Modern Abomination of the Day

*agrees*

Bless you!

But wait, there's more.

Wow, changing the gambling fraud to shoplifting is over the top.

But wait, there's capitalism to the rescue.

In fairness, if the school is in a chalet, they're in the Swiss Alps, right? Or thereabouts? Running about in wholesome girlish sport at such an altitude and in such a climate would surely lead to a bright eye and a tanned cheek. But you're right that she looks rather more like an aboriginal American than like an English girl with a tan. In fact, the flowers on or about her neck make her look specifically like an aboriginal Hawaiian. In the Alps. Wearing a mouthguard, a lei, and a scarf. But maybe that's the traditional garb of the Kanaka Maoli Hawaiians of Switzerland?

OK, you win, that cover sucks.

You make me laugh.

I have a recent edition of Ballet Shoes, which takes place in London in the 1930s, which depicts a girl dancing on stage and three girls watching her from the wings. One of the offstage girls is African.

What. The. Heck.
I'm in high school art, and our teacher would murder us if we handed in something like that!
Whoever did it is obviously the type of self-taught "artist" who can only draw inferior copies of anime-style stuff (the eyes are a dead giveaway) and then color their drawings on the computer in an attempt to cover up their lack of skill (hence the fact that her skin and hair have no texture whatsoever). There's nothing wrong with anime-style drawings (I favor that style myself), nor computer-coloring (I have a friend who's amazing at it), but there's doing them well...and then there's doing them BADLY. Guess which one that cover is an illustration of.
Also, anyone who attempts to draw a "realistic" face and then is lacking enough in intelligence or versatility to not realize that they shouldn't put badly drawn anime-style eyes on that face is undeserving of any respect.

Sorry for the rant...as a hardworking art student who's briefly considered becoming a book illustrator, seeing carelessly and unskillfully done garbage like that on a professionally published book cover is unbelievably galling. XP

It's truly awful, isn't it? It must be especially galling to you as an art student.

I looked up the artist's other work and it was mostly attractive pictures of trains and airplanes and things like that. I think perhaps it was a bad mismatch between artist and subject.