Welcome to my blog, featuring various pieces from my collection of Oz books, artwork and memorabilia!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Erma, Queen of Light


This drawing from Tik-Tok of Oz shows Erma, the Queen of Light introducing herself to Betsy Bobbin. It's a nice example of John R. Neill's "lovely lady" style. Admittedly, many of his princesses, queens and girls could be interchangeable - this might easily be Glinda with Dorothy - but somehow, that quality helped to link the books together for me when I read them as a kid.

The hands in Neill's drawings fascinate me - they are very simple but also very eloquent. The same is true of the feather in Erma's hat. He was a master of the pen line.

1 comment:

Stephen Rourke said...

Neill’s women all look like Gibson Girls. He was an amazing draftsman.