Just how lovely are these illustrations? The films of the wonderful Studio Ghibli re-imagined as if they had been old school Penguin paperback editions. Smile inducing work by Jason K, who is selling them as postcard sets on Etsy. (via Live For Films)

Neil Gaiman Addresses the Class of 2012 from The University of the Arts on Vimeo.

“When I heard this morning that Maurice Sendak had died, I asked the New Yorker over Twitter if they could unlock a two page comic: art spiegelman and Maurice Sendak in conversation in 1993, drawn by both of them. They did, and I am grateful to them.”

I know Joe put up the links in the week, but figure the NY wouldn’t mind a little reproduction – so here it is…. Maurice Sendak and Art Spiegelman from The New Yorker, 1983 (New Yorker archive, Blown Covers Blog)

Tom at The Comics Reporter had an excellent roundup, but here’s just a little of the pictures I’ve seen this week:

(Paul Harrison Davies – part of a collection of tributes at The Mooks Tumblr)

(Dan Hipp)

(Evan Doc Shaner)

(Sarah McIntyre)

(Fred Blunt)

(Mike Maihack)

And Maihack’s piece pointed me in the direction of the Terrible Yellow Eyes blog, a tribute to Sendak that ended in 2012, with added poignancy now….. here’s just a sampling, but really, get over there and look at more:

(Josh Holland)

(Harris Hammersmith)

(Aurian Redson)

(Alan Cook)

In addition, The Comics Journal has a series of tribute here, including these pics:

(Megan Kelso)

(Michael Deforge)

…. and finally… Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are meets The Avengers:

(Agarthan Guide, via Buzzfeed)

I know I posted on the sad passing of the great Maurice Sendak yesterday, but Charles Santoso’s tribute art is simply too lovely not to share on here. And on a related note Neil Gaiman asked the New Yorker very nicely if they could unlock a couple of pages of comics by Sendak and Art Spiegelman showing the pair of them in conversation, which the New Yorker has nicely done as a tribute.

Many of us never forgot that early influence he had, opening young eyes to the sheer sense of wonder of a good story and beautiful artwork and even as adults many of us still happily go back to pore over that art again and again. How many of us as little boys and girls were given one of his books? How many of us can now look back from adulthood to that happy time sitting in a corner of the library eagerly devouring a Sendak tale? And how many of us can look back at that time now and think that he was one of the creators who helped set me on the path to a lifelong love of books, art and opening the mind to wonders? The news is still breaking – I only heard via Mike Lynch on Twitter moments ago and see that the Twitter responses to Sendak’s passing are mounting rapidly as the sad news spreads. It’s a blow and it feels like a little of our collective childhood has been chiseled away from us. But he leaves a legacy of millions of children who went on magical adventures, who had their young brains rewired to love beautiful art and to grow up to adore books and storytelling. And that is a magnificent legacy for anyone to leave behind. More children will be born and will be brought up on thos books; Sendak is gone, but he is not lost.

Maurice looking back on his work fairly recently:

That’s Adrian Tomine’s cover to Pynchon’s Inherent Vice.

Here’s the Independent article decrying modern illustration.

And here’s what Dan Franklin of Cape had to say…. (emphasis mine)

“I think a) it’s fashion”, he says trenchantly. “And b) there aren’t that many great illustrators. It’s rare you can come across someone who can draw. Even when you’re looking for someone to do book jackets, it’s hard to find someone who can draw the human figure – it seems to be unfashionable now.”

So we set you a competition – here’s Kenny’s original post with more details but essentially we want you to design a book cover for one of two books: Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye or  The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.

Now, try to remember that innovative design and thinking outside the box is to be encouraged, but also keep in mind what Franklin said about illustration. We’re trying to prove him wrong remember?

Entries need to be in by the deadline of 31st May, when Kenny, Joe, and myself will sit down and decide who gets on the shortlist. Then we open the judging out to those that took part who determine the winner.

The winner gets £150, but will also be proving (hopefully) a point. Send the entries to joe(dot)gordon(at)forbiddenplanet(dot)co(dot)uk with links to your site/blog/online thing.

Deadline for entries is 31st May 2012.

“It wasn’t an obvious Arthur C Clarke winner – it’s not from a science fiction publisher but from a small Scottish press. But I don’t think anyone was surprised it was nominated. It really is a very good book and it has found a real audience in the science fiction readership. It offers a route into dealing with quite serious issues, about science, about maternity and about making choices,” Clarke Award organiser Tom Hunter, quoted in the Guardian article on the award.

The book had been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, one of the major literary awards in UK publishing, but failed to make the shortlist – hardly surprising since the Booker, while technically open to all forms of fiction, regularly remains resolutely determined to ignore anything which may have the slightest tang of genre (I’ve read very good Booker winners, I’ve also read very good SF or Crime novels that I thought better that never made the list – no wonder we need our own genre friendly awards…). So never mind the usual literary snobbery against genre from the Booker, the Clarke judges, who had to endure a very rude public tirade from certain quarters this year, have picked out some unusual and deserving work to be highlighted and celebrated. Well done to Jane and to Sandstone for the win. And, as ever, for any of you looking for more good reading tips I’d point you to any and all of the shortlisted books on the Clarke award as good starting points.