pasithea

Yesterday I looked at The Jungle ABC by Michael Roberts (who, according to the bio also does a lot of art for The New Yorker I REALLY liked this book. If I had a spare $4 + shipping I'd actually buy it off Amazon right now. The artwork is all paper-cutout but it has a really superior sense of design and colour theory. Each page has a letter of the alphabet, and on the opposite page, a paper collage. The rhythm and color in the page draws you right to what you're supposed to be focusing on in the image and identifies the word. The very last page in the book gives the words that you were supposed to get. Except for that page, everything is conveyed graphically.

I've been looking at a lot of children's books lately. My instructor brings them to design class, and Peggy has several too. Last night it suddenly dawned on me just what a good idea this is! A great number of really good artists publish childrens books. The consumer market for childrens books, however, is vast, and has a lot of competition. Most people are looking for something to entertain their child without spending a lot of money on it. Children's books also tend to be very large pages. Wow! They're much like coffe-table books of an artist's work except that they cost 50 cents at a garage sale or a couple bucks at a second hand shop, whereas 'adult' books of an artist's work are upwards of $40. Makes a lot of sense why Mrs. Hill brings them to class. You can subject yourself to a wide range of art for very little money.

The disadvantages, of course are that you often have to deal with moralistic or otherwise odious text and you have to dig through a LOT of schlock to find a few gems, and when you do find them, they aren't garunteed not to be stained with grape jelly or scrawled on with crayon. All in all though, it's an interesting prospect which I think I shall explore more as soon as I have a few dollars to spend. Maybe I'll sell some Furry art. Pleh.