He is best known for creating Miffy, the world's most famous rabbit. Yes, that's right, the world's most famous rabbit, Not Peter, not Roger... Miffy. He has published over 200 Miffy books to date with almost 90 million sold. The Miffy brand rakes in over $150 million a year. But Miffy is just a slice of the Dick Bruna pie. Bruna is also a titan of Dutch modernist graphic design and has designed and illustrated over 2,000 book covers! You see his father was a publisher and he got to work designing covers and promotional material for the company. Here is a sampling of his amazing...
Beauty and the Botanicals
The LuEsther T. Mertz Library of The New York Botanical Garden houses one of the greatest collections of botanical and horticultural works on the planet. Eight centuries of rare books, stunning botanical artworks, illustrated manuscripts, medieval herbals, exquisite garden prints and flower books, nursery catalogs, explorers’ notebooks, and more are contained within. First printed illustration of Anthrium gladifolium. Colored lithograph based on W. Liepoldt, 1879 American Bog Plants. Aquatint with additional hand coloring by Thomas Sutherland from Robert Thornton's Temple of Flora, 1807 To commemorate the treasures contained in the library an exhibition Flora Illustrata is underway featuring more than 50 books and objects...
Fernando Vicente does Dracula
You know it is going to be good when Spanish illustrator Fernando Vicente hits the books. His latest project is a new edition of Dracula by Bram Stoker. Enough said. [youtube]http://youtu.be/IMq8oktIL1I[/youtube] The project at Behance. Previously on Book Patrol: Portraits by Fernando Vicente Fernando Vicente illustrates The Communist Manifesto Playing Cards for the Literary Set
November is Picture Book Month
Picture Book Month is an international literacy initiative celebrating the print picture book. Founded by author & storyteller Dianne de Las Casas the goal is to simply share the love of the picture book. In this digital age where people are predicting the coming death of print books, picture books (the print kind) need love. And the world needs picture books. There’s nothing like the physical page turn of a beautifully crafted picture book Every day in November, there is a new post from a picture book champion explaining why he/she thinks picture books are important. The website features tons of activities and a teacher's guide to help...
Reading with Chad Gowey
Holiday Parking, November/December 2013 Chad Gowey is a freelance illustrator working out of Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and seems to have a knack for picturing books. His work as appeared in numerous publications and books including the publishers Chronicle Books, David R. Godine. He also does has regular gig for Bookmarks magazine in which all these illustrations have appeared. Next to the illustration title is the issue it first appeared in. Down East Dockside, July/Aug 2014 Rowhouse, May/June 2014 The Understudy, November/December 2012 Hard Water Paperback, January/February 2013 Summit, March/April 2014 End of Summer, September/October 2013...