Castle and Cathedral By DAVID MACAULAY
Hey. This is a live blog(that is why I’m talking in present tense) I am listening to David Macaulay talk about his sort-of new book Castle (now in color).
David used to draw all of his books in black and white, pen and ink. Someone called him though while he was eating “peanut M&Ms”(even artists eat ‘em!) and asked him if they could use a computer to incorporate color in his book, but he said no. He said he would rather redraw everything with color.
Castle. This book is about building his castle. It’s really interesting David goes through almost every step in making the castle. You can really see what is going on without looking at the text. There are different seasons that the castle is being built(it takes a long time, as I’ve learned) , Summer/Spring, and winter. David shows different parts being finished, while others may not even have been started. He shows how different things in a medieval town would work, drawbridges, fireplaces, spiral staircases, chapel, chambers (eww… and how they work), cemetry… ect. He has many bird-eye-views, I like that, It gives a lot information. I really like seeing how things work, that is one of the reasons why I like Scott Westerfeld(see Leviathan review) and Studio Ghibli(I don’t have any review for that, but eventually I will. Google it.). Different wepons how and why they would work(awesome). Many diagrams. I like how he really takes a lot of time drawing every brick, every ceiling shaft. He showed us the difference between the old and the new, I like the new’s perspective. It’s funny, he gave people playing chess, while the castle in under siege. The history in how “The English are coming, The English are coming!”.
Cathedral. Sad, but I like it. Building a new cathedral(he likes building stuff, awesome). This is about taking down an old cathedral, and building a new one. His art is really amazing. I can’t say much about this book because it’s sort-of unfinished.
“Don’t celebrate the ruin, celebrate the town.” DAVID MACAULAY.