Taking the keys of the castle, Jack unlocked all the doors 1927

Arthur Rackham made this illustration, Taking the keys of the castle, Jack unlocked all the doors, with pen and ink on paper, and the lines have a life of their own. I can almost see him drawing away, the pen scratching on the paper, as he invents this fantastical scene. I love how Rackham captures the grotesque figures of the giants on the left, with their exaggerated features and gnarled hands—he really leans into the uncanny. And then, you've got this dynamic figure of Jack with the flowing lines of his clothes as he strides forward. I wonder what Rackham was thinking about while making this? Maybe he was thinking about the power of story-telling? It makes me consider how fantasy art has this amazing ability to show us the familiar through the lens of the strange. Thinking about Rackham's work makes me consider the wider field of book illustration, and how artists are constantly responding to each other's ideas. It is like one big conversation happening across time and place. It reminds me that making art is always an open-ended process, full of endless possibilities.