2014 HCA Award for Illustration – Part 4/6: François Place

Next on the short list for the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration is François Place (click on his name to go to his website). He debuted in 1993 as an author-illustrator with Les derniers géants (English trans., The Last Giants), an early 18thcentury story of an expedition in an unknown territory inhabited by fascinating giants.

He has become known for his incorporation of maps, and is best known for his epic L’atlas des géographes d’Orbae (The Orbae Geographers’ Atlas). In three volumes he created a world, Orbae. For each, he wrote a tale exposing the traditions of the place, and illustrated some of the fauna, flora and folkloric costumes.

In an interview (here), Place said he is careful about using the word artist to describe himself, “I see myself rather as a storyteller, through text and image.” Amazing artwork, none the less!

Check out his page of books on his agency’s site HERE

Part 1 – Rotraut Susanne Berner

Part 2 – John Burningham

Part 3 – Eva Lindström