Friday, November 20, 2009 at 02:48PM Sara Fanelli's book within a book brings the concept of Artist's Book to the masses. This really is like flicking through her sketchbook, every page is just incredibly beautiful.
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 02:37PM This week it's the turn of Jeremy Holmes, illustrator of the fantastic There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly for Chronicle Books.
On the subject of Sketchbooks, Holmes says, 'I sketch on everything but a sketchbook. That doesn’t mean I don’t have sketch-books. I have about 12 unused sketchbooks of all sizes sitting on my bookshelf. Every time I go to draw in one, I end up erasing what I’ve done and just grabbing some old paper from my junk drawer to draw on. Sketchbooks have always made me uncomfortable. I see (and adore) these mind-blowing sketchbooks that my peers keep and I feel like every mark I make in my book needs to be brilliant... Defeating the purpose. But to sketch on random bits and pieces of things removes the pressure...'I have to say, I totally agree with him!
Friday, November 13, 2009 at 01:53PM Some lovely alphabet pics by Paul Thrulby which you can purchase prints of at his website.
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 06:16PM Kate Hindley has an exhibition of her work a while back at the Custard Factory in Birmingham. She sent me some lovely prints which were part of the exhibition.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 12:58PM I had this book by Polly Dunbar sent to me in the post. Unfortunately the book was mangled within an inch of its life but the story and illustrations are so fantastic that i wanted to show it. The characterization of the little boy who's desperately trying to get some kind of reaction out of his penguin friend is wonderfully charming with all the characteristic subtleties of Dunbars work.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 05:52PM Here's another lovely collage book from French publisher Mila Editions
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 01:12PM Andy Smith sent me his new hand screen printed book Blue Inks. Again, his use of single colour in varying hues creates a fantastically bold, graphic look. I also like the clever little use of over-printed red to create an indigo/purple.
Monday, November 2, 2009 at 11:06AM I first discovered Andy Smith's work a few years ago when I came across one of his hand screen printed books Lightning Strikes at Fattys House. I instantly loved his hand lettered typography and the bold restricted colour use.
The follow pics are from a sketchbook that he took on a trip to New York. Smith explains 'It was a while ago and like a lot of illustrators I don't really get time to do this type of drawing anymore. Its drawing for drawings sake and its great to do and keeps you sharp but it doesn't feed directly into my work which these days is usually based more around an idea or phrase than going somewhere and recording it. The thing that was really useful about going out and drawing is that I used to often see or hear something that would later turn into an idea. Nowadays although I don't get out and draw so much I just note all this stuff down. So I have books with things written in them or little doodles that are based on stuff I've seen. These notebooks don't look as nice as the sketchbooks but are really useful for when I'm searching for an idea. I return to them again and again when I need inspiration.'
