The Great John D. Batten

John Dickson Batten (1860-1932) has been a favorite illustrator since I was a kid. While not as celebrated as many of his contemporaries, his pen work illustrations and works in tempera are amazing. This image of a group of frog-like goblins remains a favorite of mine; its weirdly cheerful atmosphere--and especially the goofy expression on the middle figure--cracks me up.

Nosing through a used bookstore while in art school, I was fortunate to find this old edition of Joseph Jacob's English Fairy Tales from 1891. It contains many of Batten's greatest images--plus this sweet cover!

Here's one of my all time favorites!

My parents gave me a set of illustrated books early on. This is the Batten image that first caught my eye as a five-year-old.

 

Characters (and musician characters) give me a charge, and Batten drew many.

He also painted dramatic works using tempera on gesso.

 

The painting of Snow Drop and the Seven Little Men can be seen large and gorgeous here:

 

Snow Drop

 

Hope you enjoy Batten's works as much as I,

 

and thanks for checking out my blog!

Creativity Sparks: The Twenty (at present)

Illustration to Reynard the Fox and Other Fables, by John Rae 

Scrolling through picture after picture on the internet can be a double edged sword. Looking at illustrations keeps my creativity flowing, but looking too much can make me glaze over sometimes, and I lose the point of examining admirable works.

 The Gruegach, by John D. Batten

I've found that limiting it once in awhile helps. Gathering ten to twenty illustrations that have caught my eye, then sticking with them--examining them for why they arrested me--helps me to limit and learn. 

Illustration from his Bill the Minder, by W. Heath Robinson

So I offer three of my current Twenty here. The reasons for the choices are personal, but when I examine them and think about the techniques, no surprise that they've sparked my imagination.

If you are interested in seeing the others, find them here:

Sarmo's current Twenty

 

And thanks for reading!

The Good Triggers: Books for Kids

 Yeah, it's a cliche, but it's true nonetheless; books are good for kids. They were great for me. 

The above illustration is by Richard Doyle, from The King of the Golden River.

It scared me, blew me away (no pun intended), and planted the seed that was to grow into my life's work. I'd have never known about Doyle, but for the fact that a set of ten volumes of children's classics came with the encyclopedias my parents bought for my brother and me back in the 60s.

 Still have the complete set. They were a centerpiece of my life as a kid, no kidding! I'd warily approach them on the bookshelf, because, like everything that was alluring to me then, I was also very afraid of them. Many of the poems and stories terrified me.

(Check out Robert Southey's Poem, God's Judgement on a Wicked Bishop for a healthy dose of Victorian violence http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/god-s-judgment-on-a-wicked-bishop  Yep, it was included in this set, and it was one I couldn't help re-reading over and over, even though it made nighttime hell). 

The illustrations were the best part though (Tenniel's Jabberwock among 'em)! They confused my terrifically overstimulate-able brain and haunted me, but I couldn't leave them be either.

My favorite volumes.
The ones I hauled back and forth to school; the ones opened and examined so often they ended up a bit tattered. They are full of the illustrations I copied as a kid, and the ones of the set I still look at most.

 Marley's Ghost by John Leech (Still my all time favorite rendition.)

I suppose because they were aimed at children, the black and white drawings (by the original illustrators) were overlayed with color.

Illustration by John Dickson Batten

 And sometimes, kind of unfortunately, the editors made the decision to replace the black line with color. Still, the illustrators were credited, which allowed me to research them as I got older. This set of books led me to many of the greats who still influence my art now; among them, John D. Batten, W. Heath Robinson, Arthur Rackham, and L. Leslie Brooke.

He wrote, but who knew Gilbert drew little guys too?

 Those books also allowed me to fall in love with poetry--especially nonsense poetry--and reading in general.

Even the endpapers were cool, although this illustrator was uncredited.

I know lots of parents cringe at the thought of their children wanting to be artists. Luckily, mine didn't. And also fortunately, they knew the value of books--even if they didn't guess that the little, poorly reproduced drawings in this set would become one of the most exciting parts of my childhood.

First copyrighted in 1938, The Junior Classics can still be found at thrift stores.

Thanks for the visit!