Evaluations of the Jury of awarded illustrations on BIB 2021

Dates of event :

27. 10. 2021

International Jury :

Brenda Dales

Grand Prix

Elena Odriozola (Spain)

People and objects fill 15 rooms in a house composed of three floors and an attic. All can be viewed at once in cut-away drawings of the entire structure, plus there are glimpses through doors and windows when the exterior is presented along with a surprise character. Examining the actions and details of each interior and exterior sepia or black-and-while illustration creates fascinating connections and stories for the viewer.

Golden Apple

Myung Ae Lee (South Korea)

Line drawings of people populate a yellow line in each illustration, creating a positive feeling of a sunny day. Numerous people are depicted in each illustration, all engaged in activities such as eating, acrobatics, running or walking, or other pursuit. Various colors used for skin tones, accessories—such as backpack, headphones, camera, and chopsticks—and clothing styles suggest cultures and ethnicities.

Amanda Mijangos, Armando Fonseca, Juan Palomino (Mexico)

Sea life takes center stage with colors and shapes depicting fish and other aquatic animals and plants—even a merperson—sometimes presented realistically and sometimes abstractly in multiple perspectives. People are included, but it is sea life that demands attention. The sea itself is negative space, with nebulous blotches and amorphous lines of blue establishing the watery environment.

Sylvie Bello (France)

A range of styles demonstrates the breadth of the artist: a full-color image of a woman asleep among wildflowers with a superimposed line drawing of a hand holding out a flower; a snow scene with negative space for the background and small blue shapes scattered over the entire image to indicate falling snow with footprints of the character indicating surface area; what appears to be a pen-and ink drawing of an outdoor area crowded with people and a dog sitting on the ground or on blankets enjoying food together, tents in the background, and clothing styles suggesting various cultures.

Anna & Varvara Kendel (Russia)

The vastness of the Russian landscape is presented by the twin Kendel sisters, achieved through panoramic images. Warm colors of sienna and orange are used to dispel any sense of bleakness in a snow-covered mountainous area, or an expanse filled with deer. Contrasting is a closer view of houses and small buildings, people, cats and dogs, plus evidence of technology with electric lines, antenna, and satellite dish, indicating lively habitation.

Chao Zhang (China)

Bamboo fences, Asian calligraphy, and traditional attire suggest Chinese culture. Three separate panels in one image are combined with colorless background swaths, and a person in each panel foregrounded into a common area. Deliberately positioned bodies with evocative facial expressions impart a heartfelt sense of empathy.

Plaque

Ghazal Fatollahi (Iran)

People are walking, then embarking on small boats, and from the chaos of the initial image as well as body language it is clear an evacuation is in progress. A young brother and sister are the focus as her plain red dress and his plain taupe pants stand out among the patterned yet subdued clothing of others. Tenderness between brother and sister and people helping people give these images humanity during adversity.

Mamiko Shiotani (Japan)

A perfectly oval egg and cylindrical marshmallow--both with arms, legs, faces, and hats—reside in a human house and explore the textured surroundings. One page is an overview of the kitchen, divided into three panels to present three sequences of activity, such as egg using a roll of tape to rappel from a counter surface to the floor while the less fragile marshmallow appears to have jumped and gently landed on a rug. Softly tinted colors from a limited palette set the tone for the companionship between the two foodstuff friends.

Mohammad Barangi Fashtami (Iran)

Light brown backgrounds, appearing as washes, with several images bordered in thin red lines, indicate a tale from the past. Birds with masks covering human faces are adorned with dark designs highlighted with the same light brown color and light orange. Insects and traditional architecture from Iran also with this color scheme unify the illustrations.

Dale Blankenaar (South Africa)

Shapes of vivid colors reveal stylized birds, animals, trees, and other flora and wildlife overlapping against solid-color backgrounds. The careful viewer will determine specifically designed and balanced images, with animals such as yellow monkeys, a blue bird with yellow spots, a larger green animal with yellow lips, even a black and white zebra, in their own activities. The main character, porcupine, is black and white, with a discerning line of quills along its back.

Armando Fonseca García (Mexico)

Veins of red contrasting among darker areas integrate the images. Red appears lava-like underground, with a body crouched above in a perfectly balanced image with mountain centered in the background. In another image with creative movement of lean and tailed bodies and face/mask in the likeness of a wolf, the line of red is repeated delicately through the anatomy.

Victoria Fomina

Grand Prix

Elena Odriozola (Spain)

It is something new! We can see absolutely original layout - all the pictures are in one rigid frame. But it is interesting and not boring. It is as we are peeping through the windows at another world. It is simple and complex, ordinary and magical at the same time.

Golden Apple

Myung Ae Lee (South Korea)

Here we are following an amazing yellow horizontal line. A strong compositional trick - the transforming this strip everywhere unites very lively expressive multicolored characters.

Amanda Mijangos, Armando Fonseca, Juan Palomino (Mexico)
Light touches to the paper convey the sensation of water. In general all the illustrations, different in composition, harmonize perfectly with each other.

Sylvie Bello (France)

The main thing for me here is the feeling of a miracle that lives in this sophisticated and delicate graphics...

Anna & Varvara Kendel (Russia)

2 books are dedicated to a journey to the Russian North. All the details are scrupulously summarized, sometimes the spots are almost abstract, but at the same time everything is real as in true life, this is because the illlustrators (the twin sisters) love to travel to the far north, love hitchhiking and along the way they always draw a lot of sketches, meet local people, animals and landscapes. Then they return back home and summarize impressions, turning them into illustrations.

They use watercolor, acrylics, gouache, ink, pencils, charcoal and collage.

Chao Zhang (China)

Very skillful and professional work! It is kind, touching, full of light and tenderness.

Plaque

Ghazal Fatollahi (Iran)

The book talks about important and difficult situations in the world - about the problems of migrants. Illustrations speak to children in the language of pictures, helping to understand what is happening and find something interesting, new and playful in this painful moment.

Mamiko Shiotani (Japan)

Delicate and gentle, sophisticated and transparent illustrations take us to the fairy world of little creatures. Everything here is so accurately drawn to the last detail that we believe in their existence next to us.

Mohammad Barangi Fashtami (Iran)
Painstaking work with collage, skillful use of paper texture, excellent knowledge of folk tradition allow the illustrator to convey to us his deep philosophical vision.

Dale Blankenaar (South Africa)

Funny characters, bright colors, skillful juggling with simple shapes create the feeling of an incredible fun holiday and fairy tale.

Armando Fonseca García (Mexico)

These are very powerful illustrations. Despite the restrained color scheme, the artwork evokes strong emotions with their live plastic and flawless composition.

Renáta Fučíková

Grand Prix

Elena Odriozola (Spain)
A delicate story told by delicate painting tools. Sophisticated work with a line and surface, detailed work and atmosphere meet together in an extraordinary powerful result. The illustrations are expressive but poetic and above all readers get an understandable and warm impression.

Golden Apple

Myung Ae Lee (Republic of Korea)
Perfectly managed work with colorful accents representing the story and meanings. Perfectly managed work with moving shortcuts. Easiness of expression balances with the message. An excellent composition.

Amanda Mijangos, Armando Fonseca, Juan Palomino (Mexico)
The basis for this illustration stands on effective expression. It is supported by excellently managed technique. Splotches and lines convey a feeling of space and at the same time express how rich the sea world is.

Sylvie Bello (France)
Excellently chosen technique to express a delicate story. Rich composition alternating with minimalism. A great colorfully balanced painting. The illustrations express tenderness, melancholy and sentiment, but they still remain civil.

Anna&Varvara Kendel (Russia)
Great illustrations made by using brush and restrained colours. The pictures evoke the atmosphere of Russian countryside and create a convincing impression of wide space and coldness. Excellent stylization of animals.

Chao Zhang (China)

Minimalistic range of colours expresses sadness and nostalgia. The illustrations refer to traditional local art, but at the same time they express relatively current reality. Great work with space and atmosphere.

Plaque

Ghazal Fatollahi (Iran)
Narrative illustrations speak mainly to small readers. Restrained colors lead the reader to the main line of the story. On the other side, the hidden details individually encourage to look for other plot lines.

Mamiko Shiotani (Japan)
Convincing veristic technique, master work with the atmosphere of lights. Realism has been unfairly moved by current trends to the background lately, but it is still gratefully accepted by children´s audience.

Mohammad Barangi Fashtami (Iran)
Sophisticated stylization based on traditional Persian illustration. Convincing use of repeating elements and rhythm excellently accompany the famous story. These illustrations are for older and more demanding readers, but because of their high artistic quality they can also be recommended to children. This means they have an educational character.

Dale Blankenaar (South Africa)
Playful and wild use of colours resonates with the message of African traditions. Alternation of tricky patterns and subjectified detailed scenes evokes a pleasant tention. Highly colourful culture.

Armando Fonseca García (Mexico)
Expressive expression and minimalistic composition make readers perceive the details of the story that the illustration is trying to highlight. Disquieting images represent an existential shout appealing to the attention of a small reader.

Orna Granot

Grand Prix

Elena Odriozola (Spain)
The style of the illustration balances the real and the surreal, every double spread present a playful and complex option for several re-reading. Each frame contains many details, together all of them transform each page into a visual adventure, every page reveals a picture puzzle of perspectives and multiple stories. Since the book’s theme is emotions the unique layout and style present a new form of reading emotions, a tricky subject matter in itself.

Golden Apple

Myung Ae Lee (South Korea)
The free style of the artwork gives the book a strong sense of movement and energy. The artist chooses to give the human face an expression and distinct character while keeping many areas of the page with minimalistic quality, the real and the abstract work so well with each other thanks to the motive of the yellow line that moves through the pages and literally ties graphics to the narrative of the story.

Amanda Mijangos, Armando Fonseca, Juan Palomino (Mexico)
The illustrations of the book present a virtuoso ability to create a rich story and emotional expression with very minimal means. In the case of this book:” less is more”, large white spaces are joined with rich textures and the few details engage the reader, in a way the forces him/her to use their imagination in order to give meaning to the story.

Sylvie Bello (France)
The artist’s decision to create a book about snow with the technique of monotype show a bold, challenging and unconventional attitude to illustration as an art form. Every page and surface of the book presents a different composition and displays a wide range of textures. Thanks to the monotype the snow becomes the main protagonist of the book in every illustration as a part of the narrative but also as a unique lavish artwork.

Anna & Varvara Kendel (Russia)
The illustration mange to create a sense of awe from nature and from the world combing techniques styles effectively. Each page presents a combination of realistic and artistic interpretation. The artists balance accurate observation of nature and animals with energetic brush strokes of color. Looking at the artwork the viewer is touched by the authenticity created without using excessive idealism, the choice and preference to present to the reader a poor surrounding of the rural village should be commended as well as the successful portrait of the dog in the book revealing a strong sense character and loveable expression.

Chao Zhang (China)
The book’s challenging theme of yearning and strong sense of loss or even bereavement, present a challenge to the artist. Through the delicate and sensitive choice of palette together with the accurate depiction of physical gestures (rather than focusing on facial expressions). The result and outcome is a book that successfully illustrates what human compassion looks like.

Plaque

Ghazal Fatollahi (Iran)
The difficult yet universal theme of immigration is dealt in this important book. Through simple yet effective use of color and form, the artist manages to help any reader of any age, focus on the unique perspective of children as migrators, as unique storytellers of their immigration.

Mamiko Shiotani (Japan)
The egg’s story become a funny yet uplifting story. The artist choice of an imaginative plot is complimented with a rich detailed imagery. All the little details create a rich and adventurous tale where the protagonists are small and usually still. The egg the marshmallow and other objects are given human character and together create an appealing and respectful visual narrative for children and adults’ alike, combing fantasy and warmth, an original duet in itself.

Mohammad Barangi Fashtami (Iran)
The reared is faced with rich surfaces and countless repetitions, the obsessive nature of the patterns and drawings creates an exciting and lively picture surface that seduces the beholder to look again and again and discover with every look more depth and meaning in the artwork. The illustrations have an intimate and very personal style and encourage the viewer to discover illustration as form of original self –reflection and artistic struggle.

Dale Blankenaar (South Africa)
The colorful surfaces create an intense and vibrant expression for every double spread. The flat style encourages the reader to separate the figures of the animals from the patterns and flat backgrounds. This engagement requires independent readership and forces the beholder to look on the illustration in a playful search mode of observation.

Armando Fonseca García (Mexico)
Each illustration can be read as a unique and independent piece standing powerfully on their own. Despite this individual expressive quality, all of the illustrations connect as a story by red line or thread resembling blood or lava maybe, adding another powerful symbolic layer to the whole piece.

Manuela Vladič Maštruko

Grand Prix

Elena Odriozola (Spain)

Uses a transparent house cut construction as a basis for scene-setting, which gives her cartoon-type framing for the theatrical sequence of events. Her painstaking drawings and carefully conceived characters surpass the need for colour.

Golden Apple

Myung Ae Lee (South Korea)

Fashions busy chaos of individuals with lively and vibrant drawing and sophisticated use of varied visual techniques. Bright yellow, a symbol of life energy, generates order and creates connections among the characters.

Amanda Mijangos, Armando Fonseca, Juan Palomino (Mexico)

This group of authors applies a similar range of graphic poetic expressions to the topic of the sea. The underwater world is represented by almost abstract elements contrasted by lonely realistic forms (fish, leaves, corals).

Sylvie Bello (France)

The author created her surprising and poetic world using the fluid monotype technique and meticulous gravure. In the picture book La prima neve, the author dramatically juxtaposes the spectacles bursting with figures and details and the scenes of stillness, snow and phases of the moon to build a fantastic, lyrical universe.

Anna & Varvara Kendel (Russia)

The authors, twin sisters, lead us on a journey north through majestic landscapes depicted in warm autumn colours, soon followed by cold blue winter tones. In these illustrations, nature's power and pre-eminence, from the images of northern lights to the depictions of galloping deer herds, surpasses human and animal manifestation.

Chao Zhang (China)

The combination of Chinese ink and computer graphics created playful compositions and the traditional poetic Chinese landscapes in this book. The palette of subdued colours paints nostalgic ancient landscapes and builds bridges between the past and the present, just as the heroine of this story is trying to build a bridge to her lost mother by following the traces of the bygone days.

Plaque

Ghazal Fatollahi (Iran)

The illustrations for this touching story about the exodus of refugees are painted in grayscale. The author endeavours to assign individuality to the forlorn procession of people forced to leave their homes through stylised ornamentation on their garments, while the main characters, a brother and a little sister, are centralised as main characters by the use of colour. The forms of birds that sometimes fly through the frame remind us that change is the only constant.

Mamiko Shiotani (Japan)

The charming protagonists of this story are an egg and a marshmallow, who undertake an expedition from a small kitchen to the wide world. The gentle and careful drawing is coloured in restrained tones, and the adorably stylised characters confidently move in the realistically painted scenography of a tidy household.

Mohammad Barangi Fashtami (Iran)

The author uses the elements of traditional Iranian illustration (calligraphy, seals/stamps and repetitive elements) and gives them a contemporary, individual note by enclosing them in gentle watercolour autonomies.

Dale Blankenaar (South Africa)

This African cacophony of colours, forms and sounds is a unique training in perception. The author encourages the viewer to search for a amiable and charming creature and to discover the other characters hidden in the jungle flora during this pursuit. As the events unfold (parallel to the waning of the sunlight at the end of the day), the loud colours become more restrained as they adopt the nocturnal indigo, and the jumble and chaos of forms and characters and the other visual elements stabilises and calms down.

Armando Fonseca García (Mexico)

In these illustrations, the soft grayscale surfaces are contrasted by vivid red streaming through the underground and threatening humans and animals in dramatic displays. A powerful drama executed with a minimalistic approach and tools.

Michiko Matsukata

Grand Prix

Elena Odriozola (Spain)

The work portrays the moments from everyday life, yet the viewers see familiar scenes next to surreal ones and will not be able to take their eyes off from the carefully drawn picture in and outside each window-like squares. As if like a house made of cards, we see here a solid structure containing much delicacy and tenderness.

Golden Apple

Myung Ae Lee (South Korea)

The yellow line connects the separate illustrations together: once it is a table, once it is the pavement blocks on the street, and once it even turns itself into delicious noodles. Using bright colors and at the same time leaving plenty of white space, the works invite us to enjoy together in these vivid playful scenes.

Amanda Mijangos, Armando Fonseca, Juan Palomino (Mexico)

The world under water fascinates us, and maybe especially illustrators, who frequently take up this theme. Here, fish plants and other habitats of the sea are shown with much fluidity, with unique shapes, lines and dots as if taken directly from the drawing book of the artist.

Sylvie Bello (France)

The effect of monotype and choice of colors are breathtaking, Even each scene is much different from each other, each scene is completed work of art.

Anna & Varvara Kendel (Russia)

Authentic images from the north is warm and sympathetic. Selection of color also give a retro yet contemporary feeling.

Chao Zhang (China)

The refined and sophisticated composition of the works tell that illustrations are the works of a skilled master. People drawn from distance evokes a poetic and tranquil feeling inside the viewers.

BIB Plaque

Ghazal Fatollahi (Iran)

Looking at the illustrations, one can quickly understand the theme here is that of emigration, refugee. The focus of colors on the two children who are the protagonists is effective and the attention to details such as the clothes people are wearing and allusion to birds create together a meaningful work.

Mamiko Shiotani (Japan)

Showing high skilled techniques with carbon pencil, small and funny characters from a kitchen show that the work is a serious one. The humorous and surreal content in a familiar context will fascinate people of all ages.

Mohammad Barangi Fashtami (Iran)

Repeated images stamped in the background resembling old paper is a fusion of tradition and contemporary design.

Dale Blankenaar (South Africa)

The eye catching seemingly chaos of colors and shape, after a carefully and patiently look, turn into a jungle of animals where the story takes place. The flatness and the exaggeration show the challenge to bring contemporary wave into book illustration.

Armando Fonseca García (Mexico)

With dark and disturbing atmosphere, the illustrator succeeds in telling forcefully with less. An observant viewer will notice the lava flowing from the volcano, under the ground possess the same glow as that of the blood vessel inside the wolf.

Ľuboslav Paľo

Gradnd Prix

Elena ODRIOZOLA (Spain)
The illustrator caught our attention by her ability to express a visual story as a unit, by poetic expression of illustration and a delicate use of artistic technique – pencil drawing. She works with the composition through interconnecting individual fragments and the main artistic form in a very interesting and original way.

Golden Apple

Myung AE LEE (Republic of Korea)

The style of the illustrator is an example of current illustration based on rich artistic and colourful structures. Her work with the figure is very relaxed, she creates a kind of a figural pattern. Very interesting is the rich artistic structure in contrast to the white empty surface.

Amanda MIJANGROS, Armando FONSECA, Juan PALOMINO (Mexico)
Authors caught our attention by a group form of cooperation, relaxed, playful style, almost abstract. Their illustrations enable viewers a free interpretation, they encourage to fantasy and creativity.

Sylvie BELLO (France)
The illustrator works with a demanding technique of monotype, technological bravura and a sense of atmosphere for the story. Layers of print structures create a new character of illustrations that are arranged into generous compositions.

Anna – Varvara KENDEL (Russia)
Work of these authors, twin sisters, excel in expressive expression and a strong artistic feeling. Work with traditional motifs and compositions is original, the result is a modern current look of illustration work.

Chao ZHANG (China)
Illustrations caught our attention by the combination of traditional techniques – ink and digital drawing. Originally traditional idea has got a current look through digital modification of composition, colours and the used structure.

Plaque

Ghazal FATOLLAHI (Iran)
The illustrator brought creative manifestation of the very current issue – immigration – by using the way very accessible to children. She used a very restrained but effective technique of pencil drawing supplemented by colorful detailed accents.

Mamiko SHIOTANI (Japan)
Illustrations are made by delicate miniature drawing and they are additionally digitally colored. They remind us of sequences of an animation film, they have the potential to speak to children. Individual scenes are built in an interesting way and they are created by using light.

Mohammad Barangi FASHTAMI (Iran)
By combination and layers of more artistic structures, from watercolor surface to photographic elements, the author achieves convincing and original artistic expression. Despite diversity, the final composition makes a unified and compact impression.

Dale BLANKENAAR (South Africa)
Expressive colors and a real mosaic composition are typical for illustrations created by Dale Blankenaar. They bring a playful and modern composition of visual narration.

Armando Fonseca GARCÍA (Mexico)

The illustrator introduces dramatic compositions based on the contrast of dark graphic surfaces and a red line. It results in suggestive illustrations carrying a cartridge of the literary work.

Mingzhou Zhang

Grand Prix

Elena Odriozola (Spain)

White and black colored yet very innovative in image narration with tuneful details of imagination.

Golden Apple

Myung Ae Lee (South Korea)

Smartly uses internal connection between emotions and colors, with an innovative clue through a changing yellow line, vivid and brighten reader’s eyes.

Amanda Mijangos, Armando Fonseca, Juan Palomino (Mexico)

This mixed media works with clear contrast in color, in simpleness and complexity, in fantasy and reality, all harmonious in a dreamlike quality.

Sylvie Bello (France)

Monotype with engraving ink created a fantasy like world, with contents rich in colors, lines, and forms.

Anna & Varvara Kendel (Russia)

Flexible use of color and different medium to create vivid scene and images as if they are jumping out of the paper.

Chao Zhang (China)

Expression of Imagery: A combination of contemporary art and traditional Chinese style created a poetic atmosphere.

Plaque

Ghazal Fatollahi (Iran)

A loving and caring image narration on life of forced immigrants from the perspective of children. With sympathy and restraint.

Mamiko Shiotani (Japan)