Lilli, Hans and Anders

Lilli Carré is a Chicagoan comics writer and artist who has produced the cover for another of those beautiful Penguin Classics editions which, well, are designed by comics artists. (For others, see here, here, here, here and here.) She has tackled Mark Twain's most famous book.



This edition comes out in October. Carré has a few other books of her own work available, showcasing a drawing style that has elements of the cartoonish and of children's book illustrations, as well as darker, eerier overtones. It doesn't hurt that she shows hints of Tove Jansson's influence, either. Compare Carré's work shown below with this representative Jansson illustration:



Carré's most recent is The Lagoon, shown here with some of the interior pages. (Click for bigger versions of these and those below.)





Before that she produced Tales of Woodsman Pete, a series of somewhat absurdist stories about a gentleman of that name...





..as well as the short-story collection Nine Ways to Disappear.





In addition, she has provided covers for a couple of comic anthologies.




Carré's next project is an illustrated version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Fir Tree, which should be out in time for Christmas. Here are three pages stolen from her blog:





This leads me neatly to another of the Penguin Deluxe Classics that I should have discussed a couple of years ago (which is when I got my copy), because it's a beautiful little book. As well as featuring all of Andersen's fairy tales, translated by Tiina Nunnally (one of those translators, like Anthea Bell and Michael Hofmann, from whom I will read anything they bring into the English language), it includes a number of Andersen's paper-cut illustrations, and this gorgeous cover artwork (with flaps) by Anders Nilsen.




Here, pilfered from the amazing archives of A Journey Round My Skull, is one of Andersen's cut-outs illustrations.



Next, a single post about a single artist that cunningly combines Penguins, black American activists and pornography.