A Beautiful & Artistic Look at Little Red Riding Hood

With the movie Red Riding Hood out this week, staring one of my favorite actresses right now Amanda Seyfried, I thought it was a good time to write about a beautifully illustrated version of the tale I discovered. Vivien has been asking about the story of Little Red Riding Hood lately and honestly I couldn’t remember the full story so I thought it would be nice to get her the book for her birthday coming up.

The version I was attracted to right away is the Little Red Riding Hood, by The Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus. I was so moved by the beautifully romantic, richly statruated illustrations and the amazing use of typography to tell the classic tale that I wanted to find out more about Daniel Egnéus.

Daniel, born in 1972 in Sweden, has spent 20 years in Prague, London, Berlin, Bologna and Rome, and has now made Milano his base. He is the inventor of the style “Quotidiano-Straordinario.” Daniel is represented by Traffic Creative Managment in New York City, as well as agencies and galleries in Paris, London, Berlin, and Sao Paulo. He has never been formally trained.

And that was about all I could find about him except for his impressive client list. So having more questions I emailed him with a few questions.

Here is Daniel’s email response:

Can you describe what Quotidiano-Straordinario style is?

Daniel: “Quotidiano-Straordinario means more or less like “the everyday wonder,” and it’s just a word some journalist said once and I sort of liked it. The concept describes the beauty and strangeness in the everyday life, like for example when you leave your apartment you never know what happens inside it, there could be fishes swimming around in the air or the chairs could talk.”

Are your illustrations a combination of pen and ink and watercolor in Little Red Riding Hood? Is your style always to use pen and ink?

Daniel: “Generally my drawings are pen, ink, watercolor, acrylics and pencil, a method which I have used all through The Red Riding Hood.”

Is Little Red Riding Hood the first fully illustrated children’s book you have done? If so, are you planning on another one?

Daniel: “Years back I illustrated a book by Aleksander Puskjin with the title Tsar Saltan. I would of course be happy if someone asked me to do another book, I would love to illustrate Edgar Alan Poe.”

What drew you to / inspired you to illustrate the story of Little Red Riding Hood?

Daniel:  “Harper Collins contacted me more or less a year ago and proposed the project, which I enjoyed from the first minute.”

Do you sell copies of your illustrations? If so, how or where can people buy them?

Daniel:  “I usually sell signed giclee-prints and the easiest way is to contact my agent.”

Here is the making of Little Red Riding Hood, which can give you a better idea of how Daniel works:

Below you can see a short film animation in another of Daniel’s styles:

And here are a  few other links I found about Daniel and his work:

http://www.danielegneus.blogspot.com/

Article from the LA Times March 9, 20011:

Artist Daniel Egnéus gives Little Red Riding Hood a stylish makeover

If you know a little girl who loves dress up and wants a red velvet cape like Little Red Riding Hood I bought Vivien this one by Little Adventures. It’s lined on the inside and looks like it’s made very well. Can’t wait to see her in it.

Update March 12, 2011: Typography for Little Red Riding Hood is by Iris Shih.

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