A little taste of new Illustration Books to whet your appetite

Death of the artist

741.5 FRA

On 13 August 2013 graphic novelist Karrie Fransman invited four old friends from university to an isolated cottage on the misty moors of the Peak District to join her for a week of hedonism and creativity. Like Shelley and Byron before them, they would use the retreat to tell stories. Except these would be comics, collected together in this very book. The theme? The Death of the Artist. None of the five friends realised how appropriate this theme would become. The book weaves a single narrative across watercolour, digital art, photography, collage and illustration, exploring the themes of creation, destruction, and how we kill our inner artists as we grow up. It takes the graphic novel into entirely new realms.

Illustration next : contemporary creative collaboration

741.6 BEN

This outstanding global survey brings together the dazzling talent of 50 leading illustrators from over 20 countries, among them Julia Rothman, Whitney Sherman and Mike Perry, and also provides them with the opportunity to indulge in a brilliant, creative experiment. The book is curated into two interleaved strands: in the first, each illustrator showcases their own work and is interviewed by the author to shine a light onto what inspires and motivates them. The second strand is a collaborative project with illustrators working in pairs to create original work to one of 25 briefs from the author based on themes ranging from ‘beauty’ to ‘beast’ and ‘speed’ to ‘excess’. Each collaboration is accompanied by a joint interview with the two illustrators.

Illustration : a theoretical and contextual perspective

741.64 MAL

Illustration practice is not judged purely by visual literacy and technical qualities, but also requires intellectual engagement with its subject matter. Illustration: A Theoretical & Contextual Perspective, 2nd Edition examines the breadth and many uses of this diverse discipline, through nearly 300 colour examples.

From developing a brief, conducting research and analysing visual language, the book goes on to explore the role of illustration in documentation, commentary, storytelling, persuasion and identity. It concludes with an overview of current professional practice, demonstrating that the ability to communicate meaningfully and effectively for a global audience is key to navigating today's creative industries.

Examples of work from award-winning illustrators showcase a huge range of applications, from the author's own collaboration with the British Museum of Natural History and Olivier Kugler's Portraits of Syrian Refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan, to Levi Pinfold's fictional picture book Black Dog and Malika Favre's promotional images for the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Film Awards.

Puffin by design : 70 years of imagination 1940-2010

741.642 SAL

Children’s picture-books are the very first books we encounter, and they form an important, constantly evolving and dynamic sector of the publishing industry. But what does it take to create a successful picture book for children? In seven chapters, this book covers the key stages of conceiving a narrative, creating a visual language and developing storyboards and design of a picture-book. There are interviews with leading children’s picture-book illustrators, as well as case studies of their work. The picture-books and artists featured hail from Australia, Belgium, Cuba, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, the UK and the USA. In this publication, Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles introduce us to the world of children’s picture-books, providing a solid background to the industry before going on to explore the key concepts and practices that have gone into the creation of picture-books.

100 great children's picture-books

741.642 SAL

This unashamed visual feast celebrates the best designed and illustrated picture-books from around the world over the past one hundred years. Each book is a creation of genius and inventiveness, and their design and illustration represent such diverse trends as the Russian Constructivists, Italian Futurists and Postwar Neo-romantics. They are also mirrors of their times reflecting social concerns from a child's and family's perspectives throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. Fearlessly confronting the frontiers between a child's picturebook and art, this is a collection of books that anyone with an interest in design, illustration or simply children's literature should know about.

Modern British Wood Engraving: A new look at a traditional medium

DVD 761.2 SWE

The film looks at the wide application of wood engravings today including independent prints for exhibition, book illustration, fine art press and advertising.

Other contributors to the film include the author Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL, Bankside Gallery and the Ashmolean Museum. The main film is 45 minutes plus there are 10 × 10 minute conversations with ten featured artists: Neil Bousfield, Simon Brett, Harry Brockway, Chris Daunt, Anne Desmet, Edwina Ellis, John Lawrence, Peter Lawrence, Miriam Macgregor and Hilary Paynter.