ps

just a little link that harks back to our theme of a few weeks ago, 'picture books and illustrations'. An Illustrated Guide is a whole site dedicated to reviews on this very subject, and is created by Matthew and Catherine Buchanan.

The selection of books is just great, and i really love how they intersperse their reviews with quotes, one such example that took my fancy was by PJ O'Rourke:

“Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.”

Excellent advice from a site that is well worth a visit!

jillian tamaki

since we came to octopuses via this week's knitting theme, i'm just going to stretch the boundaries by taking one step further into 'creatures from under the sea'... and end up back at last week's theme of illustrations!
this beautiful image is a drawing by jillian tamaki, a new york based illustrator whose work can be seen in publications such as the new york times. 'loggerheads' (below) is a favourite of mine, but the rest of her work is def worth a visit-
http://jilliantamaki.com/

charlie does a kickflip

by London Illustrator Mr Bingo (Not many for the kiddies, but still a lot of fun!)

Tohby knits well but is also a chatterbox, so his socks are not finished. I hope he finishes them in the holidays

(according to Penguin books this is a primary school report comment from Tohby Riddle's youth!)

I first came to know of his work from reading his cartoons in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Weekend magazine - 'Ron Jenkin's sense of humour' has been on my pinup board forever! (even moving house twice!).

Riddle has collected together some more of these fantastic cartoons in 'What's the Big Idea' and 'Pink Freud', from which the images below were taken (all images from www.tohby.com).


His books show the same gentle wit, quick observations and imaginative insight as the cartoons, and are home to some marvellous characters including Clive the Fox (from 'Nobody Owns the Moon') and donkey (from 'My Uncle's Donkey') - both artfully drawn both in image and in character.




His work is honest, playful and so endearing - there is a beautiful combination of sentiment and tongue in cheek which I have always thoroughly enjoyed.

Punk Alphabet

For the cool kiddies, when 'a' is for apple is simply not enough, the punk alphabet...

edited to add: a grave oversight on my part - credit must go to my gentleman friend for this great find.

Carson Ellis and The Decemberists

Carson Ellis is an illustrator from the US, and is married to a Colin Meloy from The Decemberists, together they are working on a children's book called Wildwood, it's being published in September, but Ellis has released some images on her blog, and they look pretty amazing. Can't wait to see the whole thing.

Here are a few more illustrations from Ellis.

Ellis also does all the album artwork for The Decemberists

 

Listen to The Decemberists here, here and here. I would love to see them live one of these days.

For the Juniors

It's bright, it's early, it's Monday, it's time for our first theme! With our new approach in its infancy, it seemed only appropriate to start off with "Picture Books and Illustrations" (enjoyable for children of ages 1 - 100).

I have been looking forward to sharing my love of Shaun Tan's work for some time now, and finally the day has arrived. An illustrator from Melbourne, Tan's work covers illustration and painting across a diverse range of projects including books, animations, murals and theatre. At present I particularly love the softness and gentle intensity of the drawings in his book 'The Arrival'

('The Flock' from The Arrival, from www.shauntan.net/books)

There are also some essays Tan has written on his ideas about the creative process - these were a new discovery so I'm off to have a cup of tea and read this one on originality and creativity first.

I hope you will love and be as inspired by his work as I am - here are a few more images to entice you further (all from www.shauntan.net).

"'He was saying the same sentence over and over, ending with "tasoo-ke-te, tasoo ke-te" from tales of Outer Suburbia

"A parrafin-oil powered koala" from The Bird King and other sketches

'Footpath, Fifth Avenue' 2004, oil on canvas