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!

Illustrating the Adventures of a South Pole Pig

 If you happen to be in downtown Iowa City over the next several weeks, pop into the Iowa City Public Library and say 'hi' to Flora.

 Here are some little snippets of a display that I've done in the Children's wing, "Illustrating the Adventures of a South Pole Pig."

 I tried to show how an illustrator thinks about and develops a character.

 I used the actual 'galley proofs' from the book as "wallpaper". These big pages show an illustrator what size to make the pictures and where they will be placed in the book.

The text that is pink highlights the passage that the art director and editor would like the illustrator to draw.

What a perfect time of year to stop into the ICPL!

"Hello, Flora!"

The Adventures of a South Pole Pig

A big box arrived at my doorstep the other day. I thought it was a Christmas gift that I had ordered for the kids, but when I saw that the return address was Harcourt Houghton Mifflin, I knew it was a present for me!

THE ADVENTURES OF A SOUTH POLE PIG, by Chris Kurtz is the very endearing story of Flora, an adventurous and optimistic pig who wants more out of life than simply to live in her pen :-)

Pub date is January 8 and it can be pre-ordered to ship on that day here.

You just gotta love a pig named "Flora"!

Soaring

I did this little painting to make into a thank you card to send the art director at Harcourt Houghton Mifflin.

It's not really from anything in the book (The Adventures of a South Pole Pig), but I loved the idea of Flora (the pig) soaring into the sky with a red balloon!

Building an ARC

Yesterday, I received my Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of THE ADVENTURES OF A SOUTH POLE PIG. A chapter book by author, Chris Kurtz and published by Harcourt Houghton Mifflin.

I did the cover and 23 black and white interior illustrations. Publishers send out these advance copies of the book to reviewers, librarians, bloggers, and various big cheeses in the kids' publishing world for comment. There are still uncorrected typos, it's paperback, and the page layouts are a little wonky. 

But, it's so wonderful to see these characters come to life and live in a book!