Bodkin, O. and Spirin, G. (1998). The crane wife. San Diego: Harcourt Brace.
Staying true to the orginal Japanese telling, this version of the story employs very Japanese-inspired illustrations, which look like screen prints and painting of old from ancient Japan.
The scenes an figures are painted in a flattened, 2D style. The background landscapes of mountains employ little shading or depth, and so suggest perspective while still looking quite flat. It reminds me slightly of cartoonish-style that is used in many animations.
The colours used are rich tones of golds, ochres and rust. They look more autumnal than I would choose for my own piece. Other than the living subjects, the rest of the painting is loosely formed without heavy line work. Shapes blend easily in to one another and suggest their structure more than actually define it. The buildings and man-made structures contrast greatly with the surrounding nature by having definite straight edges and geometric shapes.
In this telling of the story, the man is called Osamu. He is a sail maker rather than a wood cutter.
Staying true to the orginal Japanese telling, this version of the story employs very Japanese-inspired illustrations, which look like screen prints and painting of old from ancient Japan.
The scenes an figures are painted in a flattened, 2D style. The background landscapes of mountains employ little shading or depth, and so suggest perspective while still looking quite flat. It reminds me slightly of cartoonish-style that is used in many animations.
The colours used are rich tones of golds, ochres and rust. They look more autumnal than I would choose for my own piece. Other than the living subjects, the rest of the painting is loosely formed without heavy line work. Shapes blend easily in to one another and suggest their structure more than actually define it. The buildings and man-made structures contrast greatly with the surrounding nature by having definite straight edges and geometric shapes.
In this telling of the story, the man is called Osamu. He is a sail maker rather than a wood cutter.
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'Red leaves fell on the dark wood of his porch.' 'There lay a great crane, stunned and still.' 'Soon its black, shining eyes opened.' Because it is set in japan, the species of the crane in this book is different from the one I would be basing my crane on. It has black rather than golden eyes, and it all white like a swan, with no black or red.
'A beautiful young woman gazed up at him, her black eyes shining.' 'Osamu asked her many questions, but all the young woman would tell him was that her name was Yukiko.' 'You must promise never to look at me as I work, she said.' 'It takes all that I am to weave such sails.' 'These sails, they take so much from me, she pleaded. It is my very self they take.'
'Unable to contain himself, Osamu ran around the screen. A long beak swung toward him. Sad black eyes gleamed at him. There stood the crane he had saved in the storm!' 'The bird was weaving its white feathers into the sail on the loom.'
'The only answer his crane wife could give was a soft, strange sound, like a cat purring in bamboo reeds. Then Yukiko spread her wings, lifting herself through the window and into the sky.'
'Never again did Osamu see her.'
