Kinuko Craft Drawings and Paintings

by Kinuko Y. Craft

As one of the most widely respected and well known fantasy artists in the world today, Kinuko Y. Craft considers herself first and foremost a storyteller. She brings a strong narrative sensibility to her illustrations, allowing the images to tell the intimate tale that lies behind the words. Known for her passionate love of fine art and a deep knowledge of art history, Kinuko’s work has graced the covers of many well known fantasy authors, opera posters, fairy tale books and national magazines. Her original works reside in both museum and private collections. KINUKO DRAWINGS & PAINTINGS collects for the first time an extraordinary selection from the artist’s thirty six year career as she portrays mythic heroes and heroines, fairy princesses, historic figures, gods and goddesses and enchanted landscapes with profound insight into the true nature of the fantastic. These are works of remarkable beauty and power, glowing with jewel-like luminosity, a testament to the artist’s exceptional skill and craftsmanship, that are sure to appeal to lovers of fantasy of all ages.

Genres: Art, Fantasy, Picture Books, Reference

76 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

* Complete list of her book covers.

Kinuko Y. Craft is one of the most widely respected and well known fantasy artists in the United States today. Her past commissions have included paintings for the book covers of many well known fantasy authors, opera posters, fairy tale books and covers for many national magazines. During her career she has become known for meticulous attention to detail, a passionate love of fine art and a deep knowledge of art history.

Kinuko Y. Craft considers her self a story teller. Her fairy tale books are currently distributed in the USA, other English language countries, Europe, Greece, China and Korea. Her art is also widely licensed on calendars, posters, greeting cards and other consumer goods. Her work has been widely exhibited and is now in private collections in New York City, Atlanta GA, Santa Barbara CA, Dallas TX, Connecticut, San Francisco CA, Italy, Japan and Greece. It can also be found in public collections at The National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian, The Cornish Colony Museum in Windsor, VT, The Museum of American Illustration in New York City, The National Geographic Society and other corporate collections.

Craft is a graduate, BFA 1962, of The Kanazawa Municipal College of Fine and Industrial Art (known in Japan as The Kanazawa Bidai). She was born in Japan and came to the United States in the early sixties where she continued studies in design and illustration at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a year and a half. Subsequently, she worked for several years in well known Chicago art studios. By the end of the decade her work was in wide demand and she had begun her long and successful career as a free-lance illustrator. For most of this time she worked in editorial and advertising markets where her work regularly appeared in national magazines and newspapers.

Since the mid 1990’s, she has concentrated on children's picture books, fantasy book jackets and poster designs.
Craft's work has been recognized repeatedly by professional art and design publications, competitions and shows, garnering numerous awards over the years.

Reviews

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I would have been thrilled if this book had been five times the length it was, it was deliciously wonderful to see even the few artworks displayed in their larger format, without the distractions of the words on most of the book covers Craft has illustrated.

I had the honor of meeting Ms. Craft in person, and purchasing this book to have it autographed by her. She also did a sketch on the title page of the book, and I was thrilled beyond words.

Picture of the sketch:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15214467...

[Honore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting to scrutinize a collection of Kinuko Craft's illustrations on high quality paper was a real treat. Her work tends to be delicate and beautiful but seeing the creepy illustration of Babba Yaga was the real showstopper for me in this book. A request for Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave went in to my local library as soon as I finished this. I would have loved this book if it was twice as long!

[Peekablue · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first exposure to Kinuko Kraft's work was the cover of Patricia McKillip's novel, The Tower At Stony Wood. I admit that I bought that book just for the cover. I've since enjoyed many of McKillip's books & have come to adore Kinuko Craft's work. I cannot get over the amount of gorgeous detail that she puts into each piece. When I found out about this book, I knew that I had to have it, so it was the first item on my Christmas list, this year. The dustjacket for the hardcover edition features the cover of McKillip's novel, Od Magic. Beneath the dustjacket, the actual cover of the book features part of "Das Rheingold." There is a foreword by Patricia McKillip and a narrative by Craft, in which she describes her life and how she came about doing this work. The art, itself, is beautiful to say the least. The colors are vivid with the exception of a few black & white drawings. There is a list, in the back of the book, that gives the title of each piece, the year it was created, its medium, & its page number. This is an amazing book. I recommend this, not only for fantasy art lovers, but for anyone that enjoys fine art. You won't be disappointed.

[Everbright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinuko Craft is one of the most wonderful fantasy artists in history. She makes the most beautiful, glorious delicate paintings! This book is not only too short by 100 pages, but a few of the images are out of focus. It is not much longer than one of her children's books. Kinuko Craft deserves a major coffee table book about her work, not this slim little thing. Her work is the absolute best, but because this book is so small and so pricey, and some of the art is out of focus, I give it 4 stars instead of 5. Since it's the only Kinuko art book available, you must get it!

[Simona · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is beautiful, though the quality of the paper & colors is quite poor, and there are too few paintings in it altogether.

[SuRoXi · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the beginning i did not want read this book,so i started to read from the end and while i was reading,this book i liked it...The final is very well written. :3

[KA · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely gorgeous Christmas present from Tim. Craft's cover illustrations are meticulously detailed, as are the illustrations of Leo and Diane Dillon, my other favorites. Like them, Craft represents only what it is the book; everything in her illustrations has meaning. But they're not slavish reproductions of the plot and characters, but imbued with their own spirit. (As Patricia McKillip says, a book's first reviewer is its cover illustrator, and Kinuko Craft is a great reviewer!) This book also includes some marquees she did for opera companies, including a staging of The Ring Cycle, and they're also enchanting. I could look at her art all day.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here, fantasy art takes a turn for the gorgeous. Historical, fairy tale, fantasy -- women and some men, and settings of radiant beauty and strangeness. (With some text about her artistic life.)