The Bird King and Other Sketches

Shaun Tan (illustrator)

Windy Hollow Books, Australia: 2010

ISBN: 9781921136580

Genres: art, picture book

Issues: imagination

Want to see through the eyes of one of Australia's best-known illustrators? This astonishing collection of sketches, scribbles, doodles, short-hand pictures and speculative drawings will give you some insight into the mind of Shaun Tan, creator of, amongst other things The Arrival.

Tan started out illustrating for writers such as John Marsden (The Rabbits) and Gary Crew (The Viewer and Memorial) but his talent for creating entire worlds through illustration alone led to remarkable works such as The Lost Thing, The Red Tree and The Arrival. Most of his books have won awards, the most recent being the 2009 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers, going to Tales from Outer Suburbia. Those who are reasonably familiar with Tan's work will find early sketches for some of his books. Of most interest is the way that Tan plays with ideas, visually. A surreal character can be seen emerging from a figurative sketch. Tan refers to some of these as ‘thumbnail doodles' which ‘open a passage between waking and subconscious concerns'.

In this quite remarkable collection of sketches, paintings and doodles, Tan shows young readers, writers and artists how to develop their talent; that everything around him/them is food for the imagination if you find the right way to look at it or think about it; and that drawing, drawing, drawing is the key to improving one's skills. It is quite apparent that Tan is constantly seeking to stretch himself both as an artist and as an illustrator - and as a person looking for ways to understand the world around him. As Tan himself says: ‘Although a strong vein of fantasy runs through much of my work as an illustrator, its foundation lies in careful study of the real world... I'm especially interested in the tensions between natural and man-made forms... the relationship between individuals and their respective environments, their sense of ‘belonging' or place.'

Highly recommended.