Illustrators

Book illustrations should never be considered a sideline or a part of the background of the book. Good illustrations should be just as good as the story if not better than the actual reading material. Perhaps this would worry the author that the illustrations would detract from the writing. Sometimes the illustrations are what make a book.

But authors needn't worry that much because the pictures can complement the story nicely and add quality to the material. In the case of younger readers the pictures are an integral part of the book. Illustrations of children's books are valuable introductions to art, and could inspire lives of artistic creativity.

Classic Storytelling

Ever since Gutenberg invented the printing press children have been picking up volumes of classic stories good or bad to look at the pictures. Many young imaginative children, including a certain blog writer you know, would make their own stories up in their heads as they go. These were the best stories.

When we read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland as children the depictions of all the strange characters led us through the tale and allowed us to put ourselves in the story. Zany as the story itself is, you can expect some zanier pictures. The one at the top of this page is by the book's original illustrator Sir John Tenniel, whose interpretations of the story are probably the most famous. This delightful fellow above is the Mad Hatter. His hat says "In this style 10/6" meaning it costs 10 shillings and sixpence.

Another good version is by Arthur Rackham, who also did the Brothers Grimm, English Fairy Tales, Shakespeare works, some King Arthur illustrations and much more. Ignoring the danger of going too off subject, I will take this opportunity to plug some fine video game art. In this modern age you can actually be in the Alice in Wonderland story, such as in American McGee's 2000"Alice" computer game. Coupled with the music of Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna, the eerie artwork makes for a good experience.

Animals In Clothes, and Morals

We all know of Aesop’s timeless fables, personifying animals and always teaching a lesson. The illustrations do help to, well illustrate the point. Making little cautionary stories with interesting pictures to accompany them has long been a way to trick kids into heeding the morals, which come as kind of subliminal. these fables have an almost infinite amount of publishings and just as many illustrators, and are always fun to look at.

Another good "animals as people" is the classic Old Mother Westwind books of the early 20th century. You can read one volume here, illustrated by George Kerr. Once again, there's usually a moral behind the stories but they always had interesting illustrations to go with them.

American Illustrators

No article about illustration would be complete without the mention of Howard Pyle. Born in 1853, he illustrated for magazines such as Harper's Weekly, taught at Drexel University, Philadelphia, and would influence many of America's most notable illustrators. Some of his most famous works are the Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates, and the famous picture the Nation Makers.

One of Pyle's students was Newell Convers Wyeth of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. N.C. Wyeth was the father of Andrew Wyeth and the grandfather of Jamie Wyeth, one of the most prominent family of painters in the Philadelphia region. N.C. Wyeth was noted mainly for his illustrations doing such work as Treasure Island.

Scary Stories, Even Scarier Pictures

No book illustrations, however great and classic, compare to the art in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Illustrated by Stephen Gammell, this gem's pictures would haunt everybody to set eyes on them. In grade school, you would be lucky to be able to take this out of the library because it was constantly out. There were three books, and one compilation of the three, and told ghost stories, urban legends, tales of woe, and even morbid jokes and songs.

The best part without a doubt are the pictures. The one above is the story of a bride who played hide and seek on her weeding day and got trapped in a trunk only to be found years later. Some good ones were the story of a dream, a big toe that a kid found, floating heads, strange occurrences, and my all time favorite, the story of a scarecrow named Harold.

Every Boy's Dream

I'll finish this article off with a little unknown gem called The Magical Drawings of Mooney B. Finch. This was one of my favorites growing up, as was I'm sure of many others who have been lucky enough to read it. It's the story of a child who discovers that everything he draws on paper comes to life. What kid wouldn't kill for that ability?!

He draws a bubblegum machine and there it is, he draws a big green dragon to be his friend, and his wish is the crayon's command. Of course, as with every super power, there are serious drawbacks. The town folk catch wind of this and ceaselessly seek the favor of the boy. He gives them a treasure chest of gold, a limousine, even a simple comb for a fellow with a bad hair day. The boy eventually gets fed up with all this materialism and has enough of it, destroying all the drawings. I believe before he retires he draws himself a tiny dragon on a leash for a keepsake from his little adventure.

I think its books like these and many others, too many to include here that have sparked my curiosity of art. At such a young and impressionable age, a young child's picture books are worth their weight in gold.