(Today is BBIC’s 200th post! yay!)

Tomorrow I’ll be posting the very beautiful sketchbooks of Barcelona based illustrator Carmen Segovia. Today I wanted to give you a little introduction into her more finished work which many of you may not have seen before. Carmen has illustrated a whole bunch of books and even written some of them herself which have mostly published in Europe. This book, China Doll, is the only one of her books published in the US. It’s about a china doll who goes looking for the perfect present- a tea set- to get her owner Jessica for her fifth birthday. At night she goes on a little journey to find one encountering all sorts of animals along the way who assist her. Returning with a cracked face and dirty with an heirloom tea set, the doll is found by Jessica’s mother and fixed and put back in Jessica’s bed. I could see a little girl loving this book and imagining her own doll going on an adventure. Carmen’s illustrations are beautifully painted. There seems to be an under-painting of an pinkish-orange which seeps through other colors creating a warm glow. I love the palettes she choses. You can see pencil lines in some places which is a nice contrast to the parts that are more thickly painted in. The book is set up like an average picture book with huge double spread bleeds but I am quite fond of the small spot illustrations that sometimes sit below the text. You can see many more of Carmen’s illustrations here and pick up a copy of this book here. Tomorrow her sketchbook pages!

© Julia Rothman 2007