This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Living in a small town in Vermont and working from a home studio, David Macaulay does book illustration drawing that explains 'things' such as the workings of the human body including complex forms of platelets and blood vessels; detailed buildings such as cathedrals and the Empire State Building; and panoramic views of cities and towns. Committed to careful research as well as accurately detailed drawing, he "has built an enormous reputation as an artist who can make technological and engineering marvels readily understandable through the use of drawings that are approachable, entertaining, and above all readable."
Underscoring the success of his work is the fact that his illustrated books have sold over three million copies, and his receipt of a Caldecott Medal, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the Horn Book Award from the Boston Globe.
In his book illustrations, Macaulay takes "the view of the common guy", who needs easy to understand explanations. Of his philosophy, Macaulay says: "I don't know of any process more satisfying than drawing as a wonderful way of seeing things and ultimately understanding them."
His first book, Cathedral, is a description of the methods of building a Gothic cathedral, taking the reader through all the stages of construction. He includes 'personal' experiences such as standing on the top of the building and feeling dizzy, positioning the stained glass and carving sculptures for the exterior. His book, Underground, explores the underground, out-of-site' infrastructure beneath a city and the complex engineering necessary to make it function. Other books are Mosque, about the building of those ancient structures, and The Way Things Work, a "compendium of explanations of modern technology from televisions to automatic transmissions." In 2007, his workings on his book, The Way We Work, is a huge challenge because it details the functions of the human body including the interior connections that cause pain, details of the lung cavity, and workings of the pump that controls flow of ions across membranes.
He organizes his book illustrations, chapter by chapter, in a building block way from simple to complex that mirrors the process he is referencing, and for sections hangs his sketches sequentially so that he can see the totality. Finishing one section before moving onto the next, he often does many sketches and revisions, and has to consider the spatial relationships of his drawings to the text.
His illustrations are drawings done with graphite and colored pencils, although he has used pen and ink without any color for his early books such as Cathedral, then changed to making an ink outline and filling in with watercolor, and currently (2007) is using colored pencils and ink lines.
David Macaulay, born in Lancashire, grew up in northern England, and as a child involved himself in complex building projects with simple materials such as cardboard and string. In 1957, when he was age 11, he came to the United States and settled with his family in New Jersey. He took architecture training at the Rhode Island School of Design, and Tom Sgouros, an instructor, stirred his commitment to drawing and taught him the importance of basic composition. After finishing the school, Macaulay showed sample illustrations to Walter Lorraine, children's book editor of Houghton Mifflin, and this meeting launched Macaulay's career.
Source:
John A. Parks, "David Macaulay's Adventure in Explanation", Drawing, summer, 2007, pp. 104-119
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