The Picture Book.

The Picture Book: Contemporary Illustration. Edited by Angus Hyland.

I had a read of this today (not that there are many words). I purchased it last week from Waterstones, it is the first ‘arty’ book I have ever bought! Are you proud? You should be, haha. I have enjoyed it though, I never thought I would ever say that about a book that has art in it. Usually, there are an abundance of words and not enough imagery for me. If I see a mass of writing, I generally just zone out before I even begin. However, on the rare occasion I do start, there are normally hundreds of long, clever words that I don’t understand and make me feel stupid. I know that’s not great, but it happens. I prefer and can get more involved in things that either have a greater or equal ratio of pictures to information within them, if that makes sense… I know what I mean.

Anyway, moving back to the book, the illustrations are so different in technique and style. It’s also nice to find out a little about the artists themselves, their inspirations and approaches which are included with their work. It is such a lovely little book. I’m very glad I acquired it.

Below are a few pages that I really like and stick in my mind from the whole book. My favourite is ‘Sam the dog’ by Travis Chatham. I took a look at his website and some more of his pieces. I have decided that I like him as an artist, he’s not one of the ones where I only like a single piece, there are several. I think its probably something to do with the method and layers he uses. Don’t take my word for it, you should have a peek yourselves.

They make me want to draw again.

‘Liberty birds’ by Kate Gibb.

‘Bloomberg tree - bull & bear’ and ‘Sam the dog’ by Travis Chatham.

‘Spring Chick’, ‘Fabric Forest’ and ‘Bun’ by Gina Triplett.

‘Fairground Attraction Girls’ by Deanne Cheuk.

‘Rhino eating ink’ by Jesper Waldersten.

‘Isolation’ and ‘Telephone anatomy scribble’ by Jesper Waldersten.