Taiyo Matsumoto

This is another of my favorite artists, a japanese illustrator/comickeer. He's most famous for writing and illustrating Tekkon Kinkreet  (Black & White), a comic about two rebellious street kids, which was eventually turned into a movie.

I'm still not sure if comic artists count, but I think his design and other senses are still really important to look at, even for non-comic narrative illustration. Everything from his covers, characters, storytelling, colors and line & drawings sense is really great. I'm sorry my scans are so bad!!

here's scans of his other book, no. 5:

Peter Mendelsund, Osamu Tezuka and Vertical Publishing

This is a bit of an "out of the box" topic, but I wanted to share two of my favorite artists/designers, Peter Mendelsund, a graphic designer known for his book covers (If you've heard of Vertical inc., he took the place of Chipp Kidd as essentially their in-house designers), and Osamu Tezuka, a comic/cartooning master from japan (Astro Boy, Black Jack, etc).

Vertical is a NYC based publishing firm who have been publishing various "alternative" and "old school" manga in the past several years. Pairing classic 60's-70's manga like Osamu Tezuka's work with such radical modern design sense as Chipp Kidd and Peter Mendelsund leads to some really amazing must-have books.

On hand, I have two of Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack comics to share, and then I've included some LQ images from the internet of some other work.

Osamu Tezuka is known for a lot of things ("the father of manga"), but he has a unique storytelling sensibility, character and narrative design, as well as a keen awareness of (sorry, unrelated to books) panel layout in his stories that make them very exciting, even after all these years.


Peter Mendelsund does a _lot_ of book covers, along with his Osamu Tezuka work, he's also done some other impressive work like the Steig Larsson "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" covers.  You can check out his work and his blog at ( http://bookcoverarchive.com/Peter_Mendelsund and http://jacketmechanical.blogspot.com/ )


Vertical is a really interesting publisher in terms of their design sense and also "what they like to publish" too, although it's really mainly english translations of japanese work. All their books are very "desirable" objects for me, not only because of content, but because their covers look gorgeous, on a shelf on in a hand. Here's a link to their website: http://www.vertical-inc.com/

Herve Tullet

The best children’s books are the ones that parents love to read to their kids, don’t you think? No matter what time of day or how many chores seem to be in the way, there are a few books that beg you to take a break and put an instant smile on your face. Those are exactly the kind of books that Hervé Tullet makes. Just watch:

Q: Where do you work best?

A: I’m always thinking and finding new ideas, so I can work everywhere; I just need a pen and a notebook.

Q: Your text is always so casual and friendly! How many languages do you speak?

A: I try to speak English, but I’m still learning. With my books, I can “talk” everywhere, from Korea to Italy and Russia. There have been times when I’ve spoken directly to children in other countries without any help from a translator. Amazing, I tell you!

Q: I’ve seen adults play along with Press Here with pure joy, and The Coloring Bookeasily draws in such a wide range of ages. How do you make your art so identifiable and fun to both young and old? It is such a trick!

A: Books need to be shared by everyone. All ages. There is not a specific world for just children, with lovely little stuff filling it, so the best book idea for me is the one where everyone can play together.

Serge Bloch (European artist2)

Serge Bloch has worked as an editorial illustrator for the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, as well as New York Magazine and Time. He is the author and illustrator of Butterflies in My Stomach and Other School Hazards, Reach for the Stars, and You Are What You Eat, and he illustrated The Enemy, I Love Kissing You, and I Can't Wait, which was an ALA Batchelder Honor Book. He recently received a Gold Medal from the American Society of Illustrators. He lives in Paris and New York City.

Book Covers - Percy Jackson

The illustrator for the cover art of the Percy Jackson series, John Rocco, puts the main character, Percy, in shadow on each book cover. I personally prefer this sort of cover treatment, as it allows a basic outline of the character's looks, but it's still up to the reader to interpret how they picture the character.

"All the World" by liz garton scanlon

"All the World" by liz garton scanlon

illustrated by marla frazee (caldecott honor metalist)

The Frog Who Wanted to See the Sea

Guy Billout's Cover for the Frog Who Wanted to See the Sea without text

Santa's Favorite Story

Ivan Gantschev's beautiful watercolor illustrations

Swedish "Harry Potter"

These are the Swedish "Harry Potter" covers.  I think it's interesting to see which characters and creatures look like their American book/movie counterparts, and I really like these covers just on their own.  They're totally crazy and cluttered but they still work, and the colors are all really odd and eye-catching.