The illustrations in Meg and Mog are done in appropriately naïve style, but look at these beautifully detailed silhouettes, perfect for creating a fairytale setting: Vasilisa the Beautiful about to bump into Baba Yaga, Jan Pieńkowski, 1975. He was probably influenced by the great (and under-appreciated) Lotte Reiniger, alongside many others. Jan Pieńkowski was a designer of moveable books as well as an illustrator (and writer. (For more Odyssey retellings for children, see this post.) The Brilliant Artwork of Jan Pieńkowskiįor the best of Jan Pieńkowski, let’s go to his pre-digital days. His artwork here looks similar the illustrations done by many others. But the addition of gradient fill removes the Pieńkowski -ness. Some later Meg and Mog books, written by David Walser In this 2019 retelling of The Odyssey, Jan Pieńkowski of course brought all of his design talents. Jan Pieńkowski was a far more accomplished traditional artist than a digital one. As a digital artist myself, I have no issue with digital art per se it’s the way the tool is used. Personally, I think this detracts from the perfectly naïve style he built his career on. Towards the end of his career, Jan Pieńkowski must have switched to Adobe Illustrator or similar, because now he makes use of gradient fill. Some Meg and Mog books written by Helen Nicoll Jan Pieńkowski died in February this year at the age of 85. So when Helen died in 2012, Jan’s partner of four decades, David Walser, took over the writing reins. Jan Pieńkowski became used to working closely with Helen Nicoll, which isn’t always the case with author/illustrator collaborations. This is partly because of the illustrations, which are accessible and somewhat emulate-able, even for kids who consider themselves non-artists. The first Meg and Mog book was published in 1972, and I’d like to suggest it as a mentor text for young author/illustrators as a way of teaching kids how to structure a story. The Meg and Mog series is now multi-generational. There’s a massive gap between the first book and the first TV show, which was broadcast in 2003, when the original readers had young children of their own. As is often the case with popular picture book series, there is also a TV series.
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