It Smells Like Lacquer, Acetone, and Children’s Books in Here

My short, unembellished fingernails.

I don’t do anything with my nails except keep them cut short.  I play the violin (mediocre-ly) and I’m not allowed to grow them too long.  Also, nailpolish irritates me.  Once I have it on, all I want to do is pick at it (with my non-existent fingernails) and peel it off.

Even though I am firmly in the ‘keep it simple’ camp when it comes to my own nails, I think nail art is fascinating.  It takes a steady hand and a lot of skill to create such clean, imaginative, and elaborate designs on those 10 tiny keratin canvases.  Also, I appreciate how nail art is meant to be short-lived, ephemeral. It may last only a week or two before you have to wipe it off, but the tradeoff is you can get new and fresh designs painted on all year long if that’s your cup of tea.  By contrast, once you get a tattoo or piercing, you’re stuck with it.  Pretty much forever.

I was poking around Buzzfeed a couple of weeks ago and I came across an article called, 12 Incredibly Intricate Harry Potter Inspired Manicures.  This one was my favorite:

Try to guess which one is George and which is Fred. (http://www.pulliptears.com)

I figured there had to be other examples of nail art inspired by children’s books out there, and a Google Image search did not prove me wrong.   I wish I could say that I’m giving you a small sampling of what I found.  It is undeniably just a sampling, but small?  Far from it.  Flex your fingers and crack your knuckles because there’s some hard-core scrolling ahead .

All of the examples I chose are hand-painted, hand-drawn, or hand-glued.  There are no overlays or wraps to be found here.  Click on the photos to be directed to the sites where all of these marvelous designs are found.

One of the First Things I Noticed Was How Popular Rainbow Fish Is in the Nail Art Biz

Rainbow Fish #1 (http://memyselfpolish.blogspot.com/)

Rainbow Fish #2 (http://www.adventuresinacetone.com)

Rainbow Fish #3 (http://www.polishallthenails.com)

Rainbow Fish #4 (http://www.creativenaildesignbysue.com)

Dr. Seuss Also Looms Large…

Cat in the Hat #1 (http://workplaypolish.com)

I love the designs where the fingers have to be stacked on top of each other to make the picture.

Cat in the Hat #2. (http://www.bforbel.com)

Lorax #1 (http://www.creativenaildesignbysue.com)

Lorax #2 (http://nailartgallery.nailsmag.com)

The Grinch! (http://www.chitchatnails.com)

One Fish Two Fish (http://www.sonomanailart.com)

Green Eggs and Ham (http://nailuscious.blogspot.com)

Let’s Not Forget About Seuss’ Beginner Books Stablemate, P.D. Eastman

Are You My Mother? (http://workplaypolish.com)

Go, Dog, Go! (http://workplaypolish.com)

When You Think Eric Carle, Don’t Just Think, ‘Caterpillar’

Of course there’s going to be a caterpillar (http://www.dippedinlacquer.com)

But also Mister Seahorse (http://www.adventuresinacetone.com)

And  ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?’ (http://www.adventuresinacetone.com)

My Opinion of The Giving Tree Is Hardly Nuanced.  It Creeps Me Out!

I can get behind ‘Giving Tree’ manicures, however (http://hellogiggles.com)

These ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ nails make the squirmy ‘Giving Tree’ feelings go away (http://www.thedailynailblog.com)

Ditto for this ‘Missing Piece’ nail job (http://www.chalkboardnails.com)

Never Underestimate the Power of the Timeless Classics

Curious George (http://workplaypolish.com)

Where the Wild Things Are (http://nailsinnippon.blogspot.com)

The Little Prince (including baobob tree) (http://naominailsnyc.tumblr.com)

Harold and the Purple Crayon (http://www.sincerelystephanienails.com)

The Runaway Bunny (http://jeealee.tumblr.com)

Contemporary Picture Books Are Also Generously Represented

The Gruffalo (http://www.adventuresinacetone.com)

Pigeon! (http://geekyowl.blogspot.com)

‘Dancing Feet’ by Lindsey Craig (http://www.adventuresinacetone.com)

Owly (http://geekyowl.blogspot.com)

Hooray for Fish! (http://www.adventuresinacetone.com)

You Don’t Have to Use French or British Polish to Paint European Characters

Moomin! (Finland) (http://nailartgallery.nailsmag.com)

Kipper (Great Britain) (http://www.the-crumpet.com)

Jip and Janneke (Netherlands) (http://thelacquerfiles.blogspot.com)

Harry Potter Isn’t the Only Chapter Book Nail Art Game in Town

Matilda (http://www.smashleysparkles.com)

Bunnicula (http://www.sonomanailart.com)

Redwall (http://beautygnome.blogspot.com)

Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim’s Daughter Longstocking (http://www.creativenaildesignbysue.com)

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (http://www.agirlandherpolish.com)

Like other blogging communities, nail art bloggers build their community (while sharpening their own skills) by joining blog campaigns and challenges.  Many of the pictures I found were submissions in something called the Digit-al Dozen: Books Challenge (digit-al– get it?).  After putting this post together, I can safely say I won’t be taking a u-turn and getting into paraffin treatments and basecoats, but I will profess that it has made me more a fan of nail art than ever.  Thank you, nail artists!  I’ll keep collecting links to your kidlit-related work, and I’ll definitely showcase more of them in the future.  Readers, have you seen a great children’s book-related manicure?  Share it in the comments!

~Catherine