Lost in Picture Book Maps

This post first appeared on Picture Book Den’s Blogspot 01 Marina 01My First Maps
My first map-love as a child was my grandfather’s Reader’s Digest Atlas of the World. 02 Readers DigestNow I own it, but I used to just visit it at my Grandpa’s house. It was really big, big enough for a small child to be lost in, and my grandpa Noel Grey had inscribed his initials NWG on all the places he had visited, prospecting for oil I suspect. Here he is at large around South America.

03 NWG
Here’s a photo he took of Ernest Hemingway with an enormous marlin – apparently they went fishing together. 04 HemingwayOn one map he has urgently written GOLD, somewhere along the Amazon, in Peru. 05 Gold!
There’s a bit of a diagram too.

06 GOLD here

I started writing this post before the fires in the Amazon had beome the terrifying news they are now. From this perspective my Grandfather’s charting of ‘GOLD’ is a bit bitterly ironic; anyone with any sense now knows that the most precious treasure to be found in the Amazon is the rainforest itself

 Maps of Discovery, Power and Plunder
07a pudding
A map is a place to roam about in the imagination. A map is a record of the discovered and the undiscovered – terra incognita. A map is a plan for plundering, or a diagram of how to carve the world up, a record of ownership.

Here is the Carta marina, a wallmap of Scandinavia, by Olaus Magnus. It is the first map of the Nordic countries to give details and place names, initially published in 1539.09 carta

It seems to be awash with splendid mythical beasts. Did the map-maker think they were real, or was drawing the map of the far-away giving them permission to invent the most bizarre creatures they could concoct? Creatures include a literal sea-cow and sea-unicorn, whales with flowing tresses, a sea-elephant or Rosmarus and a Polypus which looks like a giant lobster. But it looks like Magnus was trying to depict what was really there – the land animals are fairly realistic, and many of the sea-creatures could be reinventions of existing ones: the sea unicorn: a narwhal, the Rosmarus: a walrus, the Polypus perhaps an octopus. Because they’re water beasts they are hard to get the measure of without diving equipment. Here are a selection of map-beasts:

10b sea hog

Probably a whale but quite boar-like

10c sea scorpion

a Polypus, allegedly

10d it has everything

This has everything

10a whale

a Belena – whale – with an orca

You can explore the monsters here:

Mulling with a Map11 Hobbit

‘I wisely started with a map and made the story fit,’ JRR Tolkien once wrote.

In older children’s books, a map may well be the only illustration. The map is often a charting of the story journey.
When inventing the Hobbit story JRR Tolkein started with drawing Thror’s map.12a Thrors map
Drawing the map was part of the process of creating the story.

Here’s the map from Winnie the Pooh, drawn by Christopher Robin, with a bit of help from Ernest Shepard,14 Winnie the Pooh
and the map from the beginning of the Narnia book of the Horse and his Boy, mostly desert (by Pauline Baynes.)13a horse and boy

As it was sometimes the only picture in the book I would return to the map again and again, and trace my protagonist’s journey and mull over the places on the way.
And maps lend a touch of reality – a promise that the story may take you to real places.

When Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift was published in 1726 it was a roaring success but some did not realise it was fantasy.
“It is full of improbable lies, and, for my part, I hardly believe a word of it” exclaimed an eminent bishop. The Duchess of Marlborough was said to be ‘in raptures at it; she says she can dream of nothing else since she read it.’ A tale circulated about one old gentleman who, after reading the book, was alleged to have gone immediately to his atlas to search for Lilliput.

Here’s my map for Money Go Round by Roger McGough – as this book is deep in Wind in the Willows territory I had to start with communing with EH Shepard’s Willows map.15 MGR02&03

Picture Book Story Maps21 Zoo Rules
Moving to more picture book territory, a map can be a journey or a map of characters or events.
Here’s Dixie O’Day’s Map from Dixie O’Day in the Fast Lane by Shirley Hughes and Clara Vulliamy.Dixie

It is used by Dixie in the story and we can find where every event happens in an extremely satisfying way

16 Dixie ODay

Very Little.From a map of events to a map of characters: here is the map from Very Little Red Riding Hood by Teresa Heapy and Sue Heap – the places are the people.17 Very Little Map
I can’t resist putting in these fresh and lovely animated spreads of the poor wolf getting more than it can deal with from Very Little Red.18 Very Little 0119 Very Little 02

Cat who got carriedIn The Cat Who Got Carried Away by Allan Ahlberg and Katharine McEwen there are three very important maps.
Here’s the first one.20 Allan Ahlberg
And, oh, how delicious – we can see the cars and the characters and the shady old geezer with the suspicious pram and Horace the cat. This is a useful map of a particular moment, which shows exactly where the pram is, and white van skulduggery, and the impending fate of Horace the cat.

Jim CoverWhen I was making the book of Jim, the cautionary tale by Hilaire Belloc, I wanted to put in a map of the zoo where Jim meets his lion.22 Jim 0123 Jim 02
Jim has a yearning to run away, and when I was making the book there seemed to be more and more health and safety rules appearing everywhere and children seemed to be getting less and less freedom. So the Zoo Map is a map of the Safest Zoo in the World, one where everything is either shut or off-limits or prohibited.24 Jim 04
To make sure everything is completely safe, there are Zoo Rules on the back of the map.24a Jim 04

 Metaphorical Maps, Maps of the Soul25 Goth intro

DarktownHere is Jonny Hannah’s Dark Town map from Greetings from Dark Town – complete with leviathans, Island of Profound Quotes, Sea of Impossibilities and beasts and more beasts.26 Dark Town

The first metaphorical map may have been for Pilgrim’s Progress, which also may have been one of the first novels (fictional prose narrative) in English. (Interestingly, other early novels include Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s Travels, both map-centred-adventure territory.) In Pilgrim we encounter unforgettable fictional places: the Slough of Despond, Vanity Fair, the House Beautiful, The Valley of the Shadow of Death.27 Pilgrims Progress

Here’s the Map of Ghastly Gorm Hall from Goth Girl, by Chris Riddell.Goth Girl
28 goth girl bigNote the Hall has an East Wing and a West Wing, but also a Broken Wing. As well as a Kitchen Garden, the Hall is complete with Bedroom Garden and Living Room Garden.29 Goth 01
I’m planning my garden improvement already.
One can meander round Metaphorical Smith’s Hobby-Horse Racecourse – with its Hill of Ambition, Gravel Path of Conceit, and Pond of Introspection.30 Goth 02

My Map BookIn Sara Fanelli’s My Map Book –we find a Map of my Heart, a Map of my Day.31 Fanelli Heart Map32 Fanelli Day Map

We’re wandering into maps that are states of mind, a map of how you feel, a map of time.
Little MouseOne of my absolutely favourite picture books is Emily Gravett’s Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears. Mouse battles his terrors with the power of drawing. The book is extremely nibbled and so is Mouse’s pencil.34 Little Mouse Map closed35 Little Mouse Map open
Here is the Map of the Isle of Fright, where the visitor can travel from Twitching Whiskers to Loose Bottom.36 Little Mouse Map open

And now – Exclusive to Picture Book Den: 
Cut Out & Keep: Make Your Own Metaphorical Landscape Generator.  

Simply cut out, combine randomly from column A and B and use the places created to make your own Metaphorical Landscape.Generator


Impossible Maps 37a Space map

Making a map gives you freedom to map the impossible, to lose yourself in your scale of choice.
In A Boy & Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton – here’s a map of nowhere. It’s almost not a map at all.37 Boy and Bear 02

Here’s the map on the cover of the book (from the original hardback version)38 Boy&BearBig
No features at all. Except a mug ring. But then, look again….squinting closely– there are two black splots.

39 Boy&BearSplots
Focus in on one and it’s – yup, just a squashed fly.40 Boy and Bear fly
Then let’s pull right in on the other splot – I definitely see oars there.41 Boy and Bear boat

The scale of the bleak emptiness is immense, and I feel like I am falling through infinity.

SDPBsmallMy book Space Dog started with thinking about making a space map. My son Herbie had a brilliant rocket toy. It came from the Early Learning Centre.42 rocket

It was shaped a bit like a kettle with a handle, and you could fly it all round your home, exploring the Cistern System, the Pastaroid Belt and the Outer Spooniverse.
I wondered – what would space look like if the whole of the universe was actually everything in your house, in disguise. So here we have some Space Map Planetoids:40 Bo43 plantoids
FryUp42 with its ketchup volcanoes, the steamy planet of Bathtime 37 and Cornflake 5 and Bottleopolis which are in the Breakfast Cluster.43 Space Map Photo

The Space Map was Space Dog’s endpapers, but, alas, they only appeared in the hardback version.44 SD Space Map

Download your own space map bits here, and make your own Space Map.

Maps and the Imagination45 Haute Cuisine

Take some words, maybe these ones which are a list of some things you might forget:46 forgettables
Take a diagram of some islands, maybe these ones:47 Isles of Forgetfulness no text
Put them both together, and what have you got?
The Isles of Forgetfulness.48 Isles of Forgetfulness

This page comes from The Atlas of Experience by Louise van Swaaij and Jean Klare, which charts the human journey through life, with maps drawn in Subjective Projection and reproduced in Unimaginable Scale.

50 Atlas of Experience

Maps demonstrate the alchemy of words and pictures, that magic picture book double act. Words & Pictures and your imagination are doing the work of together creating a whole new thing. And because your imagination helped make it, it’s unique. So the map is words and pictures glued all together with a tremendous projection of imagination.

Falling into a Map, endless Maps51 tiny banner

My dream is to be able to actually fall into a map and find myself in another world that I can explore. Or to find a map that I can zoom into or out of forever…from the microscopic atomic scale to the intergalactic.

TinyIn Tiny by Korky Paul and Paul Rogers, Tiny is a flea on the back of a dog called Cleopatra living at No 72 Hilltop Road.52 Tiny house
Korky Paul’s marvellously detailed pictures pan out from hairs to streets to islands to planets.53 Tiny town.psd
But every time I can still spot the dog, find the house still recognisable at a smaller scale.54 Tiny island
I know if I zoom back in I’ll be able to find EVERYTHING there, every bird, fish, person, dog, insect, molecule. (I love that giant octopus.)

To end with I’m going to tell you about one of the very first picture book maps I ever made.55a Laputa Map

Heres the flying island of Laputa

It was for a student project, adapting Gulliver’s Travels.55b Laputa Map
The first page opens out to show Gulliver’s desk and his map.55c Laputa Map
In the map you can make out Gulliver abandoned in a rowing boat, and the flying Island of Laputa about to come over and pick him up.55d Laputa Map
What I really really wanted was for you to be able to zoom in enough to for you to be able to see the waves rippling the water, to smell a bit of spray and hear some seabirds. I did (sort of, badly) manage to do this when I animated my book and falling into the map 55 Laputa Mapbecame the beginning of Gulliver’s adventures on the crazy island of Laputa.

56 flying island

Here’s the flying island of Laputa

A map is a place to roam about in the imagination. A map is a record of the discovered and the undiscovered. A map is a plan for plundering, or a diagram of how to carve up the world. A map is a journey, a story, a cast of characters, a portal.

I’ve always been obsessed with the small world. Small worlds are where we are animators as children: the doll’s house, the micro city you made among tree roots, the box of plastic dinosaurs and farm animals ready to journey down the garden. A map is a model world, and in picture books maps can come alive, using the power of words and pictures and your imagination and mine, in yet another feat of picture book magic.

PS:  Interested in maps and in Oxford? There’s an wonderful exhibition – Talking Maps –  at the Bodleian Library you might like to visit. Details here.

Tales from the riverbank

A wander into the world of Wind in the Willows

This post first appeared on Picture Book Den’s Blogspot.

01 ToadAs a child I watched far too much TV. There was a show called Tales of the Riverbank. The stars of the films were real animals, who were shown moving around in miniature boats, cars, balloons and aeroplanes. I loved seeing rodents rushing downstream in rickety water-crafts.02aa tales of the riverbank

02aa riverbankI live near the river in Oxford, and there’s nothing I’d be so excited to see as a water-vole rowing a tiny boat down the Thames.02 tales of the riverbank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original messing about in boats is of course in The Wind in the Willows. And I’ve recently finished making the illustrations for a story set slap-bang in Wind in the Willows territory, so in this post I’m going to have a look at Kenneth Graham’s book and some of its illustrators. I want to consider the challenges of illustrating in the Willows Zone, and how the Willows, the most comfortingly nostalgic of books, was actually shivering with premonitions of the modern world.03a W inW first edition

The book was published in 1908, but it wasn’t until 1931 that EH Shepard illustrated it. To me EH Shepard’s pictures are as much a part of Wind in the Willows as the text – so I was surprised to discover they weren’t there at the beginning.

Grahame didn’t live long enough to see the book released with Shepard’s illustrations, but their meeting would be reported by Shepard in a 1950s edition of the classic, as follows:

“Not sure about his new illustrator of his book, he listened patiently while I told him what I hoped to do.

Then he said ‘I love these little people, be kind to them’.

Just that; but sitting forward in his chair, resting upon the arms, his fine handsome head turned aside, looking like some ancient Viking, warming, he told me of the river nearby, of the meadows where mole broke ground that spring morning, of the banks where Rat had his house, of the pool where Otter hid, and of Wild Wood way up on the hill above the river.04 shep boat

…He would like, he said, to go with me to show me the river bank that he knew so well, ‘…but now I cannot walk so far and you must find your way alone’.”

Grahame was living in Pangbourne near the Thames – and at other times he lived in Cookham, also on the River Thames – so to me, the river running through the book is always the Thames – which bubbles up in Gloucestershire and flows through Oxford, Reading, Henley and Windsor and eventually becomes the great river that snakes through London on its way to the sea. Mole, on his escape from white-washing, is captivated by the river; it “chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.”03 W inW Map

The Wind in the Willows has been rich ground for re-illustration. To me EH Shepard’s illustrations are part of its fabric, like Tenniel’s illustrations for Alice, but still both books are big enough to inspire reinvention.

And so far, in all the versions I’ve seen, the animals are wearing clothes.

Animals in Clothes

I have love-hate feelings about dressed-up animals. I really don’t like animals that seem to have human bodies under their animal heads. But if their body-shape seems to be the stumpy innocent sort of shape of an animal, then it’s OK.

Some animals seem to need more dressing up than others. As a child I used to adore these animal illustrations for the Woodland Happy Families game by Racey Helps.07 woodland happy families

I love Mrs Frog’s expression as she gazes at her cheerily waving tadpole. My sister Jo and I used to play long and involved imaginary games with these cards as our avatars: – Jo was the glamorous Miss Rabbit and I was the slightly homelier Miss Mouse.08 woodland happy families

I do admire how Racey Helps’s animals are truly animal under their clothes – and have a look at Mrs Owl’s delicious pie. (Eeek. Don’t tell Miss Mouse.) The Woodland Happy Families are sometimes fully dressed complete with shoes, like Miss Fox, but other times just lightly accessorised, like Miss Robin. Master Frog is as nature intended as he goes for a swim, but Mr Frog has full sailor garb including little boots… (So how DO those flippers fit in? Better to skim quickly over questions like this when considering animal-dressing.)

With EH Shepard the main characters are completely suited and booted. But the weasels and stoats just have the odd bag and hat – so it seems the less civilised & well-behaved you are, the less you wear. But then there’s practicality too: those swimmers Otter and his son Portly don’t wear clothes either.09 otter

15 Inga Moore

Inga Moore

09 shep fightHere’s the battle of Toad Hall: Badger, Mole, Toad and Ratty are all showing their claws and teeth like proper animals on the warpath. The tiny weasels seem to have abandoned any pretence at civilisation and become pure animal as they scuttle away in terror. There is a bit of animal stereotyping in Wind in the Willows: weasels are actually brave, fierce and bonkers little animals – but in Wind in the Willows, as Ratty says: “well, you can’t really trust them, and that’s the fact.” It could be that the uprising of the less-well-dressed animal underclasses foreshadows the social upheaval of the First World War, and the unwinding of the Edwardian age of servants and huge hampers.

Here’s the same scene pictured by Inga Moore. Again, the weasels are just minimally accessoried and you can imagine the blood-curdling war-growls coming from Badger.

Here they are getting weaponed up for the battle.06a shep mole2

I love Mole’s hunched and determined posture.06 shep mole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 Inga Moore

Inga Moore

Here’s Shepard’s Mole again doing a leap, with its stumpy rounded shape, true to animal form.

Here is Inga Moore’s Mole strolling through a glorious landscape.

10 rack01

Arthur Rackham

The Wind in the Willows was the last book Arthur Rackham illustrated.

11 shep

EH Shepard

Here’s his Ratty loading up the boat with that all-important luncheon basket. To me Rackham’s animals seem more human in form than Shepard’s, with longer limbs and more human knees and elbows.

Here’s the same scene from EH Shepard.

17 Ingpen

Robert Ingpen

Some glowingly depicted scenes by Robert Ingpen.

18 Ingpen

Robert Ingpen

But let’s return to the luncheon basket.

12 shep

EH Shepard

The Luncheon Basket

C.105.f.3, Opposite  p.22

Arthur Rackham

Here are Shepard’s Ratty and Mole stretching out after their picnic.

And here are Rackham’s animals laying out their spread.

That luncheon basket!

“What’s inside it?” says Mole…14 picnic

23 Roberts picnic

David Roberts

And that’s a slight problem to me, as I know that moles eat mainly worms, grubs and insects, and water voles like Ratty eat vegetation mostly. And I do believe in being true to zoology. But as an illustrator I don’t think you can avoid drawing the beautiful meat-heavy pies described in that Edwardian picnic. It just wouldn’t be doing the picnic justice if you did.

But the copy of Wind in the Willows I treasure is this version by David Roberts.23a Roberts cover

20 Roberts

David Roberts

I love the carefully designed outfits: Mole’s velvety moleskin suit, badger’s tweeds and cardigan, Ratty’s Edwardian sporting whites.

 

 

 

 

 

21 Roberts

David Roberts

The beautiful elegant Edwardian furniture, the audacious interiors…

22 Roberts

David Roberts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the pure poetry, the light and space:24 Roberts moon

a moonlit field of cow parsley (with a hidden Pan),

25 Roberts mole underwater

mole submerged in bubbles and green water,

26 Roberts willows

David Roberts

and this vista of willow weeping over.

But now let’s return to the very naughty Mr Toad.29 Toad singing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favourite depiction of Toad has to be EH Shepard’s: irrepressible, unrepentant– a high-speed amphibian obsessed with the automobile.27 Toad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He is unsquashable, impetuous, possessed by an almost consumerist passion for the Motor Car.28 Toad speeding

The Car!32a silver ghost

1907 saw the advent of the luxurious Rolls Royce Silver Ghost – “Silent as a Ghost, Powerful as a Lion, and Trustworthy as Time” – aristocratic motoring indeed.33 1908-Ford-Model-T

But in 1908 Henry Ford brought out the Model T Ford, bringing motoring to everybody – the coming of the car – and for the last 111 years our cars have been the blind influence in charge of shaping our landscapes.

Toad is enraptured and enthralled by the Car –   “The only way to travel – here today, in next week tomorrow!”28a car

So the Willows shows this brand new force for a changing pace of life. And it’s torn between the urge to roam in dangerous places versus being safely cuddled up at home with toasted teacakes.

The Unbuilt Roads of Oxford Past34 congestion

In the 1900s was the dawning of the Age of the Car, and by the 1960s the needs of car-travel was taking a major role in shaping city planning.

And in 1969 Oxford nearly had a superhighway built right through it. The city was very congested, traffic went right through the centre of it, so plans started to be hatched to make an inner relief road to speed up car travel times. Various schemes were planned, culminating in a planned motorway along the railway line and 4 lane west-east highway right through East Oxford.36 motorway visualisation

A visualisation of the road-to-be in 1969.36b today

The same spot (I think!) as it is now.

I had a look at where this planned highway would have been.37 motorway plan

It would have been just at the bottom of our garden.

A four lane swathe of tarmac cutting through, an impassable barrier for humans and wildlife. I feel a shiver of horror for what could have been.

Planning proposals for an inner relief road hung over Oxford for almost 30 years. You can read more about the whole story here.

Luckily, in 1969, 50 years ago this year, Oxford Civic Society was formed to fight this brutal plan. They won the Battle of the Relief Road, and the planning of Oxford’s roads didn’t go with the needs of the car, but in Park & Rides and pedestrianisation.

Thank you, Oxford Civic Society!

However, Frankenstein’s monster-like, massive road-building plans refuse to stay buried. There’s now the hulking zombie of the proposed Oxford-Cambridge Expressway haunting the future.37a expressway

Back to the Riverbank

I have recently finished being in the zone of Wind in the Willows.31 toadster

I was illustrating a story by the poet Roger McGough (who has adapted Wind in the Willows for the stage.) The story is called Money Go Round, and is all about the journey of a coin through the paws of all the animals who live along the riverbank – and it starts with the naughty amphibian, Mr Toad.38a toad

Our mole is female and runs a hotel,Lavender Mole

and there’s a painter-decorator stoat, a shack of weasels, and a magpie preening parlour. 40 weasels

Working out how much to dress the animals was a dilemma I haven’t really had before. Here are character sketches.41 skech all

42 skech Mrs M43 skech ottersMost of all I wanted the river and the willows to flow through the pictures. So, to finish, here’s my favourite character, Walter Rat, in his boat, the Bootle:

RATTY NEW

And here’s a PS:

The last picture shows how confused you can get when you are not good at left/right/backwards/forwards. I live near the river and I know you row with your back to where yiu are facing, but I still originally drew Ratty like this:

41 Rattywhich looks right to me, because I’m thinking Ratty is coming towards me, out of the picture. BUT HE’S NOT!!! So many thanks to the fantastic Dave Shelton for gently pointing this out. And Dave Shelton should know these things, because he is the maker of the marvellous book A Boy, A Bear and a Boat.Boy & Bear

 

Memory Fish

This week was the launch of Over the Hills and Far Away, a bumper treasury of nursery rhymes from all around the world, collected by Elizabeth Hammill of Seven Stories Centre for Children’s Books.

Here’Memory fishs my page – first featuring escaping cutlery and crockery.

Then there was a strange rhyme about pulling fish out of one’s eye. Nursery rhymes are very weird and random. I just couldn’t find out what it was all about – was threescore and ten the years you might live? What are the fishes? Wishes? Golden riches? I had a vague memory that in a lecture once I had heard about fish being a symbol of remembering things – you’d hook a fish, but you wouldn’t pull up just one, because each fish would have another fish biting its tail, so you could pull out a great chain of fish. And in the days before google and books, remembering huge amounts of things was really useful.

But I still have the notes to the lecture (if was by Professor Bruce Brown) – and there’s no mention of memory fish.

So is my memory of memory fish a false memory?

I wish I hadn’t cried so much…

I’ve been doing a picture for Chapter 2 of Alice in Wonderland, for Dennis at Inky Parrot Press, who is creating a new and eclectically illustrated version of Alice. Drawing an Alice is quite a daunting task, in the shadow of Tenniel & all. But I like Alice – she is plucky and funny. Though she does seem to disgruntle every creature she meets through making tactless remarks.

Here’s Alice swimming around in a pool of her own tears, and about to meet a highly thin-skinned and easily offended mouse….Pool of Tears small

The Insect House at Christmas

Ever wondered how the insects celebrate Christmas? Have a look inside their house to find out…

(This is from a Christmas card I made a year or two ago.)