The Road
Illustration by Kai Schuettler

Candide
Illustration by Colleen Frakes

Many Moons
Illustration by Wilson Swain

Dr. Bloodmoney
Illustration by Ellen van Engelen

1984
Illustrations by Frank M Hansen

Meg here, with an important message. Today marks our one-year anniversary of the project. It’s really hard to do this, but I think Picture Book Report is going to retire.
 
In the year that we’ve done this, a lot has happened. People have moved, mourned losses, found amazing projects stemming from this one, and just managed to knock out beautiful art on a pretty consistent basis. I’m ridiculously proud. But at the same time, the reasons for starting Picture Book Report were simple: make good work, get people excited about illustration, and get talented people good work. All those nails have been hit. For me, it led to a few projects but it also has led to me at the current day questioning what is my next step as an illustrator. I have a lot of work to do to find that out, but I hope one day it does mean more books and illustration. I know for me, Alice will be completed– I’d like to eventually put it into some kind of published form. I will continue to post it on my own portfolio/blogs/etc so please keep checking in with me!
 
I am proud to have started something that hadn’t really been done before– it led to interesting avenues, wonderful storytelling, and charming takes on classics and new books alike. It seems to have resounded well, with many fans staying along and enjoying the work, and creating their own in response. Incredible. In its current incarnation though, it needed to be stronger to survive. The up-side of this is that our contributors have been busy with real work, which you’ll see in the future and love like I will. Regardless, the biggest thing I have taken away from the project is this: be bold; take risks and do things that you will love, and the world will love it too.
 
To our Short Reports contributors- thank you so much. I still have entries I haven’t posted so what I will do next week is post them to share. Unfortunately running the blog was harder than I expected, so I thank you for your patience– but I’ll share the ones I have next week and end with a roundup of our contributing illustrators and what to look forward to from them next Friday, Feb 11.
 
To our readers– thank you, thank you, thank you. We have loved the support and the responses and the cheering on. The next things you see from these illustrators will be astounding, I promise you.

Best,
-meg

The previous “Cuckoo’s Nest” post focused on a decision McMurphy makes. This post shows what happens when McMurphy takes over and Nurse Ratched steps back.

[...] After McMurphy was drawn out of what you might call a short retirement and had announced he was back in the hassle by breaking out her (Nurse Ratched) personal window, he made things on the ward pretty interesting. He took part in every meeting, every discussion-drawling, winking, joking his best to wheedle a skinny laugh out of some Acute who’d been scared to grin since he was twelve.

McMurphy continues to “accidentally” smash newly replaced nurse’s station windows. He starts a basketball team and while playing against the ward’s orderlies, he elbows one of them right in the face. He even begins talk about a fishing trip.

Inspired by the other P.B.Reporters, I wanted to try hand painting this one. It’s different to how I usually go about things and I’m still getting use to it. Also, I realized with all the characters in the book I should make a character map. I should have done this in the beginning but better later then never I guess. Thanks for reading!

Posted by: PMurphy
Book: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (purchase on Amazon)

Slowly the strange music came closer, and then the first shapes emerged from the fog. They seemed to be dancing, but it was a dance without charm or gaiety. The dancers jumped grotesquely, rolled on the ground, crawled on all fours, leapt into the air, and carried on like crazy people. But all Atreyu could hear was the slow, muffled drumbeats, the shrill fifes, and a whimpering and panting from many throats. More and more figures appeared, the procession seemed endless. Atreyu looked at the dancers’ faces; they were ashen gray and bathed in sweat, and the eyes had a wild feverish glow. Some of the dancers lashed themselves with whips.
they’re mad, Atreyu thought, and a cold shiver ran down his spine.

When last we saw him Atreyu was on Falcor’s back searching for the edge of Fantastica, but a terrible storm has separated them. And what’s worse he has lost AURYN, the amulet of the Childlike Empress. Washed up on a strange shore he finds himself on an island populated by the dark creatures of Fantastica: witches, ghosts, vampires, kobolds and night hobs.
But they’ve all gone mad, the procession Atreyu witnesses ends with them all giving themselves over to oblivion by walking into the Nothing.

Whew! It’s been a while since I posted, but I’ve been rather busy, moving to America, getting married, finishing projects, getting violently ill, moving again. It all rather took up a bit of time. But after all that it would seem I have a lot more time for fun things like Picturebookreport.com (Well, most of the things I listed above were fun too of course).

I’ve admitted defeat on the Ella Minnow Pea thing. Four posts in one year suggests that maybe it turned out to be a less than visually inspiring choice (although it remains a sweet and lovely book that i heartily recommend). So I’m starting the New Year with a new book choice and one that I will endeavor to do justice!

I’ve chosen Haruki Murukami’s modern classic ‘Norwegian Wood’ primarily for it’s cold, still beauty and strange detatched-ness which I think might lend itself well to the kind of things I like to draw. The story follows Toru Watanabe as he finds his first love with the quiet, sad Naoko and they struggle to maintain happiness with the ghosts of the past lurking constantly behind them. It’s simutaneously sweet and sad and, for a book, its got a pretty super soundtrack!

I’m really looking forward to tackling this one so fingers crossed this time around I’ll keep up momentum!

(p.s you can see Naoko without the text on my tumblr)

This was to be the illustration that finally introduced Mr. Willy Wonka. But a few hours at the drawing table left me unhappy with every likeness I came up with. It has proven to be a difficult task to stay true to the text, and create something original, without also being influenced by Quentin Blake’s illustrations and both Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp. So instead, I decided to draw all the kids again as a warm-up exercise. It’s a bit of a departure, stylistically, from the existing entries. Consider it an appetizer for the next illustration which will indeed introduce Willy Wonka, and perhaps several of his tiny Oompa Loompas.

A blubbered and distorted face confronted her; the creature was crying.

“Oh, my dear, my dear.” The torrent of words flowed sobbingly. “If you knew how glad – after all these years! A civilized face. Yes, and civilized clothes. Because I thought I should never see a piece of real acetate silk again.” She fingered the sleeve of Lenina’s shirt. The nails were black.

Sort of a bookmark going on this time, I think.   From Chapter 7: Linda, a Beta abandoned decades ago in the New Mexican “savage reservation”, is overcome with emotion when she sees Lenina (who is decidedly less thrilled about the encounter).

Posted by: Meg Hunt
Book: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (purchase on Amazon)

(click to enlarge)

…when she was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off.

The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good- natured, she thought: still it had VERY long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

`Cheshire Puss,’ she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it’s pleased so far,’ thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’

`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.

`I don’t much care where–’ said Alice.

`Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.

The Cheshire Cat is one of the more distinct characters of the book, but I chose to take a little liberty and keep him more playful looking rather than dangerous– based on its speech, he seemed more teasing than toothy lounging about in his tree…

Posted by: Lucy Knisley

Chapter 9:

Jonas has received his assignment as the new “Receiver of Memory” within the community. This singular and mysterious assignment sets Jonas apart from the rest of the community, which he feels as soon as he sets food outside. His closest friend, Asher, behaves uncomfortably around him, and even his parents and sister aren’t quite sure how to treat him.

Chapter 10:

Jonas arrives for his first session at his new assignment. He is directed to a room full of unfamiliar books and rich furnishings. He meets “The Giver,” an older man who explains that he will be transmitting human memories to Jonas. This is his role in the community, to bear these strange memories for the community that has long since eradicated emotion, feeling and individuality. And Jonas is to be the next to shoulder this burden.

(I always thought The Giver’s room sounded really cozy!)

“That window glass was so spick and span I com-pletely forgot it was there.”

Hi there!  My last post dealt with McMurphy’s internal struggle.  I think he had to ask himself if he would continue to be himself and the leader of the ward or submit to the institution’s rules and hope to be released one day.   Today’s post is sort of an answer to the question.

McMurphy is pushed over the edge when Nurse Ratched takes away the patients privilege to use the tub room as a place for them to play their card games.  She says taking away this privilege is in response to their disorderly behavior long ago, when they joined McMurphy in front of the blank television screen.   Nurse Ratched looks around the room asking if anybody has a problem with this decision and she returns to the nurse’s station.  McMurphy quietly gets up and heads turn.  He walks over to the nurse’s station and throws his fist through the glass window.  He picks up a pack of cigarettes that are lying on the other side of the shattered window and looks at Nurse Ratched who is terrified and brushing glass off her shoulders…

“I’m sure sorry, ma’am,” he said.  “Gawd but I am.  That window glass was so spick and span I com-pletely forgot it was there.”

It took just a couple of seconds.  He turned and left her sitting there with her face shifting and jerking and walked back across the day room  to his chair, lighting up a cigarette.

Sorry I couldn’t provide a more elaborate drawing for today but I wanted to post something since I missed last month’s post.  Mucho thanks for reading!

Posted by: PMurphy
Book: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (purchase on Amazon)