Posts Tagged ‘animals’

Antoinette Portis | Harper Collins Publishers 2006

There are two things I’m attracted to in a kid’s book. The first is simplicity and the second is illustrations that tell me that things aren’t always as they appear. Not a Box has both in a big way. Antoinette Portis made a book that does so much with so little. An adorable little rabbit—drawn in a single line—challenges us to think and see outside the box. Absent a storyline, it presents us with a series of challenges to see what the simple box really becomes. Every page has surprise and delight as the black and white drawing becomes a 3-color demo on how to see beyond the box.
Deceptively simple, this is the kind of book that plays to a kid’s strength and helps parents ‘get back’ to that wonderful kid’s place where anything is possible. This book reminds us that big ideas often come in small boxes.

Craig Frazier | 60 pages

Some projects take more time than others. This one took about 20 years! Living Letters is a reincarnation of a typeface (and book) I designed in 1989. The original book was called The Alphabet Critter Playbook, which caught the attention of Adobe who then asked me to create the font Critter (1992). Initially drawn by hand and inked on vellum, the font was translated digitally at that time using Adobe Illustrator and a program called Fontographer.

About 4 years ago I began to redraw the Critters bringing more detail and more life to them. I was particularly interested in depicting accurate features like eyes, ears, fur and color. The internet proved invaluable in sourcing animal reference—far more than I had in 1989. The challenge was adding considerably more detail to each animal while maintaining its recognition as a letterform.

I have partnered with Adobe and HP in announcing the release of Living Letters. Adobe has created a pop-up store in San Francisco and for two weeks the public can visit Russell Brown’s (Photoshop guru) Extreme Imaging corner of the store and get a custom t-shirt digitally printed on the spot with the letter of your choice. You may also pick up a digital copy of the book produced by MagCloud or go to their site and order a book with your choice of 26 covers. The books are ‘magazine’ style with soft cover and are the best digital printing I have seen to date.

Roaring Brook Press | May 2011

In anticipation of the release of Bee & Bird, I’ve created a website and a video trailer put to the 70’s hit by Can. Enjoy!

Renata Liwska | Philomel 2010

It’s no secret that Renata Liwska is one of my favorite illustrators at the moment. With a follow-up book to The Quiet Book, Renata has come back with another tale with a cast of anthropomorphic characters on a magical journey in Lucy’s red wagon. Red Wagon is page after page of spry little beings—each standing upright on their hind legs dressed for that moment’s particular predicament. While we are accustomed to animals as humans, Renata’s are in a league of their own. It’s how she captures them mid-step or mid-air in their group effort to move their wagon along. However, the real life is in their eyes and precious expressions—fret, surprise, delight, confidence, and general mischief are all present in her delicate graphic marks.

Renata kindly shared a few of her Moleskine sketches and a brief note about her casting process.

“As you can see, bunny became a raccoon. Bear didn’t make the cast, raccoon got the part instead. And some scenes were shot on green screen.”

No doubt her auditions are rigorous and getting tougher.

Michael Roberts | Hyperion Book | 1998

As a fan of cut paper it should be no surprise that I love revisiting The Jungle ABC by Vanity Fair’s style director Michael Roberts. There are lots of alphabet animal books but this is in the top three. At 10 x 13 inches and 64 pages, it’s a treasure not only to find each expression of the letter but also to explore the textural nuances of each page’s scene. Each illustration is a master’s course in composition, scale, light and shadow, and color. Robert’s style takes very simple ideas like the elephant for ‘E” and renders only the trunk eating delicate foliage leaving us to only imagine the remaining beast off the page. Or the textured giraffe’s torso with the strutting native running up it’s back. The life created by his hand-cut images is an inspiration to any illustrating storyteller. This is a magical cut, torn, and pasted tour of the rich tapestry and dance of the African jungle.