"Jack And The Beanstalk" Illutrations by William and Brenda Stobbs (Hulton Press Ltd, London 1951) Part 2

Apologies for the "unusual" layout of the artist's biography in the previous post - blogger doesn't like copy and paste very much. Here are some more pages from this great little book. What an amazing range of patterns and colours created by the combination of yellow, blue, red and black. There is also a great skill in the design of the faces, postures and shadows, enhancing the dramatic effect of the story.

"Jack and the Beanstalk", Written by Walter De La Mare and illustrated by William and Brenda Stobbs (Hulton Press Ltd, London 1951)

This little book is just full of beautiful illustrations (fifty in all). Fantastic compositions, action, characters and detail. Each picture is a work of art in its own right. William Stobbs was an artist born not too far from here, in South Shields, Newcastle in 1914. Here's a biography on him borrowed from this site: http://collection.sevenstories.org.uk/Dserve/Dserve.exe?dsqIni=dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Persons&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=(Code==)

William Stobbs was born in South Shields in 1914. He graduated from Durham
School of Art in 1938 and a year later signed on as a draughtsman in the Rolls
Royce firm, where he was involved in the development of Merlin engines. After
World War II he worked briefly for Alvis before becoming head of the Design
Department at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts in 1950. In 1958,
he became principal of Maidstone College of Art and remained in the post until
1979.
Stobbs began working as an illustrator in the 1940s, and his detailed and
well-researched line drawings soon made him particularly popular with writers of
historical fiction such as Henry Treece and Ronald Syme. In 1959 Stobbs won the
Kate Greenaway Medal for two titles with very different styles of illustration -
vibrant colour illustrations for Chekhov's 'Kashtanka' and black-and-white line
drawings with brown wash for Ruth Manning- Sanders' 'A Bundle of Ballads'.
During the 1960s and 1970s, as colour printing techniques began to improved,
Stobbs began to use colour more and more in his illustrations. In later works,
he also began to experiment with textiles and collage.
'Gregory's Dog' and 'Gregory's Garden' (both 1984), devised for his young
son, experimented with colour on a linen, textured background. More successful
though was his version of 'A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go' (1987) in which Mr Frog,
dressed in jeans and running shoes, is comprehensively outsmarted in his
attempts to win Missie Mousey's hand in marriage. This was one of around 20
retellings by Stobbs of traditional stories, and he also wrote a number of his
own. During his career as a whole, Stobbs illustrated over 100 books for
children.
William Stobbs died in Hawkhurst, Kent, on 6 April 2000

"Dick Deadeye", illustrations by Ronald Searle, Part 3

Check out also this excellent blog dedicated to Searle and his work: http://ronaldsearle.blogspot.com/

Another Christmas Card, (2011)

I thought I may as well show this other design of mine, too. It is loosely based on our greyhound - a characteristic pose he often takes in anticipation of food. His name is Teddy which could also double up as a Christmas present I suppose.

My Christmas Card

This is not from any old book - just a Christmas Card design for friends and family. I think the owl looks a bit too merry...

"Dick Deadeye", illustrations by Ronald Searle, Part 2

I guess these do remind the Benny Hill shows from the seventies but the drawings are fantastic!

"Dick Deadeye" based on the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, illustrated by Ronald Searle (published by Jonathan Cape, London 1975)

This was quite a tricky book to scan - just a bit larger than A4! The illustrations are incredible though. Classic Searle characters set in intricate and beautifully drawn 19th century backgrounds. The book was put together with a British animation film based on the original comic operas by Gilbert and Sullivan. Apparently the film failed to attract the older fans of the operas while it was considered too "risque" for the children audiences - there is certainly a high number of boobs on display in the book which is always bound to offend somebody in this country! I would have thought it wouldn't be so out of the ordinary in the seventies but it did turn out to be unpopular.

Cover for a toy box - from the Czech Republic (unknown illustrator)

And while I'm on the subject of sixties flat and bold colours with hand drawn type, here's another favourite of mine. It's a cover for a toy train set (not a book!) produced in the Czech Republic sometime in the sixties (I think). Found it in this house when we moved in three years ago - no train set inside though...

Cuban Posters from the 1960's - Part 3

Final installment from this phychedelic phase of Cuban design - again, it's worth visiting this fantastic blog http://cubanposterart.blogspot.com/ for more information on the designers involved in creating this artwork as well as many other exciting posters from that era.

Cuban Posters from the 1960's - Part 2

Cuban Posters from the 1960's

I hadn't seen this book for about nine years now! So I got the camera out - the posters were too large for my scanner - but the pictures turned out to be a real disaster because I shouldn't have used the flash! Luckily, I found this blog http://cubanposterart.blogspot.com/ that not only has some excellent examples of these 60's Cuban posters but also gives some interesting information on their history and background. I've got quite a few more to show shortly...

"J.G.POSADA, Mexican Popular Prints" - (Redstone Press, London 1988) - Part 3

One more installment of Posada's strange and subversive images. Diego Rivera justifiably compared him to Goya in the way he depicted folklore in his pictures as well as the passions and superstitions of ordinary people. Truly original and powerful both in subject matter and draughtsmanship.