Sunday, June 23, 2013

Albertine

Some weeks back I bought the magnificent picture book Little Bird which immediately became a new favorite of mine after reading it. Pick it up when you have a chance. Definitely a book that will be appreciated on many levels by adults but that can also be enjoyed by kids.

What I love most about the book other than of course the visually amazing illustrations of super prolific illustrator Albertine, is that it's a daring book in that it could easily have been a much different book were the text tailored more along the conventional lines to accompany what the images are telling us in the story. Instead however there are two separate narratives happening at the same time. Together creating a truly beautifully and sophisticated picture book experience.

 I love it when you could do the easy thing. But you don't. You take a chance. And in this case, it turns out so worth it. Also interesting here is to wonder how illustrator Albertine and writer Germano Zullo worked together on this book. Did the story/text come first? Or did the images/partially come first and then the story and then the rest of the images...

If you want to read more about the book and see more images of it check out this post about it here on the Brainpicking's blog

Here is some work from the amazing illustrator Albertine. Check out her website here.










All Images © Albertine