Who are the definitive illustrators for each series/book?

[MJE]

Hullo.

     I'd like to pose the following question for general discussion: what illustrator would be regarded as the best or definitive one for each book or series by Enid Blyton?
     This will to some extent be a subjective matter simply coming down to which one you prefer, which in turn may sometimes come down to the one you happened to know as a child. But I would be interested to see if trends emerge, that, for certain books, a particular illustrator may overwhelmingly be liked the best, regarded as best capturing the atmosphere of the books. (In some cases, there may only ever have been one illustrator for a particular book or series.)
     For instance, to me the Famous Five and Eileen Soper are inseparable. Yet I have been amazed once or twice in the past to hear someone prefer Betty Maxey's illustrations. Similarly, the three illustrators who did the first editions of the Secret Seven (each doing different books, that is) seem inseparable from them to me.
     These are the series I'd be most interested to hear people's views on, with regard to the various illustrators:

  Famous Five
  Secret Seven
  Adventure series
  Secret Series
  Adventurous Four series
  Barney series
  Five Find-Outers series
  Naughtiest Girl series
  Malory Towers series
  St. Clare's series
  Caravan Family series
  Willow Farm series
  Mr. Galliano's Circus series
  Wishing Chair series
  Faraway Tree series

     Any thoughts, anyone?

Regards, Michael.

[Enikyoga]

MJE, in my opinion Eileen Soper was the most definitive of all Enid Blyton's illustrators. Without Eileen Soper's illustrations, we could never have put faces to The Famous Five, just as if Sean connery would not have pioneered acting James Bond, we would have never have imagined what that secret agent would have looked like. In fact, even today, many people associate Sean Conney and vice-versa with James Bond more than the other subsequent actors of the secret agent. Yes, a couple of Enid Blyton fans prefer the Betty Maxey illustrations. In retrospect, on my second looking at some of my Famous Five books that had the Betty Maxey illustrations, several of them were quite good. Presumably, Betty Maxey's illustrations were computer-generated with those big pre-personal computers that had existed between 1947 until the advent of the modern PC's in the early 1980s, unlike those of Eileen Soper that had been hand-sketched. For instance, the illustrations of Maggie and her partner in Five On A Hike Together looked ultra-modern for the hippie-culture of the 1970s, some of which several or even many of us have as yet to outgrow that culture. In Five Go To Billycock Hill, Betty Maxey's illustration of Mrs. Janes is very impressive as well as that of airman, Jeff. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to look at Eileen Soper's illustrations in recent years of these two books. Nonetheless, books such as Five Have Plenty Of Fun, Five On Kirrin Island Again, Five Are Together Again, in my opinion, Eileen Soper's illustrations are very superior to those of Betty Maxey.

As for other books, Stuart Treslian is described as "the best Enid Blyton" illustrator i.e. his illustration of The Adventure series. Nonetheless, the graphic nature of Tresilian's illustrations at times can look scary. As for other illustrators, I do not much about. Even their names do not ring a bell. Maybe, we ought to consult Heather's Blyton Pages for more information on them...
Stephen I.

[Aussie Sue]

The Dorothy Wheeler illustrations for the Faraway Tree series are my favourites. They really made Enid's characters come alive for me. I must say I am not very fond of most of the more recent Faraway Tree illustrations, they just don't have that magical, whimsical feelings that I see in the Dorothy Wheeler illustrations.

Besides Dorothy Wheeler, of course Eileen Soper is another favourite.

cheers
Sue

[Lucky Star]

Stuart Tresillian remains, for me, the greatest of all Blyton's illustrators. His pictures truly speak a thousand words. I simply cant imagine reading an Adventure book without the illustrations. Other than that Eileen Soper, as others have said, is the definitive Famous Five illustrator. Her pictures are The Five. I am familiar with many of the Betty Maxey illustrations but to my mind they do not even come close to Soper's work.

I think nostalgia plays a part in the answering of this question. Most people will gravitate naturally towards the illustrations and cover art that they had themselves as children.

[Lenoir]

Eileen Soper for Famous Five. Her illustrations in the Famous Five books are what I remember best so I always associate her with the Famous Five.

My first Find Outers book was the Armada Strange Bundle and I like the illustrations done by Dylan Roberts, but overall I think Treyer Evans is the ‘definitive’ one.

Stanley Lloyd for Malory Towers and Stuart Tresilian for the Adventure series.

In Five Go To Billycock Hill, Betty Maxey's illustration of Mrs. Janes is very impressive as well as that of airman, Jeff. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to look at Eileen Soper's illustrations in recent years of these two books.

You can look in the Cave (Famous Five section) to see all the illustrations.

[Francis]

Enid Blyton's understood how important pictures were to the readers
of her books and her care in choosing them makes many of the original
illustrators favourites with those who read them.
I have, however, been very impressed with a number of the illustrations on the covers of the
paperback books - particularly the famous five series but unfortunately the illustrators do not appear to be credited. If anybody knows, I would be glad to know.
I have to admit that I especialy love the Stuart Tresilian illustrations - they are superb and would love to see
again those brought to the last Enid Blyton day.

Francis

[aminmec]

A very interesting topic here and Id like to share my views .

I think nostalgia plays a part in the answering of this question. Most people will gravitate naturally towards the illustrations and cover art that they had themselves as children

I think this is most correct.
Famous five and secret seven come to mind foremost , being the most popular of Blytons series .
In my opinion both Eileen Soper n Maxey are great in their own way .

Eileen Soper was not only the first to draw the five but worked on many other Blyton books .She had an advantage that way . The drawings of the characters with dotted eyes and pointy noses and vintage settings are quaint and beautiful in their own way .Her dark shades added a mysterious effect to the surroundings .
In the vintage F5 books the sentence out of the story describing the drawing was quite effective in helping the reader relate the story with the drawing.

Betty Maxeys contribution can’t be ruled out as any less significant in any way .Besides giving a comparatively modern look to Julian , Dick ,George , Anne and Timmy ,she gave all of them distinct characteristic looks which help to pick them out easily .
Most importantly her detail to character looks and poses is amazing .Sweater cuffs , shoe laces , buttons ,pant pleats are all so well drawn and have not been overlooked .

Something that never ceases to amaze me is the natural poses that the characters are shown in which almost looks realistic . I mean for instance if one were to stand rigid with hands in pockets wouldn’t their tummy jut out a little .if one was upside down by the head his pants wouldn’t his pants be falling down from the edges too .All these are very nicely shown.

One can’t forget that The Famous five tales are set in very carefree , idle and laid back surroundings and the drawings reflect that feel .The Five sitting down for a picnic or going for a walk in natural poses look so realistic .Expressions like surprise ,indignation , arrogance are very effectively shown.Even somebody peeking over another’s shoulder is drawn just as they ought to look .
Many of her drawings cover the width of the page and it gives a complete and encompassing feel that goes well with the laid back atmosphere of the F5 books.

Its quite pleasant to note that her Famous Five drawings have highlighted more than four different editions of the F5 series including the paperback edition for which the covers she herself painted .


I think Bettey Maxey and Eileen both are good in their own way for the Famous Five .

For the Secret 7 I think Dereck Lucas is superior as his work is quite neat and sophisticated and he has given different looks to each of the 7 which is not so easy with just sketches .

I have, however, been very impressed with a number of the illustrations on the covers of the
paperback books - particularly the famous five series but unfortunately the illustrators do not appear to be credited. If anybody knows, I would be glad to know

I feel the same .Do others feel the same too?
Famous Five has had very good cover art right from the start and especially in the 80s and 90s .Noteworthy are the one with red digit 5 and after that the ones where Julian , Dick ,George and Anne are shown very stylish with typical 90s looks crew cut , boots ,spiked hair ,long skirts.Very interesting indeed .

Rene Cloke for the Faraway tree and the numerous other books.

Stuart Tressilans dark ,mysterious drawings go well for the adventure series

[Francis]

Aminmec wrote

Famous Five has had very good cover art right from the start and especially in the 80s and 90s .Noteworthy are the one with red digit 5 and after that the ones where Julian , Dick ,George and Anne are shown very stylish with typical 90s looks crew cut , boots ,spiked hair ,long skirts.Very interesting indeed .

I agree especially the red digit 5 editions - "5 on Kirrin Island Again" cover makes an
excellent Desktop Background.
Gerry

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Here's an interesting article about Robert Tyndall

http://www.colinclews.co.uk/home/noddy-the-last-hurrah" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Viv

[Anita Bensoussane]

A very interesting article, Viv. It seems to be a few years old, with the statement that Gillian Baverstock "today acts as an advisor to the Enid Blyton Company" - it's now more than four years since Gillian died. There is also talk of "current" revisions to Noddy, which were actually made from the late 1980s onwards.

Is Colin Clews right in saying that "At one point newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell bought the rights to Noddy. He wanted to re-issue the books and extend their appeal to a global market. But to do this he needed to change the image of the books.

Tyndall was approached to add and amend the Toyland characters. The golliwogs were the first to go. Decried earlier as negative racial stereotypes they risked offending Maxwell's new global audience. They were removed and replaced with monkeys and goblins. Asian characters were also drawn and added to the background."? I don't think I'd heard before about Robert Maxwell owning Noddy.

It's sad to reflect that Robert Tyndall's withdrawal from involvement with Noddy "marked not only the loss of an artist but also the last contact with anyone who understood the history and development of Noddy", though even in Blyton's day there was some merchandise featuring Noddies which didn't really look like Noddies.

How strange that, although Robert Tyndall wasn't happy with his set designs for the 1950s Noddy pantomime being built so out of scale (the huge table and chair in Big Ears' house, for example), no one except him - including Enid Blyton herself - was at all concerned! At least he got to meet Enid Blyton, albeit briefly.

According to a Daily Mail article in 1962, Robert Tyndall was being paid seven guineas for each illustration at a time when book sales had reached twenty six million copies. Would that have been a fair payment? How do illustrators' wages compare these days? Do they earn more if books are best-sellers?

[MJE]

     Does anyone know of web sites that include sample illustrations from different artists who illustrated various series? I know the Cave of Books includes quite a few illustrations, but often these seem to be just by one illustrator (unless there are additional pages I haven't yet seen). I would like to see *different* illustrations for a given book, so that it may guide me in choosing which edition of that book to look for.
     Thanks.

Regards, Michael.

[georgina 37]

i started illustrating enid blyton books in 1981. i illustrated 12 books,4 de luxe editions in full colour.

georgina hargreaves

[aminmec]

Does anyone know of web sites that include sample illustrations ....

I doubt there would be much of such information available .One option is would be to pick up a copy of one book of a particular edition and check out so you will understand what illustrations the other books of the series will be having .( However if I am not wrong ,in some cases there are different artists for one series of matching set of books ).

i started illustrating enid blyton books in 1981. i illustrated 12 books,4 de luxe editions in full colour.
georgina hargreaves

Interesting to hear that you were an artist . Which books did you draw and who was the publisher and what dates were the books from ?

[Fiona1986]

     Does anyone know of web sites that include sample illustrations from different artists who illustrated various series? I know the Cave of Books includes quite a few illustrations, but often these seem to be just by one illustrator (unless there are additional pages I haven't yet seen). I would like to see *different* illustrations for a given book, so that it may guide me in choosing which edition of that book to look for.
     Thanks.

Regards, Michael.

You can find Blyton illustrators here
along with some samples of their work.

It's already taken Tony a long time and a lot of work to add first edition images from the major series, it would take ten times as long to add illustrations by every different artist from the same books.

[Tony Summerfield]

It's already taken Tony a long time and a lot of work to add first edition images from the major series, it would take ten times as long to add illustrations by every different artist from the same books.

You are soooooo right, Fiona! Even one Famous Five book takes several hours to do! There is also the problem that most reprint illustrators are in the paperback editions and these are almost impossible to scan without wrecking the book. Scanning several thousand illustrations hasn't done any favours to some of my hardback editions.