Meet the illustrator Giles Laroche

Giles creates his award-winning books with paper collages in a process that is truly amazing. He starts with a sketch and then cuts, paints, and glues, to create illustrations that have as many as 7 or 8 layers. He adds spacers (small pieces of cardboard) to give his collages even more depth. Giles calls his technique “paper relief”.

Page from Extreme Places: The most remote homes on Earth

My friend saw the book Extreme Places (cover below) on our recent visit to Gleebooks (a wonderful independent bookstore in Sydney), and she exclaimed because she really loves art by Giles Laroche.

Bookseller blurb for Extreme Places: Journey around the world to some of the most challenging and remote spots on Earth in this stunningly illustrated book that celebrates human ingenuity, community, and the people who call these places home. Would you be lonely living atop a steep, snowbound mountain or bored in a tiny island village Could you find your way home through a dense jungle or a blinding desert sandstorm Our planet has many places where everyday life is made difficult by severe climates, isolation, or natural forces such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Yet in these secluded locations, families learn how to band together and rely on each other, and this spirit of teamwork helps to sustain extreme living. Master of cut-paper collage artwork Giles Laroche transports readers to the world's most extreme places through his exquisite illustrations and succinct explorations of what it takes to survive and thrive there.

Kirkus said: A brilliant and informative introduction to humans’ architectural and social adaptability.

The Giles Laroche book What's Inside: Fascinating Structures Around the World has a fabulous picture of the inside of our Sydney Opera House. It also has: Tomb of Tutankhamun in Thebes, Egypt The Parthenon in Athens, Greece Temple of Kukulcan in Chichen Itza, Mexico Buddha's Place in Shanxi Province, China Walled city of Toledo in Spain Alcazar Castle in Segovia, Spain Independence Hall in Philadelphia Shaker dairy barn in Hancock, MA A Circus big top tent, which traveled to many American cities The Guggenheim Museum in NYC The Petrona Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia The Georgia Aquarium in Georgia, Atlanta.

I went hunting for other books and more details about this US illustrator. He has a book from 1998 called Bridges are to Cross - I would love to see that one too. Kirkus said: (Bridges are to Cross) will open young eyes to the marvels of bridge-building and carry readers to a whole wide world of wonder.

Here is a list of his books (this is not up to date)

WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY GILES LAROCHE

If You Lived Here: Houses of the World, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, available October 25, 2011

What's Inside? Fascinating Structures Around the World, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009

ILLUSTRATED BY GILES LAROCHE

Now You See Them, Now You Don't: Poems About Animals That Hide, by David Harrison Charlesbridge 2016

What Do Wheels Do All Day? by April Jones Prince, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006

Down To The Sea In Ships, by Philemon Sturges, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2005

Who sees the Lighthouse? by Ann Fearrington, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2002

Sacred Places, by Philemon Sturges, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2000

Bridges Are To Cross, by Philemon Sturges, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1998

The Color Box, by Dayle Ann Dodds, Little, Brown & Co., 1992

A Road Might Lead To Anywhere, by Rachel Field, Little Brown & Co., 1990

General Store, by Rachel Field, Little, Brown & Co., 1988

Sing a Song of People, by Lois Lenski, Little, Brown & Co., 1987

Here is a page from Who Sees the Lighthouse:

Image source: Giles Laroche

If you want to explore other illustrators who use paper techniques you might look for David Miller (Australia); Robert Sabuda; Clover Robin; the amazing book The Story of Snowflake and Inkdrop; and Susan Roth just to name a few. 

Image source: Gallerix (see more pages inside this book)