Overview
Lavishly illustrated throughout with sketches from Shirley Hughes' sketchbooks, doodles from boring meetings, roughs from what would later become classic picture books, and perfectly executed paintings done just for the fun of it, this book will be a treasured gift for those who love art and those who have grown up with the enduring characters from Shirley's books. A personal text in the form of a story details her remarkable life as an illustrator.
Synopsis
Lavishly illustrated, and with a text written as a personal storyline detailing this favourite author’s remarkable life as an illustrator.
Reflecting on art and her own development, Shirley takes us through her life: from a girlhood obsessed with comics, through the war, art school in a blitzed Liverpool, on to Oxford and then London. The book will be a treasured gift for those who love art and those who have grown up with Shirley Hughes’ enduring characters.
NAEA News
[Hughes] tells her story with the same attractive clarity that makes her pictures so appealing.
Editorials
NAEA News
[Hughes] tells her story with the same attractive clarity that makes her pictures so appealing.Children's Literature -
The creator of Alfie and Annie Rose takes us back to her early life to trace her development as artist and author. From her childhood during World War II, we follow her life and art as she looks, learns, and sketches, always drawing. She meets many unusual people and travels far, sketchbook always in hand. On the way she shares her thoughts about the art world and artists, as well as about picture books and their creation. The development of her technique along with her entry into the world of picture book publication is clearly detailed. We feel we are sharing her life experiences and, in the process, comingt to understand what life was like for students of that time studying theater and visual arts. Her rich, engrossing text is complemented by hundreds of illustrations that tell us about the look, feel, and sound of the time, along with details of so many of her characters. Her masterful drawings, filled with emotional content, create real children along with impressions of people encountered in France, Italy, and of course England. She reminds us that, "illustration is a very old form"; her memoirs make the case that its value is with us still. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia MarantzSchool Library Journal
In this well-thought-out autobiography, Hughes sets aside ego and concentrates on the events, people, and arts that have influenced her life and work. Along with personal anecdotes, she discusses the history of children's literature and gives her own philosophy of children's books-a philosophy that has grown out of her own childhood, her role as parent, and her experiences as an author and illustrator. This professional memoir has a coffee-table-book format. It is filled with full-color and black-and-white photographs, sketchbook entries, book illustrations, and paintings. All of the artwork has excellent placement and is accompanied by explanatory and identifying captions. This is a beautiful book for anyone interested in children's books.-Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH
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