Children of Soldiers

Moonpowder, with story and pictures by John Rocco, is a book 'dedicated to the children of soldiers everwhere'.

'I never have sweet dreams. Never.'

Desperately searching

Working on his helio-rocket-copter

Moonpowder — Text & pictures ©2008 John Rocco

Published by Hyperion Books for Children

People Whom We Cannot See

"I believe when I am in the mood that all nature is full of people whom we cannot see, and that some of these are ugly or grotesque, and some wicked or foolish, but very many beautiful beyond any one we have ever seen, and that these are not far away . . . . the simple of all times and the wise men of ancient times have seen them and even spoken to them."

—W.B. Yeats, The Celtic Twilight

Tony DiTerlizzi — Deep-Forest Sprites

Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You

Tony DiTerlizzi — Perrault's Ogre

Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You

Tony DiTerlizzi — Wood Elf

Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You

Images and text ©2005 Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

Enduring and Endearing

The two most enduring and endearing genres of illustration, kid's book art and fantasy art, go together like pb & j. Some of the best of children's books utilize fantasy to the point that both kids and adults can enjoy the same books together. Among a plethora of such books, is The Voyage of the Basset, illustrated by James C. Christensen.

As she was growing up, my daughter and I read this book, one of her favorites, together a number of times—each of us taking turns reading with funny voices for the characters, and lingering over each illustration with loving attention, pointing out details to each other.

James C. Christensen — "Believing is Seeing"

Frontispiece from The Voyage of the Basset

©1996 by The Greenwich Workshop, Inc.

Here's what one of my favorite fellow bloggers, Annie, had to say:

There are so many fine artists illustrating children's books today, that I encourage all artists to explore the medium, by visiting a large library collection, where children’s picture books have been selected based on favorable reviews.

Some illustrators are writing the books; and others are in collaboration with their long time friends or spouses, or they have been selected and hired through author and publisher recommendations.

Styles range from watercolor and pastel, with the quality of professional portraits- far from static, expressing movement, scene, setting, characterization, and emotion- to pure graphic design, or an almost cartoon-like quality. These are the illustrated stories written for pre-school through about third or fourth grade. Graphic novels are another medium to explore.

There are so many artists, in a myriad of styles, these are just a handful, in no particular order: Jan Brett, James Ransome, David Diaz, Trina Schart Hyman, Janet Stevens, Allen Say, Jerry Pinkney, Rachel Isadora, Marilee Heyer, Steven Kellogg, Audrey Wood, Marianna Mayer, Chris Van Allsburg, David Weisner, Denise Fleming, Kinuko Y. Craft, and Robert D. San Souci. Michael Hague and Tony DiTerlizzi credit Arthur Rackham as a direct influence.

Over the next few posts I will be showing random individual illustrations from contemporary children's books (from the last 20 years or so) that might be inspirational.

Patron Saint of Fantasy Art

One more word about a new golden age of illustration and then I'll shut up (for now).

I have to backpedal a bit more and admit, of course, that the field of Fantasy Art has been in an aura of a golden age for many years, with Frank Frazetta as the patron saint of the genre. Fantasy illustrators are some of the most talented creators of all time, continuously transporting us to realms far beyond our mundane world. Every year that is confirmed and kept alive for us by the wonderful Spectrum annual of The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, published by Underwood Books.

Speaking of Frazetta — Doc Dave, if you're looking in, as I know you sometimes do, please email me. I'm concerned about what happened with your blog.

Frank Frazetta — Spectrum III — 1996

Continuous Golden Age

I know I've been oversimplifying in the last few rants about the need for a new golden age of illustration. Oh, I still stand behind the notion that modern graphic design principles need to be reestablished. Yet I know that lots of great design, integrating great illustration, is ongoing. But in order for it to be a golden age, it needs to be ubiquitous, constantly encountered—not just rare finds. Though rare finds are obviously still a delight.

In a comment to the last post, Annie delivers a positive note (as she always does) that reminds me, as it should remind us all, that children's books have been in a continuous golden age since books were first published for children. For over a hundred years, children's literature has remained magical, entertaining, and ever delightful—resulting from illustrators and authors given nearly free rein to leap and cavort and shed inhibitions through an ever twisting and tumbling literary universe.

Demonstrating that is a random, serendipitous, example I pulled blindly from my digital archives of children's books—illustrations by Eric Kincaid:

Above and below: Eric Kincaid — A Children's Book of Verse

I need to drop the subject of a new golden age—for now—only because my deadlines are demanding my attention again. But I will be returning to my rants, and I won't just be yakking about it, I plan to do something about it. I have some plans for this year that I'm looking forward to telling you about soon enough.

Until then, for the time being, I'm back to posting random images here and there, with minimal text. That's more like it, sez you.

Golden Age to Come

Even modern catalogues are worth keeping, when they sport enchanting graphics on their covers, such as these Lands' Ends, illustrated by . . . yup . . . Mary GrandPré.

Mary GrandPré — Lands' End — 2000

Mary GrandPré — Lands' End — 2000

Art Directors, you must know that people are aesthetically imaginative and appreciate beauty and wit and timeless design. You know they will gravitate to media that incorporate these things, benefitting your clientele. People are tired of shallow and crowded throwaway graphic design. I'm not saying there isn't wonderful work being published right now—sometimes it's just hard to find, surrounded by mountains of material destined to be tossed and forgotten.

You have at your command enough talented illustrators to fill a super-bowl stadium. Turn them loose to give you their best. Their work deserves large formats, not crowded and hidden behind shouting text. Please don't rely strictly on stock images and photography. Think of graphic golden ages past and realize that we could be part of a new golden age to come.

What Happened?

Just to belabor the point, as I tend to do, magazines used to be wonderful to behold—with brilliant and intriguing covers, artistically designed to seduce you into picking one up and reveal its inner works, superbly written and illustrated. And after enjoying it, you might think to save it, to look at again another day. And as time went by, you might want to keep it even longer, adding it to a collection of other magazines that you can't part with.

Every once in a while that might happen even these days, but the last time that happened to me was more than a decade ago, with the magical Mary GrandPré Harry Potter artwork that the news magazines had the good sense to showcase, as you can see below.

Mary GrandPré — Time — 1999

Mary GrandPré — Newsweek — 2000

I've kept the magazine below, only because of the article inside about JK Rowling, and one of these days I will rip the article out to file in the morgue, tossing the rest into the recycle bin. Not slighting Henry Leutwyler's photograph in the least, I do not want to keep this cover. Subject of Karl Rove aside, IF it was an insightful and intriguing illustration of him on the cover, I probably would archive it.

Henry Leutwyler — Time — 2005

Magazine publishers don't care if you save their magazines, for one day or one century. All they want is to sell that magazine to you in the first place. Well, I don't buy any of the modern magazines. If I want to keep up on affairs, I check magazines out from the library. If their covers and interiors were brimming with timeless and brilliant illustrative art, I would subscribe to them all. Photographs are fine too, if they are directed and designed to be thought-provoking and distinctive.

What happened that art directors, for the most part, are satisfied with dull and throwaway graphics, jamming on blurbs and such, until each magazine looks like another, blurring away distinction and dignity?

Crabby Old Guy Again

What happened, after decades of fabulous covers, that Time magazine pulled away from interesting and colorful illustrated portraits of people on the cultural forefronts? Once in a while, these days, there might be a painted portrait on the cover, but they seem dull and dreary.

It used to be, not so long ago, that folks would actually look forward week after week to see who would be portrayed in some artistic way. Case in point, this bright and cheery cover:

Richard Amsel — Lily Tomlin — 1977

Time magazine covers used to be collected and treasured. These days, they are glanced at and quickly tossed into the recycle bins.

I want to start a campaign—some way, somehow—directed to our current media. With so many wonderful illustrators in our modern era, I want to see a new golden age of illustration!!!!

Does anyone else feel that way?

A Wish

I adore ice cream, but it's an item I've voluntarily removed from my diet. If you look at my profile, you'll see that one of my interests is MooseTracks, and I'm not talking about following Bullwinkle into the wilds.

From a postcard I received in the 70s, but drawn by William Donahey many decades before that.

Rota Fortunae

Oh good golly, I really can't stay away from blogging. Even in the middle of panic—48 hours left until the drop-dead-deadline, with so much more to do—I find myself here at the magic machine, calling up more images.

Fortune Magazine started publishing 81 years ago this month, just four months after the start of the Great Depression, and most appropriately used an archaic image of the wheel of fortune for its first cover.

T.M. Cleland — Fortune Magazine — February 1930

Loonngg before the TV show, 'Wheel of Fortune', Rota Fortunae was an archaic concept referring to the capricious nature of Fate, as used by Jean Delville in the image below.

Jean Delville — Rota Fortunae

And gives a good excuse to pull up the image below because it too was painted by Jean Delville, which preceded, and I'll bet was an inspiration for, Kahlil Gibran's spiritual love art.

Jean Delville — Soul Love — 1900

Cartes de luxe

Major deadlines are looming over me for the next 5 weeks, so I'm going to need to be on hiatus on this blog between now and the 1st of March, and then maybe also a couple of weeks later. We'll see.

So in the meantime, clear the decks, cuz I hope this post suits you—and if you're like me, we're two of a kind, flush with excitement. I'm not playing with a full deck here, though I might just be bluffing. Maybe I'm playing my hand too close to the vest, but trumping some other posts, this material could be used in all the best clubs, enjoyed in spades, setting our hearts afire as much as diamonds are forever. Whether you're king of the hill, queen for a day, or jack of all trades—you people are aces with me . . . so deal with it!

Paul-Émile Bécat was a master of erotica, usually for limited edition books, but here has painted a tour de force that is an erotic limited edition of a deck of playing cards (did you get my subtle hints up above? Was I too subtle?).

Titled le Florentin, the deck is copyrighted 1955 by Éditions Philibert, Paris. Bécat's art and designs are masterful and clever, elevating the status of ephemera.

These miniatures were styled after, and celebrate, famous paintings of Old Masters, and the descriptions we have of the masterpieces destroyed in the Bonfire of the Vanities in 1497—upon order of the monk Savonarola (a despicable deed that included destruction of paintings by Sandro Botticelli). Renaissance history lessons could be planned around these cards.

The Royal Suits, like most playing cards, have images that can rotate, showing properly—top or bottom. I have posted these cards in both directions so that you don't have to turn your computer upside down ;>)

The frontispiece card, above, opens the door to characters shown in the deck.

One of the jokers is the giant jester of the Duke of Mantua, whose main duty was to keep an eye on the 'collection' of dwarves given to his master by the other princes of Europe.

The other joker is a Lady, personifying the Florentine festivities.

The Adventuresses

Allegory of gold

Allegory of Love

The poisoners

The powerful Duke Leonardo, famous for his wealth and his patronage of the arts

the rotated image

Allegory of the soldiers

the rotated image

King Francis I

the rotated image

Bluebeard and his wives

the rotated image

Protecting and encouraging the arts

the rotated image

'La Belle Ferronnière', favorite of King Francis I

the rotated image

The lady and the rose, recurrent them of the Renaissance

the rotated image

Lucrecia Borgia

the rotated image

Leonardo da Vinci, surrounded by the beauties he made immortal

the rotated image

The messenger of love

The rotated image

The lovers of Verona

the rotated image

Machiavelli

the rotated image

The backside of all the cards

Putting this post together was a lot of work, but perhaps it will compel you to come back after my murderous deadline to see many more goodies yet to come.