Women of the Page panel @ The Frick

I made it through the Women of the Page panel at the Frick Art & Historical Center without tripping, burping or falling off my chair. Great news!

It was a fun night and I got to see the Draw Me a Story exhibit, too. Well, sort of. I wasn't wearing my glasses, so I didn't really get to read all the information that was included with each illustration, but I got a general idea of what the illustrations looked like. That should be something.

My favorite illustration was the one by WPA artist George Avison called, "Bucking Bronco." It was the cover for the book Sunflight, and the original painting was matted and framed leaving all the handwritten notes and instructions visible. The book itself was displayed in a case alongside the original.

I also want to see (with my glasses) the sketch Maurice Sendak did of Max from Where the Wild Things Are. It was so small. I really need to wear my glasses next time.

The Chris Van Allsburg one is another one that is probably going to be incredible when I finally see it. All those details. This illustration was for the book The Z Was Zapped. I've never seen the book, but it sounds a bit like The Gashlycrumb Tinies in that it's an alphabet book and each letter meets an untimely demise. And, as a type geek, I love the inside joke: The book follows the "Caslon Players," Caslon being the font the book was set in.

As an aside, I feel terrible for Thomas Taylor. He did the original illustrations for the first Harry Potter book, but was dropped for someone more established after the book became a hit. He was only out of college for two years, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was his first commission. Poor kid. You gotta feel for him.

Illustrators I Greatly Admire: Exhibit E

AnnaLaura Cantone

I first came across AnnaLaura Cantone's illustrations a while back as I flipped through a Houghton Mifflin Kids catalog and found Prudence and Moxie by Deborah Noyes. The combination of the illustrator's looseness and her confidence in her mark making made me rip the page out to explore her work a little further.

Of course the page went in the pile, as pages tend to do. I finally found that catalog page as I was cleaning our office space last week, and I took a minute to see if I could find more of her illustrations.

Her Web site looks as though it's under construction, but the animations that run on the front page are awfully cute. After some more searching I found a LiveJournal page with a ton of her illustrations, but no real explanation of what I was looking at (not in English, anyway) except for the few self-explanatory book jacket images.

I've bookmarked the blog page and will be returning periodically when I need to remember where I want my illustrations to be. Loose. Confident. Quirky without apologies. Definitely worth another look.

Illustrators I Greatly Admire: Exhibit D

Lane Smith

My first encounter with Lane Smith's illustrations was because of my kids. Through their book club at school, they bought The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs as told to Jon Scieszka. And then they made me sit still and look at the illustrations.

Those darn kids.

When they thought themselves too old too keep the book, they gave it to me. It was the paperback version, and is well worn. I just received the hardback from Amazon two days ago, and I'm oogling all over again.

Of course, Smith and his wife, graphic designer Molly Leach (unfortunately, no "official" Web site for her work), broke the mold of how a kid's book was allowed to be told in The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. It's hard to mention Smith's work without a nod to Ms. Leach. Both are fantastic. Both are inspirational. And both make me oogle.

Barnes and Noble made a video of the couple's process and posted it on their site. I've embedded it here for convenience.

Illustrators I Greatly Admire: Exhibit C

Gris Grimly.

Incredible talent, this guy.

Currently working on Frankenstein, and has set up a blog to share his progress. First noticed him through his Edgar Allan Poe book, Tales of Mystery and Madness, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Illustrators I Greatly Admire

Exhibit B:
Pablo Bernasconi

I first became aware of Mr. Bernasconi's work in The Wizard the Ugly and the Book of Shame. That one was published by Bloomsbury. Fantastic collage-type abilities and great characters. I wonder if people kept telling him he would scare the children. And I wonder if, even though they told him that, he kept doing what he was doing anyway.

There's a lesson here.

Illustrators I Greatly Admire

Take a look at Kirill Chelushkin's work, represented by Shannon Associates.

First came upon his illustrations in The Elves and the Shoemaker as retold by John Cech and published by Sterling Publishing in New York.

Incredible work.