Illustrators Discussion

Here we can discuss the illustrators of the Railway Series, from Middleton to Spong!

I've added a poll to see who people's favorite illustrators are! I'm curious to hear!

Overall I liked Spong the best, and the Edwards too.

Have any of you noticed a lack of inconsistency among all the illustrators regarding engine faces. With the exception of the Edward's Gordon no faces seemed to be distinguishable. I wouldn't expect them to be accurate between multiple illustrators but even alone they never kept the same face on the same character it seems....

Edwards are my two favorites, but Spong is a close second The impressionism really makes an impression on me and it just looks so gritty and real!

I have noticed the faces too! I suppose its hard when you're not painting human faces to be consistent

But in the CGI show all the engines have unique facial characteristics. I know in the show they are more "fixed". I'm no artist but I can't imagine it's that hard to keep faces consistent. idk. Just nit-picking.

I voted for Clive Spong too. The bright colours he uses suit the Series well, but he still keeps it quite realistic.

That being said, the last few Rev. Awdry books wouldn't feel as good without Gunvor and Peter Edwards' illustrations. Especially Mountain Engines.

Peter and Gunvor Edwards I like the most, but Clive Spong a close second!

I really like Kenney too. His drawings had almost a cartoon quality to them but at the same time it was pretty realistic. It's hard to pin down what it is he does.

Now that I dwell on it more I like the Edwards a bit more than Spong. Spong I have always felt combined all the positives from the previous three illustrators. I suppose though that the Edwards work overall was superior to Spong. They were talented yet had a lot of detail. I actually wish I had some regular RWS books instead of the Complete Collection so I could enjoy larger versions of their artwork.

Clive Spong for me. There was something about his illustrations that caught my eye. It's a shame that I don't have the RWS books by Christopher Awdry.

SkarloeyRailway wrote:Edwards are my two favorites, but Spong is a close second The impressionism really makes an impression on me and it just looks so gritty and real!

I have noticed the faces too! I suppose its hard when you're not painting human faces to be consistent

I certainly agree with you, Edwards are my two favorites too which is why I voted for them.

I find it interesting that the Edwards duo have a lead! I thought for sure Spong would be winning!

Glad to hear people appreciate them though, I absolutely love them!

I think the Edward's are the best, because there is so much detail in the illustrations and their ones are the ones that look the most like a real railway.

I also like Spong's work. His illustrations look kind of weird in books 27-29, but his work overall is kind of "less is more", as it's not as detailed, but just looks so great.

I don't know why, but I love Payne's Thomas illustrations, maybe it's because it's closest to how Thomas looks in the show, but I'm not really sure, I just like them.

By the way, Reginald Payne is misnamed Thomas Payne in the poll at the top of the page.

I find that every illustrator was unique, and brought a distinct flavor to their work. To single out the best is quite difficult, since stylistically there are few points of comparison (I.e. Can't really compare Dalby's bright, colorful, approach to Edwards' impressionistic approach.)

I've been looking at the illustrations in Mountain Engines, I think they are some of the best. I don't think I've ever read Mountain Engines, despite having the Complete Collection book.

Did we ever know why Gunvor and Peter Edwards didn't do any Christopher Awdry books? Were they not asked or did they not want to? I do prefer Spong's illustrations, but Edwards had a good style.

I don't know about why they didn't, but I DO know that theirs are the best, if just because of Mountain Engines.

JRCS wrote:Did we ever know why Gunvor and Peter Edwards didn't do any Christopher Awdry books? Were they not asked or did they not want to? I do prefer Spong's illustrations, but Edwards had a good style.

My guess is the publishing company (whoever it was then) wanted a fresh, new look for the books after their long absence.

That's a good guess. It is nice, because now Christopher's have their own style to them.

Also they might have been busy with something else while the RWS was gone.