Henrik Drescher

Mel lent me this book by Henrik Drescher - which i would definitely recommend having a look at - its called 'The Gruesome Guide to World Monsters' The illustrations in it are brilliant.. I've had a bit more of a look at his work, which is quite varied and was thinking of using him as one of the artists to research for the creatures which i have to illustrate for Ben..

I found some really good images in the book 'The Gruesome Guide to World Monsters', but there's also some interesting stuff on the net too. Drescher mainly illustrates children's books, but has done some other stuff too..
here's a link to his website:
http://www.hdrescher.com/

This is an image from the book 'Yellow Umbrella' illustrated by drescher. I really like the style in which Drescher uses his pen, adding lots of cross hatched detail to the sea and sky, which creates a kind of stormy, moody feeling. The use of a very limited colour palette (pale yellow, black and white) helps to draw your attention to the singular bright yellow object within the image - the yellow umbrella. This illustration kind of reminds me of the work by Tove Jansson who created the Moomins.

I would like to have a go at experimenting with the style of linear detail Drescher uses here when illustrating my two mythical creatures for Ben.

Some other pieces of Drescher's work are really quite different.

This image is from a book called 'Runway opposites'  It's mixed media, done on what looks like a brown paper envelope. In this case there is less of the strong, dark linear detail which was present in the previous illustration and a greater use of colour. The vines at the top (from which eyes appear to be growing) are collaged on top of the image creating a 3D feel to final piece. In all of Drescher's work there is a really interesting scrawly, expressive sort of line which is what i would like to try and recreate within my own work when i illustrate the Quetzalcoatl and the Jormungandr. There's also always an element of fun to Dresher's work, something which i guess makes it totally suitable for children's book illustration......

Here's an image from the book which Mel lent me - 'The Gruesome Guide to World Monsters'

I really like the bright colours used in this illustration, which has a heavier emphasis on the patterns of the monsters body as oppose to shading and detail. This piece shows how different his work can be, especially when you consider this in relation the other images which i found.