whiteforest art: Heartaches of a French Cat

Sundays are the best library days! They just has that bookish feel that summons me to the library. Yesterday I felt the weekly summons and went to the library. The book I picked out to read was The Heartaches of a French Cat by Barbara McClintock. The book had absolutely no text; it was completely illustrated. Only two spreads were in color. I love McClintock's style. I would describe it as old Victorian pen drawings. Stories by P. J. Stahl and Honore de Balzac, illustrated by Grandville (a french illustrator), greatly influenced her.

Here is the book cover. I would love to show some of the pictures inside of the book but I can't find any online. I had the same trouble with the other book, Snow.

This is a drawing by Grandville. He has an anthropomorphic style, that means he attributes human qualities to animals. Yes, I had to look it up but how else do you learn? Her style is very much like Grandville's except her animal heads are less naturalistic; they are lighter and more cartoony. Cartoony isn't bad; actually, I prefer it.

At the very beginning of The Heartaches of a French Cat is a character list with pictures. I thought it looked nifty and decided to do my own character list in the same sort of pen and ink style with the characters of the Croaker Norge story my sis wrote. Here they are!