August 10, 2017

ANIMALS HIDE AND SNEAK

Remember when I did all those posts recently about books showcasing complementary colors and I lamented the fact that there aren't more books with yellows and purples? I can lament no more!


Bastien Contraire's Hide and Sneak board book series continues with Animals, and it's hands-down the most beautiful one yet. I know I'm biased because I'm so into color theory and the yellows and purples we see in the book, but it is BEAUTIFUL! The premise is similar to Contraire's other books: one of the items (in this case, animals) on the page is different than the others. Can readers guess which one?


Another reason (as if I need one) that I'm biased in how much I love this book is that I'm obsessed with screen printed illustrations. Contraire makes such good use of the three colors he uses, even drawing attention sometimes to the process of creating the illustrations, albeit organically. We see a variety of color combinations for each animal on each spread that lead readers to understand how mixing yellow and purple make brown (as is standard for mixing complementary colors). The process for creating the illustrations is fascinating because screen printing involves a lot of thinking ahead. Each color represents its own layer, and the complex detailing that Contraire does only heightens the beauty of the illustrations knowing that much thought was given to each and every spot, stripe, and hoof. 


Animals Hide and Sneak published from Phaidon Press in May!

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