Long Live the King

George Giusti, Holiday cover, April 1958, thanks to Inspirational Imagery

Dedicated to Michelle, born 25 years ago under the sign of Leo.

 William Pène du Bois, cover of Fierce John

Piet Marée, Barendje's Wonderlijke Reis, 1938, thanks to Arthur van Kruining

Celestino Piatti, from Graphis Annual 60/61, thanks to Sandi Vincent

Bernard Simpson, 1959

Bill Leeson, 1965, via the London Transport Museum 

Chiyoko Nakatani, The Lion and the Bird’s Nest, 1972, thanks to tiny tin

John Burningham's ABC, 1970

Sarah Young

Lesley Barnes

 

 Antonio Frasconi, See and Say, 1955, thanks to my vintage book collection in blog form

Marcello Minale, Creatures Great and Small, 1965

Takeshi Kitano, thanks to Ana Montiel

Mark Hearld

Joan Kiddell-Monroe, India Folk Tales, thanks to 50 Watts

click here to see the previous pride of lions on Animalarium

Sunday Safari - All the Pretty Horses

Romuald Socha, 1974

Waldemar Swierzy, 1969

Eileen Mayo, The children's circus book, thanks to The Visual Telling of Stories 

Witold Janowski

Erté

Brian Wildsmith, illustration from Circus, thanks to Tiny Tim

Art Seiden, Circus Animals, 1958

Vladimir Lebedev

Celestino Piatti, The Nok family circus, thanks to Vintage kids' Books My Kid Loves

Kira Kotliar

Otto Dix, Kinderalbum

Tadeusz Jodlowski

Marek Mosinski, 1968

Jan Mloddozeniec 

Herbert Leupin

Lesley Barnes


Merry Christmas Everyone!

Magic Feathers & Marching Bands

Lesley Barnes is a very talented freelance illustrator and animation director from Glasgow.

I was impressed by Lesley's work when I first saw it featured at Aqua-Velvet, and have since 

been following her varied creative pursuits. These include a pack of beautifully 

designed playing cards featuring four warring clans of animal and human characters.

The work in progress can be followed on her blog An Ace in the Pack.

One recent project which immediately caught my eye is a series of illustrations

inspired by The Firebird, a classic Russian folk tale that was also used as the basis 

for Stravinsky's ballet. I love the bold combination of strong primary colors,

rich ornamental motifs and modern illustrative techniques.

It looks like yet another strong case of the highly contagious "Russian folk bug"!

In her interviews on Aqua-Velvet and Pikaland, Leslie talks about her quintessentially British love 

for vintage Penguin covers, hot cups of tea, lady hats and the high ceilings of old Victorian houses. 

Her sources of inspiration include the great artists and designers Charlie Harper, Edward Bawden, 

Alexander Girard and Saul Bass, and the animation work of Yuri Norstein and Lotte Reiniger.

 A fun collaborative project initiated by Leslie and uberkraaft was devoted 

to creating the whimsical imaginary performers of Colonel Windpipe's Musical Brigade.

Another collaboration with the wonderful illustrator Thereza Rowe resulted in

the inventive Sesame Street-style animation 7 little houses.

 A very colorful flock of birds designed for Digital Artist Magazine.

 Magic cloack

 A long neck

Illustration for .Cent magazine.

And now, head over to vimeo to see some more of Leslie's lovely animated works,

especially the very elegant and typophiliac Herzog and the Monsters!