~Jessie Willcox Smith~Illustrator

 Jessie Willcox Smith,
was born on September 6 in 1863 
She died on May 3 in 1935
She was a United States illustrator famous
for her work in magazines such as
Ladies Home Journal and for her
illustrations for children's books.

Born in the Mount Airy neighborhood
of Philadelphia,
Smith studied at the Pennsylvania
Academy of the Fine Arts under
Thomas Eakins in Philadelphia, graduating in 1888.
A year later, she started working in the
production department of the Ladies Home Journal,
for five years. She left to take classes under
Howard Pyle, first at Drexel and then at
the Brandywine School.

 
She was a prolific contributor to books and
magazines during the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries, illustrating stories
and articles for clients such as Century,
Collier's Weekly, Leslie's Weekly, Harper's,
McClure's, Scribners and the Ladies' Home Journal.

 

Smith may be most well known for her covers
on Good Housekeeping, which she painted
from December 1917 through March 1933.
She also painted posters and portraits.
Her twelve illustrations for Charles Kingsley's
The Water-Babies (1916) are also well known.
On Smith's death, she bequeathed the
original works to the Library of Congress'
"Cabinet of American Illustration" collection.
(A thirteenth illustration remains in a private collection.)

  

Just a Few books:
-Chapin, Anna Alice, The Now-a-Days Fairy Book, 1911.
-Dickens’ Children, Scribner, 1912.
-Moore, Clement C., ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, 1912.
-The Jessie Willcox Smith Mother Goose, Dodd, 1914.
-Alcott, Louisa Mae, Little Women, Little, Brown, 1915.
-Underwood, Priscilla, When Christmas Comes Around, 1915.
-A Child’s Stamp Book of Old Verses, 1915.

 

“It has been one long joyous road along which
troop delightful children, happy children,
sad children, thoughtful children, and
above all wondering, imaginative children,
who give to their charmingly original thoughts
a delicious quaintness of expression. I love to paint them all.”
~Jessie Wilcox Smith~

 
Jessie Willcox Smith
werd geboren op 6 September in 1863.
En is overleden na een langdurig ziekbed op 3 Mei in 1935
Zij heeft illustraties gemaakt voor magazines
in Verenigde Staten zoals Good Housekeeping Magazine
van begin vorige eeuw. Daarnaast heeft zij
verschillende schilderijen gemaakt en
diverse kinderboeken geïllustreerd.
Ze wordt gezien als de eerste vrouwelijke
illustrator van de Verenigde Staten.

Children’s Book Week - Kinderboekenweek in de VS.
Ook in de Verenigde Staten wordt elk jaar
een Kinderboekenweek gehouden.
De ‘Official Poster’ van dit jaar is van Ian Falconer.
De posters die elk jaar door een andere
kinderboekenillustrator worden gemaakt zijn vaak
bijzonder fraai. In 1994 verscheen
het boek 75 Years of Children’s Book Week Posters
met alle tot dan toe verschenen posters.

 

De eerste poster uit 1919, gemaakt door
Jessie Wilcox Smith, viel zo in de smaak dat
deze vijf jaar lang gebruikt werd (afb. links versie 1921).
Ook de poster van 1924, ‘More Books In The Home’,
werd door haar gemaakt, maar in de volgende jaren
werd steeds een op dat moment
populaire illustrator ingehuurd.

~"Remember the Lost"~

Remember the lost ones and
those without names
Remember the hungry and
those who feel shame

While you revel and warm yourselves
with the hearth's flames
Remember the banished and outcast

Think of those standing outside looking in
or walking the darkened moors
empty within
calling for you
to forgive them their sins
as you turn your back in
judgement steadfast


Once in a while
look for those
who've been lost
throw open your door
let the warmth melt the frost
and ask someone in
from the fringe of exhaustion
to fill up their bone weary souls

All of us started here
muchly the same
nobody starts their life
in sin and shame
so on this one night throw out
all of your blame
for the Goblins and Giants
and Trolls.

Best of 2008 Froudian Poem:
First place goes to Traci Wilson for her poem
is inspired by "The fairytale giant"
from "Brian Froud's World of Faerie."

~Wendy Froud~

"In my fantasies, all of my dolls could fly,
all of them were magic".
~Wendy Froud~

     Wendy became a doll maker at
the age of five. As soon as she could bend a pipe
cleaner and tape bits of fabric together she
began to make the kind of dolls she couldn't buy.
Dolls of centaurs and satyrs, unicorns and faeries,
all to populate the world she wanted to be a part of.
She continues to do so to this day.
She has created dolls, puppets, and
sculpture for many films, including
The Empire Strikes Back (she is credited with
bringing its beloved character Yoda to life)
and Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth,
and The Muppet Movie. Her dolls and figures
are highly sought out by private collectors worldwide.

Wendy Froud was born in Detroit, Michigan.
She graduated with a degree in fabric design
and ceramics from The Center for
Creative Studies in Detroit. She worked as a
sculptor and puppet fabricator on The Muppet Show,
and the feature films The Dark Crystal,
Labyrinth and The Empire Strikes Back.
Since moving to Dartmoor, England, with
her husband Brian Froud, Wendy has concentrated
on doll and model making, and illustrating books
including “A Midsummer Night’s Faery Tale”,
“The Winter Child” and “The Faeries of Spring Cottage”
with author Terri Windling. She has provided
both models and writing for Brian Froud’s books
“Goblins!” and “Lady Cottington’s Pressed Faery Album”.
Wendy’s newest book is “The Art of Wendy Froud”,
published by Imaginosis.


She teaches doll and
figure making workshops as well as mask making
workshops in the U.S. and England.
Her dolls and figures have been widely exhibited
and collected throughout the U.S. and Europe.

 
She now lives in Devon, England, with her husband
and frequent artistic collaborator, Brian,
and their son, Toby.

She now devotes most of her time to making dolls
and figures for exhibition and sale
throughout the US and England.
Through her association with
The Lynda Guber Organization,
a production company based in Los Angeles,
Wendy will be developing and producing a variety
of new and innovative products, including publishing,
feature films, television, and new media
under the banner of THE WORLD OF FROUD.
www.worldoffroud.com

Bekend kunstenaar Brian Froud en zijn vrouw,
de beroemde poppenmaakster Wendy Froud werpen
licht op een plek die vaak verborgen blijft voor
het oog van stervelingen; het Rijk der Elfen.
Brian's gedetailleerde beelden vangen op perfecte
wijze de sfeer van deze Wereld en Wendy's
sculpturen geven ons de mogelijkheid een
driedimensionale glimp op te vangen van de
expressieve gezichten en de ondeugende aard
van dit Elfenvolkje. Het resultaat van hun samenwerking
neemt je mee naar de wereld van wonderlijke
en vooral betoverende wezens die tuinen,
wouden en schemering bevolken.

  
Wendy Froud werd geboren in Detroit,
Michigan in de Verenigde Staten van Amerika.
Ze studeerde af in textielontwerp en keramiek
aan The Center For Creative Studies in Detroit.
Ze heeft als ontwerpster en poppenmaakster
gewerkt voor de Muppet Show
en de films The Dark Crystal
(ontwerp van de belangrijkste figuren Jen en Kira),
Labyrinth (het boetseren van de trollen)
en The Empire Strikes Back (het ontwerp van Yoda).
Sinds ze met haar man Brian Froud
naar Devon in Engeland is verhuisd,
heeft Wendy zich toegelegd op het
maken van poppen en modellen.

Ze heeft de illustraties gemaakt voor drie boeken:
-A Midsummer Night’s Faerytale
-The Winter Child en
-The Goblins of Spring Cottage met Terri Windling.
Wendy heeft de modellen gemaakt en
de tekst geschreven
voor Brian Froud’s books Goblins!
and Lady Cottington’s Pressed Faery Album.
Wendy’s meest recente boek is The Art of Wendy Froud,
uitgegeven door Imaginosis.
Wendy geeft cursussen in het maken van poppen,
figuren en maskers in Amerika en Engeland.
Met haar poppen en figuren heeft ze overal
in Amerika en Europa geëxposeerd en
haar werk maakt deel uit
van de collecties van Amerikaanse
en Europese verzamelaars.

Read the Interview with Wendy

Creating a Faery with Wendy Froud

~Brian Froud~Illustrator

Brian Froud is born in 1947 in Winchester.
He is an English fantasy illustrator
He lives and works in Devon with his wife,
Wendy, who is also a fantasy artist.
The landscapes in his paintings are
frequently inspired by Dartmoor.

Brian Froud is geboren in Winchester in 1947
Hij is een Engels fantasy-illustrator.
Hij werkt en woont in Devon met zijn vrouw,
Wendy tevens fantasy kunstenares.
De landschappen in zijn schilderijen zijn vaak
geïnspireerd door Dartmoor, een
nationaal park in Devon.

 

His work has been used as the inspiration for
creatures in films such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth
(both in conjunction with Jim Henson's Creature Shop).
He collaborated with Terry Jones, who was a
screenwriter on Labyrinth,
on The Goblins of the Labyrinth
and subsequently on a number of
non-Labyrinth-related books about fairies and goblins,
namely of the "Lady Cottington" series, such as
Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book.
He has also worked with American writer
Ari Berk on more recent books, including Goblins
and "The Runes of Elfland", and produced art books
such as Good Faeries/Bad Faeries.
One of his most famous art books is simply titled
Faeries, in collaboration with Alan Lee.
His latest book were The Secret Sketchbooks of
Brian Froud (2006) and World of Faerie (2007).

Froud has also dabbled in other media and has
recently created a deck of Oracle cards entitled
"The Faerie's Oracle". He also designed the album
artwork for the German band Qntal's 2006
release Qntal V: Silver Swan.
The enhanced 2CD version of the album also
featured a second CD featuring a short gallery
of his fairy and goblin work.

 
Froud's son, Toby Froud born in 1984
played the baby in Labyrinth,
one of his father's works. Toby Froud is currently
studying filmmaking and special effects techniques
in London. He is also apprenticed at the Muppet
workshop in New York City, and on the set of
the Lord of the Rings films in New Zealand.

 

Frouds werk is gebruikt ter inspiratie voor
films als The Dark Crystal en Labyrinth
(beide in samenwerking met Jim Henson's Creature Shop).
Hij werkte samen met Terry Jones, een scenarioschrijver
voor Labyrinth, aan The Goblins of the Labyrinth (1986)
(opnieuw uitgegeven in verkorte vorm onder de naam
The Goblin Companion: A Field Guide to Goblins in 1996),
en vervolgens aan een aantal niet Labyrinth
gerelateerde boeken over feeën en kobolden
zoals de "Lady Cottington" series.



 Frouds zoon, Toby Froud, speelde de baby
in Labyrinth, een van zijn vader's werken.
Toby Froud studeert momenteel filmproductie
en special effectstechnieken in Londen.
Ook is hij in de leer bij de Muppet-workshop in
New York en op de set van de Lord of the Rings-films
in Nieuw-Zeeland.


Latest Illustration works:
Zijn laatste geillustreerde werken:
-Faeries (1979) — In samenwerking met Alan Lee
-The World of the Dark Crystal (1982)
-Goblins: Pop-up Book (1983)
-Goblins of the Labyrinth (1986)
-Good Faeries/Bad Faeries (1998)
-The Faeries' Oracle (2000)
-The Runes of Elfland (2003)
-Goblins! (2004)
-The Secret Sketchbooks of Brian Froud (2005)
-Chelsea Morning (2005)
-Brian Froud's World of Faerie (2007) 

http://www.worldoffroud.com/index.html

~Music video~

Video for the song "Von Den Elben" by the band Qntal.
Video created and directed by Brian Froud.

~The Secret of Moonacre~

The author is Elizabeth Goudge
and She was born on 24 April 1900 
and died on 1 April 1984.
She was an English author of novels,
short stories and children's books.
 
Born in Wells, she moved with her family
to Ely when her father, a clergyman,
was transferred there. When her father,
Henry Leighton Goudge, was made
Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford,
the family left Ely and went to Christ Church in Oxford.

Goudge's first book,
The Fairies' Baby and Other Stories (1919),
was a failure and it was several years before
she authored Island Magic (1934),
which is based on Channel Island stories,
many of which she had learned from her mother,
who was from Guernsey.

Goudge was awarded the Carnegie Medal for
The Little White Horse (1946), the book which
J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter stories,
has said was her favorite as a child.
The television mini-series Moonacre was
based on The Little White Horse.
Her Green Dolphin Country (1944) was made into a film
(under its American title, Green Dolphin Street)
which won the Academy Award for
Special Effects in 1948.

Awards and honors:

-Carnegie Medal (1946)
-Waterstones The Nation's Favourite Children's Books (1997)
-A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (1948)

The Secret of Moonacre is a film adaptation
of the novel The Little White Horse by
Elizabeth Goudge. The film, which started
filming on 1 October 2007, was released
in February 2009. The World Premiere was held
at Toronto International Film Festival in 2008.

All these picture shown here are from this movie.

~Rebecca Guay~

Rebecca Guay began her
career in illustration after
graduating from Pratt Institute
in 1992. By the summer
of 1993 she was working
as a full time penciller for
DC/Vertigo's monthly
series Black Orchid, as well as
painting trading cards
for both DC Comics and
Topps Inc and publishing
regularly with Cricket Magazine
and other children's publications.
After Black Orchid she
moved on to painted comics.

Rebecca Guay is een
kunstenaar gespecialiseerd
in aquarel schilderen en illustratie
Ze is vooral bekend
voor haar werk in
opdracht van Magic:
The Gathering White Wolf
en DC Vertigo Comics,
hoewel ze ook werk
gedaan heeft voor
World of Warcraft TCG,
The Gathering (met inbegrip
van de role playing game
boekenreeks
Dungeons & Dragons. 


Ze ontving een graad in Illustratie uit het Pratt Institute
in New York City in 1992 en woont in Amhers, Massachusetts
met haar man en dochter.

Boeken door haar geïllustreerd:

Her list of graphic novels includes:
-The Serra Angel (Acclaim Comics 1995)
-Magic The Homelands (Acclaim Comics 1995)
-Sandman: The Book of Destiny- 1998
Eisner Award nominee (DC/Vertigo Comics)
-Veils (2000 DC/Vertigo Comics)
-Green Lantern:Emerald Nights (DC Comics 2001)

In 1995 she started illustrating for the popular
game Magic: The Gathering.
She has painted over 150 Magic cards,
and has been invited to travel to Japan, France,
Australia and throughout the United States
to sign cards and meet the players.

As well as being published extensively throughout
the fantasy gaming industry she has also
painted book covers for the work of
Ursula K Le Guin (the Earthsea Books),
Bruce Coville (the Unicorn Chronicles),
Jackie French Koller (The Keepers series),
Susan Fletcher and Dia Calhoun and others.

In 2003 her first children's book "Goddesses:
A World of Myth and Magic" was published
by Barefoot Books and received critical praise.
"Goddesses" was chosen as one of
the "Top Books for children 7-12" by BookSense
the year of its publication.
With the publication of "Goddesses",
Rebecca's illustration was acquired for gallery
representation by the R. Michelson,
joining the ranks of other gallery artists
Barry Moser, Jane Dyer,
Dr Seuss, Maurice Sendak, Mordicia Gerstein
and Trina Shart Hyman. "Ballet Stories"
(written By Jane Yolen,
and Heidi Stemple), her second picture book,
was published in 2004 by Barefoot Books.

 
Her work was chosen as "Best in Show"
at Gen Con in 2004,
and she was elected "Best Artist" in 2005
by InQuest Magazine's "Fan Choice Awards".
Her work has also been displayed at the
Society of Illustrators in NYC, and she will be
among the panel of judges this spring
for the 2007 student show.

 

Her most recent illustrated book "Muti's Necklace"
(written by Louis Hawes) was published in June 2006
by Houghton Mifflin. Currently she is working
Beauty and the Beast (Fernleigh Books), and
" B is for Ballet: A Dance Alphabet"
(written by principal dancer Sonia Rodriguez and
figure skater Kurt Browning) for Sleeping Bear Press.
This spring she will be starting "The Last Dragon",
with her friend Jane Yolen, to be published
by Vertigo Comics.

 
Rebecca lives with her husband Matthew Mitchell 
and young daughter Vivian in Amhers, Massachusetts
She shares her studio (a renovated barn)
with her husband who is also an artist.

Click here for more info about Rebecca Guay
http://rebeccaguay.com/home.html