• CHILDREN'S LITERATURE,  Picbook Review

    Khairul Azmir’s Phantasmagorical Illustrations in Tulip-The Dog that Ate Nightmares

    I recently read Tulip-The Dog that Ate Nightmares and the first thing I did was look at the illustrations by Khairul Azmir Shoib.

    I met Khairul Azmir four years ago while doing a group picture-book exhibition at Petronas Gallery and followed his art progress since then. His phantasmagorical art style quickly got my attention as it is both sinister and childlike, with characters and surreal scenes that inspired by Tim Burton and Edward Gorey’s works.

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    Tulip-The Dog that Ate Nightmares is written by Quek Sue Yian in a narrative form of a girl who tells about her dog named Tulip. The girl describes how Tulip eats all day long; from the time she wakes up to the time when she reaches home from school and doing her homework. Even though Tulip looks like a balloon, she will still be eating and the best thing is, Tulip helps her deal with bad nightmares by gobbling it up.

    In this book, Khairul Azmir brings Quek Sue’s texts to life in gorgeous pen, watercolour and collage illustrations, transforming the 18-page story into a breathtaking art picture book. His clever play of characters and surreal scene compositions does not only harmonise with the story, but it also enriches it with uncommon dimension; a world on its own.

    Khairul Azmir took about a year to complete all illustrations because he paid attention to the little details as well as the effectiveness of every element in his illustrations.

    A Lecturer of Arts at PJCAD , Petaling Jaya, Khairul Azmir obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts, Hons., UiTM, Shah Alam in 2000 and to date, he has illustrated three picture books; We Saved the Moon (2010), Kailash (2011) and Tulip-The Dog that Ate Nightmares (2014). Other than Burton and Gorey, this award-winning artist/illustrator also finds inspiration in his favourite artists namely Anselm Kiefer. Dave Mckean, Audrey Neffinegger and Jimmy Liao (Taiwan).

    More info about him here and if you like to follow him on FaceBook, you can do so here.

    Published by Oyez!Books, Tulip-The Dog Who Ate Nightmares can be bought (RM40) at Scallywags Bookshop, Lobby, Bangsar Puteri and Silverfish Bookstore.

    Description of books:
    Title: Tulip-The Dog Who Ate Nightmares
    ISBN: 978-967-0481-16-6
    Cover: Hardcover
    Category: Art Picture Book
    Suitable age: 10 and above

    Pictures credit: Oyez!Books