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If you are looking forward to seeing Roger at ALA wearing a lavender-colored suit (as promised recently on Facebook) — this blog post is for you.

With The Art of The Wind Rises (April 2014), VIZ Media of San Francisco has published a visually stunning companion to Japanese director Hayao Mikazaki’s visually stunning animated film. Those who have seen the film know how immersive the experience is; how you feel transported, via the lushness and detail of the animation, into Taisho-era (1912-1926) Japan — and this book both extends the experience and takes you behind the scenes to show how it was done. For lovers of the movie, it’s a dream: almost 300 pages, in gorgeous color, of concept sketches, backgrounds, character and machine designs, and film stills, all augmented with commentary on the creative process by the film’s director, its art director and supervising animator, and others.

Not to get off-topic, but the book also explains what wasn’t at all clear to me watching the film: that the main character, Jiro, is a composite of Japanese aviation pioneer Jiro Horikoshi and novelist Tatsuo Hori, two influential figures in late-1930s Japan. I’m not sure that Miyazaki pulled off this feat (merging two actual historical people to make one fictional character), but he definitely succeeded in making a movie of unsurpassed beauty — and he and his team sure did rock that purple suit of Jiro’s. (Back on topic!) Here’s color designer Michiyo Yasuda on why: “For Jiro’s suit, I chose a light purple that’s a bit on the bright side. I think nowadays, new [Mitsubishi] employees wear gray or navy suits, but that’s not very interesting, so I tried to bring out a certain freshness with a soft and gentle color.” And yes, the book includes several stills of Jiro in the suit, including one large double-page spread of Jiro as a young man, determinedly striding into the future, as his first airplane design gets its first test flight.

Will Roger’s suit measure up to Jiro’s? Those who know his natty style and penchant for purple bet yes. But all will be revealed in Vegas!

The post Of purple suits and such: The Art of The Wind Rises appeared first on The Horn Book.

It's always fun to do an interview,
knowing how much I enjoy reading about others. To gain a bit of insight of who they are really helps me better understand their work.

Purple Little Bird, by Greg Foley is ideal for young children. Purple Little Bird will surely endear himself with his bright color, oversize head, and anxious expression.
The art is simple and elegant and the story has a nice message along with the obvious introduction of colors. Very appealing!



Also Try:
WILLOUGHBY & THE MOON by Greg Foley

WILLOUGHBY & THE LION by Greg Foley

THANK YOU, BEAR by Greg Foley

THIS FALL . . . EVERYTHING CHANGES.

MORE THAN 5 MILLION COPIES OF

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE UGLY TRUTH,

BOOK 5 IN THE BLOCKBUSTER SERIES BY JEFF KINNEY,

TO BE PRINTED AND DISTRIBUTED BY AMULET BOOKS.

NATIONAL LAYDOWN IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010

I’ve had some good luck with thrifting this past week.  A couple of things for myself (including a navy blue cashmere sweater for $2.75!) but mostly for le shop.  Some things need repairing, others perhaps a little embellishment or alteration.  More things for the to do list but I’m excited about doing hands on stuff and salvaging these pretty things!

For Poppytalk’s Spring Color Week.

Here's a piece I did as a sample for a children's book. The character didn't work out but the style sure did. I really enjoyed doing this combination of pen and ink and opaque gouache paints and the final effect really pleased me. I've never been satisfied with my colour pictures and I think this is the direction I'll be taking my colour work.

Things are a bit slow around here ... I'm still recuperating. The good news is that I am free of infection and therefore finally free of antibiotics. But my neck is still a bit sore from the operation and my foot still somewhat swollen -- apparently it has been so traumatized that it will take another month or so to fully recover! I hobble along quite well though, so am at least no longer sofa-bound :)

Still, the pace of life is no longer frantic as limping around takes time and I still get exhausted at the end of the hot summer days. Am appreciating life and drawing what lies before me, in this case my coffee cup, saucer and spoon. The coffee stain is a photograph of an actual one so I guess I should apply the term Collage to the above. Lots of fun doing it.

I also had another special request for the above. I hope she likes it. Cheers!

Coffee Break products at Floating Lemons at Zazzle

Yasmin purple products at Floating Lemons Typography at Zazzle

Yasmin products at cafepress

Author: Meredith Hooper
Illustrator: Allan Curless and Mark Burgess
Published: Frances Lincoln (on JOMB)
ISBN: 1845076885 Chapters.ca Amazon.com

Painstakingly reproduced masterpieces and perfectly rambunctious dogs bring to life this playful tale of a pack of pickled pooches who slip from their painted homes to bring mischief and mayhem to the National Gallery of London.

More Art on JOMB:

• Victor and Christabel
• I Want A Dog