Chidren's book illustrations, realism and fantasy

After seeing the delightful book illustrations posted by Pip, I thought you may like these by my favourite illustrators.

"There is almost nothing that has such a keen sense of fun as a fallen leaf " 1906 by Arthur Rackham

Illustration for J. M. Barrie's novel "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" published in 1906. Watercolour, pen & ink

The Snow Queen by Edward Dulac Edmund Dulac’s Stories from Hans Anderson 1911

He worked in watercolour, and later taking advantage of the new print technology ( no need for black outlines to cover poor colour registration) he used coloured inks.

 

The Lantern Bearers by Maxfield Parrish, 1908, Collier's Magazine

 

Oil on canvas on board, the painting shows Parrish's use of glazes and saturated colour in an evocative night scene. " He would build up the depth in his paintings by photographing, enlarging, projecting and tracing half- or full-size objects or figures. Parrish then cut out and placed the images on his canvas, covering them with thick, but clear, layers of glaze. The result is realism of elegiac vivacity. His work achieves a unique three-dimensional appearance". Wikipedia

 

I wonder what his work would look like if he had access to Adobe Photoshop

Renate Meyer "Lost in Thought"  Screen print inks

 

There is very little information about Meyer, she was married to Charles Keeping, an influential children's book illustrator. Her technique is fabulous, unusual, up close it looks like mono print, collage and rubbings, but I am guessing! She has curated a gallery of their work. I think her apples are very clever and skillfully made. She exhibits them in tiny fruit boxes in rows and stacked on shelves.