Fairy tales were not intended for children. I repeat that, fairy tales were NOT intended for children. Just take a look at the Kay Nielson illustration for Cinderella above. Despite the name, Kay is a he, a classically trained Danish artist who worked heavily during the first half of the 20th century. The moment depicts …
And other body parts as well, apparently. Artwork by the great Ed Emshweller.
French comic artist Olivier Ledroit’s fairies have a wicked, wide-eyed, kinky look even as they verge into disappearing into their own ornamentation. Like Louis Wain’s schizophrenic cats, they’re hypnotic.
Innocent, disturbing, whimsical, and exact, all at once.
Illustration for a Mexican pulp magazine of the 1970s. Sensational, amateurish, colorful, and likely quick to execute in gouache or poster paint. I like the paint-by-numbers quality of it.
I was going to post this as “The Worst Science Fiction Paperbook Book Cover Ever” and let it stand, but then I noticed its resemblance to this seminal Pop Art collage by British artist Richard Hamilton. The palette is the same, the sense of clutteredness, the busyness of the composition. Both have a white, male …
Q: Why did the yogi put himself into a trance before going to the dentist? A: Because he wanted to transcend dental medication. (Artwork by Larry Carlsen)
Tapestry designed by Narnia illustrator Pauline Baynes for Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. It was part of a series that took 40 years to stitch, and the subject of recent controversy.
Liberating the River God, by Justine Sweet. Concept Art for the 2008 movie Prince Caspian. But… there was nothing in the text about a waterfall at Beruna. And surely, when Aslan did this, it was clear, sunny day … ?
Even in contemporary children’s and YA books (as of 2020, when I am writing this) it’s hard to think of a more shocking passage than the White Witch killing Aslan at the Stone Table. Four Hags, holding four torches, stood at the corners of the Table. The Witch bared her arms as she had bared …