Magic, witches, and devils, strange and
wonderful sculptures you'll find it all
in this book. Hello and welcome. My name
is Ryan and let's take a Book Look at
Shaun Tans "The Singing Bones". The first
thing you'll notice when you begin flipping
through the pages of this illustrated
Brother's Grimm volume are they're
teaming with moodily photographed, rustic abstract sculptures. And the next thing
you're likely to notice is that there's only
excerpt from the story's texts
accompanies the illustration. This is
more of an art book and the artwork is
harnessing the feeling that the story's
conveyed to the artist.
This book's artwork largely features a
stark, gray palette with pops of vibrant
warm tones like reds, oranges, and golds.
You will also find a great deal of texture
throughout the pages- rough hewn clay,
sand, old nails, and freshly picked berries.
"There is a tactile quality to
the Shaun Tan sculptures. They feel
primal, as if they were made in the
long-ago age of the world, when the
stories were first being shaped, and that
perhaps the sculptures came first. Neil Gaiman.
Here we have Shaun Tan himself
describing how he arrived at the visual
look of the book. Shaun Tan: To say a little bit about the work itself because it's quite
an unusual one for me and has probably
been the most enjoyable project I've
worked on and something of a throwback
to childhood. As a kid I did far more
sculpting than painting or illustration
and I'd often come home from school and
spend the afternoon in the backyard
hacking away at a piece of rock or
plaster or stone or making something out
of clay and I did this with no
particular purpose in mind. And I think
that's probably the basis for all good
art is t,o you know, do something in a
purposeless and disinterested way just
for the Hell of it. And when approaching
this project I was so stuck by how to
interpret Grimm's fairy tales that I
guess I resorted to that old childhood
muscle memory and just going at it with
a kind of intuitive impulse that
normally I I would apply more thought to,
but in this case I just thought well I'm
just going to make these funny little
sculptures and see what happens and
I was happily surprised by the results and
I hope you are too.
It is some of the most intuitive work I've
done.
Arriving unusually naturally and easily
with far less hand wringing that is
usually associated with my my projects
here in this little cell I call a studio.
And the result, is that the work looks
really strange to me which is actually
quite ideal. I was often working on
these sculptures, you know, nose to the grindstone and then
stepping back and looking at them and
just thinking what the F? And I think
that's a really good reaction from one
artist to their own work and it usually
means you're on the right track. If you
can say that in a positive way, where
what is this thing? But I still like it.
If you're interested in taking a Book
Look at The Singing Bones for yourself,
check with your local library and I'll also
leave a link down below where you can
get a copy. The many tiny sculptural
scenes capture a somber ominous mood. Tan combines the traditional media of the
sculptures and found objects with
photography and even at times digital
manipulation. You can see the difference
between the original sculptures and the
effects of well-lit photography as well
as what a bit of digital sorcery adds to
the image. So many of the images cause
the viewer to interpret the art, to ask
questions, with this "The Boots of Buffalo
a Leather" image, all the robber
characters are faceless. Is this because
they figure into this story as a
collective rather than having an
individual identity? This facelessness
theme appears in other group identity
characters such as The Twelve Huntsmen
as well.
We also find a good number of scenes
where ordinary objects of tiny scale
become transformed to a grand scale in
this miniature world. Tiny rocks, nails,
and grains of sand become whole landscapes.
A good number of the strange
creatures in this book have a sinister
or even threatening look, but
occasionally some of them are adorable
such as these Hans my Hedgehog or Thumbling sculptures. What have been some of
your favorite images from this Book Look?
Let me know down in the comments!
We have this broad-shouldered silhouetted figure
and the lighting on this piece almost
feels like you'd give right at home as a
Batman cover. And I don't know about you,
but I would love to have a couple of
candle holders that look like this
amazing crab-like creature sitting on my
dining room table. Here we have a
gathering of undead figures getting up
to all sorts of things. The crude faces
have the look of little Jack Skellingtons,
which Tim Burton is an influence on the artist.
As a child, Tan would illustrate
poems and stories. He had particular
fascination with drawing robots,
dinosaurs, and spaceships.
And later became a fan of The Twilight Zone TV series... (Twilight Zone Intro) It is an area which we call- The Twilight Zone.
and books that dealt with similar themes
with Ray Bradbury being a favorite.
Tan had diverse range of interest, so much
so that he didn't know what he wanted to be. Originally, he studied to become a
geneticist, but eventually set himself on
the path to becoming an illustrator.
Shaun Tan claims a wide range of
influences, here are just a few: Tim Burton,
Terry Gilliam, Hieronymus Bosch, René
Magritte, Ralph Steadman, and various
textures, incidents, and things you find
throughout day-to-day life.
What The Singing Bones proves is there's no right way to make art.
If the artwork is interesting
and captivating, if it excites the
imagination then the way that that image
came to be is irrelevant. I couldn't
really find a place to put this in but
just check out how gorgeous this cover
is! That shininess just on the
sculptures- that's called spot gloss.
Do you have other books that you think
should have a Book Look? Let me know down in the comments below. Click on the first
video to see more about how Shaun
Tan made this book, The Singing Bones and
more. And if you want to discover new
worlds between the covers of books, don't
forget to subscribe and hit the bell
icon for future Book Looks
