Saturday, June 26, 2010

Awkward Art

I'm working on new reviews of a short story collection and a book, but it's going slow for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the weeklong heat wave we've had here. So in the meantime, a quick post on unattractive artwork.




I tend to focus on the good, when it comes to illustrations in books. The dreamy, the vivid, the beautiful, all catch the eye. The covers here aren't all awful, but they're all a little disappointing. Flicka, above, looks like a skyscraper with ears.


Something about this horse's head has just never sat right with me. He looks demonic, like a horse surging out of the sea to eat you.

Not awful, but lacking in any sort of realism or emotion. And orange.

There's just something off-putting about people lying on the ground with a horse running around in the background. It just seems more like a fall than a casual pose.



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3 comments:

Christina Wilsdon said...

Oh dear. Sad illustrations! Even worse, now I want to trot down history lane and pull out my old horse books and find ghastly illustrations, when I really need to be folding laundry and pulling weeds.

AC said...

I think that's supposed to be a pine-covered hill in the background of Flicka, but at first glance it looks like a green plastic snow fence.

Jane Badger said...

The horse that had everything but perspective.... and that Flicka. Oh dear.