Shaun Tan – more award nominations

Shaun Tan

I am a Shaun Tan fan. I have been since I saw The Rabbits, the John Marsden book he illustrated.

I love all the different styles he uses in his illustrations and I greatly enjoyed listening to him speak about his latest publication, Tales from Outer Suburbia earlier this year. This book had some wonderful short stories he had written as well as illustrated. My favourite, Alert but not alarmed, involves the  storage of ballistic missiles in suburbia.

Tales from outer suburbia

From the CMIS site I have learnt that Shaun has been nominated for two Chesley Awards, given by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, for Tales from Outer Suburbia.

The Chesley Awards were established in 1985 as ASFA’s peer awards to recognize individual works and achievements during a given year. The Chesleys were initially called the ASFA Awards, but were later renamed to honor famed astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell after his death in 1986. The awards are presented annually at the World Science Fiction Convention(Worldcon).

Shaun has alreadybeen acknowledged on the international stage when he was named Best Artist at the World Fantasy Awards in 2001 in Montreal and in 2005 his book, The Arrival, which was a universal story about migration, told in a series of wordless images, became an international best-seller.

This time Shaun has been nominated for Best Interior Illustration and Artistic Achievement. The winners will be announced in Montreal on the 6-10 August at the 67th World Science Fiction Convention.

It is wonderful to see a really talented Australian author/illustrator acknowledged on the world stage. If you want to hear some of Shaun’s views on illustration, in March this year he gave the Colin Simpson Memorial Lecture. You can visit this site to hear his lecture and/or read the transcript. He spoke with great insight about using illustration as a narrative device and I summarised his lecture in a post earlier.

Shaun Tan on “Illustration and visual narrative”

Shaun Tan is one of my favourite illustrators/authors.

The old adage, ”a picture is worth a thousand words” is particularly true in his case.

I have been lucky enough to listen to him discuss some of his newly published books and he always very eloquently describes his journey with his story.

Shaun has become more widely recognised as he received numerous awards for his picture books, including the CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award for The Rabbits, with John Marsden in 1988.

On the international stage, he was named Best Artist at the World Fantasy Awards in 2001 in Montreal and in 2005 his book, The Arrival, which was a universal story about migration, told in a series of wordless images, became an international best-seller.

On 28th March, 2009 in Sydney, Shaun Tan gave the Colin Simpson Memorial Lecture. This is an annual event of the Australian Society of Authors.

Shaun spoke with great insight about using illustration as a narrative device. He commented on a range of other interesting picture books and graphic novels written by others as well as discussing some of his own work. Shaun spoke about starting to seriously think about the play of word and image in his twenties. It was then that he realised that ”picture books seemed especially good at presenting a reader with complex questions in a concise way” and that “the best illustrated stories prompt us to think about familiar concepts in an unexpected way, offering up a new and interesting perspective“

I enjoyed his description of the family photo album. “Photo albums are actually perfect examples of how illustrated narrative works most effectively, their power is not so much in documenting particulars, but triggering memory and imagination, urging us to fill the empty space around frozen snapshots, to build on fragments and constantly revisit our own storyline, a kind of visual literacy we all understand intuitively.”

 Towards the end of the lecture, Shaun offers up the observation that the key to the success for any illustrated story is the invitation for the reader to interpret the story for themselves. This, he believes, is “the thing most likely to fire up the imagination of both adults and children and should not be underestimated”.

Early in the lecture Shaun also credits teachers and librarians with changing the way illustrated books are regarded. Today they are not considered to belong solely in the world of the young child and he credits this change to the open approach to picture books by teachers and librarians.

The video is well worth watching and you call also get a transcript of his lecture in PDF format. Shaun Tan Delivers Colin Simpson Memorial Lecture 2009 from Australian Society of Authors on Vimeo.

Illustrated Books – A new series of classics

Arthur Rackham illustration from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The world of children’s literature is a vital and amazing one, and one that often uses wonderful illustrations. There’s something very special about any beautifully illustrated book. The simplest picture books can speak volumes, to young and old alike, in a way that simply text cannot. Illustrated/picture books can capture the layers of a story/text.  

I loved my picture books when I was young and, now that I am older, I look at picture books with a more discerning eye.  What I see still pleases my senses, my imagination and I love sharing them with my 4 year old niece. Over the years I have collected picture books that I liked. For a while I obtained  quite a few that used reproductions of Arthur Rackham drawings. He was one of my early favourites.  My niece is just beginning her journey and loves nothing more than sitting next to you and “reading”. In fact I have never come across a young person who did not enjoy the closeness that comes from examining a picture book. Working in a secondary school, I notice many times that the illustrated book gets its fair share of use. It can be in the form of a graphic novel, a beautifully photographed non-fiction work, an optical illusions book, Where’s Wally or an imaginatively drawn fantasy.

The Caterpillar (From Alice in Wonderland)-Sir John Tenniel (1865?)

Illustrated books work marvelously well with young people.  For children, who do not relate well to abstract things, thoughts and people, they can develop these skills by using/reading illustrated (picture) books to begin their learning. They work as visual aids for the eye and mind. Younger children need the visual and concrete to examine, study, and understand the abstract. Even as we grow older, we are still drawn to images often using both text and illustrations together, as visual aids for the eye and mind, to explain something.  We are visual beings and are constantly deciphering visual signs, symbols and images, without even thinking about it. When something catches our attention because of its beauty, our particular interest for whatever reason, we are stopped in our tracks. 

So I have been looking for examples of illustration (with some commentary if possible) to explain to students about how to use images to create a feeling/atmosphere. This is all part of gathering a range of resources for future work with storyboards for digital storytelling.

There is a new series of illustrated books. Walker Illustrated Classics is a series that began with Wind in the Willows, illustrated by Inga Moore. They are planning 12 in all, with a new title published each month throughout 2009. Walker seek to ” retain the high quality design and production values of the original hardbacks, but in a stylish, collectable new format with a specially designed logo.”

The Guardian offers a selection of illustrations, from 6 titles, in a gallery format. There is a commentary, on each of the images, from the illustrators responsible. The commentary offers a fascinating insight to the thoughts of each of the illustrators. It is always useful for students to read how professionals choose particular images or how they attempt to portray ideas and feelings in their illustrations.

The titles include:

The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame), illustrated by Inga Moore

Classic Poetry,selected by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Paul Howard

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll), illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett), illustrated by Inga Moore

The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling), illustrated by Nicola Bayley

Don Quixote (Cervantes), illustrated by Chris Riddell 

Another interesting post about book illustration was in Jrpoulter’s Weblog on March 18th. Angel Dominguez – Spain’s leading illustrator in the tradition of the Golden Age was an interview with the illustrator and also contained images that he created. It is another interesting insight into the world of an illustrator.