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Creature: Paintings, Drawings and Reflections
From the creator of The Arrival, a collection of artwork and essays illuminating his thoughts and advice for writers and artists, young and old.
Shaun Tan is one of the world’s most highly acclaimed narrative artists—his stories and images are loved by countless young and not-so-young readers around the world.
Drawing upon 25 years as a picture book and comics creator, painter, and film-maker, Creature explores the central obsession of this visionary artist, from casual doodles to studied oil-paintings.
Beyond sketches for acclaimed works such as The Arrival, The Lost Thing, and Tales From Outer Suburbia, this volume collects together for the first time unseen and stand-alone illustrations, each resonant with unwritten tales of their own.
Detailed commentary by the artist offers an entertaining insight into the endless allure of imaginary, non-human beings and what they might tell us about our so-called “normal” human selves.
Artists, writers, students, dreamers, and anyone interested in the deeper undercurrents of creativity, myth, and visual metaphor will find inspiration in these pages.
P R A I S E
"Weird and wonderful. Tan often explores the junction between adult experience and childhood memory."
—The Sydney Morning Herald
"A strange beast: dark, whimsical and deeply moving."
—The Guardian
"Like Miyazaki, Tan engages audiences across a wide range of age and sophistication."
—The New York Times
Shaun Tan is one of the world’s most highly acclaimed narrative artists—his stories and images are loved by countless young and not-so-young readers around the world.
Drawing upon 25 years as a picture book and comics creator, painter, and film-maker, Creature explores the central obsession of this visionary artist, from casual doodles to studied oil-paintings.
Beyond sketches for acclaimed works such as The Arrival, The Lost Thing, and Tales From Outer Suburbia, this volume collects together for the first time unseen and stand-alone illustrations, each resonant with unwritten tales of their own.
Detailed commentary by the artist offers an entertaining insight into the endless allure of imaginary, non-human beings and what they might tell us about our so-called “normal” human selves.
Artists, writers, students, dreamers, and anyone interested in the deeper undercurrents of creativity, myth, and visual metaphor will find inspiration in these pages.
P R A I S E
"Weird and wonderful. Tan often explores the junction between adult experience and childhood memory."
—The Sydney Morning Herald
"A strange beast: dark, whimsical and deeply moving."
—The Guardian
"Like Miyazaki, Tan engages audiences across a wide range of age and sophistication."
—The New York Times
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2022
14 people are currently reading
554 people want to read
About the author
Shaun Tan
70 books2,595 followersShaun Tan (born 1974) is the illustrator and author of award-winning children's books. After freelancing for some years from a studio at Mt. Lawley, Tan relocated to Melbourne, Victoria, in 2007. Tan was the Illustrator in Residence at the University of Melbourne's Department of Language Literacy and Arts Education for two weeks through an annual Fellowship offered by the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust. 2009 World Fantasy Award for Best Artist. In 2011, he won his first Oscar in the category Best Short Animated Film for his work The Lost Thing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
November 5, 2025
A human being is just one more strange creature in a strange world, always looking for the companionship of another. Someone to talk to, someone to listen, and someone to just sit in silence and ponder how unlikely it is that any of us should even exist in the first place.
Shaun Tan invites us to meet The Other, to cast away our fears of the unknown, of the strange and the weird, and to recognize our own impossible weirdness in their eyes.
This is only my second foray into his silent worlds of alienation and yearning, after the instant favorite The Arrival . I already knew he can draw, but I am happy to discover in this autobiographical picture book that Tan is as good with words as he is with paper, pencil, ink and paint. His essays are spot on, concise and inspirational, as poetic in their own way as his strange pictures.
How we react to Otherness is maybe the most important characteristic of a person and of a society as a whole.
Certainly the words creature and monster are often synonymous in Western culture, as any cursory online search will reveal. This dark, dangerous take on otherness lies heavy in the human mind, if several thousand years of storytelling are anything to go by.
Is this fear, this rejection of The Other in our species blood, or is it something we are taught, something we can transcend and discard as unnecessary baggage? I believe the question is fundamental to our survival on this planet. Before we destroy the very biosphere that nurture us, we must stop seeing nature as our enemy and foreign creatures (including emigrants, refugees, lost and weird people, people with different beliefs) as dangerous.
The rescued creature remains resolutely a “lost thing”, but all the better for it, because a world obsessed with prescriptive notions of belonging is not such a great place to be.
If there is a common theme to be found across the artist’s selection here, it is this meeting with something outside of our own narrow field of perception and recognizing something familiar in their mute and staring eyes. The encounter always takes place in ordinary and/or empty landscapes and it is always silent. Any answer about the nature and purpose of the Other must come from inside and not from any religious, political or even scientific prescription.
Are we fearful or curious? defensive or sympathetic? Do we tighten the armor of our carefully crafted identity or see an opportunity to loosen its seams, even welcome the other as a friend, an equal, a companion and teacher?
Tan doesn’t spell out the Question or the Answer. Instead, he tells stories, invents new mythologies, throws a guiding light through a dark passage.
Any strange creature, wandering in and out of a myth, has the potential to resonate beyond the clarion call for moral humility, to something even more profound: conceptual humility, to realize that what you know is only what you know, a bunch of human presumptions, and probably not much to boast about in the scheme of things.
The most enlightening encounter may well be one you haven’t yet had, a thing that might call your most dependable notions into question, scuttle safe definitions, and stretch your mind just that little bit further.
Where do all the animated home appliances, these automatons sporting tails and wings, these lost birds and bug eyed aliens come from?
According to the author, it all started very early, with a kindergarten paper titled Three Dinosaurs. He also mentions the seminal influences of scary movies in childhood, in particular The Beast from 20000 Fathoms from [1953] and of a picture book by an Australian artist illustrating an Aboriginal creation myth: The Rainbow Serpent [1975] by Dick Roughsey. I plan to check out both, based on Shaun Tan’s recommendation and on my own interest in the subjects.
Roughsey in particular is credited with the inspiration for the kind of background landscapes we can see in Shaun Tan’s drawings:
The landscapes are equally disquieting, distinctively Australian: plains with low horizons studded with elemental trees and people, stretching to infinite possibility while at the same time flattened to a nearly shadowless frieze, a distant memory, like fossils pressed in time.
There’s more, but I think Mr. Tan explains his thoughts and his artistic approach much better than me. I picked up the album mainly because I love ‘The Arrival’ so much and because it was easier to get my hands on it than some of Shaun Tan’s other titles. The quality of his writing was a pleasant surprise, but most of all I wanted to look at his drawings, to imagine the stories behind each one, to take a closer look at the small details that remind me of critters and bugs I meet every day in my ordinary journey through life, to share in this celebration of otherness and to enjoy the carnival ride of freaks.
Every time a bird flies overhead, I wonder about the maps and memories, the necessary imagination that guides this magical, commonplace trajectory and somehow keeps things moving along. About how different we all are and, within that diverse family of unlikely creatures, how much the same.
Above all else, it’s fun, a word that should be used far more often when talking about art and literature.
Up close, you could feel the complex unity of an animal with its environment, a physical poetry.
The last section of the picture book offers individual details and background information about each drawing and picture selected for the album. I skimmed over these, knowing that I will come back to them in the future and take my time, like in a museum gallery, giving each the attention it deserves. I ignored these ‘spoiler’ labels also because one of the best things about Shaun Tan’s approach is that he lets his pictures breathe and take flight instead of limiting their message to a single explanation:
A also try hard not to put my thoughts into a creature’s mind. So I withhold words, which is one reason my characters often lack a mouth and titles are restrained. A well-drawn creature will find its own voice and story all the same, in looks and gestures, strange interactions with its fellow beings and provisional surroundings, all propped up in a playful world of pencil, ink, and paint, and it will speak different things to different people.
The best metaphors are always left open, unwritten, yet still feel true, regardless of who you are or what you know.
The other reason I will continue to search for and to read the picture books of Shaun Tan is his basic honesty as an artist, his respect for his chosen form of expression and for the intelligence of the reader. He describes his own journey as a process, with bumps and detours along the way, moments of doubt and of soul searching that I think only increase the impact of the final product.
... the central dilemma of any art making, of trying to represent something truthful about real, everyday experience in the world, trying to be honest while making things up, an exercise that naturally breeds doubt.
Often my solution to that self-conscious dilemma has involved casting back to a time before self-consciousness: my thoughts and feelings as a child.
Shaun Tan invites us to meet The Other, to cast away our fears of the unknown, of the strange and the weird, and to recognize our own impossible weirdness in their eyes.
This is only my second foray into his silent worlds of alienation and yearning, after the instant favorite The Arrival . I already knew he can draw, but I am happy to discover in this autobiographical picture book that Tan is as good with words as he is with paper, pencil, ink and paint. His essays are spot on, concise and inspirational, as poetic in their own way as his strange pictures.
How we react to Otherness is maybe the most important characteristic of a person and of a society as a whole.
Certainly the words creature and monster are often synonymous in Western culture, as any cursory online search will reveal. This dark, dangerous take on otherness lies heavy in the human mind, if several thousand years of storytelling are anything to go by.
Is this fear, this rejection of The Other in our species blood, or is it something we are taught, something we can transcend and discard as unnecessary baggage? I believe the question is fundamental to our survival on this planet. Before we destroy the very biosphere that nurture us, we must stop seeing nature as our enemy and foreign creatures (including emigrants, refugees, lost and weird people, people with different beliefs) as dangerous.
The rescued creature remains resolutely a “lost thing”, but all the better for it, because a world obsessed with prescriptive notions of belonging is not such a great place to be.
If there is a common theme to be found across the artist’s selection here, it is this meeting with something outside of our own narrow field of perception and recognizing something familiar in their mute and staring eyes. The encounter always takes place in ordinary and/or empty landscapes and it is always silent. Any answer about the nature and purpose of the Other must come from inside and not from any religious, political or even scientific prescription.
Are we fearful or curious? defensive or sympathetic? Do we tighten the armor of our carefully crafted identity or see an opportunity to loosen its seams, even welcome the other as a friend, an equal, a companion and teacher?
Tan doesn’t spell out the Question or the Answer. Instead, he tells stories, invents new mythologies, throws a guiding light through a dark passage.
Any strange creature, wandering in and out of a myth, has the potential to resonate beyond the clarion call for moral humility, to something even more profound: conceptual humility, to realize that what you know is only what you know, a bunch of human presumptions, and probably not much to boast about in the scheme of things.
The most enlightening encounter may well be one you haven’t yet had, a thing that might call your most dependable notions into question, scuttle safe definitions, and stretch your mind just that little bit further.
Where do all the animated home appliances, these automatons sporting tails and wings, these lost birds and bug eyed aliens come from?
According to the author, it all started very early, with a kindergarten paper titled Three Dinosaurs. He also mentions the seminal influences of scary movies in childhood, in particular The Beast from 20000 Fathoms from [1953] and of a picture book by an Australian artist illustrating an Aboriginal creation myth: The Rainbow Serpent [1975] by Dick Roughsey. I plan to check out both, based on Shaun Tan’s recommendation and on my own interest in the subjects.
Roughsey in particular is credited with the inspiration for the kind of background landscapes we can see in Shaun Tan’s drawings:
The landscapes are equally disquieting, distinctively Australian: plains with low horizons studded with elemental trees and people, stretching to infinite possibility while at the same time flattened to a nearly shadowless frieze, a distant memory, like fossils pressed in time.
There’s more, but I think Mr. Tan explains his thoughts and his artistic approach much better than me. I picked up the album mainly because I love ‘The Arrival’ so much and because it was easier to get my hands on it than some of Shaun Tan’s other titles. The quality of his writing was a pleasant surprise, but most of all I wanted to look at his drawings, to imagine the stories behind each one, to take a closer look at the small details that remind me of critters and bugs I meet every day in my ordinary journey through life, to share in this celebration of otherness and to enjoy the carnival ride of freaks.
Every time a bird flies overhead, I wonder about the maps and memories, the necessary imagination that guides this magical, commonplace trajectory and somehow keeps things moving along. About how different we all are and, within that diverse family of unlikely creatures, how much the same.
Above all else, it’s fun, a word that should be used far more often when talking about art and literature.
Up close, you could feel the complex unity of an animal with its environment, a physical poetry.
The last section of the picture book offers individual details and background information about each drawing and picture selected for the album. I skimmed over these, knowing that I will come back to them in the future and take my time, like in a museum gallery, giving each the attention it deserves. I ignored these ‘spoiler’ labels also because one of the best things about Shaun Tan’s approach is that he lets his pictures breathe and take flight instead of limiting their message to a single explanation:
A also try hard not to put my thoughts into a creature’s mind. So I withhold words, which is one reason my characters often lack a mouth and titles are restrained. A well-drawn creature will find its own voice and story all the same, in looks and gestures, strange interactions with its fellow beings and provisional surroundings, all propped up in a playful world of pencil, ink, and paint, and it will speak different things to different people.
The best metaphors are always left open, unwritten, yet still feel true, regardless of who you are or what you know.
The other reason I will continue to search for and to read the picture books of Shaun Tan is his basic honesty as an artist, his respect for his chosen form of expression and for the intelligence of the reader. He describes his own journey as a process, with bumps and detours along the way, moments of doubt and of soul searching that I think only increase the impact of the final product.
... the central dilemma of any art making, of trying to represent something truthful about real, everyday experience in the world, trying to be honest while making things up, an exercise that naturally breeds doubt.
Often my solution to that self-conscious dilemma has involved casting back to a time before self-consciousness: my thoughts and feelings as a child.
July 12, 2024
Shaun Tan is in a class by himself. He has managed to capture the imagination of youth and infuse it with a surprising level of tenderness. His creatures make us feel comforted. Only this artist could present an old couple who live in a skull as something sweet and pastoral.
My favorite section of the book was the companions series, which is where his compositions reach the height of soulful connection.
Myths and Metaphors also greatly intrigued me. There seemed to be a lot of experimentation with story fragments.
I went through this twice, because you can never see enough on the first pass. It is clear that Tan has messages and reflections for the viewer to consider. He never puts one creature above all the others. The human skull is no more important or majestic than the skull of any other being.
The artist seems to have a lifelong love for birds and dinosaurs, which makes sense, since birds are the only dinosaurs we have left. He also combines organic forms with technology, especially appliances, robotics, and machinery. Each creature has a personality, regardless of its makeup, and this is what is so remarkable about them.
My favorite section of the book was the companions series, which is where his compositions reach the height of soulful connection.
Myths and Metaphors also greatly intrigued me. There seemed to be a lot of experimentation with story fragments.
I went through this twice, because you can never see enough on the first pass. It is clear that Tan has messages and reflections for the viewer to consider. He never puts one creature above all the others. The human skull is no more important or majestic than the skull of any other being.
The artist seems to have a lifelong love for birds and dinosaurs, which makes sense, since birds are the only dinosaurs we have left. He also combines organic forms with technology, especially appliances, robotics, and machinery. Each creature has a personality, regardless of its makeup, and this is what is so remarkable about them.
December 16, 2022
“I've seen things you people wouldn't believe”. – Roy Batty, “Blade Runner”, 1982.
Shaun Tan looks at everyday objects, or animals, and sees things that we don't. Then he draws them.
This lavishly illustrated book is an overview of Tan's working life, recreating images from a number of different works and discussing how they came about.
Not all artists can talk about their work intelligently and cogently. In the commentary that accompanies these images, Tan opens up about his inspiration, process, and methods. He really does make you see these creations in a new light.
Tan has a few standard methods for inspiration: He looks at everyday objects and imagines if they had agency and purpose, often combining two or more objects in a single creature. Some of the objects already appear alive to him (such as an outdoor water faucet, which looks like an animal's head, because of course it does – you see it now).
Many of these repurposed objects have metallic armor and McGyver'ed bolts holding them together, as if a higher power (well, the artist) assembled them. Tan comes from Western Australia, and someone from the land of the platypus might naturally be drawn to creatures that look like they were assembled from disparate parts.
Tan's other creatures are more organic, with sinuous curves and often tentacles. Sometimes both these types are mashed together, in a form of cyborg.
Reading through the commentary allows the reader to build a knowledge of Tan's working methods, which are satisfyingly mysterious even to him. He continually sketches, and seems to let his brain drift (even citing the Surrealist method of drawing without looking at the paper). He seems to surprise himself a lot with the results.
If any artist could be said to have a Muse, it might be him. He is aware of his own interests that lead him to these things (his section on birds is indicative of this), but this is often just a springboard to greater strangeness and allusion.
Tan invites us to imagine the world differently, often in a way that the strangest looking creations offer great comfort to humans. We could all use a little more comfort from our creations.
No fan of Shaun Tan's work should miss this book.
Shaun Tan looks at everyday objects, or animals, and sees things that we don't. Then he draws them.
This lavishly illustrated book is an overview of Tan's working life, recreating images from a number of different works and discussing how they came about.
Not all artists can talk about their work intelligently and cogently. In the commentary that accompanies these images, Tan opens up about his inspiration, process, and methods. He really does make you see these creations in a new light.
Tan has a few standard methods for inspiration: He looks at everyday objects and imagines if they had agency and purpose, often combining two or more objects in a single creature. Some of the objects already appear alive to him (such as an outdoor water faucet, which looks like an animal's head, because of course it does – you see it now).
Many of these repurposed objects have metallic armor and McGyver'ed bolts holding them together, as if a higher power (well, the artist) assembled them. Tan comes from Western Australia, and someone from the land of the platypus might naturally be drawn to creatures that look like they were assembled from disparate parts.
Tan's other creatures are more organic, with sinuous curves and often tentacles. Sometimes both these types are mashed together, in a form of cyborg.
Reading through the commentary allows the reader to build a knowledge of Tan's working methods, which are satisfyingly mysterious even to him. He continually sketches, and seems to let his brain drift (even citing the Surrealist method of drawing without looking at the paper). He seems to surprise himself a lot with the results.
If any artist could be said to have a Muse, it might be him. He is aware of his own interests that lead him to these things (his section on birds is indicative of this), but this is often just a springboard to greater strangeness and allusion.
Tan invites us to imagine the world differently, often in a way that the strangest looking creations offer great comfort to humans. We could all use a little more comfort from our creations.
No fan of Shaun Tan's work should miss this book.
November 3, 2023
stunning!!!
I particularly liked the artworks in the chapter“ birds”🦅
I particularly liked the artworks in the chapter“ birds”🦅
May 22, 2024
A 1977 drawing "Three Dinosaurs" starts this book. Shaun was only 3 years old! It looks like a Papa, Mama, and an embryo baby (inside mama, with a tail!). Shaun loves drawing creatures. He says:
Given a lump of clay I will automatically render four legs or more, a tail, and proceed from there, as if my hands are thinking by themselves.
If you put 100 random drawings on a wall, and only 1 was by Shaun Tan, I feel pretty sure I could pick it out. He has a unique style that really stands out when you look at a book like this that is picture after picture after picture.
Be sure to realize there are "Artwork Notes" in the back of the book with a paragraph written about each one of these drawings. It is VERY beneficial to flip back and forth between these paragraphs and the pictures.
This is SUCH an easy 5* to give.
Given a lump of clay I will automatically render four legs or more, a tail, and proceed from there, as if my hands are thinking by themselves.
If you put 100 random drawings on a wall, and only 1 was by Shaun Tan, I feel pretty sure I could pick it out. He has a unique style that really stands out when you look at a book like this that is picture after picture after picture.
Be sure to realize there are "Artwork Notes" in the back of the book with a paragraph written about each one of these drawings. It is VERY beneficial to flip back and forth between these paragraphs and the pictures.
This is SUCH an easy 5* to give.
March 11, 2025
Matita di grafite, olio, pastelli, acrilici.
Questa è un’antologia delle creature di Shaun Tan.
Sono esseri indefinibili, stranamente architettati, eppure in qualche modo familiari.
Sono creature bellissime, anche impossibili, ma a ciascuna è attribuibile un significato e un’interpretazione in accordo alla propria sensibilità.
Al proprio immaginario privato.
Queste creature -per me- gioiose si muovono in mondi spesso inquietanti nel conflitto perenne tra natura e cultura/società.
Sono ammirata dal lavoro di Shaun Tan.
Questa è un’antologia delle creature di Shaun Tan.
Sono esseri indefinibili, stranamente architettati, eppure in qualche modo familiari.
Sono creature bellissime, anche impossibili, ma a ciascuna è attribuibile un significato e un’interpretazione in accordo alla propria sensibilità.
Al proprio immaginario privato.
Queste creature -per me- gioiose si muovono in mondi spesso inquietanti nel conflitto perenne tra natura e cultura/società.
Sono ammirata dal lavoro di Shaun Tan.
June 19, 2023
Another fantastic collection of Shaun Tan artwork. I especially love his imaginative pencil drawings of crazy creatures. His paintings are nice too, but I'm not a huge fan of his use of color but then again I shouldn't expect him to be Van Gogh or anything like that.
Fans of his work will enjoy this, and it could be a good introduction to his world as well. Although his book Arrival does a good job of that.
Fans of his work will enjoy this, and it could be a good introduction to his world as well. Although his book Arrival does a good job of that.
April 20, 2023
Seeing Tan's incredible artwork featuring a variety of characters who are often a mixture of fantasy creature and machine is always a joy.
February 18, 2024
Nice portfolio of drawings and painting by the author/artist of The Arrival, that has to be read at least twice - once just to marvel at his beautiful and whimsical creations, and then a second time in conjunction with the "Artwork Notes" at the end which includes a "when/what/why" blurb for each of the pieces.
Many of the characters here appear in Tan's other stories, including not just early drawings of both Eric and Cicada (who later feature in their own eponymous books), but a "where's Waldo" cast of background characters that pop up throughout his wonderful The Lost Thing. There are also early drafts of many of the final paintings in Rules of Summer, (all of which are worthy of separate readings).
While everything here is great, I personally prefer his earlier, simple pencil or ink sketches, such as the birdlike-creature below (Tan is big on birds):
….or his "emoticons," featuring his Sendak-like monocular critter who often serves as a stand-in for Tan himself:
Highly recommend his "storybooks" (such as those mentioned above), which - so far at least - have been universally charming. But equally recommend this collection of non-story works, covering over 15 years of production. Just a delight.
Many of the characters here appear in Tan's other stories, including not just early drawings of both Eric and Cicada (who later feature in their own eponymous books), but a "where's Waldo" cast of background characters that pop up throughout his wonderful The Lost Thing. There are also early drafts of many of the final paintings in Rules of Summer, (all of which are worthy of separate readings).
While everything here is great, I personally prefer his earlier, simple pencil or ink sketches, such as the birdlike-creature below (Tan is big on birds):
….or his "emoticons," featuring his Sendak-like monocular critter who often serves as a stand-in for Tan himself:
Highly recommend his "storybooks" (such as those mentioned above), which - so far at least - have been universally charming. But equally recommend this collection of non-story works, covering over 15 years of production. Just a delight.
December 29, 2022
Shaun Tan is a wildly creative, thought provoking artist, like few I’ve ever encountered. His short stories and picture books are all worth reading, but, as a celebration of his work thus far, this collection also makes a nice intro to his work.
January 7, 2024
I always love Shaun Tan’s art, very inspiring! :)
April 9, 2023
I have been a longtime fan of Shaun Tan ever since I came across his book The Lost Thing on my cousin's bookshelf in New Zealand. He is not as well known on this side of the hemisphere, but I like to think of him as a hidden gem in the illustrator world. This collection of essays and artwork is not only beautiful but philosophical and inspiring. Reading his short pieces on different themes in his art and then the accompanying pages of the art pieces forces you to slow down and soak in his wisdom. I especially liked that; making the time to engage in a slow act is hard for me to do nowadays. It's difficult to describe how his art makes me feel, as I don't think there are more than a handful of artists I can say I even like. But the quiet, otherworldly nature of many of his creatures and fantastical settings utterly transports me to their world on the page. If you haven't heard of Tan before picking this up, you will be motivated to seek out his picture books and other collections upon finishing. Or if you're like me and you've read most of them before - you'll immediately acquire everything else.
September 15, 2024
Не тільки художній альбом автора Прибуття й Rules of Summer, присвячений створінням в його творчості, але альбом з авторськими коментарями - загальними роздумами над своєю кар'єрою, есеями й, найголовніше, історіями створення кожної картини чи скетчу. Саме ця частина робить видання цінним не тільки для любителів книжок Шона Тана (тобто мене), але й художників, письменників й творчих людей загалом, бо його роздуми про натхнення й референси, про суть мистецтва й теми робіт дійсно глибокі та мотивуючі.
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October 11, 2023Shaun Tan's art is so nice!!! Not rating since tbh I only looked at the art and didn't read through the essays.
June 20, 2025
Love this, some of the art is from other books like Tales from outer suburbia and Rules of summer. Fascinating pictures.
June 10, 2023
COME OOOOOOON. COME ON. What can I say about it other than come on...
May 4, 2025
I enjoyed Creature by Shaun Tan. The book is not just a collection of stunning artwork, it is a quiet, thoughtful journey through imagination. I particularly appreciated the author’s notes alongside; they added depth and a personal lens that made the experience even richer.
There is something magical about staring deeply into these images, letting them unfold into imagined worlds and untold stories. It brings a sense of calm and quiet joy, like slipping into a daydream.
My favourite piece is The Greatest Cat In the World, perhaps it just suits my current mood, but it stayed with me long after I closed the book.
Thank you, N, for such a wonderful gift.
There is something magical about staring deeply into these images, letting them unfold into imagined worlds and untold stories. It brings a sense of calm and quiet joy, like slipping into a daydream.
My favourite piece is The Greatest Cat In the World, perhaps it just suits my current mood, but it stayed with me long after I closed the book.
Thank you, N, for such a wonderful gift.
December 30, 2022
Absolutely stunning, fantastical--and occasionally unsettling.
February 7, 2023
The artwork is amazing as expected. The explanation of his artwork and his motivation was amazing and unexpected. This took a while to finish, mostly because I didn't want to miss a single word or brushstroke.
December 25, 2022
What a wonderful collection of my life long favorite illustrator. I love to get into his imagination and creative brain and especially loved the foot note chapter at the end, where he put notes for all his artwork. Never seen that before in this depth, so excited. Will look at this book many times in the future.
December 2, 2022
The brief essays add shading to Tan’s work while also letting it speak for itself.
August 25, 2022
I received this arc at ALA.
Fascinating pictures. Would also be great for writing prompts for older students.
Fascinating pictures. Would also be great for writing prompts for older students.
February 8, 2023
5yo saw this on the shelf at the bookstore and immediately became obsessed. He’s captivated by the weird creatures.
December 30, 2024
"The central question that intrigues me when drawing a creature alongside a human companion is simply this: what happens when these strangers meet? As in real life, I think that's a good trial of personal character, how we react when we are faced with a genuinely unexpected encounter, a situation so conceptually challenging that we must fall back on less cultured or cognitive instincts, on our basic emotional nature. Are we fearful or curious? Defensive or sympathetic? Do we tighten the armor of our carefully crafted identity or see an opportunity to loosen its seams, even welcome the other as a friend, an equal, a companion and teacher?"
This is a dazzling and charming collection of art by Shaun Tan, an Australian artist celebrated in his home country but still awaiting broader recognition in the United States. This is a shame because I think his art would delight just about anyone that comes across it. Some of my favorites from this collection were Empire, Family Portrait, Nature, 1854, Never Eat The Last Olive at a Party, and I Know.
His paintings for me highlighted the love that we can have for non human animals + objects and act as a rebuttal to the idea that creatures are something we should always be afraid of. Alongside being a great painter, I was surprised by Tan's writing ability as well:
"My early pretensions towards being a 'serious' painter, which I understood as something to do with a kind of deep looking at my local environment, began with large paintings of Australian ravens in my early twenties. These ubiquitous charcoal-black birds haunted the landscape surrounding my suburban home, congregating around electrical wires, fighting noisily in supermarket carparks, and strutting casually along concrete footpaths that human pedestrians, overcome by the vastness of suburban sprawl, rarely used. I liked the way they seemed to emerge from deep afternoon shadows as if made of the same dark substance, their long, plaintive cries a eulogy describing tragic events that we, the non-Indigenous interlopers, may have conveniently forgotten. Or worse, can't see coming."
Check this out if you can. I had an absolute blast peering into Tan's imaginary worlds and hope to one day see his work in person.
December 20, 2022
[Thank you Levine Querido for this gorgeous, gorgeous gifted copy]
I remember first reading Shaun Tan’s THE ARRIVAL as a child, and it was with this story about a man seeking a better life for his family in an unknown country that I first began making connections with my parents’ own migrant experiences. Tan’s artwork is whimsical, beautifully so. The strangeness of this unknown land’s creatures and people and language created an atmospheric, gritty foreignness that I imagined my own parents felt when they first landed in the Americas.
In CREATURE: PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, AND REFLECTIONS, we trace the journey and origins of Tan’s narrative artwork. His art seems pulled from the depths of some imagination—strange but comfortingly familiar. On this tension of strangeness and comfort within his imaginary creatures, Tan says: “…it’s as if I need to throw the artistic pebble far across a pond of weirdness in order to see some meaning in the ripples, moving as they do back towards the shoreline of normalcy. Within that distant echo lies something intimate and familiar. Something that makes sense. Something human.”
I loved slowly savoring all of Tan’s work in this book, just as much as I loved reading his reflections on monsters, the nonhuman, and his connection with nature. If you loved any of Tan’s books, or simply want to delve into an artist’s mind, I would highly recommend CREATURE.
I remember first reading Shaun Tan’s THE ARRIVAL as a child, and it was with this story about a man seeking a better life for his family in an unknown country that I first began making connections with my parents’ own migrant experiences. Tan’s artwork is whimsical, beautifully so. The strangeness of this unknown land’s creatures and people and language created an atmospheric, gritty foreignness that I imagined my own parents felt when they first landed in the Americas.
In CREATURE: PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, AND REFLECTIONS, we trace the journey and origins of Tan’s narrative artwork. His art seems pulled from the depths of some imagination—strange but comfortingly familiar. On this tension of strangeness and comfort within his imaginary creatures, Tan says: “…it’s as if I need to throw the artistic pebble far across a pond of weirdness in order to see some meaning in the ripples, moving as they do back towards the shoreline of normalcy. Within that distant echo lies something intimate and familiar. Something that makes sense. Something human.”
I loved slowly savoring all of Tan’s work in this book, just as much as I loved reading his reflections on monsters, the nonhuman, and his connection with nature. If you loved any of Tan’s books, or simply want to delve into an artist’s mind, I would highly recommend CREATURE.
August 26, 2023
From Shaun Tan, his latest, another collection of stand-alone art. While I am somewhat partial to his graphic novels or graphic stories-- because he is almost as good a story teller as he is an artist--this is a great collection of stand alones. Fans of ST will recognize many of these images from his prior works. Perhaps next time, after an inevitable reread of this book, I'll try to find some of my favorite images, or take some photos if necessary. In the meantime, the long meantime, here are some sample images from this book, from ST's website, which can be found here>>
(https://www.shauntan.net/new-page-2)
(https://www.shauntan.net/new-page-2)
July 18, 2023
I picked this up from the library after reading Simon Stålenhag's books, drawn by the quite amazing talent that exits for the unusual in art.
Shaun Tan is an Australian artist, writer and film maker. He's published several books containing his surreal art. Creature is a large format 224-page hardcover that features creatures that have appeared in his earlier published books, as well as sketches and paintings from his personal collection.
The book has four section - Lost Things, Companions, Myth and Metaphor, Birds - with each section prefaced with a few hundred words about his journey and inspiration as an artist, each essay linked to the theme of the section.
There is plenty of weird in the images, lots of quirky little creatures that might have started as a toaster or a light bulb, but morphed into something bizarre or dreamlike. And there are images of great beauty such as Jacaranda or The Greatest Cat in the World.
It's a book to take your time with, come back to again and again.
Delightful.
Four stars.
Shaun Tan is an Australian artist, writer and film maker. He's published several books containing his surreal art. Creature is a large format 224-page hardcover that features creatures that have appeared in his earlier published books, as well as sketches and paintings from his personal collection.
The book has four section - Lost Things, Companions, Myth and Metaphor, Birds - with each section prefaced with a few hundred words about his journey and inspiration as an artist, each essay linked to the theme of the section.
There is plenty of weird in the images, lots of quirky little creatures that might have started as a toaster or a light bulb, but morphed into something bizarre or dreamlike. And there are images of great beauty such as Jacaranda or The Greatest Cat in the World.
It's a book to take your time with, come back to again and again.
Delightful.
Four stars.
November 9, 2022
WOW!!!
We all know I'm a big fan of Shaun Tan's work (or maybe 'we' don't know...but we do now, right, because I just said so). It's like the mutant baby of Picasso and Dr. Seuss mixed with a bit of Tim Burton's "strange and unusual" vibe. His whole artistic catalog brings to mind the movie "Mirror Mask"", which is both absolutely gorgeous and weirdly unsettling. You simultaneously want keep admiring it (because hello gorgeous!) and want to look away (because it kind of makes you uncomfortable). Yeah, it's like that. And therein lies the paradox. Which is why I love it.
And this lovely (mostly) picture book is no exception. I spent a pleasant afternoon browsing through Tan's collection of weird and whimsical sketches and illustrations, trying to wrap my brain around it as if I was playing some fever dream version of Where's Waldo.
Recommend for those who are, themselves, Strange and Unusual (*whispers* you know who you are)
We all know I'm a big fan of Shaun Tan's work (or maybe 'we' don't know...but we do now, right, because I just said so). It's like the mutant baby of Picasso and Dr. Seuss mixed with a bit of Tim Burton's "strange and unusual" vibe. His whole artistic catalog brings to mind the movie "Mirror Mask"", which is both absolutely gorgeous and weirdly unsettling. You simultaneously want keep admiring it (because hello gorgeous!) and want to look away (because it kind of makes you uncomfortable). Yeah, it's like that. And therein lies the paradox. Which is why I love it.
And this lovely (mostly) picture book is no exception. I spent a pleasant afternoon browsing through Tan's collection of weird and whimsical sketches and illustrations, trying to wrap my brain around it as if I was playing some fever dream version of Where's Waldo.
Recommend for those who are, themselves, Strange and Unusual (*whispers* you know who you are)
February 19, 2023
Haunting and uncomfortably beautiful, Shaun Tan’s work has always given me the squishies. His creatures express their deepest emotions with too many teeth and expressive eyes in open windows. He’s a master with texture. Somehow faucet heads and coffee tin bodies exist in tandem with slimy, undulating tentacles. He employs light and shadow as congruent narrators, setting scenes that are bright and bouncy as well as dark and hopeless. He’s brilliant with metaphor and allegory, while still tapping into that part of his mind that has childlike curiosity. Adults ignore so much of what’s right in front of them and take for granted what’s in their everyday life, they miss things. Tan sees everything, and his creatures are so endearing and have such an organic ability to connect that we’re able to suspend our disbelief that these creatures could actually exist out in the world. They’re unexpected little heroes and little villains, and, little friends.
February 6, 2023
This book is a retrospective look at the author/illustrator’s career, through large reprinted drawings and paintings of lots of strange creatures which have some similarities, being often made up of mechanical parts and even more often with a singular large eye. They are bizarre creations, “Creatures,” but often exude character and become sympathetic or friendly or on occasion frightening and threatening. Their surroundings or the environments Mr. Tan chooses to place them in are often a large part of the drawings’ power. It’s quite impressive how mood or personality is conveyed by posture or physical attitude. I read a few of the chapter intros but enjoyed more the “Artwork Notes” I chose to read which are included at the end and allow the artist to explain a bit about each work’s origin or personal meaning. Do not turn to these until you have studied the pages of art first.
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