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This is what happens when the person who actually saw something is not the same person who has the art supplies to illustrate it. They probably never even met, so what you end up with is somewhat akin to the Telephone Game. There are more examples at Buzzfeed. Some drawings may be technically NSFW. Link
The dance of death (usually represented by a skeleton) has been a recurring theme in art and literature for centuries -at least! BibliOddysey has a sampling of such illustrations from the Heinrich Hein University of Düsseldorf collection, ranging from 1736 to the 20th century. Link
Author and editor Peter F. Neumeyer exchanged letters with author and illustrator Edward Gorey over a 13-month period in 1968 and 1969. Now that correspondence has been turned into a book called Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey and Peter F. Neumeyer. Of course, Gorey included illustrations with his letters, even on the envelopes! You can see more of these wonderfully decorated envelopes at Brain Pickings. Link -via @atlasobscura
Historic LOLs has a collection of German prints from around a hundred years ago illustrating predictions for the year 2000. In this one, we’re supposed to be able to walk on water, with the help of balloons and a waterwheel. Other pictures show moving sidewalks, personal flying machines, underwater tourism, and remote surveillance -all things that actually happened, although not quite the way they were pictured. Link
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Christine de Pizan wrote Othea’s Epistle to Hector (the Book of Knighthood) around the beginning of the 15th century. She is considered to be the first female professional writer. In 1460, a manuscript of the Book of Knighthood was commissioned, written in Middle French and illustrated with miniatures. Sixteen of those miniatures are reproduced for your pleasure at BibliOdyssey. Link
Back in the early 1970s, an illustrator named Phil Kirkland created some amazing textbook illustrations, mostly for psychology and health books. Pictured above is his “Moving from Youth to Adulthood”. I think that I missed this section of adolescence, because I don’t remember it at all.
Link via Ace of Spades HQ
Different artists were invited to illustrate one-line episode summaries of the TV show Law and Order. All are interpreted independently: confused, straightforward, humorous, or artfully. This one by comic artist Kate Beaton used the line “A missing boy is found.” I also liked “Fraternity Closes Ranks During a Probe” but didn’t think it was appropriate for this site. Link -via Buzzfeed
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In a three-part post. you’ll see dozens of beautiful illustrations from Iranian children’s books of the past few decades. These works of art were gleaned from the International Children’s Digital Library. The illustration pictured is by Mohammadrezaa Daadgar from the book As the Sparrow Says by Qeysar Aminpour. Link (links to the other posts are at the bottom of the page) -Thanks, Will!
Illustration by Shaun Tan
The Book Review has an annual roundup of the best in children’s books from an illustrative point. Books for kids are crucial for learning the language, and if you can lure them in with outstanding visuals, all the better. NYT has the ten best, including this one from Shaun Tan’s “Tales From Outer Suburbia.” Tan also won a slot in 2007 for the phenomenal, wordless “The Arrival.”
Illustrator Paul Rogers puts together six drawings of iconic images for each classic movie. Your challenge is to name the movies from the drawings. You don’t get a clue as to the plot, the dialog, or the actors. I could name most of them; I suspect that the others are movies I haven’t seen. Link -via reddit
