Books &Illustration 08 Apr 2009 07:48 am
Un Drago Troppo Solo
- John Canemaker knows that I love great children’s book art. He’ brought this book to my attention and loaned it to me to post some of its illustrations. Un Drago Troppo Solo (Only a Dragon Too) is a beautiful Italian children’s book written by Doris Diedrich and illustrated by Javier Zabala.
It’s the story of a bored boy who tames a dragon. The illustrations are right out the Abstract Expressionist handbook. Using collage, bits of tape, graph paper, splattered paint and strong expressive painting, the illustrations are distinctive and inspiring.
Here are a few of the book’s illustrations:
The front cover | the Title Page
(Click any image to enlarge.)
on 08 Apr 2009 at 10:14 am 1.Mark Newgarden said …
Beautiful stuff.
on 08 Apr 2009 at 10:51 am 2.Stephen said …
Wonderful
thanks for sharing
on 08 Apr 2009 at 1:10 pm 3.Grant said …
Reminds me of Ian Worrell’s work:
http://enworrel.blogspot.com/
on 08 Apr 2009 at 2:43 pm 4.Ian Lumsden said …
Sometimes an artist can get create a child’s world and yet summon up the sophistication of the best of adulthood. I have never heard of Javier before. The figures under the umbrellas are Lowryesque with just a smidgen of colour and there’s a lot happening in the illustrations. Delightful.
on 08 Apr 2009 at 3:24 pm 5.hans bacher said …
michael, this is the best I have seen in years. thank you and john for showing it!
on 08 Apr 2009 at 4:45 pm 6.Ty carter said …
Rad!
on 08 Apr 2009 at 7:51 pm 7.Dagan said …
BLOWN away!
wow.
thank you for the inspiration!
on 11 Apr 2009 at 2:19 pm 8.Elliot Cowan said …
Absolutely incredible.
It’ll be a long time (if ever) we ever see a children’s book published with such energetic and exciting illustrations.
on 13 Apr 2009 at 5:03 pm 9.Frank M Hansen said …
This is amazing.
on 19 Apr 2009 at 4:00 pm 10.paolabristot said …
Today it is raining! The pictures are perfect! The book is very poetic. Thanks!
on 20 May 2009 at 1:44 pm 11.miryam anllo said …
Mirar tus ilustraciones es desear tener un dragón rojo que eche mucho, mucho fuego, llevar un sombrero de copa azul, que llueva sin parar y perderse entre los arboles de agua y acuarela.
Precioso álbum… ¡no podÃa ser de otra manera!
Tú serÃas capaz de emocionar hasta a la muerte con tu trabajo.