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The Secret Garden: A Graphic Novel adapted by Mariah Marsden ill. Hanna Luechtefeld

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 16 Jul 2021

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“Luechtefeld’s orderly panels employ a deliberate earth-toned palette, starting with a decidedly dark feel and gradually lightening as the characters move through their own personal struggles with grief. The core of Burnett’s tale is present… often ably conveyed in lovely wordless scenes.” KIRKUS
“The parallels between the tending of the garden and character development within the story are reflected in the beautiful, hand drawn–style artwork, which gradually brightens from a washed-over neutral palette to lighter.” SLJ

It’s always of interest when classic children’s books are given new life in graphic novel form. Mariah Marsden’s adaptation omits certain elements from the original book but the key narrative elements remain. It is Hanna Luechtefeld’s atmospheric visual panels that make this presentation of the story so appealing.


At the back of the book, readers can learn about the life of Frances Hodgson Burnett and the history of British colonialism that contextualizes the original novel.

Follow Hanna Luechtefeld, a highly interesting and prolific illustrator, zine enthusiast and gallery curator/director from Kansas City, on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannaluechtefeld/

Meet An Illustrator 27 – Polly Noakes

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Illustrator Avatar © Polly Noakes

We’re delighted to welcome Polly Noakes as the 27th guest on Meet An Illustrator, the regular weekend quick-fire Q&A.

Polly, who has been illustrating children’s books since the 198os and now lives in rural north Yorkshire, having moved up there from the deep south just over a year ago, recently gave her Instagram followers a glimpse of her new studio:

The paperback edition of A Present for Rosy, illustrated by Polly and written by Jonathan Emmett, was published by Walker Books just a couple of months ago.

She was author and illustrator for Hide And Seek, published by Child’s Play in 2018 and described by KIRKUS as “a visual romp” and by Publishers Weekly as “a study in how to design a beautiful book with a young child’s sensibilities firmly in mind.”

Books coming soon!​

  • Love From Santa – Michelle Robinson and Polly Noakes (Bloomsbury, 2022)
  • Me and my shadow – by Polly Noakes (Child’s Play, 2022)

This mini-series aims to pique a reader’s interest in the featured illustrator. With that in mind, the following interview (from last year – 2020 – on Elephant Books) is highly recommended:
https://elephant-books.com/2020/01/16/polly-noakes/

In the interview, Polly talks about her picture book, TheVery Long Sleep also published by Child’s Play:

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember admiring? 

I started drawing regularly from about the age of seven. I still have these drawings, mostly of fairies and imaginary worlds with lots of centaurs, no idea why!

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

I loved looking at books by Arthur Rackham and Shirley Hughes, especially the ‘My Naughty Little Sister’ books. I still admire Shirley Hughes’ work today and I am certain my love of illustration was sparked from gazing at her books while my mother read to me. It’s a very strong memory.

Who inspires you today?

The picture books of my tutor in the 80’s, Warwick Hutton – they are unique with an incredible use of perspective and light. And Brian Wildsmith.

Did you study art/illustration?

I studied illustration at Cambridge School of Art in the 1980’s and more recently on the MA in Children’s Book Illustration, graduating in 2015.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

Tricky, as I have lots! But I love Blackwing pencils at the moment.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

Jackson’s and Cass Art.

What software/apps do you use?

After drawing/painting/mono-printing my work, I use Photoshop to clean it, resize and collage.

What was your first commission?

My first picture book, ‘Sally Sky Diver’, published by JM Dent/Orion – I walked in off the street and walked out with a deal. It was so easy in the 80’s!

What are you working on at the moment?

A baby board book publishing next year and a picture book called ‘Love From Santa’, written by Michelle Robinson for Bloomsbury.

Twitter or Instagram? Instagram

Coffee or tea? Both

 Dog or cat? Both

Grape or grain? Both

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset

What do you listen to when you are working?  Music – lots of jazz, Neil Cowley is a favourite at the moment.
Podcasts – anything about the creative process.
Radio 4 on and off.

Where can we follow you on social media?
Instagram polly_noakes_illustration

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

 

Meet An Illustrator 24 – John Broadley

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self-portrait © John Broadley

This week, on Meet An Illustrator, we are featuring an artist currently shortlisted for the 2021 Klaus Flugge Prize. This highly important children’s book award, named after the founder of Andersen Press, is presented annually to the most promising and exciting newcomer to children’s picture book illustration.

John has been shortlisted for his illustrations to Booker Prize-shortlisted Mick Jackson’s While You’re Sleeping, an ACHUKA Book of the Day in October 2020. Jill Bennett said of this title, on her superb review blog RedReadingHub, “To open this book is like opening a gorgeous box full of jewels – each page is stunning – so too are the endpapers, the cover: the entire production in fact and to read it is like being shown around a gallery by a wise, gently spoken curator eager to open our eyes to how the world works.”

John may be a newcomer to children’s picture books but he is hardly a newcomer to illustration. Since 1996 he has produced limited editions of hand-made books, with print runs ranging from  5 to 80. In 2010 an edition of all his work to date was published as  John Broadley’s Books by Jonathan Cape Graphic Novels.

In 2018 he published ‘Early Struggles’, a signed and numbered 64-page edition of 102 copies. It came hand-bound in a choice of four colours with each copy including a hand-drawn original insert of a drawing of a budgie.

In 2012 John became the in-house illustrator for the London restaurant Quo Vadis where his drawings appear on dozens of daily changing menus, tablecloths, vouchers (see below) and online. His client list includes Fortnum & Mason, Liberty London, Berry Bros & Rudd, Phaidon, The Fine Cheese Co, New York Times, and Zuni Cafe San Francisco.

John’s work is currently being exhibited by Hey There Projects, a gallery in Joshua Tree, California. The exhibition, Lost Then Found, runs through to July 9.

John’s second children’s book collaboration with Mick Jackson, We’re Going Places, is published in September this year.

Jump to the end of the Q&A for a video of John explaining how he worked on While You’re Sleeping and a link to a Pavilion Books blog page giving more details of how the book was compiled and some of the challenges faced.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember admiring? 

I used to copy photos from horror film books, things like Nosferatu & Dr Caligari – still do it today to some extent.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

The Tolkein drawings in the Hobbit. I probably didn’t think the drawings were very good but they had a weirdness which was different to anything else that I would have seen at that time.

Who inspires you today?

When I’m producing my own, self-published books, which are not led by a commission, I sometimes put a David Lynch interview on and get motivated by his thoughts on generating ideas.

Did you study art/illustration?

I studied illustration at Liverpool Polytechnic in the late 80s/early 90s. Before that, a Foundation Course at Huddersfield Technical College [now Kirklees College], which was one of the best years of my life.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

A dip pen and a bottle of ink.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

As I work almost exclusively in black and white, before adding colour digitally, my supplies are basic. I get pads of A4 lined paper which I glue together to make larger sheets to draw on. I buy Chinese ink and Rotring ink online and decant them 50/50 into a smaller bottle. All of my pens and rulers that I use, as well as old ledger books etc, come from second hand dealers. I also have a lot of Letraset sheets which I scan in and use as collage elements, these are hard to find and can be quite expensive but you occasionally find a job lot on ebay that’s affordable.

What software/apps do you use?

Only Photoshop. I taught myself how to use it as at the time I was at college there was only one computer for the whole department. I only know how to perform the tasks which I need for my work, which are quite basic ones.

What was your first commission?

In 1991 I was a winner in a competition run by Elle magazine and Paperchase to design a horoscope image. I had two designs chosen to be made into cards and then got a commission to do the horoscope page for the magazine itself. I gave up illustrating in 1996 as it wasn’t going well. I came back into it after a collection of the self-published books was published by Jonathan Cape in 2010, called “John Broadley’s Books”.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m coming to the end of a long-running project to illustrate for the restaurant in a soon-to-be-opened redeveloped hotel in Oxford. The restaurant is named ‘The Alice’ after Oxford University tutor Lewis Carroll’s famous book, and also incorporated into the drawings are nods to a famous resident of the hotel, Osbert Lancaster, as well as the architecture and character of Oxford itself.

Twitter or Instagram? Instagram

Coffee or tea? Coffee

 Dog or cat? Dog

Grape or grain? Cider!

Sunrise or sunset? Both

What do you listen to when you are working?  I’m trying to restrict music for when I’m not working, so when I am at the desk it’s often a stream of voices. I have a cache of radio plays which I listen to again and again, such as adaptations of all the Raymond Chandler Philip Marlowe novels, Vincent Price’s ‘Price of Fear’ programme, Sherlock Holmes radio plays from the 40s etc.

Where can we follow you on social media?

My instagram is @john.broadley.77

 

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH ILLUSTRATOR JOHN BROADLEY

 

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

 

Meet An Illustrator 23 – Yuval Zommer

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self-portrait © Yuval Zommer

The twenty-third subject of Meet An Illustrator is Yuval Zommer, best known for his award-winning Big Book Of… series published by Thames & Hudson and sold in countries world-wide. The latest title, The Big Book of Belonging, publishes in September this year [2021].

He also produces a seasonal series for OUP that includes titles such as A Thing Called Snow (a previous ACHUKA Book of the Day) and The Tree That’s Meant To Be, a Sunday Times Book of the Year.

He only began publishing illustrated books for children in 2014, after a career as a creative director, but has already built up an impressive list of titles.

In addition to The Big Book of Belonging mentioned above, we can also look forward to publication of The Lights That Dance In The Night, coming from OUP in October.

Yuval will be participating in The Children’s Bookshow, Warwick Arts Centre, this November.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember admiring? 

I used to sketch all of my dogs—every dog we ever had became a model for my life drawings. I had no idea that decades on I would still be drawing animals!

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

My grandparents had books from the ‘World of Art’ series, about the great masters, popular at the time. As a child, I thought of these titles as picture books with every painting telling a story. I particularly remember trying to imagine what Gauguin, Rousseau and Monet were trying to tell.

Who inspires you today?

I discovered Brian Wildsmith relatively late—I love his flair and use of colour! Particularly his work from the 60’S and 70’s. I feel privileged and honoured to be published by Oxford University Press who, decades apart, published his pioneering work. I also find children’s art very inspiring and fresh! My readers are very creative and often send work inspired by my Big Books.

Did you study art/illustration?

MA illustration at the Royal College of Art, some time ago.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

It changes, but I am enjoying the immediacy of liquid chalk markers which I use to draw on bookshops’ windows. Except more of, in the run up to Xmas.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

Usually Cass Art but whenever I get to travel abroad I always try to source local bookshops and art shops!

What software/apps do you use?

I use Photoshop mainly, and an extra large Wacom tablet to draw on with a stylus pen.

What was your first commission?

My first published picture book was The Big Blue Thing On The Hill and it set the tone for future things! I am forever grateful to Amanda Wood the then editor for seeing the potential in what was still a concept with just a few drawings.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working on a large format book to do with Nature Art which I am very excited about. I very much support the idea that ‘Every Child Is An Artist’ and that’s all I can say for now.

Twitter or Instagram? Both—for different reasons, and for different communities.

Coffee or tea? Too much coffee.

 Dog or cat? Dogs, dogs, dogs!

Grape or grain? Grain—Scottish and undiluted, maybe a few ice cubes.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrises give me energy for the day when working on projects. Sunsets on holidays.

What do you listen to when you are working?  I like ‘abstract’ noises such as the Italian staff from the restaurant opposite having their kitchen breaks, the hum of the buses from near by, the birds who have made the derelict building near me their home. I live in a very urban setting!

Where can we follow you on social media?

I’m pretty much daily on Instagram: @yuvalzommer
And you can follow me on Twitter: @yuvalzommer

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

 

Hey You! by Dapo Adeola with illustrations by Alyissa Johnson, Sharee Miller, Jade Orlando, Diane Ewen, Reggie Brown, Onyinye Iwu, Chante Timothy, Gladys Jose, Bex Glendining, Joelle Avelino, Dunni Mustapha, Nicole Miles, Charlot Kristensen, Kingsley Nebechi, Camilla Sucre, Derick Brooks, Jobe Anderson & Selom Sunu

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 10 Jun 2021

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View an extract…

A lyrical and inspirational exploration of growing up black, written by Dapo Adeola, and brought to life by some of the most exciting black illustrators working today.

Remember to dream your own dreams
Love your beautiful skin
You always have a choice

To mirror the rich variety of the black diaspora, this book showcases artwork from Dapo and 18 contemporary black illustrators (listed below) in one  powerful,= and cohesive reading experience.

Alyissa Johnson
Sharee Miller
Jade Orlando
Diane Ewen
Reggie Brown
Onyinye Iwu
Chanté Timothy
Gladys Jose
Bex Glendining
Joelle Avelino
Dunni Mustapha
Nicole Miles
Charlot Christensen
Kingsley Nebechi
Camilla Sucre
Derick Brooks
Jobe Anderson
Selom Sunu

Dapo was one of the first guests in ACHUKA’s weekend Meet An Illustrator feature.
https://www.achuka.co.uk/blog/meet-an-illustrator-4-dapo/

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by dapo adeola (@dapsdraws)

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 6 May 2021

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“In this 360-page graphic novel, the London-born Windsor-Smith moves out of his more customary fantasy mode to reappraise the values of the United States, his adopted homeland of over fifty years. Central to his critique is the monster shown in close up on the cover, red stripes spray-painted across his face, two small US flags poking from his ears, as if personifying patriotism perverted into some grotesque Captain America.” TLS
“Monsters hums with suppressed violence and regret, and Windsor-Smith renders both with real power. His command of pose and gesture – Tom’s thick arms bunching with tension, Janet’s shoulders slumping in resignation – brings his cast to life.” GUARDIAN
“I’ve drawn stories in the simplest of fashions; just plain and simple outlines that suggest reality rather than define it. I’ve created stories with high detail like a Pre-Raphaelite painting. Boiling comics down to simplicity is fine if you are producing a simple narrative. Monsters is realistic and complex and is therefore rendered that way.” Barry Windsor-Smith NPR

A FAILED GENETICS PROJECT FROM 1944 GERMANY INVADES THE LIVES OF TWO AMERICAN FAMILIES IN THE 1950s AND THE 1960s

[contains adult dialogue]

Bailey doesn’t realize he is about to fulfil his tragic destiny when he walks into a US Army recruitment office. Secretive, damaged, innocent, trying to forget a past and looking for a future, Bobby is the perfect candidate for a secret US government experiment, an unholy continuation of a genetics program that was discovered in Nazi Germany nearly 20 years earlier in the waning days of World War II. Bailey’s only ally and protector, Sergeant McFarland, intervenes, which sets off a chain of cascading events that spin out of everyone’s control. As the monsters of the title multiply, becoming real and metaphorical, the story reaches a crescendo of moral reckoning.

A 360-page tour de force of visual storytelling, Monsters‘ narrative canvas is copious: part family drama, part thriller, part metaphysical journey, it is an intimate portrait of individuals struggling to reclaim their lives and an epic political odyssey that plays across two generations of American history. With passages of heartbreaking tenderness, excruciating pain, redemption and sacrifice, and devastating violence, Monsters must be of the most intense graphic novels ever drawn.

Meet An Illustrator 14 – David Litchfield

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self-portrait © David Litchfield

ACHUKA is thrilled to have David Litchfield as the 14th guest on Meet An Illustrator, an informal weekend feature introduced this year.. Do visit the backpages  to read the responses from previous guests.

The Bear And The Piano, David’s debut picture book, was published just 5 years ago, but he is already established as one of the UK’s leading illustrators and picture book creators. That debut title won Waterstones Illustrated Book Prize in 2016. Much more recently he has come to attention as the cover illustrator for David Almond’s Bone Music:

The Bear And The Piano became a trilogy with publication in 2019 of
The Bear, The Piano, The Dog And The Fiddle
and, this year, with the third title The Bear, The Piano And The Little Bear’s Concert.

A particular favourite of ACHUKA’s is Lights On Cotton Rock:

His 2021 publishing year kicked off with illustrations for A Shelter for Sadness by Anne Booth

and the paperback edition of Rainbow Before Rainbows by Smriti Halls is published this coming week:

Next month (May 2021) we can look forward to Pip And Egg written by Alex Latimer:

and, as we hear below, there is lot lots more to come.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

 I think that it was a drawing of a panda. It was in primary school and we all had to draw one. We then put them all on the wall and I remember feeling a bit arrogant and quietly smug that my panda was definitely one of the best ones on that wall.

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

Again at primary school our teacher sat us all down and read us Where The Wild Things Are. I remember being absolutely blown away by Maurice Sendak‘s drawings and characters and totally felt transported away from the reading mat in that classroom to that dreamy monster island. Mr Sendak and Albert Uderzo were absolutely the two biggest influences on making me want to draw every day.

Who inspires you today?

Still mainly Sendak and Uderzo. But I love finding out about new illustrators. There are an infinite amount of styles and techniques and approaches to drawing and I love being surprised by how different people create a spread or tell their stories. My current 2 favourites are Sydney Smith and Frances Ives. They both have such a free and natural style. They are amazing.

Did you study art/illustration?

I actually studied Graphic Design at Camberwell College of Art. Graphic Design felt like the most sensible career choice in the art world. I loved the course and I met some great people there. But I was really shocked at how little drawing was involved. I think more than anything that course showed me how much I really loved to draw and that I just wasn’t a Graphic Designer.

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

 It sounds obvious but a pencil and a sketchbook. My absolute favourite part of a project is when it’s just me, a pencil and a sketchbook and I am just letting the idea develop by scribbling and experimenting and making a mess.

Where do you buy your art supplies?

 I have two favourite shops here in Bedford. One is called the Arc which sells all kinds of incredible arts supplies and exotic paints and brushes etc. I also like Coleman’s which is obviously more of a standard stationary shop. But I don’t know, I like their pens. I spend far too much money on pens.

What software/apps do you use?

I only really use Photoshop. I tried to get my head around Illustrator but I’m just not that technically minded to be honest. I have had a play with Pro Create but my kids keep stealing my iPad so I have not had enough time to learn it yet.

What was your first commission?

My first commission happened when I was 13 years old and I drew a poster for a local comic shop. They paid me in comics. My first proper paid commission was with The Beano comic. I think that it was in  2013 or so when the editor Michael Stirling found my drawings online. For a few weeks I drew the illustrations that accompanied a poetry section in the comic. It was amazing to be drawing for a comic I had been in love with for most of my life. I will forever be grateful to that team for giving me that opportunity.

What are you working on at the moment?

 I am just finishing drawing a pretty epic book written by Gregory Maguire. After that I’m so happy to be working on another ‘Earth’ book with Stacy McAnulty. I love drawing these books, and I learn so much about our planet too. After that I’m starting a beautiful book with the writer Nell Cross Beckerman which is going to be a total stunner. Towards the end of the year I’m creating artwork for my next author/illustrator book too.

Which is all very exciting. I always feel like I’m being very vague when I don’t give too much info but I’m never sure how much I’m actually allowed to say. What I can tell you is that my author/illustrator book is going to be a Christmas story set in Victorian times.

Twitter or Instagram? Instagram I think. I love Twitter but Instagram just feels a lot friendlier. Also as an illustrator it is a great, visual medium to share work on. I have also found so many new great artists from this site.

Coffee or tea?  I love coffee. But I have had to cut back a lot. I was getting the jitters because I drank it so much. Now I just have two cups a day. And only in the mornings.

Cat or dog?  Oh my goodness Dog. Dog every time. I always had dogs growing up. They were my best friends. We got a dog last summer. I was adamant that my two boys should have a dog growing up. My wife wasn’t that convinced I don’t think but now that we have one she loves her as much as we do.

Grape or grain? Hmmm, both good, but I would have to say grape.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset. I don’t know if it’s a getting older thing but I love sitting in my garden as the sun starts to go down. It’s like a magic time of the day where everything is winding down and becoming peaceful.

What do you listen to when you are working?  Mainly loud rock music.  But I’ve also started to listen to a fair few podcasts. My favourite ones at the moment are ‘Pod Save America‘- helps me get my head around American politics, which I can sometimes find quite baffling from time to time- and The Force Center – which is a massively geeky Star Wars podcast which has none of the snark and negativity of other fandom type discussions. I recommend it if you are a Star Wars nerd like me.

Where can we follow you on social media?
I’m on twitter: @dc_litchfield
Instagram: @david_c_litchfield

I also have a blog at: tinkerd.tumblr.com and a Facebook page at facebook.com/davidlitchfieldillustration -but to be honest I do keep forgetting to update that one.
This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.

 

Drawn Across Borders: True Stories of Migration by George Butler

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 12 Apr 2021

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“George’s work gets to the essence of war and the experiences of the human beings caught up in it.” Jeremy Bowen

“The Paul Nash of our era.” Michael Morpurgo

“While photography is good in what it can reveal; drawing has that ability to have a considered approach of a different kind – simply because it is less instant and more reflective. Stories emerge from such drawings. George Butler is keeping reportage drawing alive.”   John Vernon Lord

“It is an unusual feeling to walk into a place that everyone is leaving. I have been stared at as if I am lost or mad, and sometimes I have felt as if I am both. However, by resisting the temptation to turn around and walk away I have made these drawings. I made them in refugee camps, war zones and on the move, and as I drew, people told me their stories.” George Butler

In striking and intimate illustrations, award-winning artist George Butler introduces us to the people behind the headlines. Drawings made on front lines, in refugee camps and on the move vividly capture stories of leaving home, travelling into the unknown and trying to make a new life. These powerful portraits of migration are a timely reminder of the humanity we all share and our universal need to seek safety and a better life.

While the illustrations themselves are at the heart of the book, I also want to praise Butler for the quality of his commentary. Older children and teenagers will surely appreciate the direct and unpatronising tone of his writing.

This is a very special publication. It is selected as ACHUKA Book of the Day on the day the UK’s bookshops re-open their doors after the long winter lockdown. Please look out for it.

Any young person inspired to take up location sketching may find the following title in the Urban Sketching series helpful:
The Urban Sketching Handbook Techniques for Beginners: How to Build a Practice for Sketching on Location – Urban Sketching Handbooks 11 by Suhita Shirodkar

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The Lost Soul by Olga Tokarczuk tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones ill. Joanna Concejo

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 12 Mar 2020

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‘Once upon a time there was a man who worked very hard and very quickly, and who had left his soul far behind him long ago. In fact his life was all right without his soul – he slept, ate, worked, drove a car and even played tennis. But sometimes he felt as if the world around him were flat, as if he were moving across a smooth page in a math book that was covered in evenly spaced squares…’

“The tender illustrations offer fine details that sink deep into the memory.” Annie Proulx
“Tokarczuk and Concejo offer their readers another way to see the velocity of days, the grace in waiting, and time itself. Turning Concejo’s pages of wonderful drawings gave me a much-needed pause, and a reassuring perspective on loss, patience, and reward.” Leanne Shapton

The Lost Soul is a deeply moving reflection on our capacity to live in peace with ourselves, to remain patient and attentive to the world. It is a story that beautifully weaves together the voice of the Nobel Prize-winning Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk and the finely detailed pen-and-ink drawings of illustrator Joanna Concejo, who together create a parallel narrative universe full of secrets, evocative of another time.

Follow Joanna Concego on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannaconcejo/

Meet An Illustrator 8 – Armin Greder

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self-portrait © Armin Greder

ACHUKA’s 8th guest in our weekly (every Saturday) Meet An Illustrator slot is Armin Greder.
All previous features in this series are being archived week by week on this page:
https://www.achuka.co.uk/blog/meet-an-illustrator/

Born in Switzerland, but living and working in Australia after 1970 and for the last ten years in Peru, Greder is an uncompromising picture book artist and illustrator. He won the Bologna Ragazzi Award for his illustrations in The Great Bear, written by  Libby Gleeson, with whom he has worked several times. The book was described by KIRKUS as “spectacular and deeply moving”.

In Australia he has won many book awards and been named as nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Prize.

His most recent book in the UK was Diamonds, a parable showing how the thirst for riches produces inequality and corruption.

His best-known book is probably The Island (2007), a book that has gained in resonance because of the way it focuses on how refugees are treated.

He tells ACHUKA that his next book with Allen & Unwin will be entitled The Inheritance.

After reading these  responses to our informal feature prompts, let me point you to this in-depth 2016 interview with him on Playing By The Book.

As a child, what were the first illustrations you remember being pleased with? 

 The last one. Until I had done the next one.

 

Who/what inspired you when you were young?

The books on expeditions from the local library with which my mother kept me supplied

 

Who inspires you today?

Käthe Kollwitz, Daumier, Goya.

 

Did you study art or illustration? 

No.

 

What is your favourite artist tool/product?

Compressed charcoal & pastel / brush & ink (both on paper).

 

Where do you buy your art supplies?

Wherever I find them.

 

What software/apps do you use?

Photoshop, to scan and scale my drawings.

 

What was your first commission?

A poster for a fashion shop.

 

What are you working on at the moment?

Nothing.

 

Twitter or Instagram? Neither

Coffee or tea? Tea (green)

Cat or dog? Neither

Grape or grain? Grape (white, dry)

Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise

 

What do you listen to when you are working? Nothing.

 

Where can we follow you on social media? Nowhere.

Now go to this in-depth 2016 interview with him on Playing By The Book.

 

This is a regular weekend feature, publishing every Saturday.