Picture books: a website by Dandi Palmer

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	EUROPE'S MOST VISITED SF/F WEB SITE

Picture books: a website by Dandi Palmer

Check out website: www.dandi.me.uk

This is a free-to-view collection of picture books and artwork, suitable for any age group.

We're into Science Fiction in this magazine and there's much to view here but this comprises only a section of the site. Other work includes fantasy and mythology, all organised in a logical and easy to view way.

There are hundreds of colour pictures and line drawings to look at. Many are exquisitely intricate and when I think of the number of hours put to creating them, their true value becomes apparent.

Some belong to books as covers and illustrations, while other work is in the form of posters.

There's a collection of picture books for young children and also for older children - 9 of each category - and if you are a parent, uncle, aunt or godfather, introduce the youngsters to the massive amount of material here. It'll keep them busy for ages and will also provide impetus for them to do something similar.

The Science Fiction line drawings come from four sources: 'No Way to Treat a Genie', 'Jacob's Ladder', 'Different Dragons' and 'Pandora's Other Box'. These black and white illustrations are very good.

However, my favourite section was the alphabetical collection of drawings from mythology: Egypt, Rome, Babylon, China, India, Mexico, Greece and many more. Dandi's interpretation of these deities and creatures was thought-provoking because here I already knew most of the subjects and could compare them with preconceived notions.

Isis was my winner.

Since books first appeared hundreds of years ago, the illustration was of paramount importance to give the reader that extra bit of information to add substance to the text.

The 'Alice In Wonderland' stories became alive as did the works of Charles Dickens - I've an old copy of 'The Pickwick Papers' and I remember the illustrations more than the text. The old adage of a picture being worth a thousand words is definitely true.

When we look at Dandi's pictures, we are similarly transported to other times, lands and dreams. There's thousands upon thousands of words of pictures here and, from someone who used to illustrate in a more modest manner, I'd say that it's easier and less time-consuming to write a thousand words than to create a picture.

She also writes Science Fiction, sample chapters of which are contained within the website. Dandi's work has already appeared professionally in many cases and I'm sure that with more exposure via this website, many more commissions will be going her way.

Rod MacDonald

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