All things Sendak

Maurice has been on my mind lately. Through another blog, I became aware of "Sendakifying" wherein some illustrators took a scene from a Sendak book and used the style of another illustrator. How cool I thought, I'll try it. Well, it's harder than it looks. (Maybe it depends on who you're blending with Sendak.... hey I like the sound of that: Blending with Sendak, could be a whole new workshop/trend etc.) I chose Garth Williams, because he's another illustrator who's been on my mind as of late. I got a cool copy of "The Rescuers" by Margery Sharp and was entranced by William's illustrations. 

So, who better than to try than Mr. Williams (especially since no one had yet Sendakified him)? It's kind of a psychological as well as technical journey, trying to get inside the head of two illustrators simultaneously. Some people have done an amazing job. Check out Sendak's "BumbleArdy" in the style of Richard Scarry (another fave)..... just hilarious!

Here's a small work-in-progress-- my version of "The Wild Things" a la Garth Williams:

Not well-known fact: Sendak along with his brother Jack wanted to design toys.

And yet another interesting Sendak-related tidbit: "Where the Wild Things Are" was originally "Where the Wild Horses Are" and this blog entry describes how it evolved. I love seeing the behind-the-scenes evolution of a particular book or illustration.
Note to self: get a copy of "The Art of Maurice Sendak"!

Pigs in bad sweaters

Thinking about pigs- in kids books that is. I was prompted to think about pigs when a blog posting brought them to my attention. Pen and Oink is having a contest: just name your favorite pig character and you could win a copy of Maurice Sendak's Bumble-Ardy. I hadn't given it too much thought, but when you think about it, pigs are everywhere in kids books.

In my brain library, I thought of Pig Will and Pig Won't (Richard Scarry), Wilbur of Charlotte's Web (EB White/Garth Williams), Babe: The Gallant Pig (Dick King Smith/Mary Rayner), Poppleton (Cynthia Rylant/Mark Teague), Toot and Puddle (Holly Hobbie), and Wibbly Pig (Mike Inkpen). Then there's the more recent, Olivia (Ian Falconer) and Piggie books (Mo Willems). But one of my favorite's is Benny (Barbro Lindgren & illustrator Olof Landstrom). In Benny's Had Enough the pig's expressions are priceless and the little stuffie he carries around is beyond repair. This is the second time (at least) that I've gone crazy over a Swedish character. The first was Boodil from Boodil My Dog. Which makes me realize that I'll need to devote an entire post to Swedish authors/illustrators someday soon.

One of my daughters says there's also a new (to U.S.) show on Nick Jr. featuring a pig family: Peppa Pig. Very much in the vein of Maisy by Lucy Cousins (also a UK import).

Then there's my own strange pig doodles
that always seem to wind up in bad sweaters:

Pigs are a great resource for showing emotion. Some animals seem to be easier to anthropomorphize (say that fast 10x) than others. Try putting a cute face on a naked mole rat and you'll see what I mean.

Oh, wait.... someone did. Hah!