"Slaine" by Pat Mills and Mike McMahon (Titan Books Ltd, 1986)

Comics with such high quality drawings don't come by very often. Every page is beautifully designed and packed with all those amazing, weird and creepy characters. Here's a link on Mike McMahon's biography and other work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_McMahon_(comics)

"King Lear", Ian Pollock, part2

There are 160 pages in this book - faithful to the original Shakespeare text - and each picture is almost like an artwork in its own right. It must have taken the artist ages to finish the whole story. The execution of the illustrations appears to be easy but there is a lot of work on the details of the costumes, the dramatic effect of the lighting and the compositions. To my surprise the book is still available (new) today and well worth having for any Ian Pollock fans.

"King Lear", W. Shakespeare, illustrated by Ian Pollock (publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd, London 1984)

This is a true gem from the eighties. Ian Pollock was at the time one of the most exciting and influential illustrators in the world (and probably still is) and this is a superb example of his work. The quality of the colours and the drawings is so unique even though so many have since tried to copy this style. It's so difficult to achieve this level of freshness and fluidity in a drawing while conveying a narrative in a figurative way - the perfect balance between illustration and fine art. Here's a link for Pollock's website: http://ianpollock.co.uk

"Riverboat Bill", Cliff Green, illustrations by Stephen Axelsen (Hodder & Stoughton, Australia 1975)

Not much time for blogging these days, running after so many different things at the same time - who said that living in the countryside is stress-free? I bought this book a few weeks ago because of these great character illustrations. The "hand-made" approach of the cover (all type is hand drawn) really stood out and the figures were so funny even though they appeared to be serious. This must have been Stephen Axelsen's first book (he would have been in his early twenties then) and I was glad to find out that he never stopped since! Here's the artist's official website: http://stephenaxelsen.net/ Many books and illustrations there.

This (below) does remind me a bit of Cut-Throat Jake from the Captain Pugwash stories but he's so appropriate as a villain.

And a very sinister version of Pugwash himself...

"The Races Of Mankind, Vol.1" by Robert Brown, M.A. (published by Cassell Petter & Galpin, London, late 1800's)

This volume is dedicated almost entirely on America, both North and South. These portraits are fascinating in historical terms as they must have been drawn from authentic contemporary photographs and show the characteristics of each tribe in great detail. The features on the faces are striking, almost sculptural - I find the quality of the drawing way above the rest of the other illustrations found in these three volumes which makes the fact that the artist is not credited even more annoying. I know very little about American Indian tribes (maybe I should read the book sometime) but hope they'll be appreciated by scholars or other artists.