Posted by Eric Abraham on May 04, 2006 at 14:22:39 from 63.245.133.253 user EricAbraham.
In Reply to: The Japaneseness of Ransome's pictures posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on May 02, 2006 at 13:09:32:
Yes, I am in agreement that they are "polished productions"! However, I don't feel they are particularly "Japenese", but do make use of the same universal methods of depicting places and action. Just because something appears "simple" or "naive" does not mean it is - a young child's drawings MAY be, but usually those are very accomplished in their own way.
I have always thought that Mr. Ransome's drawings were extremely sophisticated - ever since I first read the series. They are very successful in conveying the thought and action of the story. Hugh Lofting's illustrations of the Doctor Doolittle series are similar and just as successful. Both sets of illustrations allowed me to "fill in" the color and detail from my own mind. I find it is much more difficult to LEAVE OUT exteraneous detail matterial than to put it into a drawing (probably why mine are so over detailed).
Eric Abraham