These beautiful books are just a few of the many I’ve collected while working on Ella Bella Ballerina. Kay Ambrose’s book is very severe and didactic (and unintentionally funny… like when advising dancers to cut their finger nails. “You don’t want a partner with only one eye!” she warns us. And kicking a weighted theatre curtain might result in “A blackened toe as a souvenir!”).
These books were produced in the 1940s/50s with limited colour and lovely ink line work, exactly the approach I had decided on for my books. I’m looking through these again as I begin to think about the illustrations for my new book about Swan Lake. I need to capture the dark gothic drama of Tchaikovsky’s score…but still keep the light and decorative retro feel so far achieved. It will be a time of experimentation I think.
Above all I want the illustrations to dance!
Leave a Reply