FUSHIGI CIRCUS
Mark Ryden
ISBN-10: 4894444070
ISBN-13: 9784894444072
A collection of the works of Mark Ryden. Features new works, including Blood, Sweat, Tears, and The Creatrix. A survey of 55 of Ryden’s most impressive works from past shows to the present. Published by PIE Books of Japan, and distributed outside of Japan exclusively by Last Gasp. This is the second printing.
A collection of the works of Mark Ryden. Features new works, including Blood, Sweat, Tears, and The Creatrix. A survey of 55 of Ryden’s most impressive works from past shows to the present.
Upon first glance Ryden’s work seems to mirror the Surrealists’ fascination with the subconscious and collective memories. However, Ryden transcends the initial Surrealists’ strategies by consciously choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation. His dewy vixens, cuddly plush pets, alchemical symbols, religious emblems, primordial landscapes and slabs of meat challenge his audience not necessarily with their own oddity but with the introduction of their soothing cultural familiarity into unsettling circumstances.
Viewers are initially drawn in by the comforting beauty of Ryden’s pop-culture references, then challenged by their circumstances, and finally transported to the artist’s final intent — a world where creatures speak from a place of childlike honesty about the state of mankind and our relationships with ourselves, each other and our past.
Clearly infused with classical references, Ryden’s work is not only inspired by recent history, but also the works of past masters. He counts among his influences Bosch, Bruegel and Ingres with generous nods to Bouguereau and Italian and Spanish religious painting. Ryden’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a recent museum retrospective “Wondertoonel” at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and the Pasadena Museum of California Art.
DUMB LUCK – GARY BASEMAN
Gary Baseman
ISBN: 0811844234
Mucking up the pages of the New Yorker, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Forbes, the Atlantic Monthly, Blab, and more, Gary Baseman has populated the finest publications with his inimitable brand of illustration. Now Dumb Luck, presents the first complete collection of his work, spanning more than ten years. According to Baseman himself, his art inhabits “that muddy spot where the line between genius and stupidity has been smudged beyond recognition.” Dark and dopey, hokey and heartbreaking, his world is populated with freaky folks, maimed bunnies, weird wiener dogs, and anthropomorphic ice-cream cones that yearn and burn just like we do. Baseman’s particular genius lies in capturing those ridiculous and all-too-often appalling aspects of being human. Hilarious testimony to the mind of its creator, Dumb Luck is both an art manifesto and a raw celebration of idiocy.
Hardcover: 336 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.21 x 11.70 x 8.56
Publisher: Chronicle Books; (May 2004)
GREAT BRITISH COMICS (PAPERBACK)
P. GRAVET
ISBN: 1845131703
“Great British Comics” offers a feast of striking cartoon graphics, a celebration of Britain’s perennially popular comic heroes and their acclaimed creators, and a guide to collecting for everyone who remembers fondly the comics they grew up with. British comics are truly world famous, as well as being read by millions across the UK. Since the 1980s, there has been a British invasion of writers and artists into American comic books, revitalizing everything from Batman to X-Men and originating uniquely British characters of their own, such as Modesty Blaise and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Divided into chapters by themes such as schooldays, animals and the future, the book will chart the careers of familiar favourites such as Dennis the Menace and Dan Dare across the decades from the 1920s to the 1990s. The lively, informative text will be richly illustrated with toys, badges, merchandise and collectables, as well as comic-book covers, pages and annuals.
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd (26 Oct 2006)
Language English
ILLUSTRATION BOOK PRO 01
PIE BOOKS
ISBN-10: 4894445875
ISBN-13: 978-4894445871
A collection of 1000 works by 150 of Japan’s hottest illustrators – many of whom receive wide support from advertising agencies and graphic designers and whose works appear in ads and magazines. One glance at each of these powerful and unique fashion, character, people, landscape, and various other illustrations confirms their superlative quality and international appeal. All of 1000 works presented in this collection are previously unpublished, grouped by illustrator.
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: PIE Books (1 Jun 2007)
Language English
SARA FANELLI – SOMETIMES I THINK, SOMETIMES I AM
Sara Fanelli, Steven Heller, Marina Warner
ISBN 978 185437 728 9
‘Fanelli’s originality has brought a breath of fresh air to the world of picture books… with an off-beat humour and an inventive approach to everything from page design and typography to choice of materials’ – Guardian
Award-winning artist and illustrator Sara Fanelli is one of the world’s foremost illustrators, renowned for her experimental techniques that have spawned many imitators. Her unique contribution to book illustration is evident in such memorable books as Dear Diary (‘one of the most extraordinary picture books ever devised’ – Independent; ‘an eccentric masterpiece’ – Guardian), Mythological Monsters (‘a model of artistic engagement’ – Kirkus Reviews) and My Map Book (‘an exhilarating and liberating book for all’ – Guardian). More recently she illustrated The New Faber Book of Children’s Verse and Pinocchio (for the cover of which she was awarded first prize in the V&A Illustration Awards).
Fanelli’s inspiration lies not only in the visual arts but also in literature and the theatre. Sometimes I Think, Sometimes I Am is a remarkable creation by the artist, in which Fanelli takes the quotations and aphorisms that inspire her work, from Dante and Goethe to Calvino and Beckett, and places them in the context of a completely original artistic creation – sketchbooks, collages, paintings and drawings – at the heart of which lies a beautiful miniature book-within-a-book.
The book opens with a newly commissioned text from Steven Heller, while Marina Warner introduces each of the five ‘chapters’ – ‘Devils and Angels’, ‘Love’, ‘Colour’, ‘Myth’ and ‘The Absurd’ – that make up this unique work.
This is a book that will be enjoyed by anyone alert to the possibilities of what a book can be. It will be treasured, collected and marvelled at for years to come.
Steven Heller is a distinguished art and design historian and art director of the New York Times Book Review
Marina Warner is a novelist and critic
TATE PUBLISHING
Publication September 2007
176 pp Paperback
200 colour illustrationsMOOMIN: THE COMPLETE TOVE JANSSON COMIC STRIP
ISBN: 1894937805
The author’s comic strip is published for the first time in North America in the first volume of a proposed multi-volume series designed to reprint the entire strip of the magical world of the author’s creation, the Moomins.
NEW COMIC ART AND NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATION
ISBN: 1856694143
Pictures and Words collects together the most outstanding contemporary examples of pictorial storytelling. Celebrating illustration that stands on its own to tell a story rather than simply accompanying or adorning another medium, the book includes extracts from graphic novels, comic strips and books, as well as single-panel cartoons and drawings. Words are present in the form of character dialogue or narration, or sometimes a story emerges from a series of illustrated panels that contain no text at all. With or without words, this is a highly expressive medium, dealing with a vast range of subjects from political issues to the most complex of human emotions. Comics and graphic novels are currently enjoying huge popularity in mainstream culture. This timely book brings together work by 30 key artists from around the world, including Paul Davis, Benoit Jacques and Andrzej Klimowski.
Paperback 144 pages (September 2005)
Publisher: Laurence King Publishing
J OTTO SEIBOLD – FUCHSIA IS NOW
J. OTTO SEIBOLD
ISBN: 0439635594
A new departure for the picture book pioneer. Everything’s simpler, from the style of the illustrations to the plot. The book seems to actually have been conceived with real children in mind! The details, however, from round edged pages to patterns on covers, are still totally Seibold-like.
On her birthday Fuchsia receives a great surprise–a pretty new hat with a magic fairy inside! The fairy tells Fuchsia to close her eyes and make a special wish… and before Fuchsia knows it, she has three cute new friends to play with–Pigoh, Fwoggy, and Meowse! The friends play all day until it is time for bed. As she drifts off to sleep, Fuchsia knows her friends will return the next day. All she has to do is say the magic words, “THE FUCHSIA IS NOW!”
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Orchard Books (April 1, 2006)
Language: English
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ILLUSTRATION
ZEEGEN, LAWRENCE
ISBN: 2-88479-060-8
After a decade of catching up with technology, modern illustration is digitally literate and full of stylistic attitude. Today’s illustrators work across a broad range of traditional skills and software and are much in demand. Creating great illustration work requires specialist skills and knowledge, and in addition to practical applications, this book teaches a comprehension of basic communication theory and creative strategies. It guides in understanding design, print and production processes as well as software application. By recognising illustration as a freelance profession, The Fundamentals of Illustration explains best working practices appropriate to all industry sectors, including how to market and promote work effectively.
The very best of today’s global illustrators provide examples of work, and additional commentary is offered from a range of employers and educators.
Author Bio
Lawrence Zeegen is an illustrator, educator and writer. As Academic Programme Leader for Communication and Media Arts at the University of Brighton he leads courses in Graphic Design and Illustration. Zeegen has lectured and given papers nationally and internationally and has chaired conferences about contemporary illustration at Liverpool John Moores University in Liverpool and the Royal College of Art.
An illustrator for 14 years since graduation from the Royal College of Art, Zeegen has been involved in the set-up of both, influential illustration studio, Big Orange and in Heart, one of the UK’s foremost illustration agencies. Zeegen’s design and illustration clients include national newspapers and magazines, and international design and advertising agencies. He writes regularly for Computer Arts magazine, Digital Creative Arts and has contributed to other leading design. He has been a council member for The Association of Illustrators 2000-2002.
Fundamentals of Illustration
176 pages
200 colour images
PUBLISHED BY: AVA Books
PUBLISHED: September 2005