Magnificent Creatures: Animals on the Move!

Artist Anna Wright has combined a love of nature with an interest in textile design to create an informative and stunningly beautiful picture book.  Each double page spread depicts a different wild creature on the move and contains a paragraph of fascinating facts.  Turtles, jellyfish, zebra, herring, fireflies and many more run, swim, and fly across the pages in eye-catching illustrations that mix pen and ink, watercolour, fabric collage and subtle colours and hues.  The expressions and sense of movement of each animal are successfully captured and the use of pattern and fabric designs adds visual interest and does not detract from the depiction of the natural world.

The artist’s introduction expresses her desire to use the inspiration of pattern and detail in nature ‘to express the everyday joy, drama and flamboyance of the animal kingdom’ and she certainly succeeds in this aim with a picture book that should have a wide appeal, from young animal-loving children to adults and art and design students.