkari. Wishing Bird: written by Alison Boyle (yup, couldn't find her) and illustrated by David Wojtowycz, How Do Dinosaurs Go To School?: written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Mark Teague

I experimented with a wide range of paper over the course of the project, and have found that Arches Aquarelle paper is a delight to work on and produces vibrant results. The watercolour medium is far more predictable thanks to the even texture, and it is one of the few good quality papers that is a brilliant white.
Continuing my study of the form and colours of the more esoteric of Indian flora and fauna, I produced these recently.



They look a little like Nick Butterworth's things... but hopefully more tropical.

Bible Stories

FLICKR SET: THE ORCHARD BOOK OF BIBLE STORIES
~illustrated by Jane Ray.
There's something that feels very honest and good about these images. Though not as dynamic as some books I've encountered, they tell the story in a gentle, earthy, trustworthy way.
Though 'studying' every well-illustrated childrens' book is immensely fun and useful, I'm attempting to refine it to include as many cultural and educational picture books as possible. While I have completed the illustrations to the Hindu tale of Matsya (and am currently finding the best way of printing these into a book), I have been spurrend in a direction of research, incorporating Hinduism into the text-image combination of picture books. In image-making, I am learning the form and colour of the flora and fauna of India. I have been picking picture books containting a lot of natural imagery. I'm finding this an enjoyable way of understanding a diverse range of illustrators' styles.

Four Childrens' Books

The Owl's Lesson, part of the Percy The Park Keeper series, written and illustrated by Nick Butterworth, The Way Back Home, written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, Star Seeker, A Journey To Outer Space, written by Theresa Heine and illustrated by Victor Tavares and UFO Diary, written and illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura can all be read here, in this nicely ordered Flickr set.


The Owl's Lesson, one of the Percy The Park Keeper books by Nick Butterworth. The series has since been made into an animated series starring Jim Broadbent. These were some of my favourite books as a child. They are innocent, friendly and the illustration style is a lovely blend of realism and cartoon. Nothing really happens, but morals are there, and the characters drive the stories, of course. Lovely. These aren't picture books, but illustrated books.


The Way Back Home, by Oliver Jeffers. Here Jeffers has displayed all five of his picture books in a very accessible fashion. His style is lovely and minimal, and the subject matter of his writing is much the same, coupled, these things make for enjoyable, poigniant reading to savour.


Star Seeker: A Journey To Outer Space, written by Theresa Heine and illustrated by Victor Tavares. Colourful and informative, with a powerful storyline and lovely characters. The coupling of imagination and fact are guaranteed to produce something wonderful like this.


UFO Diary, written and illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura. What stuck me, as well as the cute and open style, was the cleverness of the story, and how well the concept was told through the words and pictures. Wikipedia justly states that Kitamura is renowned for quirky perspectives, brilliant watercolours, attention to detail and unique characters.

Remember, the four aforementioned books are contained in their entirety here.

The Chris Beetles Catalogues

These can be viewed (well, not in entirety, I picked a select few according to my aesthetic opinion and necessary research, keeping things relevant) HERE!!


The first catalogue features a range of prolific illustrators active between 1800 and 2008. Wait, what's the Chris Beetles gallery?"
Illustrators featured in this catologue include (all names link to the most informative website): Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Warwick Goble, Aubrey Beardsley, Stephen Bagot De La Bere, William Heath Robinson, Florence Harrison, Mabel Lucie Attwell, Helen Jacobs, Kathleen Hale, Rex Whistler, Mervyn Peake, David Levine, Ed Sorel, Ronald Searle, Peter Cross, Simon Drew, Michael Foreman and Emma Chichester Clark.


The second book features work by prolific illustrators active between 1870 and 2009. The more modern range of work is noticable in comparison the the previous catalogue.
Artists featured in this catalogue include Edmund Dulac, Phil May, Arthur Rackham, Katharine Cameron, Roland Emett [visualiser of Ian Fleming's and Roald Dahl's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!], E H Shepard, Norman Thelwell, John Jensen, Nick Butterworth and Oliver Jeffers.

Five Childrens' Books

All page spreads from all of the books displayed in this post are available to read HERE!, in this Flickr set of all five books that I uploaded yesterday!!!

Things noted but often taken for granted in the art of childrens' books include the text in relation to imagery (typography, scale, colour etc.), stylisation of characters and backgrounds, and of course the target audience. Morals are important... or are they?


Owl Babies, written by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Patrick Benson. In my opinion, Benson deserves a Wikipedia page, but unfortunately no article yet exists. He has also illustrated the Minpins, adhering well to the ominous menace of Dahl's imagination. This was one of my favourite books as a toddler, and scenes (such as the red smoke that the terrifying monster breathed as it chased the protagonist) have stuck in my mind since I was three. The Minpins (which I am in the process of getting my hands on and making available online) is an example of where Quentin Blake's style is inappropriate to illustrate Dahl's ideas, and the underrated Benson renders enormous ideas lifelike and terrifying. Anyhoo, back to Owl Babies (which I believe also deserves its own Wikipedia article!). The use of contrast is lovely, and while the colour palette is dark, it is also warm and earthy, therefore inviting. It is now that I am beginning to journey off into this tangent that is the realm of childrens' books, and am beginning to comprehend the concepts of double-page spreads and relation of text to image (in this case, text in image). And thank you so much to this user for posting a lovely (and professional-looking!) animation of the book.


The Tail of the Whale (yes, the Amazon page was the best I could find, I reccommend reading the entire book here) written by Ellie Patterson and illustrated by Christine Pym. At least Pym has her own site, and a nice blog too. The visual style achieved in this book has everything I seek to create when painting for myself(/Camberwell): surrealness, cuteness, youthfulness, colour, line and a certain truth to material (watercolour). I enjoy the subject matter too; a character who is used to the grey mundanity of this world being transported to somewhere fun, but not a complete fantasy, rather a concept that is real and achievable in the natural world around us.


Once again I recommend reading the entire book here. For once again it seems that the best link to the book is via Amazon. Amazon also links one to a list of other Helen Ward books. It seems she is an author and illustrator, but I can find little information online. However, she did illustrate Dragonology; a big, fun book about dragons for ages 7-13 which I possess, and will upload in full when the time is write. Helen Ward is credited as 'scientific artist' on the Wiki page, and if you read The Dragon Machine, you will see why. She uses a delicate and intricate style, that is both dreamlike and detailled, to convery ideas in great precision. I am reminded of pointillism (an impressionistic style), despite how removed the techniques and media are.
Helen Ward and Wayne Anderson also collaborated in producing The Tin Forest, a book that appears to have a similar atmosphere and target audience. Wayne Anderson does have his own site, and here is the gallery. What a talented man.

Cleverly and poigniantly subverting the aforementioned morals, Gaiman and McKean create wonders similar to their other works [the Sandman], and a different and darker take on the words-in-the-pictures stories for children.


The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean. I strongly reccommend reading the entire book here, as this book is
double the amount of pages of the previous three books. It's allowed to be though. It's for the mums and dads.
McKean has another credible site and a good Wikipedia entry. He has already established himself as the cover artist to Gaiman's Sandman graphic novel series... which I totally advocate!!
Thanks to this YouTube user for uploading an excellent animation of the book, remaining faithful to McKean's illustrations.


The award-winning The Wolves in the Walls is also written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean.
I also reccommend reading this fascinating 60-page here!!!

Though beautiful, deep, visually captivating, magical and sinister, the aforementioned two books are not the route I will be persuing, as they are concepts in themselves, and not for any specific target audience save those faithful to Gaiman and McKean - this was my incentive to read them!