Happy Fall!

Today is the first day of Fall!

"tis the Season

Here we go!!!!

xo

My Writing Process Blog Tour

Let's go on a Blog Tour!

Writer-Illustrator extraordinaire, Claudia McGehee has asked me to answer the four questions on the My Writing Process Blog Tour. I enjoy learning about other artists'  processes and am grateful for the opportunity to share a bit of mine here. 

Claudia is the illustrator of numerous award-winning books for children. Please visit her website here to see more of her beautiful work and read her answers to the blog tour.

http://claudiaillustration.blogspot.com

Here are my answers to the questions. Although I do write, illustrating has been keeping me busy as of late. So, I've slanted the questions a bit...

What am I working on?

I'd like to describe my most recent projects because it points out one of the things I love most about getting to be an illustrator--- the diversity of each project!

Rabbi Benjamin's Buttons by Alice B. McGinty (Charlesbridge) has just been released. The story centers around Rabbi Benjamin, but his adoring congregation as well. I think I had 19 characters in that story to keep track of? Oy Vey!

I just sent in the final art for The Inventor's Secret by Suzanne Slade (Charlesbridge) which is about the friendship between Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. This, obviously, was set in the late 1880's and early 1900's. It was wonderful to learn and research so much about these fascinating men and their inventions.

Last month I illustrated a middle grade book called Footer Davis Probably is Crazy, by Susan Vaught (Simon and Schuster) where I needed to do black and white drawings that looked as though 11 year old Footer Davis had drawn them for her journals and school projects.

Right now I am in the early sketch stage for Yaks Yak by Linda Sue Park (Clarion). It's a word play picture book with fun to draw animals---- a whole lot different than Rabbi's, 1800's inventors, or alien heads!


How does my work differ from others of it's genre?

I like to think just because it's mine. That as long as I'm trying to draw, or write, in a style that feels true to my own personality and subjective taste that it would be unique in that way.


Why do I do what I do?

I love creating characters. I love seeing them come to life on a page and having the art married to the text in such an inseparable way. 


What is my working process?

If I'm illustrating a picture book, I will often let myself have some time to just sketch out any and all crazy ideas that occur to me. I try not to think too hard about limitations and restrictions at the beginning. Then I'll do really rough thumbnails trying to incorporate as many of those ideas that might work. Sometimes I go right to loose sketches and lay them out in Illustrator. As soon as I have something decipherable and think that my ideas have been adequately translated, I'll share with the Art Director and/or Editor.

Thank you, Claudia, for choosing me to be part of the tour! Happy writing and illustrating everyone!

Happy Birthday, Rabbi Benjamin!!!!!!!

Wa---hooooo!!!!!!

Today is Publication day for Rabbi Benjamin's Buttons!

Written by Alice McGinty and published by Charlesbridge Publishing.

 I got to meet Alice on board a Mississippi Riverboat Cruise at a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator's conference about a year ago. I couldn't stay too long at the conference because I was working hard to finish the illustrations for this book.

I know all of us involved in this loving picture book are very excited today!

Welcome, welcome, Rabbi B! 

Happy Birthday to you!!!!

xoxo

May Day

May this May Day bring you happy surprises and exciting new beginnings.

xo

Happy Earth Day!

It's a beautiful day here today! 

Enjoy!!!!!

Taxidermy, Editors, Art Directors, Writers, and Illustrators

The SCBWI-Iowa conference was often held at The Lodge, in Bettendorf, Iowa. Enthusiastic children's book illustrators and writers from the midwest, as well as authors, illustrators, editors, and art directors flown in (usually from New York) to Iowa for the Regional SCBWI conference would find themselves in a theme hotel surrounded by incredible medieval furnishings.

(SCBWI= The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators)

It certainly was different to attend book sales in a Bavarian street, share some night time beverages beside a life-sized black bear, and meander through gaslit halls.

I took just a few pictures yesterday at the conference as it will be the last time I get to see those umpteen taxidermy deer heads on the walls. 

Make way for a new hotel. The theme will most likely be modern, not Bavarian. And although I found the portrait in my room that one year just a little creepy (hung a towel over it), I think I might actually miss the humor and quirkiness--- 

just a bit?

Night and Day

One of the most wonderful things about being an illustrator is that each project is so different, and for an infinite number of reasons.

I have been working on a non-fiction picture book about Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. While the first round of sketches are with the publisher for review and fact-checking, I have been working on my own project. 

It's a dummy of a picture book that I wrote. 

How fun to go from "make Henry look more like the real Henry", to putting neckties on pigs just because I want to!

Or a crown on a frog?

I hope you find joy in what you do. 

Today and everyday!

Decisions, decisions...

I'm working on color roughs for a picture book.

It's set in the late 1800's to early 1900's. So, it seems a perfect time to incorporate some borders.

But, I need to figure out how much line I want to use. I need to think about it now, 

because this will have to stay consistent throughout the book.

So I try some different amounts.

Thank heavens for scanners.

And printers.

I think I want to keep it as painterly and hand-done looking as possible.

Homage to those beautiful postcards and scrapbooks of days gone by.

What do you think?

Decisions, decisions…

Tidings of Joy

My wish for all of you this holiday is that your hearts overflow with joy and happiness.

That you are smothered by the warmth and comfort of family and friends.

And that the coming New Year brings you peace and love.

Happy New Year!!!!

Ooooooo, Ahhhhhhhhh...

OOOooooooooooo…….

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh….

Fa…

La…

Laaaaaaaa!

Sparkly holiday wishes ~

from, Age Before Beauty!

I've been crafting… now it's time to get fancy!

I've been busy making things for the Craft and Fancy Show… 

It will be this Saturday, December 7, from 10 until 5 at Home ec., 

which is on Linn Street in Iowa City. 

I'll post some beauty shots here over the next few days. 

Here are some new earrings… 

from old industrial brass tacks, 

to buttons, 

charms,

 and pieces of history.

I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones! 

Enjoy the season, and thank you for supporting local vendors and independent artists!

Oh, and don't take any of those in the above picture…

What no one will ever know...

I am thrilled to be working on a picture book about Henry Ford as a young inventor. 

This week I have devoted several days to research, trying to find out what his first "tractor-ish" (that's my technical term for it) contraption looked like. After countless hours and consulting with the author, editor, and art director, we have come to the conclusion that no one really knows.

So, I am free to interpret (and hope the expert readers when reviewing the sketches don't reeeeaaally know either)…

And in the Fall of 2015, when a young reader is looking at the small, "tractor-ish" contraption in the lower corner of a two page spread that child won't know that this illustrator spent countless hours trying to figure out what no one really knows :-)

Also, just a personal note…

I had the most incredibly annoying helper today!

 ZZZZZZZZZZZ

A Gorey Friday the 13th

I looked over at my drawing board just now, and this is what I saw.

For many years I've been collecting antique photos. 

So, naturally, when I'm looking for inspiration for an upcoming picture book set in Victorian times I get to revisit my 'old' friends. 

Of course I need to take a stroll through the world of Edward Gorey, because no one captures the quirkiness of those times like he did! 

In the above picture you'll see a bit of a frontispiece that he did for Amphigorey Again. The copy inside the scroll reads,

"Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp hears Hymn Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse."

  

Happy Friday the 13th! 

Wishing all of you an inspired day!