Written & Illustrated by Neil Packer
ISBN: 978-1-4063-7922-8
Published by Walker Studio
A.O.I. Book Review can be found here.
Neil Packer’s Website http://www.neilpacker.co.uk/
Editor Gabriel Solomons
Published by Beneficial Shock! Ltd. ISSN: 2399-5173
“I wasn’t interested in “illustrating” them in the usual literal way, which I’ve always regarded as redundant and insulting to a viewer’s intelligence and imaginative capacities. I was more interested in the possibilities of apparently disparate juxtapositions and the new worlds that might emerge.” Russell Mills
Issue Five of the pioneering cinematic publication has arrived and it continues to build upon the campaigning strategy “to see more creative editorial expression” through the exploration of meaning within filmmaking and cinema. Early on in the magazine the publishers make statements of intent which are worth mentioning as others should note them too:
On page 2, “We aim to retain independence in order to support creative collaboration and provide professional opportunities for young and emerging creative talent.”
On page 3, “We aim to challenge the traditional role of the visual creative from a content servicer to that of an author researcher and content ‘driver’ – adding value and responsibility as a visual communicator.”
The theme for this issue is SECRETS & LIES. The contents page has its structure divided into Covert on the left and Untruths on the right. The Features articles drill down into the conceits that are inherent in the very structure of film, and how classic and modern narratives are shaped by geo-political, cultural and societal upheavals. The writing is impeccable as all concerned are passionate about communicating ideas that are underpinned by artistic rigour.
Once again Art Director Phil Wrigglesworth’s wraparound cover illustration is an epic scene containing visual references mined from the entire contents of the magazine. We see images from the Coen Brothers oeuvre, a recumbent Statue of Liberty with a deflated Superman and some naked figures descending into darkness. All of this detail displayed using a palette of only three colours.
I have continued to refine my own critical appreciation of film since I reviewed issue one of this magazine, so I was looking for a challenge and I was not disappointed. Notable for me are the articles ‘Not So Super After All’ by James Charisma & Jason Raish, ‘Once Upon A Dream’ by Neil Fox & Ryan Jackson, ‘The Parent Trap’ by Thomas Puhr & Ryan Snook and Jonny Hannah’s ‘Anarchy In The UK: Ealing Comedies’ a combination of energetic print techniques and droll commentary with text as image, or is that image as text?
At 80 pages the magazine has grown, but not through the addition of advertising that plagues many other periodicals. I’ve noticed that the articles advance a more polarized viewpoint that reflects the tensions between the power of old patriarchy and something that appears much freer and progressive on the surface.
The diversity of the source material drawn upon is also something I find to be very positive. Who knew that the real force behind ‘The Man With the Movie Camera’ was a woman? The editorial stance seems less shocking this time and more contemplative, which I think suits this complex theme. I’m glad that the magazine has endured as we are possibly at a crossroads that might do away with the cinema altogether. However, that said I look forward to reading issue six which takes as its theme COURAGE & STRENGTH – something that we all need right now.
Edited by Julian Bell, Julia Balchin & Claudia Tobin
ISBN: 978-0-500-02190-3
Published by Thames and Hudson
Reviewed by Karl Andy Foster
Publishers website https://thamesandhudson.com/catalog/product/view/id/4957/s/ways-of-drawing-9780500021903/category/2/
Review
From the first moment that humans discovered that they could express ideas through mark making we haven’t been able to stop. Though we have yet to completely exploit the creative potential of ‘dirtying the paper’ who better to discuss the practice of drawing than the practitioners themselves. There is also the need to ensure that the power of drawing is promoted to wider-audiences. If you can engage people with this topic, you might also be able to encourage participation. The excellent introductions by Julian Bell that lead us into each chapter are thought provoking and connect the distinct elements.
This book is divided into three main sections: Studio Space (where we go to find a place to make things happen and to work in private meditation), Open Space (Go outside start drawing and count how many people interact with you and mention their own lapsed drawing practice) and Inner Space (where influences that run deep into the sub-conscious are able to surface and startle the artist!). We are able to glimpse the personal, reflective and in some cases passionate evocation of the compulsion to make sense of the world through mark-making.
Some of the contributors to this book wish to educate while others simply celebrate the act of drawing, caring less about whether this is a worthy practice or not. The amateur and the professional, the academic and the unconscious doodler all have their part to play in the debate. The range of essays on offer are from artists who know how to capture the essence and inner truth of the subject. By resolving ideas through the distillation of feeling and emotions that are elicited from reading our external world.
In the essays the artists attempt to discover the secrets of this skill and explain that preparation is everything. Through the history and evolution of the subject we see that drawing as an essential part of our visual culture. This book features incredible drawings and a multitude of approaches. It is important to read the images first and then the text, however some of the drawings hold one’s attention so well that you forget to continue to read the text. It also explores the meaning of image-making through the use of historical and contemporary examples. Drawing is an enterprise that has remained relevant and important despite the invention of photography and cinematography and our changing social interactions. Some artists make clear the strong case for when observed drawing is superior to all other forms of expression.
Good drawing is hard to achieve and even harder to share one’s output with others. When I think about drawing I am filled with a sense of dread and I know that this anxiety stems from one thing and one thing only. There is a level of competency a ‘standard’ if you will that is set within us during foundation studies that is clear. We want to produce good drawings not dross. We are very ashamed of the dross. Ways of Drawing goes some distance to unpack the meaning and reasons behind this ‘standard’ and debunks a few myths too.
25 April 2020
Written by Lucy Brownridge
Illustrated by Édith Carron
ISBN: 978-1-78603-645-2
Published by Wide Eyed Editions
Reviewed by Karl Andy Foster
Publishers website https://www.quartoknows.com/books/9781786036452/Portrait-of-an-Artist-Vincent-van-Gogh.html?direct=1
Édith Carron’s website https://edithcarron.net
Pitch
A cultural titan who still influences the art world more than 100 years after his death. He is a man who is so well known and loved as a result of his tragic suffering, the letters to and from his brother Theo and his peerless artworks. If you publish a book about Vincent Van Gogh it is bound to succeed.
Review
A famous face stares out at us from the cover of this hardback book. Vincent Van Gogh is surrounded by the subjects of his trade; sunflowers, cypress trees and a swirling combination of clouds and sky. A palette that is evocative of a sun blasted summer’s day. This is a portrait of an artist who was unlike any other in the history of western art. Wide Eye Editions have published an enjoyable addition to their series that features great artists and their lives.
Édith Carron has done a remarkable job considering that she is competing with examples of Van Gogh’s own works. Her bright unfussy colours and delicate pencil work are combined to create the tableaux of his life and times on double page spreads. With a few well-placed marks Carron is able to suggest fine detail but without over-working her drawings.
This painful tale is handled with sensitivity and restraint by Lucy Brownridge. She allows us to see all the key moments from Vincent’s short life. If a young reader wants to know more about the history behind the paintings then this can be found on the last three pages of the book. This compliments the story and adds some important details about his more famous paintings.
This is the story of a man who lost his life as lovers often do in fables of long ago. There was possibly no other artist of this period capable of creating a work like The Starry Night – sublime. This is a simple but effective addition to the many books on this subject. Why would you want another book about Van Gogh I hear you say? I say, you would want this one!
17 October 2019
Edited by Teal Triggs & Leslie Atzmon
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4725-3620-4
PB: 978-1-4725-2647-2
Published by Bloomsbury
Reviewed by Karl Andy Foster
Publishers website
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-graphic-design-reader-9781472526472/
Editors’ websites
Teal Triggs https://www.rca.ac.uk/more/staff/professor-teal-triggs/
Leslie Atzmon http://art.emich.edu/faculty/11
Pitch
This scholarly and engaging collection of key readings provides an excellent body of work for those who wish to understand how the subject of graphic design is moving from a field towards a discipline. You will learn that graphic design is everywhere, even when it’s invisible!
Review
Asking a designer to ‘rewire’ their thinking and notions of the ego
When I trained as a graphic designer more than 30 years ago my main concern was how to make the best work and how these efforts would help me to pay my bills. I had no notion of how my work would be appreciated beyond the D&AD and British and European illustration award systems. I seldom attempted to go beneath the surface of the subject but instead I praised the surface. Things have changed a great deal since then and it’s important to see that there is a complimentary area of study that all graphic designers need to reflect upon. If the subject is to have continued relevance in a world that’s facing multiple challenges we need to be ready for change.
Chapter headings, including the currency of education, the profession, type and typography and political and social change place this publication firmly in the worlds of professional making and knowledge dissemination. There is certainty about where graphic design might be heading. This book is an archive of the best in writing on the subject from the last 140 years beginning with William Morris and the Kelmscott Press (1888). It will be of interest to students of design, academics and other scholars. The Essays that range over seven chapters are drawn from those who have worked in the creative industries, educational and philosophical arenas.
The contributors to The Graphic Design Reader are impressive. Anil Aykan Barnbrook, Peter Bil’ak, Joanna Choukeir, Ken Garland, Anna Gerber, Jessica Helfand, Steven Heller, Ellen Lupton and William Morris to name but a few covering history, innovations, pedagogy and philosophy as well as the practical applications of this complex way of being. The editors have taken the time to find sources that will surely encourage further comment.
The status quo is not an option
They attempt to put a marker down for future scholars of the subject. Graphic Design has found a way to remain relevant and integrated into the everyday experiences of people’s lives globally. The discovery of how ideas were explored by embracing this multi-dimensional medium will help designers to embrace the analysis of their own work. The philosophical and psychological impact of graphic designer on its creators and readers is also covered in great detail.
When a scholar exposes the cultural, political and economic context of a dynamic industry might there still be room for the subjective? The Reader explores how we can use personal agency to help us to pursue answers to the complex problems facing designers today. This book forensically covers the alternatives to the status quo, suggesting that the theoretical must become an integral part of their personal and professional approach to graphic design and all future activities.
In conclusion
This Graphic Design Reader is a great introduction for design students covering as it does the arguments and philosophies surrounding this subject and its future directions. The essays and manifestos support the challenge of spreading understanding to an audience. We all need to be better equipped to take the subject forward into a discipline.
Written & Illustrated by Sydney Smith
ISBN: 978-1-4063-8840-4
Published by Walker Books
Reviewed by Karl Andy Foster
Publishers website http://www.walker.co.uk/Small-in-the-City-9781406388404.aspx
Sydney Smith https://www.sydneydraws.ca
Pitch
This is something special. Sydney Smith’s narrative power is his ability to immerse the reader into the world and concerns of a small child. His spare economical prose and exquisite artwork propels you towards a startling destination. This is an honest and credible story that after drawing you in leaves you satisfied, perhaps with one or two tears in your eyes.
Review
In this hard cover picture book there are some lovely observations visual and textual. The initial four panels with the silhouettes and blurred streets convey the sense of unease. A child roams around the city encountering a range of scenarios and offers advice that may or may not be of comfort to a stranger.
Sydney Smith’s carefully constructed pages are a mixture of full spreads and panels. Of note is the double page spread when the child leaves the bus and makes their way into the throng of the crowds. In addition, the words “I know what it’s like to be small in the city” or “The streets are always busy. It can make your brain feel like there’s too much stuff in it.” I particularly enjoyed “Alleys can be good shortcuts. But don’t go down this alley it’s too dark.” We are completely involved with the concerns of our young protagonist.
The grid lines of buildings, walk ways and street furniture create a web suggesting a trap for the uninitiated. There is a stunning picture of the child’s reflection fractured by the arrangements of the mirror tiles on a building façade. We soon realise that this advice is not aimed at the reader but at something far more important. The revelation at the end of the picture book came as a surprise for me but I did start to get an inkling of what was to come.
Sydney Smith has created a classic that will make a big impression on readers with a story that though simple is imbued with a graphic fluidity combined with a visual dexterity that few can match. This for me is reminiscent of Ezra Jack Keats’ atmospheric The Snowy Day when I read it for the first time. The artwork nods in a knowing direction towards Dave McKean’s ‘Cages’ and ‘The Savage.’ The use of a subtle and sophisticated palette suffused with interpretive impressionistic inky marks and charcoal lines is thrilling.
If this picture book and his 2017 Kate Greenaway Medal winning collaboration ‘Town Is by the Sea’ written by Joanne Schwartz is anything to go by Sydney Smith is on his way to great significance. When you are small in the city you can still have the biggest heart of all.
08 October 2019
Written & Illustrated by Graham Carter
ISBN: 978 178344 745 9
Published by Anderson Press
Reviewed by Karl Andy Foster
Publishers website https://www.andersenpress.co.uk
Graham Carter Website http://www.graham-carter.co.uk
Graham Carter’s Agent’s Website http://arenaillustration.com/portfolios/graham-carter
Pitch
Otto Blotter is a fearless explorer whose curiosity takes him far and wide. As for his family they are obsessed with bird watching and rarely leave their house that has been converted into an enormous Hide. They haven’t much time for our hero not when there are beautiful birds that need spotting. One day while out adventuring Otto makes a discovery that changes his life forever.
Review
Otto goes on an adventure that ranges across a fully formed environment habituated in places by mostly passive human characters, he is the exception. This highly detailed illustrated book alive with textures and vibrant imagery is from the hand of artist and printmaker Graham Carter. The main excitement comes from his spectacular bird illustrations. The vivid colour and dynamic shapes helps to drive the narrative and grabs our attention.
Otto discovers and ‘rescues’ a tiny bird that he secretly feeds and comforts. A bond builds between them but as time goes by the bird becomes enormous. Just when Otto thinks his secret is about to be revealed the bird decides to display its unusual and delightful powers.
The energy in this book shines out from the artwork as Carter uses every square centimetre of the pages to reveal new surprises and give the story depth. The digital paintings are quite dark with the colours being very sophisticated for the intended age group however the palette selection comes into its own once the bird’s final special power is on display.
The cover of this hardback book uses varnish and embossing to make a tactile statement. The bird at the centre of the cover is subtle and stylized into the shape of an arched window. A window that leads to indigo end papers that give us some clues as to what the story is about. The narrative gives me the sense that this is only the beginning. I would really like to see a series about the Blotter family and their unusual location.
19 August 2019
Written by Zoë Tucker
Illustrated by Zoe Persico
ISBN: 978-0-7112-5375-9
Published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Reviewed by Karl Andy Foster
Publishers website https://www.quartoknows.com/books/9780711253773/Greta-and-the-Giants.html?direct=1
Zoe Persico website http://www.zoepersico.com
Review
Greta Thunberg is a 17-year-old, Swedish school child who has become famous through her stand to save the world, beginning when she was 15 years old outside the Swedish Parliament one Friday afternoon. I have written reviews for stories about living people before and it’s usually a real-life account that has been adapted to help craft the story into a cohesive narrative. This time a real person has been cast in a fictional tale to help children grasp the concept of activism.
The cover is like a poster for a classic Western movie where our heroine stands legs apart ready for the final showdown with an unknown foe. Her face is stony in its resolve but her weapon is a large placard stating “Strike for Climate.” In the background are two silhouetted figures, could these be the Giants mentioned in the books title? The production of this book using UK based suppliers and printers align with its ethical stance. Greenpeace is a beneficiary of the sales of this book.
Zoë Tucker has framed this story of defiance into a magical fable in the mold of Hans Christian Anderson or a Charles Kingsley creation. Children take on the adult world because they have to in this story. In such cases of adversity, we need the children to ask themselves if it’s possible to inspire by your words and actions and can they see themselves as capable of making a difference to the world. Greta has spoken truth to power across the globe and has as many fans as detractors, therefore she must be doing something right.
Zoe Perisco’s illustrations are bold, sophisticated, loose, dynamic using subtle tones of yellow, purple, brown, sage and hooker green. The figuration of the giants helps us to appreciate that they are engaged in their lives without much thought for the impact their desires are having on the planet. There are striking spreads in the book e.g. the city consuming the forest, the children marching, placards in hands and the resolution images showing us what the world could be like if we all acted to save it. The three circular vignettes towards the end of the story are rather ambiguous despite the text underneath them. The text refers to the behaviour of the Giants after Greta confronts them but the images look more like the children characters who are doing the protesting. I do wonder if an error has been made here.
We want our children to be the future but it is a complex matter these days. What will happen? Will the real Giants think about changing the world or is this an impossible future? Can children convince adult readers to engage with change to make a difference? Out of small acorns mighty oaks spring forth.
21 February 2020
Written & Illustrated by Posy Simmonds
ISBN: 9780224089098
Published by Jonathan Cape
Reviewed by Karl Andy Foster
Publishers website https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/108/1084784/cassandra-darke/9780224089098.html
Posy Simmonds Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posy_Simmonds
Pitch
At last a very unlikely female anti-hero who is well into middle age and has hardly any redeeming features. Posy Simmonds has put her finger on the zeitgeist presenting to the reader a world no longer sure of itself, where pigeons always come home to roost. Cassandra Darke has her eye on the main chance but when the truly vile encroaches upon her world where will her moral compass lead her?
Review
Cassandra is a fine art gallery owner, with currency in certain strata of the British class system. She lives alone in a house estimated to be worth seven million pounds on a pretty but mostly deserted square in Chelsea, London. It’s her fortress of solitude but without any solace. Many times, she has contemplated the dreadful means she can use to leave her unhappy life behind. Privileged but petty she risks her reputation for money that she doesn’t even need. She appears bored and is boring.
We are kept engaged by the ‘crimes’ that Cassandra commits in order to satisfy her selfish but pointless needs. She suffers from a sense of entitlement and looks at the world through haughty eyes and callous regard. Cassandra like her namesake from the Greek tragedy is seen as dishonest and a mad woman. It’s only when Nikki, her niece moves into her basement that her life starts to have a purpose once more and she looks to the future with optimism.
This slice of life story is constructed to take in the time the year from Christmas 2016 to 2017 and cheer is in short supply. As we socialize with our friends and colleagues one never knows who is drinking at the next table to you. This is a device that is pivotal to the story and takes it in a more challenging direction. Not even Cassandra’s best efforts can keep this at bay.
The drawings are exquisite, delicate and powerful. The clean crisp line work is handled as deftly as a 19th Century Master. She channels Charles Dickens using words and pictures to expose the foibles of complex characters. Simmonds creates a believable space holding a mirror up to contemporary London moments. Her writing shows us the way a façade is built up and then knocked down. How physical and sexual violence is so common place that we have become blasé about it. She acts a visual essayist in her reflections on day to day living.
At a time where the gap between the haves and have nots begins to reach Dickensian proportions, this story displays that the differences between Them and Us isn’t so wide after all. Wealth in its exclusive position distorts any sense of community or reconciliation. When things go very wrong it’s the public servants who have to save the day and stitch things back together.
I think that Simmonds is well aware that far too often women who are childless, independent and have strong personalities are seen as ‘other’ and fair game for criticism. A Women who knows her own mind has to be neutralized. Transgressors who threaten the status quo must be controlled. I know what women like Cassandra would say to that, “Bollocks!”
19 August 2019
