The Famous Five Illustrators Compared

[Tony Summerfield]

Another 40 Eileen Soper Famous Five illustrations are now in the Cave as I have at last finished adding the pictures for Five Get Into a Fix from the serial in Enid Blyton's Magazine.

http://enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-det ... ustrations" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Eddie Muir]

Great! Thanks, Tony.

[Rob Houghton]

Yes - thank you Tony!

[pete9012S]

Wow - thanks Rob and Tony.
Plenty to drool over now for ones who love Soper and her less gifted artistic acolytes

[Julie2owlsdene]

Nice to see the Magazine, pictures, good old Eileen Soper. No one can beat her, not even your annuals, Rob.

But on a serious note, I think it all depends on which book illustrator we grew up with, and I'm glad I was brought up with Eileen Soper.

[Eddie Muir]

But on a serious note, I think it all depends on which book illustrator we grew up with, and I'm glad I was brought up with Eileen Soper.

Spot on, Julie. I, too, am glad I was brought up with Eileen Soper. Her Famous Five illustrations are the best by miles.

[Rob Houghton]

Nice to see the Magazine, pictures, good old Eileen Soper. No one can beat her, not even your annuals, Rob.

But on a serious note, I think it all depends on which book illustrator we grew up with, and I'm glad I was brought up with Eileen Soper.

I think this is true. I'd never even seen an Eileen Soper illustration of the Five until I was about 26. I didn't read the Famous Five as a child (except the two Annuals I had) and so was only familiar with the annual depictions - which mirrored the TV series characters, as you can tell.

I do like the Eileen Soper illustrations these days and they are now the 'definitive' versions of The Famous Five for me - but the annual books are definitely my second-favourite depictions.

I also think this is why I find it difficult to picture the Famous Five as children. To me, they were always teenagers...or maybe aged about 14 - 16. The annual illustrations seem to show these ages, and so do Eileen Soper's later illustrations (which I prefer) for books like Mystery Moor and Go Down To the Sea etc. This is the age I picture the Famous Five as being.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I have three personal top favourite Famous Five illustrators.

Eileen Soper

The sadly uncredited artist for the Famous Five annuals I grew up with

And Betty Maxey (but really only her coloured cover artwork)

If I had to pick one favourite Famous Five artist which meant more to me emotionally, nostalgically, and artistically, it would be the unidentified artist of the 1970's annuals. This is because these were how I pictured the Five throughout my childhood and teenage years, until I first encountered Eileen Soper illustrations in the late 1990's.

More than one artist worked on the Famous Five Annuals of the 1970s-80s. I like most of the depictions in the annuals too, though I didn't have any of them as a child.

This article contains a few examples of Famous Five comic book illustrators work:

The Famous Five at 75: The Comic Strip Stories

http://downthetubes.net/?p=38153" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Very interesting, Pete. The Look-in covers featuring Mike Noble's coloured illustrations of the 1970s Famous Five cast are superb.

Some French editions of the Famous Five books contain coloured internal pictures. I particularly like the romantic-looking illustrations by Jeanne Hives:

http://serge-passions.fr/jeanne_hives_b ... ons.htm#Le" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Wolfgang]

It seems to me that hard-covered French books by bibliothèque rose usually contain 4 coloured illustrations in the inside. It's possible though that early editions may contain more. Sometimes early editions of the idéal biblithèque have more coloured illustrations than later editions - some former coloured illustrations have been turned into grey-scale. But that isn't always happening.

[Courtenay]

All the other illustrators, just draw children.

I'm not sure some of them even do that much.

[Rob Houghton]

More than one artist worked on the Famous Five Annuals of the 1970s-80s. I like most of the depictions in the annuals too, though I didn't have any of them as a child.

The earlier Famous Five annuals - the first four or five - all have very similar illustrations, although they may not be the same artist - probably not. I wasn't so keen on the later ones, or when they introduced colour in the last couple. Those I like best are the two I had as a child - Smuggler's Top and Mystery Moor - probably due to nostalgic reasons more than anything, I admit!

[pete9012S]

The amazing and inimitable Betty Maxey - perfect for the 1960's/1970's generation (only in my opinion).

[Anita Bensoussane]

I like most of Betty Maxey's illustrations. They're pared down but still capture the tension and emotion of the adventures.

[Rob Houghton]

The selection of Betty Maxey illustrations above are all fantastic - some of her best, as they are complete, with no unfinished outlines!

[Eddie Muir]

The Betty Maxey illustrations are interesting, but very inferior to those by Eileen Soper.