More from Erik Blegvad

This past Christmas, one of the gifts I received was a vintage copy of "Dusty and the Fiddlers," by Miska Miles with illustrations by Erik Blegvad.  Followers of this blog will know that Blegvad is one of my favorite illustrators,so it should come as no surprise that I was delighted to receive one of his books that I was not familiar with.  The book was published in 1962 by the Atlantic Monthly Press as part of their Weekly Reader Children's Book Club. It's a charming little book, just a little over 50 pages long that is about a feud between two fiddle players and how the feud is resolved by an ingenious young boy named, Dusty.

Blegvad created a number of double page spreads for the book, but instead of having the illustrations run across the gutter, he split the spreads into two illustrations.  This was a smart move on Blegvad's part and I'm sure he planned it this way to keep his detailed line work from getting lost in the gutter of the book. You might think that a wide gutter between the illustrations would be distracting, but Blegvad skillfully composed each side of the page so that each half of the illustration was able to stand on its own, but when you pair the two together, you see one panoramic scene.  As usual, Blegvad's illustrations are filled with wonderful details, and yes, the artist's trademark little black cat appears in many of the illustrations.

In the images below, I've included both sides of each double spread as they appear in the book, including the text so that you can see how Blegvad composed his layouts.

In this illustration, I particularly like how Blegvad has used the barn to divide the image.  On the left side, we see some of the guests as they arrive at the party.  On the right side, we see more guests on their way.  Each half of this two-part illustration works beautifully on its own.

In this illustration I think it's interesting how Blegvad has split the space to accomodate the text.  On the left, the text is above the illustration of the audience, while on the right, the text takes up the lower part of the page and is placed beneath the illustration of the performers.  Once again, each of these illustrations can be looked at as separate, beautifully designed compositions, each with their own balance of lights and darks and areas of interest.

I love what's going on in this illustration, a scene of a busy train station with a train just pulling into the station. On the left we see the train has arrived, a dog is barking, people are rushing to catch it and a little girl covers her ears to block out all of the noise. All of the activity on this side of the illustration lends it a sort of snapshot feel.  On the right, the scene is calmer. We see Dusty and Viola sitting on a trunk where they have been waiting for the train.  They look off to the left, their gaze carrying us back across the gutter to the train. Some other nice details on this side of the illustration are the two swallows perched on the telephone wire, about to be joined by a third bird, and the horse in the pasture that is running toward the train. A man on the right edge of the illustration is also looking toward the train. His positioning, which is almost a mirror image of the position of the little girl on the left, makes a nice bookend for the illustration.

Erik Blegvad and Oddity Land

For those of you who have been following my posts, you already know that Erik Blegvad is one of my favorite illustrators. I've featured his work in two previous posts and, as I think I've already mentioned, I'm slowly building a collection of some of the books that he has illustrated. Since most of them are out of print, I'm constantly on the look-out for them at library discard sales and in used book stores. I've also bought a few of them online. The book that I'm featuring in this particular post is one that I acquired on eBay. It's a book titled "Oddity Land," by Edward Anthony which was published in 1957. It's a funny little book, aptly titled, that is made up of limericks devoted to various animals that the author says he knows.  For example, this little verse that accompanies a wonderful pen and ink drawing of some dogs enjoying a ride on a merry-go-round:

"I know a hound
Who often is found
At the carnival riding the merry-go-round."

Or this one about a spaniel named Daniel

The book's dust jacket contains this quote by Louis Untermeyer regarding the contents of "Oddity Land":

"Oddity Land" is as lively and laughable a collection of wild whimsicalities as I have seen in many years. It has been a long time since so many delightfully queer creatures have been assembled in a single volume."

The book certainly does contain a collection of queer (in the sense of unusual) creatures and Blegvad has done a wonderful job of matching his illustrations to the whimsicalities of the limericks. There are so many small gems in this book. Here are a few more examples:

The illustration below, of some ice-skating mice is one of my favorites. It's easy to see which of the seven mice is the one who doesn't like skating. He's the one on the far right, standing with a cane on the shore of the frozen lake. 

Mr. Blegvad manages to give personality to each of the creatures in his illustrations. I love the blissful grin on the face of this possum who is enjoying eating some orange blossoms . . .

. . . and the feeling of comfortable coziness that he conveys in this image of a dignified looking rabbit (which reminds me a bit of some of the rabbits by Garth Williams, another favorite illustrator of mine).

I'll finish with another of my favorites, an illustration depicting a diverse flock of birds gathered together around three small trees. The image is placed on the page opposite this text:

"There are birds, of course, in Oddity Land

But, as you have guessed, they are differently planned,

A fact that you'll be arriving at

When you read these little announcements that:

I know a bobwhite

Who's so very polite

He won't sing a note till he asks if he might

I know a canary

Who works in a dairy.

She likes it because it is sunny and airy.

I know a flamingo

Who loves to play bingo.

I know a crow

Who's learning to sew.

I know a squab

Who likes corn on the cob."

Pen and Ink - Digital Style Part 4, Mawleogs

Over the past month, I've been developing my black and white portfolio by drawing scenes from the children's novel, "The Hounds of the Morrigan," by Pat O'Shea. It's quite a wonderful children's fantasy based on Celtic mythology and has two very likable protagonists, 10 year-old Pidge and his 5 year-old sister Brigit. In this scene, the children, who are being pursued by the hounds belonging to the Morrigan, the Goddess of Battle and Destruction, meet the friendly spider Mawleogs who aids them in their journey to find the blood-stained pebble that is needed to stop the evil queen from regaining her full powers.

I originally envisioned depicting this scene from behind the children, looking over their shoulders so that the viewer could get a good look at Mawleogs. But with this layout, the spider would need to be further back in the scene and he would end up being so small, that most of his facial detail would be lost and therefore the scene would lose some of its impact. I did do a sketch of it though, which you can see below. Below it, is a close-up sketch of the spider, Mawleogs. He is described in the story as wearing a shirt with a ruffled neck and cuffs, black knee britches, knitted stockings, buckled hornpipe shoes, and a little hard hat.


In this part of the story, which takes place in Ireland, the children have crossed over into Tír-na-nÓg (the otherworld or Fairy land) so I'm guessing that the hard hat that Mawleogs was wearing might not be what we think of as a hard hat. Considering that he's described as a gentleman, I pictured the hat more like the type that you might see a leprechaun wearing. I had to dig for some reference to find out what a hornpipe shoe was.

After I decided to show the children from the front, and Mawleogs from the back, I came up with this sketch. After spending quite a bit of time working on this composition, I still wasn't happy with it. The children looked too stiff and I felt the layout lacked interest. It was too straight-forward and it was not matching the vision I had in my head of how I wanted this to look. 


So, I revamped it one more time. This time I decided to tilt the scene a bit and show it from slightly above, as if you were up in the tree with Mawleogs, looking down on the children.


To help me in the perspective and the shading of the scene, I set up two figures in Poser, which you can see to the right. As far as using Poser, I only know the basics. I don't use it as often as I use to, but it still comes in handy once in a while to help with a tricky perspective. Below, is the final pencil sketch that I worked from, based on this new viewpoint. I feel this layout works much better and gives the scene some dynamic visual interest and movement. 


One of my favorite children's book illustrators is Erik Blegvad (who I've written about before in this blog) who has illustrated many wonderful books using pen and ink.  While drawing the children in my illustration and doing the cross-hatching, I constantly referred to some of his illustrations, in particular some that he did for the Mary Norton book "Bed-knob and Broomstick." 

Erik Blegvad

Last December, I included in a posting titled 'Favorites in Pen and Ink,' a short piece about one of my favorite children's book illustrators, Erik Blegvad. While many of his earlier books are out of print, with a little searching they can be found. Over the last month, I was lucky enough to find two of his books, one at a used bookstore and the other online. While at a Half-Price Books in Indianapolis, I came across a copy of a book titled "Beginning-to-Read Poetry." As the title suggests, this book from 1967 is a collection of short poems ideally suited for children who are just learning to read. The poems were compiled by Sally Clithero and the wonderful illustrations are by Erik Blegvad (there are used copies of this book available on Amazon for as low as $1.50, I paid twice that and it was worth every penny).

In my original posting on Blegvad, I talked about his pen and ink illustrations, which are what I've always associated him with, but he also did illustrations using watercolor, sometimes in combination with his pen work. In this book the illustrations are strictly watercolor, no pen at all. They are bright and cheerful and each one of them is delightful.

In this poem, titled "Jump or Jiggle," not only do I love the way he has framed the poem with his illustration, but I love how he managed to include in his image, every one of the animals that is mentioned in the poem, even the tiny little worm!

For a poem about a park in the snow after dark, Blegvad has created an enchanting landscape where he invites us to follow the two figures who have just entered the park through the open gate. The buttery yellow moon gives this chilly scene of winter a wonderful warm atmosphere.  Notice the little black cat off to the right of the image. I've noticed that Blegvad often includes this little cat in his drawings and as a viewer, it's fun trying to spot him.

The subtle coloration of the pond in this cute illustration adds to the feeling that light is reflecting off of the water's surface and I love how he has placed the little turtle in the foreground with the boy who is observing him kneeling on the other side of the pond.

Out of all of the poems in this book, this one by Robert Louis Stevenson, titled "Bed in Summer," is the only one I could recall reading before. Here, Blegvad has created a cozy bedroom scene, lit by a setting sun. We don't see the sun, but we see how its fading light streams through the window, casting a golden glow over the room.

The other Erik Blegvad illustrated book that I found recently was one that I purchased online from an Etsy vendor. It is a book published in 1971 that I had never heard of, "The Finches' Fabulous Furnace," by Roger W. Drury (there are multiple copies of this book available through Amazon for only $2.00, you can use the link in the book's title to take you there). The story is a bit on the preposterous side - a family finds that the only vacant house available for rent in the New England town where they have moved because of the father's new job, has a volcanic vent in its basement. But the author has such an engaging writing style, that I was soon able to suspend my disbelief and I found myself thoroughly enjoying this quirky and even sometimes suspenseful little book.

What really helped in bringing this book to life were the wonderful pen and ink illustrations by Erik Blegvad. There are more than two dozen illustrations in this short (150 page) book, everyone of them a gem. Each chapter heading has its own illustration and there are other illustrations sprinkled throughout. With his expert use of lights and darks, Blegvad excels at illustrating night time scenes, like this wonderfully atmospheric picture of a car driving down a night time street in the snow (see above).

This dramatic image of the house at No. 7 Pride Street, that the Finch family moves into, is another beautiful example of Blegvad's use of cross-hatching to convey a sense of atmosphere. I love how he shows the light striking the backside of the man's coat. In this image, Blegvad really manages to keep the viewer's eye moving - your eye is led from the man and his shadow over to the path leading to the house, up to the porch, to the roof-top tower, then over to the tree and then back to the man.

Blegvad also excelled in depicting children.  He was especially good at showing their body language. In this schoolyard scene, with very simple line work, he has created a series of poses that are very naturalistic. Even the way he has grouped the children and adults has been very well thought out. I love the shoe that is caught in mid-air hovering over the figures of the two boys wrestling on the ground.

Blegvad is a master when it comes to creating interesting compositions and lighting effects. Even in this scene, where we are shown a view of the volcanic furnace and where none of the main characters are present (unless you count the volcano, which is sort of a threatening character throughout the story), he has created an interesting and dramatic vignette. Notice the simplicity of how he created the hanging lightbulb and its shade. There is just a simple upside down crescent-shaped line to indicate the edge of the light bulb. He has used the white of the paper to give the effect of a bright light shining from the bulb.

With careful cross-hatching, he has done something similar in this scene inside the Finches' house. Here, Peter Finch is collecting materials to construct a volcano alarm, while his mother, who is unaware of the menace lurking in their cellar, does housework, and little sister Patsy wonders what's going on. The lighting here is somewhat subtler than in the previous image of the furnace, but you still get the sense that the lamp hanging from the ceiling is turned on. Blegvad has achieved this through his masterful cross-hatching. Notice how he even indicates the light that the lamp casts in a circle on the ceiling.

Besides his mastery at composition and lighting effects, Blegvad also had a knack for drawing different character types as can be seen in this example. Here, three of the town's selectmen, Mr. Blurt, Mr. Mound and Mr. Mumble have come to the Finch home to inquire about the rumors circulating that the Finches have an oil well in their basement. In the story, the heat rising from the volcano, that has been funneled by Mr. Finch through their chimney, causes a constant updraft around the house. Anyone approaching the house notices a strong wind blowing toward the house. Blegvad has illustrated this effect through these three characters. In the picture you'll notice the pant legs of the three men are riding up their legs, their coat tails are blowing upward and all three of them are holding on to their hats.

The book has so many delightful illustrations that it was difficult for me to choose which ones to post, but this simple horizontal image that is used in the middle of a page is one of my favorites. I love the simple character profile on the right contrasted with the shadowy image of the two Finch children sitting on the left. I love seeing panoramic images, maybe because they remind me of early wide-screen movies and when they're done right the whole frame will be put to use. In this case we see just a portion of the windshield and steering wheel of Mr. Pringle's convertible, but because of the placement in the image, it's easy to imagine the bottom edge of the illustration as the top edge of the car. The bottom edge of the illustration is very straight which suggests the body of the automobile, while the upper half of the illustration is irregular showing the landscape outside of the car. The way the image is composed, it's almost like the viewer is riding alongside of Mr. Pringle.

Besides his amazing pen and ink cross-hatching, his naturalistic poses, his use of lights and darks, Blegvad also created beautiful landscapes and architectural scenes. In this first image, which appears as the heading for Chapter 14, we see the town of Ashfield, clogged with traffic caused by people coming to celebrate the town's Bicentennial. It's another good example of a highly detailed illustration that will keep your eye on the move, searching out every corner. I love the slightly aerial perspective where we can see over the roofs of the houses back to a pasture where horses gallop on a hillside.

In this second image, the town wakes up one morning to see what at first seems to have been a snowfall, but which they soon find out is a dusting of ash from the awakening volcano. The thing that I find so impressive about this drawing is the way that the artist has used the negative space of the paper to indicate the ash that covers the rooftops of the houses, the cars and the tree branches. Because it's white, snow (and in this case, ash) can be difficult to depict in a black and white drawing, but Blegvad has managed to do it beautifully. Notice once again, the little black cat that is coming into the scene from the right side of the image.

In closing, I'll post one final Blegvad illustration. This one is from the end of the book where young Patsy Finch is to be given a medal for warning the town of the volcano's imminent eruption. This is another great illustration to search for details. One great detail takes place in the center of the image, just above the chapter number - A dog is straining on his leash to get at another little dog. This incident is not mentioned in the text, but like any good illustrator, Blegvad has used his illustration to add depth to the scene by presenting us with some extra details.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this look at two books charmingly illustrated by Erik Blegvad. If you love children's book illustrations and you're not familiar with his work, I highly recommend you seek him out. I think you'll be happy you did.

Addendum:
Below is an image sent to me by a reader. It is a print of an Erik Blegvad pub scene. The print is dated 1955 and was given to the reader by her father.  The reader would like to know more about the image. If anyone know anything about the origin of this scene, please post it here.  Thanks!

Favorites in Pen and Ink

I've always had a fondness for drawings created with pen and ink or scratchboard.  Maybe that's because I've always found drawing with pen and ink somewhat intimidating and I admire those who can do it well.  When working with pen and ink, you not only have to be careful about not spilling or dripping your ink, but you have to have a good plan of where you're going with your drawing.  If your not careful with your crosshatching and shading, you can overdo it and end up with areas that are too dark.  This becomes even more of a problem if your drawing is to be scaled down for publication.

But when a pen and ink or a scratchboard drawing is done well, it can create a feeling of drama, delicacy or even energy. Three of my favorite children's book illustrators who have worked in these mediums are Maurice Sendak, Erik Blegvad and John Schoenherr.

The first Sendak illustrated book that I was ever aware of was one someone gave to my mother when I was very young. It was a little book written by Ruth Krauss called "A Hole is to Dig."  It has since been reissued in combination with another Krauss/Sendak collaboration, "Open House for Butterflies."  Both books are very charming and consist of Krauss's funny definitions like "A hole is to dig," "Dogs are to kiss people," "Snow is to roll in," "Buttons are to keep people warm," all accompanied by Maurice Sendak's wonderful pen and ink illustrations.  As children, my sister and I use to look at this book over and over again.  Many of the two page spreads are filled with details that keep the reader lingering on the page long after the minimal text has been read.

Erik Blegvad is a Danish artist, who even though he has illustrated over a hundred books is relatively unknown in this country.  Maybe I should say he's not a household word like Sendak, but then few illustrators are.  Blegvad also works in pen and ink, sometimes in black and white, but often his drawings are delicately colored with watercolor.  I believe many of his books are out of print but two that I know of are still available: "Around My Room," a book of poems by William Jay Smith, and "Mud Pies and Other Recipes, a Cookbook for Dolls." "Mud Pies..." is a sweet and funny little book with actual recipes on how to combine various elements like mud, leaves, dirt, sand etc. to create meals and desserts for your dolls.  Like Sendak's work in "A Hole is to Dig," Blegvad fills his illustrations with lots of interesting details.  Often there will be little dogs or cats somewhere in his pictures which always include lots of children involved in various activities.

I think my first exposure to Blegvad was from a calendar he created for Woman's Day magazine (which my mom subscribed to) in 1964.  I turned ten years old that year, and Blegvad's calendar captivated me enough that I cut it out of the magazine, strung it together by punching holes in the top margins and tied the pages together with string through the holes.  I still have it and I still love looking at the sweet illustrations.  One thing that I find striking about his illustration of a classroom for the month of May, is that he depicted an integrated classroom, which I think must have been a rather daring thing to do in 1964.

One book that is worth hunting down is his illustrated sketchbook called "Self Portrait: Erik Blegvad," which was published in 1979.  It is out of print but I easily found a used copy online.

An interesting fact is that Erik Blegvad's son, Peter is also an artist whose work "The Book of Leviathan" is a collection of his Levi and Cat's adventures, a comic strip that ran in The Independent on Sunday, a British newspaper.

One of my all time favorite books as a child was "Rascal" by Sterling North, based on North's youthful experiences in raising a wild raccoon.  The illustrations in it by John Schoenherr, which I believe are done in scratchboard, wonderfully evoke the WWI era in which the story takes place.  I love this portrait of the young Sterling with Rascal on his shoulder, framed in an oval that reminds the viewer of a turn of the century photograph.  And the picture of Sterling reading a book while sitting in a tree with Rascal conked out on a higher limb is one of my favorites.

Schoenherr also works in other mediums including watercolor.  He won the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations created for Jane Yolen's "Owl Moon," and also wrote and illustrated "Rebel," a story of a gosling who gets separated from his mother.  Interestingly, Schoenherr, like Blegvad, also has a son who is an illustrator.  John's son, Ian Schoenherr illustrated "Newf," by Marie Killilea and many others including "Read It, Don't Eat It," one of several that he also wrote.

By the way, Rascal was reissued a few years ago and the reproductions in it were terrible, many of the fine detail lines were missing, choked out by the black ink.  They looked like copies made from poor copies.  If you're interested in seeing these illustrations, look for an older copy of this book.  Sadly, the same thing seems to have happened with another book illustrated by Schoenherr, "Incident at Hawk's Hill," by Allan W. Eckert.  My copy of this book was purchased in 1996.  I have not seen earlier editions so I don't have anything to compare them to, but the illustrations in my copy are very dark and muddy looking, I doubt that this is the way that they were meant to look.